IRON MAIDEN — Brave New World (review)

IRON MAIDEN — Brave New World album cover

Album · 2000 · Heavy Metal

5/5 · 2010-08-29
Time Signature

Brave new world...

Genre: heavy metal

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of a really big dead bird, Maiden were reborn with the return of Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson. The first release of the 2000s, "Brave New World" saw a partial return to the style of the 80s, a retention of those good things that were introduced in the Blaze era, and additions of a lot of new and quite proggy elements. I remember hearing it for the first time, and feeling invigorated for months just by the thought of Iron Maiden themselves being invigorated.

"Wicker Man" is a great energetic opener with a really catchy pre-chorus and an equally catchy chorus. "Ghost of the Navigator", which is probably my favorite of that album and one of my favorite Maiden tracks ever, is melodic and energetic at the same time, and, despite it not being a super long tune, it is quite epic, partially due to the lyrics. The guitar theme, which is doubled by the vocals in the chorus, is simple but effective. "Blood Brothers" is probably considered the most progressive tune on the album by many due to its slight folk influences, which are not obvious, but they are there if your listen closely, with the almost medieval sounding guitar theme. "Brave New World", "Dream of Mirrors", and "Out of the Silent Planet" are all quite typical of Maiden's newfound style (or perhaps refound style), with catchy choruses, blazing guitar solos, and over the top vocals, and blending a touch of complexity and sophistication with straightforward catchiness. I guess this goes for "Fallen Angel" and "The Mercenary", the latter probably being the least appealing track on the album. "The Nomad", another epic sounding tune, is vaguely reminiscent, at least in atmosphere, of Rainbow's perhaps most progressive pieces, "Stargazer" and "Gates of Babylon". "The Thing Line Between Love And Hate" is interesting, it starts out being almost stone-agishly simple with basically a two-chord verse and a four-chord chorus, but eventually modulates into this rather complex and semi-proggy affair; a very interesting twist, if not totally successful.

In conclusion, "Brave New World" is a great comeback after a troubled decade. It's highly recommended to anyone who wishes to be introduced to one of the greatest metal bands ever.

more than 2 years ago
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Pekka wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Whoa, I knew that lots of people love BNW, but at the moment it's the highest rated of all Maiden albums! Not bad for a 12th album of a legendary band with an established "golden age" :)

Time Signature wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks, guys :-) The enthusiasm surrounding this album, I think, has as much to do with the band returning to form after the "dark 90s" - also, compared to most of their 90s releases, I think that "Brave New World" is a sort of masterpiece.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Interesting to see that a lot of people think Brave New World is a masterpiece. I think it´s a decent comeback for Dickinson and Smith. Above average but not really excellent. As usual a good review though :-)