Så er der et nyt studiealbum med det britiske heavy metal band Iron Maiden på trapperne. Titlen er The Final Frontier og som sædvanlig pryder bandets maskot Eddie coveret, som kan ses nedenfor. Det er engelske Melvyn Grant der også stod for artworket til Fear of the Dark (1992), Virtual XI (1998) og Death on the Road (2005), der endnu en gang har stået bag.
For at markere annonceringen af det nye album kan man downloade nummeret “El Dorado” fra bandets webside.
Sanger Bruce Dickinson fortæller følgende om nummeret:
El Dorado’ is a preview of the forthcoming studio album. As we will be including it in the set of our Final Frontier World Tour (som starter I Dallas den 9. juni, red.) we thought it would be great to thank all our fans and get them into The Final Frontier mood by giving them this song up front of the tour and album release.
Det nye album er primært indspillet I Compass Point Studios, Nassau sammen med producer Kevin ”Caveman” Shirley. Samme sted indspillede bandet albummene Piece Of Mind (1983), Powerslave (1984) og Somewhere In Time (1986) – og det giver da løfter om noget stort! Bruce fortæller:
The studio had the same vibe and it was EXACTLY as it had been in 1983, NOTHING had changed! Even down to the broken shutter in the corner…same carpet….everything… It was really quite spooky. But we felt very relaxed in such a familiar and well-trodden environment and I think this shows in the playing and the atmosphere of the album
The Final Frontier er Iron Maidens 15. studiealbum, hvilket vil sige, at bandet har udgivet et nyt album hvert andet år igennem deres 30 år lange karriere. 80 millioner albums er der blevet langet over disken.
Tracklisten til det knap 77 minutter lange The Final Frontier:
1. Satellite 15…..The Final Frontier 8:40
2. El Dorado 6:49
3. Mother Of Mercy 5:20
4. Coming Home 5:52
5. The Alchemist 4:29
6. Isle Of Avalon 9:06
7. Starblind 7:48
8. The Talisman 9:03
9. The Man Who Would Be King 8:28
10. When The Wild Wind Blows 10:59
