Reviewing live albums isn’t all that common here at Glory Daze, especially newer ones like this turgid offering from Iron Maiden.
Written by: Dangerzone
ARTIST: Iron Maiden
ALBUM: En Vivo! (Live in Chile)
LABEL: EMI
SERIAL: 50999 301590 2 0
YEAR: 2012
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Bruce Dickinson- vocals * Adrian Smith, Dave Murray, Janick Gers – guitars * Steve Harris – bass * Nicko McBrain – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Satellite 15 * 02 The Final Frontier * 03 El Dorado * 04 2 Minutes To Midnight * 05 The Talisman * 06 Coming Home * 07 Dance Of Death * 08 The Trooper * 09 The Wicker Man * 10 Blood Brothers * 11 When The Wild Wind Blows * 12 The Evil That Men Do * 13 Fear Of The Dark * 14 Iron Maiden * 15 The Number Of The Beast * 16 Hallowed Be Thy Name * 17 Running Free
RATING: 0/100
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Reviewing live albums isn’t all that common here at Glory Daze, especially newer ones like this turgid offering from Iron Maiden. While Maiden’s ‘Live After Death’ is one of the best live metal albums of all time, the band have made a habit in recent years of releasing live albums and DVD’s of every tour, most of which are more irrelevant than the last.
‘The Final Frontier’ is no exception, the band chronicling their world tour with this gig from Chile in 2011. Why the band feels the need to showcase this tour is uncertain because as an audio statement this is utterly pointless. Maybe on DVD the results are more palatable, but anyone who would be caught dead listening to this CD should be exposed in shame (I don’t count), especially if any enjoyment is gleaned from it.
The Songs
While Iron Maiden fans are among the most loyal in metal, they are often in denial as to how stagnant and boring the band has become. So immediately the CD begins with overbearing chanting from the masses of Chileans, most of which sounds fake and contrived.
I mean who in their right mind would be excited at the prospect of hearing ‘Satellite 15’? This leads into two more tracks from the tepid 2010 release, the title track and ‘El Dorado’. As always there’s nothing to differentiate the live tracks from their studio counterparts and it’s just a mind numbing experience. Following the trio of new material the band gets stuck in with the rarely heard ‘2 Minutes To Midnight’, a real rarity.
The crowd reacts to this as if they have just won the World Cup. Disc one features mostly songs from the 2000 to present era, with forced ‘classics’ like ‘The Talisman’, ‘Coming Home’, ‘Dance Of Death’ and ‘The Wicker Man’. These songs were never great to start with and hearing them in this (supposed) live setting is even more dull.
The remaining track of the disc is ‘The Trooper’, making its 700th appearance on a Maiden live release. Who still gets excited by this? It truly boggles my mind that Maiden has the gall to dish this rot out to the general public.
Disc two is even more despicable, the nadir of everything wrong with Maiden in the present era. The opening two tracks ‘Blood Brothers’ and ‘When The Wild Wind Blows’ are crippling at best, but it’s when the band delves into their stale classics that you have to shake your head in disbelief.
While the first disc was bad enough, this is unforgivable. Let’s just consider these tracks in their precise order: ‘The Evil That Men Do’, ‘Fear Of The Dark’, ‘Iron Maiden’, ‘The Number Of The Beast’, ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ and ‘Running Free’. Do I need to write more? Who wants to hear the umpteenth rendition of these songs on a Maiden live album? Or any album for that matter.
Are there people at home trying to discern the differences between the versions of the songs here compared to the previous Maiden live releases (of which there are nine I believe)? I’d like Steve Harris to explain the reasoning for throwing these songs on here.
What’s worse are the crowd reactions, which are apparently of South American lunatics frothing at the mouth in delirium at the excitement of hearing such worn out slop. If I was standing there and heard the opening chords of ‘Number Of The Beast’ I’d go into shock from the madness of it all.
The only positive is that ‘Run To The Hills’ wasn’t included. What possibly is even worse is hearing Dickinson yelling ‘scream for me Chile’ before every song. Doesn’t he want to flee in terror before singing these songs? I don’t know why anyone would purchase this to hear these songs unless they are the ultimate Maiden completist. You’d have to be a pretty sick individual to part with money for this.
In Summary
My intentions for reviewing this were simply to rubbish it obviously, but only because it is thoroughly deserved. Iron Maiden has been plundering the market for the best part of the last decade with releases like this and they need to be held responsible accordingly. As a musical entity there is nothing here that anyone will remember in a week’s time.
As a live band Iron Maiden are simply not exciting when translated to disc. The reason ‘Live After Death’ was so great is because it was the first proper live recording with Dickinson when the band was at its peak. This effort however is the sound of a tired band with nothing to offer. You’ve seen and heard it all before and better.
Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
