DANCE OF DEATH

I find joy in having a combined listening of heavy side of music and the light side as what I experience today having enjoyed Gandalf and Steve Hackett, I continued playing The SIGIT (excellent Indonesian classic rock band) and now I am playing Iron Maiden "Dance of Death". What a perfect combination! Having enjoyed peaceful stream of music delivered by Gandalf & Hackett, I switched right away to The SIGIT which has upbeat classic rock style and then the energetic music of Iron Maiden! It's cool man .!

As I have mentioned somewhere in my reviews at this site, I love Iron Maiden "Brave new World" album. By the time I made that statement I did not (yet) take into consideration of this "Dance of Death" because I rarely played the CD due to its "Copy Controlled" technology that made sound quality is terrible. It's useless, actually, that this album has Kevin Shirley as producer because the "Copy Controlled" thing has definitely destroyed the listening pleasure. I personally hate CD with "Copy Controlled" technology because the sound quality is terrible. So is the case with this album which has that technology. I think, music lovers all over the world MUST FIGHT against the use of "Copy Controlled" technology which kills music. I mean it.

Let' put aside the sound quality and focus on the music. I find this album is an excellent one even though in general I prefer "Brave New World" album. With triple guitar, this band ends up with six-piece band. Actually I do not know why the band decided to use triple guitars as the band line up because basically I (and probably other listeners) can not differentiate who play which part and hard to find all three guitars play together at the same time. If it's just two guitars, at least I can differentiate the sounds of rhythm section and the guitar melody. So, making the band with three players: Janick Gers, Dave Murray, and Adrian Smith is kind like waste. Two guitars are enough, actually.

The first two opening tracks "Wildest Dreams" and "Rainmaker" are straight hard rock music in terms of style. These opening tracks are suitable being positioned as opening the album. With "No More lies" the band brings the "Brave New World" style into the music. I like the intro part which showcases Steve Harris bass lines in ambient mode. "Monstegur" makes the album more powerful especially through the combination of string section, groove and guitar solo. My favorite track is the album title track "Dance of Death" which has similar nuance with "Brave New World" album. I like the way the music flows in melodic way starting with an ambient style where string section as well as bass guitar work make major contribution to the music and the music flows beautifully in rock style with powerful Bruce Dickinson vocal. This song is also solid in terms of lyrics. "Paschendale" is also an excellent track. This song has varied styles and nice musical break followed with string section which sounds like a symphonic music. The guitar solo is also stunning.

Overall, I consider this album is an excellent rock music with good melody, tight composition. Fans of Iron Maiden must have this album. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW