Iron Maiden have returned. On August 17th they will release their new album, The Final Frontier, their 15th release in a 30 year (!) career. As a herald for the impeding record, Maiden has released the single, “El Dorado,” as a free download to get the blood pumping. Does it succeed? Well…..no. If “El Dorado” is one of the better cuts, the metal titans might be getting a little rusty in the joints.
“El Dorado” isn’t a bad song. It’s really just lazy. All the standard Maiden-isms are in place, Steve Harris’ galloping bass lines, the buoyant guitars and ample shred factor, but we’ve heard all these things done before in better songs and with more enthusiasm. There’s a noticeable drop in tempo this time around and Bruce Dickinson never reaches for the rafters with his trademark falsetto, sticking instead to a strained mid-range yelp. It’s certainly not going to replace “Run to the Hills” any time soon and my guess is the whole song was written in about 45 minutes.
As admirable as it is that Iron Maiden have remained faithful to their style for so long, one has to wonder what their intentions are for making music in 2010. After 30 years they’re not about to release an experimental 5-hour blackened-sludge concept album about time travel (my idea, patent pending), which leaves them churning out lesser versions of older, better songs.
Do they need a new album as an excuse to tour? Fuck no. Maiden fans are legion and highly devoted. They’d come see them shred in wheelchairs if that was the only option. Are they afraid of irrelevance? Obscurity? Everyone has a copy of Number of the Beast! Fuckin’, EVERYBODY. They have enough rock solid material for a 10-hour set list, so what’s, I beg of you, is the point!?
You also have to wonder what classic track is going to get axed from the live set so they can hammer our this hot new single. Apparently, it’s a lot of them. MetalSucks reported last week that Maiden, currently on tour with Dream Theater, has skewed their set-list heavily towards their last two lukewarm albums, Dance of Death and A Matter of Life and Death (real original fellas), much to the chagrin of devoted fans who, y’know, wanted to have fun at the show or something. At this rate, they’re not going to have either their recorded output or their live experience to stand on.
