Dance of Death (album)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dance of Death | ||
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| Studio album by Iron Maiden | ||
| Released | September 8, 2003 | |
| Recorded | Sarm West Studios, London in 2003 | |
| Genre | Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal | |
| Length | 1:07:59 | |
| Label | EMI (most of the world) Columbia (U.S.) |
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| Producer(s) | Steve Harris, Kevin Shirley | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| Iron Maiden chronology | ||
| Eddie's Archive (2002) |
Dance of Death (2003) |
The Essential Iron Maiden (2005) |
Dance of Death is Iron Maiden's 13th studio album, released first in Japan on September 2 and rest of the world on September 8, 2003.
The album marks the first participation in songwriting by Nicko McBrain, who co-wrote the song "New Frontier". It was also the first album where all keyboard work was done by Steve Harris.
The song "Montségur" was inspired by Bruce Dickinson's holiday stay near Montségur, the last stronghold of the Cathars conquered by the Albigensian Crusade in 1244. The lyrics include verse As we kill them all so God will know his own, referring to a well-known quote of the papal legate before the massacre of thousands in Béziers in 1209, and mentions of "Templar believers", as it is frequent popular belief today that there was some link between Knights Templar, Cathars and Montségur.
The song "Paschendale" is about The Battle of Passchendaele in the First World War and is considered to be standout track of the album by many.
"Journeyman" is Iron Maiden's first fully acoustic song. According to Bruce Dickinson, before playing the song on the Death on the Road live album, the song is about "the whole process of song writing and being a musician", though the lyrics seem to be more focused on appreciating life while you have it.
The album once again brought costumes to Maiden's stage show. During "Dance of Death" Bruce Dickinson would wear theatrical masks and a cape while moving around the stage. At the end he would dress as the Grim Reaper for the final chorus. During the song "Paschendale", Bruce will sometimes wear a traditional British Infantryman suit worn during World War 1. During the 1984-1985 World Slavery Tour Dickinson would wear a mask during the song "Powerslave". Dickinson regularly wears a British Army redcoat jacket and waves a Union Flag during performances of "The Trooper". Many fans felt that this was the band's best album since Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, however, the release of the band's next studio album overshadowed this opinion.
Cover art for the album was provided by David Patchett, but he asked to be removed from the credits because he was not satisfied with the result. When the cover art was first revealed on the Internet, many Iron Maiden fans believed that the band was playing a prank. The cover has been the cause of much controversy amongst fans and is generally quite disliked.
[edit] Track listing
- "Wildest Dreams" (Adrian Smith, Steve Harris) – 3:52
- "Rainmaker" (Dave Murray, Harris, Bruce Dickinson) – 3:48
- "No More Lies" (Harris) – 7:22
- "Montségur" (Janick Gers, Harris, Dickinson) – 5:50
- "Dance of Death" (Gers, Harris) – 8:36
- "Gates of Tomorrow" (Gers, Harris, Dickinson) – 5:12
- "New Frontier" (Nicko McBrain, Dickinson, Smith) – 5:04
- "Paschendale" (Smith, Harris) – 8:28
- "Face in the Sand" (Smith, Harris, Dickinson) – 6:31
- "Age of Innocence" (Murray, Harris) – 6:10
- "Journeyman" (Smith, Harris, Dickinson) – 7:07
[edit] Credits
- Bruce Dickinson - vocals
- Dave Murray - guitar
- Janick Gers - guitar
- Adrian Smith - guitar, backing vocals
- Steve Harris - bass guitar, backing vocals, keyboards
- Nicko McBrain - drums
[edit] External links
- Commentary on Dance of Death at maidenfans.com, including details about the cover art's origin
