IRON MAIDEN — El Dorado (review)

IRON MAIDEN — El Dorado album cover Single · 2010 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
Pekka
Who knows, it might have been exactly ten years ago today that my friend rang the door bell with Brave New World in his hand and made me an Iron Maiden fan within minutes. My most obsessive fanhood days are long gone, but it's always a great thrill when there's new Maiden material to listen to. Even though you can always pretty exactly guess what's coming.

But unexpectedly the track opens with a bit of pure chaos, so much so that my first thought was wondering if this was some sort of tribute to Metallica's Hit the Lights, before an equally unexpected Wasted Years quote made me return to Maiden land. Rarely had Maiden referenced their own material so explicitly, and the opening line of "Gotta tell you a story" again bears strong similarity to Dance of Death. Luckily the galloping riff is new, and lets me concentrate on the actual song rather than trying to spot similarities. Bruce sings the verses quite low and somewhat powerlessly, and when he jumps to the higher range chorus it's quite a shift. In my opinion Bruce's higher range voice has never been quite as effective as some other big metal frontmen have, but when comparing with the young Bruce, he hasn't really lost anything along the years. Harris' bass has that good old rattling sound and the three axemen gallop and shred like they always have, but...

When one listens to a song enough times it's bound to get stuck in the head, but for very many of the first times I couldn't remember much when the track was over. Except the strange feelings caused by the beginning. Over repeated listens, hopefully not too many so that the song doesn't feel like and overfamiliar bore when listening to the entire album, I've come to enjoy the track to some extent, but comparing to other leading singles of the last decade, like the brilliant Wicker Man and The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, El Dorado ranks right there at the bottom of the barrel battling with and likely losing to Wildest Dreams, which at least had a great mid-section. This track is ultimately an enjoyable but unmemorable piece of middle-of-the-road Maiden.

Still a couple of weeks to go, then we'll see...
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Antibeauty Hardcore Punk
SNOWING IN PERU
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mana Earth Hardcore Punk
SNOWING IN PERU
Buy this album from MMA partners
Intimate Isolation Hardcore Punk
GOOD FALL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Dark Future Sludge Metal
PAIN CHEMISTRY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Violent Delights Hardcore Punk
GALLEONS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Galleons - Electric Emotions
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Galleons - Elsewhere (Official Lyric Video)
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Galleons - Neon Dreams (Official Lyric Video)
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Galleons - I Travel East As Fievel Goes West Pt. 1 - Official Lyric Video
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 1 day ago
FREEHOWLING - SCARS FT. AARON MATTS (TEN56.) [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]
FREEHOWLING
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed