Iron Maiden
Brave New World

THE REVIEW

Ok, ok, let's take our beautiful copy with anti-radiation tweezers, a precaution but also a symbolic gesture to indicate that with this thing you either live with it or you die by it. After all, the line of previous (1990-2000) Maiden productions gets us used to not allowing for any middle ground.
Remember the previous two flops "Virtual XI" and "The X Factor"? I do, unfortunately for me and for the new London sextet, first plagued by the presence of the unsuitable and embarrassing Blaze Bailey, yes a good singer, but only for those twenty songs of repertoire where you don't need to hit that octave that exposed the flaws of this chameleonic hard-rocker.
But leaving the discussions to their proper venues, I put the CD in the player, albeit with a different spirit compared to when I did the same with the excellent "Piece of Mind", because this is the time that the myth might fall...

Enter the burst of "The Wicker Man", granite and powerful, but it tastes old like an album by Celentano, with theusual muffled riff and overdrive-saturated that yes, impacts, but recalls previous productions. Despite everything, an excellent song, but what can I say, if I didn't know the earlier Maiden, I would have given a few more stars to the whole album.

A nice jolt gives me the decent "Ghost of The Navigator", laid out in some clever tempo changes and in the classic "Verse-Chorus-Interlude-Solo" philosophy. It hits well.

"Brave New World" in my opinion is one of the standout tracks of the album, at first not very fresh, but still nice in its excellent setting that recalls the album's theme. The phrasing is beautiful, the interlude somewhat recalls the old Maiden, and the vocal performance is respectable.

The passionate "Blood Brothers" has an original and authentic scheme, but it falters on the riffing, childish and poorly developed.

After the useless "The Mercenary", comes the beautiful "Dream of Mirrors", haunting in the theme of the text but musically impeccable, with acoustic, electric phrasings and a catchy musical line that becomes heavier as the song minutes pass by.

Building up to the badass "The Fallen Angel", followed by the beautiful and "desert-like" "The Nomad", other songs that have nothing really new.

The concept album line is followed by "Out Of The Silent Planet", muffled (and excellent) semi-ballad, always strong at times, by Maiden tradition.

"The Thin Line Between Love and Hate" I see well as a b-side to forget in a second-rate single, not because it is a bad song, quite the opposite, just because it doesn't fit in an album of this kind.

In essence a good album, much more refined compared to the crude oil in which we navigated in the eighties, perhaps a sign of commercialization to the rarefied rock they shove at us every day, perhaps a sign of musical maturation not to be underestimated. Bold, although not very original, it is perhaps the only non-fan album, who might hate it for the few novelties, but for newcomers looking for experiences, who might love it for obvious reasons.
3/5 well carried.