There's always plenty of hype surrounding a new 'Iron Maiden' release and 'A Matter of Life and Death' is no exception, as with 'Dance of Death' and 'Brave New World' before it, is being branded as “Their best album since 'Seventh Son'”. Granted it's another exacting effort by 'The Irons', the usual outstanding penmanship is evident, as is the wonderful instrumentation and execution, but I have a problem with this album, where's the variation? The album runs for 72 minutes and features seven tracks exceeding 6 minutes, good you might think, all those epics, sadly they are not in the same class as 'Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner' or even later work such as 'Ghost of the Navigator' or 'Paschendale'. The biggest problem is the arrangements are too similar, i.e. slow build up, developing to mid tempo or semi fast rockers and ultimately petering out underwhelmingly. Gone are the 4 minute blazers which gave 'Maiden' so much success in the 80's and 'Bruce Dickinson' rarely displays the menace of earlier releases, the only improvement here over 'Dance of Death' is the album artwork.

'A Matter of Life and Death' opens with probably the most straight-forward rocker 'Different World', a better opening track than 'Wildest Dreams' from 'Dance of Death', and at times is a little reminiscent of 'Rainmaker', but ultimately not as catchy, the guitaring is splendid and typical of quality 'Maiden'. The first epic is soon upon us with 'These Colours Don't Run', an intelligently penned effort which includes some poignant lyrics, ultimately a little longer than it needs to be and despite the fine instrumentation, the chorus begins to drag. Next up is the riff heavy epic 'Brighter than a Thousand Suns' and contrary to some other reviews I've read, this is a pretty tedious affair, ok there's some impressive guitars present, but 'Dickinson's' higher pitched singing eventually becomes irritating, while 9 minutes worth is unwarranted and ultimately pretentious. Ensuing strongly is 'The Pilgrim', personally I think with a bit more work this could have been a classic, it's very much in the old school tradition, with a slight Eastern influence i.e. 'Powerslave' and 'Nomad', but to me feels too reserved, as if they were afraid to really let loose, just when you get into the song, it looses momentum with a dreary pre chorus- damn this could have been so good. The war inspired epic 'The Longest Day' ensues in a similar fashion to 'Dance of Death's' 'Pachendale', unfortunately though this is not quite in the same league, there's some nice rhythm work here, particularly 'Harris's' bass and the guitaring is as accomplished as always, but for me and I say this with some trepidation, 'Bruce' doesn't particularly excel here and overall the track is unjustifiably long. The tempo falls for the more harmonious yet melancholy 'Out of the Shadows', 'Bruce' redeems himself here with a wonderful melodic performance, while the riff driven melody hits the spot. The first single release to be taken from the album is the ridiculously titled epic 'The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg', after an inordinately long intro, the song finally gets going into a riff driven rocker, there's some nice ebbing and flowing rhythm present, but personally I find this a tad boring and again unnecessarily long number. Improvements are made with the harder rocking 'For the Greater Good of God', overlooking some very repetitive lyrics, has more of a classic 'Maiden' sound, there's some splendid axe work from all three guitarist and for once justifies it's nine minutes. Another epic follows in the shape of 'Lord of Light' a layered and twisting piece, that at times has that 'Somewhere in Time' feel, the mid track lull breaks the repetition factor and overall is nicely executed, but again still not sure about 'Bruce' singing in a higher key. Last up and surprise surprise another cut which exceeds 9 minutes, however in my opinion 'The Legacy' is the best of the lot, after a uneasy brooding semi acoustic intro, builds into a first-rate plodder, 'Bruce' has more menace in his voice which is a definite plus point, while lyrically this is just stunning and further enhanced by top notch instrumentation.

After all the hype I expected more than this, ok it's not a bad album by a long stretch, but lacks the variation and enough catchy melodies to be ranked alongside 'Seventh Son' and even the more current releases 'Dance of Death' and 'Brave New World'.