Iron Maiden - A Matter Of Life And Death

[3-LockBox]

Metal album of the year.

That is until the new Pain Of Salvation comes out.

But really, the new Maiden is pretty damn good. Maybe the proggiest I've ever heard from them.

[Wireworm5]

Dang, I almost bought that on Saturday. I purchased the Bruce Dickinson Anthology instead for which I'm mostly disappointed due to the poor sound quality on the first two discs. The promotional Videos are better so it wasn't a complete waste of money.
Anyways I will have to go back this week and get the IM after your positive endorsement.

[3-LockBox]

Dang, I almost bought that on Saturday. I purchased the Bruce Dickinson Anthology instead for which I'm mostly disappointed due to the poor sound quality on the first two discs. The promotional Videos are better so it wasn't a complete waste of money.
Anyways I will have to go back this week and get the IM after your positive endorsement.

Be advised, this Maiden album isn't much different from recent Maiden albums as far as sound quality goes. Its typical Maiden...you either like 'em or you don't. It's at least as good or better than the last one.

[Dusty Chalk]

I heard there were actual dynamics on this album -- is it not so?

[3-LockBox]

I heard there were actual dynamics on this album -- is it not so?

hhmmm...dynamics might be a strong word here, but I will say that the drums are mixed better than any other Maiden album in memory, but then again, I thought that about the last one. Anyway, the sound quality is better than the Brave New World album. But its still a heavy metal album. Their amps go all the way to 11.

That being said, this is not going to bottom of the playlist anytime soon. I be liking this album a lot, and I'm no longtime Maiden fanatic. It's a very well written piece, and well executed to boot. This will stand up to any Maiden album I've heard. Go buy it.

[ForeverAutumn]

Sounds interesting. It's probably been 20 years since I've bought a Maiden album. Maybe I'll pick this one up.

[Wireworm5]

IM has consistently turn out crap productions. Rock in Rio in particular was a hack job and if they read any of the reviews by fans they should have been thoroughly embarrassed and reinbursed money to people who bought the dvd. Having said this, Rio is one my favorite IM cd. But I had to downgrade to the cd as the dvd I was unlistenable as it captured the acoustics of the venue and as a result sounded awful on my system. On the cd, its not noticable and therefore listenable.
My guess is they know that their fans will buy their product regardless of their lack of professionalism. They could learn a thing or two from JP. These guys practice and when they play a song it's pretty much the same as the last time they played it. And they know how to record a concert. As I am writing this I'm listening to Death on the Road, and I can hear alot of distortion in the recording. It's pitiful, they can't get it right.
I am selective in which IM songs I like and know it would be alot more if they didn't consistently market crap!!

[Heywood Djahblomie]

hhmmm...dynamics might be a strong word here, but I will say that the drums are mixed better than any other Maiden album in memory, but then again, I thought that about the last one. Anyway, the sound quality is better than the Brave New World album. But its still a heavy metal album. Their amps go all the way to 11.

Poor dynamics could be due to having crappy equipment. Some cheap CD players have crappy lazers that art unefficient, due to static build-up on the surface of a spinning piece of plastic. Unless your CD player compensates for this, you need to take other measures. There are antistatic sprays for CDs, but this doesn't begin to compensate for the hours (or years) of EMF buildup that's been induced onto your CD. That's why most knowledgable audiophiles deguass their CDs on a weekly basis. This removes those spurious EMF that introduce gobs of jitter into the signal.

Another good practice is periodic freezing of CDs. Freezing a CD causes constriction of the substrate, which allows more pits to be read by the lazer---the more pits that get read by your lazer, the more accurate the output.

I was going to give you crap because of your DIY speaker hocus pocus, but I figured its better to educate than to degrade, so I deleted that post.

[Resident Loser]

Poor dynamics could be due to having crappy equipment...etc...etc...etc...

...I'm gonna' hate myself but, and there is no inoffensive way to say this but: you are an idiot...and before someone makes me apologize here it is: I'm sorry you're an idiot...

jimHJJ(...GIGO...)

[Heywood Djahblomie]

...I'm gonna' hate myself but, and there is no inoffensive way to say this but: you are an idiot...and before someone makes me apologize here it is: I'm sorry you're an idiot...

jimHJJ(...GIGO...)

There are none so deaf as those who cannot hear...

[Resident Loser]

There are none so deaf as those who cannot hear...

...of the fact that you may be a joke...no, wait...strike that...make that are, there are those of us who know better. Unfortunately there are also those who haven't a clue (noobs), and eagerly buy into the "audiophilia" that you describe...

And while I have no idea of the "DIY speaker hocus pocus" you mention, suffice it to say nearly any adjustment to a loudspeaker (which is the most important link in any system) will have a more dramatic effect on performance than any of the squeezing, freezing or EMF-abatement that could be conceived by the addled mind of the golden-eared.

jimHJJ(...caveat empty...)

[Wireworm5]

Metal album of the year.

That is until the new Pain Of Salvation comes out.

But really, the new Maiden is pretty damn good. Maybe the proggiest I've ever heard from them.

I picked up this album yesterday and gave it a spin. The recording was good, better than previous albums I have. There were a couple of pretty good rockers but nothing that stood out for me as being exceptional. Overall I was dissappointed and would not call this 'Album of the Year', Sorry.

Rating 3 out of 5

[progfan]

I've only played it once all the way through so far. It's a very long CD at 72 minutes and each song averages 7 minutes. Even for a progrock fan like myself, it feels a little like an endurance test. I mean, when you listen to IM, you want to bang your head!! But at times, like "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns", their almost playing more like Fates Warning than IM with all those time changes. Don't get me wrong, I'm liking what I'm hearing overall, it just seems that after a cursory listen, the arrangements are kind of overdone. I definitely plan on spending more time on it before passing judgement though.