''The Final Frontier'' is the fifteenth studio album by English
heavy metal band
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
. It was released on 13 August 2010 in Germany,
Austria and Finland, 17 August in North America,
18 August in Japan,
and 16 August worldwide.
At 76 minutes and 34 seconds, it is the band's third-longest studio album to date,
a duration surpassed only by 2015's ''
The Book of Souls
''The Book of Souls'' is the sixteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released in 4 September 2015. It is the band's first studio double album, and also their longest to date, with a total length of 92 minutes and 11 s ...
'' and 2021's ''
Senjutsu''.
Melvyn Grant
Melvyn "Mel" Grant (born 1944) is an English artist and illustrator. Trained traditionally, he originally worked with oil paints, but in the late 1990s Grant switched to creating most of his work digitally with a digitizing tablet and the software ...
, a long-time contributor to the band's artwork, created the cover art.
It is the band's final album to be released through
EMI Records
EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...
, marking the end of their 30-year relationship. It is also the last album to use the band's alternate logo. While not a concept album, themes of exploration, expectation, and discovery are frequent throughout. ''The Final Frontier'' is the band's first studio album in nearly four years, making it one of the longest gaps between albums.
The album received favourable reviews from critics and peaked at No. 1 in 28 countries. This included the United Kingdom, where it became the band's fourth release to top the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
following 1982's ''
The Number of the Beast'', 1988's ''
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
''Seventh Son of a Seventh Son'' is the seventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 11 April 1988 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and in the United States by Capitol Records. Like '' The Number of the ...
'' and 1992's ''
Fear of the Dark
Fear of the dark is a common fear or phobia among children and, to a varying degree, adults. A fear of the dark does not always concern darkness itself; it can also be a fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by darkness. Some degree of ...
''. On top of this, ''The Final Frontier'' also charted at No. 4 in the United States, marking their highest placement on the
''Billboard'' 200 until it was surpassed by 2021's ''Senjutsu'' at No. 3, in addition to gaining the band their first
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
in the
Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
category for the song "
El Dorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
", released as a free download on 8 June 2010.
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
released the album in most of the world, while in the United States it was released jointly by
Universal Music Enterprises
Universal Music Enterprises (UME, stylized as UMe) is the catalogue division of Universal Music Group. It includes Hip-O Records, Universal Chronicles, and UM3 or UMC (which is the international division of the company). Under various divisions, ...
and
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
– the successor to the
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is as of 2013 a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest m ...
/
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
joint venture that had previously controlled the Iron Maiden catalogue in North America.
Overview
On 22 April 2009, during a ''Rock Radio'' interview promoting ''
Iron Maiden: Flight 666'', drummer
Nicko McBrain
Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982. Having played in small pub bands since 1966 from the age of 14, McBrain paid his bills after grad ...
mentioned that
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...
had booked studio time for early 2010. On 8 June, the album artwork, release date, and track listing were revealed, along with a free download of the track "
El Dorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
."
The album was released as a regular CD, an
iTunes LP
iTunes LP (referred to in pre-launch press by the code name Cocktail) is a format for interactive album artwork introduced by Apple Inc. on September 9, 2009. It is similar to the CMX format being developed by the three major record labels, a ...
, a digital download, a vinyl
picture disc
Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at lea ...
, and a limited collector's "Mission Edition", containing interviews and a game entitled ''Mission II: Rescue & Revenge''.
The North American leg of their
tour in support of the album started in Dallas, Texas on 9 June 2010,
with a European tour beginning in Dublin on 30 July. As these dates preceded the record's release, "El Dorado" was the only new song played in 2010.
The full album tour commenced in Moscow on 11 February 2011, and would see the band visit South East Asia, Australia, South America and Florida, as well as returning to Europe. The tour led to the release of a live album and video, entitled ''
En Vivo!'', which was released in March 2012.
Prior to its release, bassist and band founder
Steve Harris was quoted as saying that he imagined the band would release a total of fifteen studio albums. The title, which also shares its name with its supporting tour and
opening track
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...
, fuelled further rumours that ''The Final Frontier'' would be Iron Maiden's last, however the band members admitted they hoped to make further releases and continue touring in the future. Harris in particular has stated that "if there's time and we all wanna do it, then why not? It would be sad if we don't make another album, and sad for the fans too", while vocalist
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who has been the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1981 to 1993 and 1999–present. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage ...
admits that the title was largely mischief.
