The Final Frontier
This article is about the music album by Iron Maiden. For the music album by Keel, see The Final Frontier (Keel album). For the movie, see Star Trek V: At the Edge of the Universe.
The Final Frontier is the 15th studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on August 13, 2010 in Europe and August 17, 2010 in North America. Producer of the album was again Kevin Shirley, co-producer was Steve Harris. The song lyrics deal mostly with science fiction themes. The average running time of the tracks was almost eight minutes, the longest in the band's history up to that point. The cover artwork was done by Melvyn Grant, who was also responsible for the artwork of Fear of the Dark, Virtual XI and Death on the Road.
Title List
- Satellite 15...The Final Frontier (Steve Harris, Adrian Smith) - 8:40
- El Dorado (Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith) - 6:48
- Mother of Mercy (Steve Harris, Adrian Smith) - 5:20
- Coming Home (Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith) - 5:52
- The Alchemist (Bruce Dickinson, Janick Gers, Steve Harris) - 4:28
- Isle of Avalon (Steve Harris, Adrian Smith) - 9:06
- Starblind (Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith) - 7:48
- The Talisman (Janick Gers, Steve Harris) - 9:03
- The Man Who Would Be King (Steve Harris, Dave Murray) - 8:28
- When the Wild Wind Blows (Steve Harris) - 11:00
Success
The album reached number one on the album charts in 23 countries in its first week of release. In Germany, the band entered the album charts at number one on August 24, 2010.
Reviews
Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic notes that with the album Iron Maiden is closer to the artistic legacy of their triumphant 2000 reunion than with the two previous albums. The band shows that it has understood how to give all fans what they want and expect, he said. Yan Vogel from laut.de sees the album "somewhere between self-reference and innovation as well as cliché and trademark". Although all the tracks came up with "cool ideas", some of them had musical lengths. The online magazine whiskey-soda.de characterizes the music as "great melancholic melodies in a framework of classic metal and progressive rock, loosened up by old-school riff rock", which gets better with every listen. Robert Fröwein from the Austrian online magazine stormbringer.at is critical of the album, describing it as a "lukewarm rehash of the much stronger, more expressive predecessor", saying that the album is not good enough for the "biggest metal band on the planet".
Questions and Answers
Q: Who released the album, The Final Frontier?
A: Iron Maiden released the album, The Final Frontier.
Q: When was the album announced?
A: The album was announced on 4 March 2010, along a concert tour.
Q: Where was the album recorded?
A: The album was recorded in The Bahamas.
Q: Who produced The Final Frontier?
A: The album was produced by Kevin Shirley.
Q: When was The Final Frontier available for purchase?
A: The album began being sold on 17 August 2010.
Q: How well did The Final Frontier sell?
A: The album sold very well, being the most popular album in 21 countries when it went on sale, as well as being one of the top five most popular albums in eight other countries.
Q: What is the title of Iron Maiden's album?
A: The title of Iron Maiden's album is The Final Frontier.
