THE FINAL FRONTIER

Many, many of you reading this will all be old Maiden fans, having followed them through the 80's and watched their decline in the 90's to experience the sheer joy of an actual good album in 2000.

I, however, am taking this, The Final Frontier, from a different viewpoint, a viewpoint of a 14 year old boy who bought it on it's release date after nagging from your friends, and hearing only two Maiden songs before, Number of the Beast and Run to the Hills, both of which I loved.

This album is still my favourite Maiden album, after the past year or so of searching through their old albums and loving them, this remains my favourite. It's sound is so clear, the melodies are fantastic, and Bruce's vocals are actually decent.

I'll highlight some of the great tracks.

Satellite 15. This is a wonderfully interesting opener, with quite a prog-feel to it, with an unnecessarily long opening with a thumping drum beat, which merges into one of the best rock riffs I've heard, and a stunning melody, something Maiden don't often pull out.

El Dorado is another great song, aided mainly by the great melody in the chorus, and an upbeat rhythm.

There are many other fantastic songs in the middle of the album, highlights being Isle Of Avalon and the Talisman, but it's the final two that nail this 5-star rating.

The Man Who Would Be King. This is my favourite metal song of all time. Any band. The slow opening, the lyrics reminiscent of Doctor Who, the great melody, and specifically, the incredible riff that makes you lie down and collapse under it's awesomeness. This is a truly phenomenal song.

And the final track, When The Wild Wind Blows. This track is driven by a slow melody, which tells a tale, part of the sci-fi element of this record, moving into a brilliant heavy section and a fantastically long guitar solo, reminiscent of Child In Time by Deep Purple.

Maiden have always been making hard rock, but this is so much more. This is their first TRUE prog effort, even though it's not prog at all. In my honest opinion, nothing they've done before tops this.