In June 2010, Dickinson stated that he thought up the album's title 15 months previously: "I just thought 'We should call the next album ''The Final Frontier''!' because it sort of is ... It could be, but it might not be! It means we can go back to space for an Eddie and things like that, and we haven't done that for a while. It has a certain romance to it."
Production
On 2 November 2009,
Janick Gers
Janick Robert Gers (; born 27 January 1957) is an English musician who is best known as one of the three guitarists in heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He initially joined to replace Adrian Smith, but remained in the band after Smith rejoined. G ...
confirmed to
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
that the band already had new material written and would head to Paris, France, to start composing and rehearsing the bulk of the new album.
According to Dickinson, "we had probably the least amount of preparation we've ever had, which is bizarre because it's the longest and most complicated record of all of them."
After taking time off for Christmas, recording commenced in January at
Compass Point Studios
Compass Point Studios was a music recording studio in the The Bahamas, Bahamas, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. The concept of the studio was of a recording facility supported by in-house sets of artists, musici ...
, Nassau, Bahamas, with
Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley (born 29 June 1960), also known as The Caveman, is a South African music producer, engineer and mixer for many artists,Spencer et al, (2007Shirley, Kevinentry. Retrieved 4 February 2010. such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, ...
producing.
This was the first time the band returned to the Bahamas since they last recorded at Compass Point in the 1980s, to which Dickinson remarked:
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.
After a month in Nassau, the production was moved to Malibu, California, where the songs were mixed and additional vocals were recorded.
On 6 April, Shirley told
Blabbermouth.net
Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...
that he had completed mixing the album,
and commented on the final stages of its production on 6 May; "Bruce Dickinson flew in for a few days and sang all his parts before flying off to the four corners of the globe and Steve Harris stayed behind to finish the record with me. He's pretty hands-on like that.
Adrian Smith
Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio.
Smith grew up in London ...
uitarsdropped in from time to time to hear stuff, and like in any band, not everyone has the same end result in mind, but we get there."
Songs
The album is the fourth for which
Steve Harris receives writing credits for every track, following ''
Killers'' (1981), ''
Brave New World
''Brave New World'' is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarch ...
'' (2000), and ''
A Matter of Life and Death'' (2006), although the final track, "When the Wild Wind Blows", is the only song which he wrote on his own. Adrian Smith explains that, in recent years, Harris has become "more into writing lyrics and melodies and arranging" other members' tracks and only "brings in one or two songs" of his own.
"
El Dorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
" was released as a free digital download on the band's official website on 8 June and went on to win in the
Best Metal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...
category at the
2011 Grammy Awards. According to Smith, the song's lyrics, penned by Dickinson, are based on the
economic recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
which began in 2007 and comment on "people's expectations of a better life" and how "the rug
aspulled out from under them" as a result of lending.
The album's first and only music video, containing the latter half of "
Satellite 15... The Final Frontier", was filmed in Rendlesham Forest, south-east England, and released on 13 July. Although the album has no official singles, both "El Dorado" and the second part of "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" (along with its music video) were issued as radio promos before the album's release. "Coming Home" was also released as a radio single on 27 October, featuring an alternative "radio edit" version of the song.
In a 1 July 2010 interview with ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', guitarist
Dave Murray commented that the album mixes "straight-ahead, uptempo rock songs with good grooves with some other tracks that are kind of longer and more complex", referring particularly to "When the Wild Wind Blows", the band's seventh longest song after "
Empire of the Clouds", "
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (originally ''The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere'') is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–1798 and published in 1798 in the first edition of ''Lyrical Ballad ...
", "
The Red and the Black
''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (; meaning ''The Red and the Black'') is a historical psychological novel in two volumes by Stendhal, published in 1830. It chronicles the attempts of a provincial young man to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing t ...
", "
The Parchment", "
Hell on Earth" and "
Sign of the Cross
Making the sign of the cross ( la, signum crucis), or blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with ...
": Interviewed for the ''
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...
