1. Different World
2. These Colours Don't Run
3. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
4. The Pilgrim
5. The Longest Day
6. Out of the Shadows
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
8. For the Greater Good of God
9. Lord of Light
10. The Legacy
The first Maiden album I bought was "Real Dead One", a live album that contains the last tour with Bruce Dickinson before he left the band. It blew me away. I was a freshman in high school and just started playing the guitar about one year ago. The album contained so many cool riffs such as "The Number Of The Beast", "The Trooper", "Run To The Hills", and many others. Then one day, I listened to "Rock In Rio" album. I was just stunned. That was the beginning of my long journey with Iron Maiden.
I went to watch Iron Maiden Festival, the last show of "Dance of Death World Tour". That was the most amazing show I have ever seen in my life. The band was tight and very active (Before Maiden, Sonata Arctica and Arch Enemy played, but Maiden was much more active than these two bands!). "Dance of Death" became one of my favorite albums. After the show, I was really looking for the next album.
Before the album was released, I read some press and saw Steve repeated the word "Progressive" when he spoke about the new album. They created many progressive pieces in past. However this time, he was referring the entire album. The day that the album was released, I went to the store and bought it. I listened through the whole thing on the way back home. It was much more than I was expected. The album was massive.
I actually did not listened to the album much after that. I guess it was little difficult to comprehend that moment. But, I remember the first impression, the album reminded me of "The X Factor", the first album that the band made with Blaze Bayley. I thought "A Matter of Life and Death" had the same feeling and mood. The songs have the same feeling as the songs in "The X Factor" such as "Signs of the Cross", "Fortunes of War", "The Aftermath", and "The Edge of Darkness". Recently, I realized that the themes of the songs were very similar as well.
I recently re-visited this album and realized that this record might be the most dramatic album they ever created. One thing really impressed me the most was the great contribution of Nicko with his drums. He created such groove in this album, and each song changes its face as he changes the rhythm. Each song (except "Different World", "The Pilgrim", and "Out of the Shadows") has the beginning that starts slow and beautiful, and then the song goes aggressively and shows the insanity. At the end, the song goes back to the beginning. One thing really made me happy was that the gallop riff came back on the song "Lord of Light". I always love their gallop riffs. Nevertheless, it is not just the simple gallop riff they used to play. This is also progressive gallop riff.
I have been listening to this album almost everyday. This album was something special for the members as well. In fact, this is the only album they played entirely on their tour. This was the first and, they said, the last experiment. I think I grew musically old enough to comprehend this album now. This will surely be one of my all time favorite playlists.
☆☆☆☆☆
