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Release Date: May 24th, 2011
Review Date: May 15th, 2011
Record Label: UME
My rating:
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Disc 1
Disc 2 |
As a follow up to their hugely successful 15th studio album 'The Final Frontier' which was released last year, Iron Maiden are offering a brand new 2-disc compilation album titled 'From Fear To Eternity'. As the title suggests, this album chronicles the band's recent musical history and includes classics from each of the eight studio albums that were released in the 1990-2010 period. After listening to the 23-song collection from start to finish, I can safely say that this is a release well worth the purchase for an Iron Maiden newbie.
The cover artwork isn't quite as good as those on past compilation releases like "Edward The Great" and "Somewhere Back In Time", but it represents the music very well as it consists of elements from the artwork of the eight most recent Iron Maiden albums. I would certainly be interested in checking out how it looks on the triple picture disc vinyl edition of this release instead of the CD that's sitting next to me right now, before making a final judgement on it.
The compilation aptly begins with the best opening track Iron Maiden have released in recent times, "The Wicker Man", ends with "When The Wild Wind Blows", the final track on Iron Maiden's latest release and offers a whole range of quintessential tunes in between. I am certainly satisfied with the overall song selection and I feel each of the eight studio albums in the spotlight here have been excellently represented by their respective best tunes. "Fear Of The Dark" and the three Blaze Bayley-era songs have been included in the form of live versions performed by the Bruce Dickinson-fronted line-up. Out of these, "Sign Of The Cross", "The Clansman" and "Fear Of The Dark" are from the Rock In Rio concert during the Brave New World tour in 2001, and after having watched that DVD hundreds of times, literally, I could identify these tunes straightaway. "Man On The Edge" is the B-side live version that was included in "The Wicker Man" single. The only thing I would change about the track selection is the fact that not enough love has been shown to Virtual XI, a hugely underrated album from the Maiden catalog. Hence I would replace "Rainmaker" with a song of similar tempo and duration from the Virtual XI album, "Futureal".
The cynical fans would say, "What is the need for this release when we have everything already?" Well, the simple answer to that question is, this release is not at all intended for a long-time fan, based on the fact that there's nothing on the album that isn't already released. This is for people who have discovered Iron Maiden very recently, perhaps after seeing them in concert for the first time on the completed portion of the Final Frontier World Tour, and haven't started buying the original studio albums yet. This is a great release for such people to grab on to. This should also be a worthwhile purchase for people who don't have the recent Maiden albums in their collection. As for older fans, it's just another chance to hold on to a new release, that is if you still are a believer in buying physical copies. As a long-time fan whether you choose to buy this or just compile the playlist in your media player to create a similar effect, it certainly gives you an opportunity to rediscover your love for Maiden, as I found out for myself. If by any chance this turns out to be the set list for the band's next tour, I will literally lose my mind.
A worthwhile release clearly aimed at Iron Maiden newbies, "From Fear To Eternity" comes across as an excellently comprehensive account of the latter half of the band's incredible career.
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