'' on 14 July, guitarist
Janick Gers
Janick Robert Gers (; born 27 January 1957) is an English musician who is best known as one of the three guitarists in heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He initially joined to replace Adrian Smith, but remained in the band after Smith rejoined. G ...
discussed the album's overall sound: "We're taking it to extremes... the one song we released
El Dorado"isn't indicative of the rest of the album—there's so many different feels and ways of playing on the album. We go through some different attitudes and take you to different places. There's a lot of long thematic tunes on this album. And some very varied music." Speaking to ''
Classic Rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
'' in June 2010, Bruce Dickinson stated that "This one is probably the greatest departure from our sound. It's been happening incrementally since ''Brave New World''. That's great, after doing it all for this long, to still be figuring stuff out. We could just be bored by it all, but we're obviously not."
Although "El Dorado" would be the only new song featured in the 2010 leg of The Final Frontier World Tour, "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier," "The Talisman," "Coming Home" and "When The Wild Wind Blows" were added to the setlist in 2011. "El Dorado", "Coming Home" and "When the Wild Wind Blows" were later featured on the "Best Of" album ''
From Fear to Eternity''.
Critical reception
At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the album has a score of 71 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
''
Classic Rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
'' praised it as "densely layered and substantial", as well as "beautifully paced and disarmingly complex" and "a fresh take on a sound that has admirably withstood three decades of fashions and fads".
''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
'' called it "a record that'll still bowl you over in a decade's time"
and
MusicRadar
MusicRadar is a music website that offers information pertaining to artists and their music. The site features music gear news and reviews, artist interviews and online music and production tutorials. It is owned by British media company Future ...
stated that "Iron Maiden have created a work full of hypnotic excitement, unconventional structure and dizzying vision...the group have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams."
''
Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles
''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'' (''BW&BK'') is a Canadian heavy metal magazine. Although based in Toronto, Canada, ''BW&BK'' features writers from the US, Germany and the UK, allowing the magazine to represent metal music from an internationa ...
'' called it "a thrilling and deeply satisfying glimpse into a brave new future for the people's metal band,"
while the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
praised the album as "a remarkable achievement", complimenting the band for "no compromises, just complexities and challenges and more moments of brilliance than perhaps even they thought they still had left in them".
'', deemed it "a demanding album, but one that most Maiden fans are going to absolutely adore".
commented, "''The Final Frontier'' takes time, it takes effort, but it's overwhelmingly brilliant. They haven't just served up the easy option – that would have been boring for us and, more importantly you feel, boring for them."
considered the record "in some ways ... the most ambitious album Iron Maiden has ever made, a 76-minute opus."
Many critics commented on where ''The Final Frontier'' rates in comparison to the band's past releases, with
agreed with this, stating, "''The Final Frontier'' still brings Iron Maiden closer to their aesthetic legacy and triumphant year 2000 rebirth than its two predecessors."
, on the other hand, praised it as "better than ''Brave New World''", explaining that "this is the reason
rejoined the band, the fulfillment of a decade of promise, and arguably the first time that
'' cinematic vision has been backed up with consistently strong songwriting, spot-on production, and a fire-in-the-belly performance from the whole band".
'' were more critical of the release, commenting that "with four songs alone clocking in at 40 minutes, ''The Final Frontier'' becomes less an exercise in experimentation than old-fashioned endurance, and the hushed-intro-bombastic-chorus dynamic begins to grate a little".
and don't rise again for another half an hour", although going on to add that "the epic 11-minute closer, 'When the Wild Wind Blows' ... shows the subtlety and craftsmanship of the four songs that preceded it, but adds an emotional depth that they seemed to lack".
The album was ranked No. 1, No. 3, and No. 7 respectively in ''Metal Hammer'', ''Kerrang!'' and ''
s lists of the best albums of 2010.
The song "El Dorado" won the band a Grammy award for "Best Metal Performance".
.
*Terry Manning – studio technician (Compass Point Studios)
*Brent Spear – studio technician (The Cave)
*James McCullagh – assistant (The Cave)
*Philip Scholes – SSL Duality technician
*
*Andrew Yap – art direction, design
*Anthony Dry – art direction, design
*Rob Wallis – art direction, design
*
often requested that fans put the album to No. 1 in the respective country's music charts,
which it did in 28 countries worldwide. It is the first Iron Maiden release to debut at No. 1 in the
'', having sold 44,385 copies in its first week. In addition, ''The Final Frontier'' debuted at No. 4 in the
with 63,000 units sold, the highest position the band had ever reached in the United States.
By the end of its first week, over 800,000 copies had been shipped to retailers worldwide.