A Matter of Life and Death is not a concept album, but an album with a collection of songs with a common theme running through them. Only the opening track "Different World" runs under five minutes in length, and while this means nothing if the songs are relevant and don't get bogged down in a boring repeated riff movement or lyrical verse, that can't be said to be the case in every instance on this album. One of the major problems on this album is trying to find a song that you could consider to be a stand-alone, one you would be happy to individualise and put on a playlist of mixed songs and artists. Most Maiden albums are full of such songs, ones you can identify with away from the album they are apart of. In other words, once the world tour promoting this album was completed, how many songs here would find themselves on future set lists?
"Different World" is an upbeat, up-tempo song to kick off the album in the right frame of mind. Still, there is something about the track that just doesn't sit well with me. I don't know what it is, but perhaps I do. I don't like the way the chorus is sung. Yep, I know that sounds ridiculous, but it seems so... plain! So ordinary! I don't know how best to explain it, but it doesn't generate the kind of excitement and adrenaline that most opening track on an Iron Maiden album tend to do. The fifty seconds quiet instrumental break at the beginning of "These Colours Don't Run" jumps into a decent song highlighted by Bruce's vocals, which tend to paint over what is a quite boring (but no doubt necessary) instrumental break in the middle of the song, which is only punctuated by the guitar solos. This is complemented by a vocal crowd-inducing "whooooooa" section that has a very The X Factor sound to it, from "Sign of the Cross", before fading out into the same sort of instrumental we heard at the start of the song - and not for the last time on the album. Because yes, the next song also starts with a quiet section, with both Bruce and the instruments building up to when we break into the real start of the song after forty seconds. "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" is probably one of the best moments on the album, but it too suffers from the length of the song and the similarities of the riffs through the song. It also has the detracting feature where the repeated line of "Out of the darkness, brighter than a thousand suns" just goes beyond the normal. In one section in the first half of the song, that phrase comes out a total of twelve times with nothing to break it up. This then happens again to finish the song, being repeated another eight times, before the instrumental at the start is again tagged onto the end of the song.
"The Pilgrim" has the instantly recognisable Janick Gers guitar riff on it, the one that can be most identified with his first albums with the band, No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark. The song "Fear is the Key" is what I am reminded of during parts of this song, where the guitar sounds like it has been ripped right from that song - not the whole song mind you, just snatches of music. "The Longest Day" starts off softly in both music and vocals, with both building through the first two minutes of the song to reach a crescendo when Bruce breaks out to his better known register. Like most of the album, there are passages in this song that can be described and enjoyed like the best moments of the band's history, but are mixed with other moments that just feel... unworthy. And guess what? It ends with a quiet clear piece as well! "Out of the Shadows" has an uncomfortable ring similar to that terrible travesty of an Iron Maiden song "Wasting Love". It is not the same theme nor the same genre, but like the previous song there are snatches of harmony that just hark back in similar fashion to that song. It may not surprise you to find that I'm therefore not a huge fan of this song either.
So what is it about the long, quiet, instrumental introduction to songs that has begun to creep into Maiden's music? Let's take a look at "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" as the example here. Apart from the fact that we have Bruce singing very malevolently, there just isn't anything happening at all. It isn't until bang on the two minute mark of the track that we have the song really break into existence. That's two minutes where as a fan and a listener of the album we wait around twiddling our thumbs before we can start investing in the song itself, with air guitar or singing along with the lyrics. But then, even when we reach this section, we have what is essentially the same underpinning guitar riff and drums being played for almost three minutes with Bruce speak-singing his lyrics over the top. Then we have a section for the guitar solos, which is OK without being extravagant, before we return to the same lyrical prose to finish the song, which actually concludes with twenty seconds of the same sort of stuff that sprouted from the beginning of the track. What beggars belief is that this song was also chosen as the first single from the album (albeit in an age where singles mean very little anymore). we have a similar start to the next song, "For the Greater Good of God". It's an instrumental beginning, before Bruce joins in again and sings quietly (and beautifully I might add) over the top, before finally ninety seconds in we break into the heavier music, and the passion in the vocals carries us along for the remainder of the song, and again we finish as we started. "Lord of Light" gives us the same sort of action, a quiet acoustically set beginning of one minute and forty seconds, breaking into the song, before concluding with the same beginning as before. "The Legacy" does the same thing again, but the start of this song stretches a somewhat interminable three minutes and ten seconds of acoustic guitar and some other tricks and bobs before the songs actually gets moving. And I find this the most disappointing aspect, because once it does start this is a really good song. But no, we need to have this epic kind of acoustic start to create an atmosphere into the "start" of the song, which is then also repeated in the final thirty seconds to conclude the song, and the album.
Do I understand it? No, I do not. Does this enhance the tracks, or improve it, or even be necessary? No it does not. Could the tracks have been improved by shortening or discarding those moments from each song? Yes, I really think so. I don't know how we have come to this point in the band's history where this is now the normal, not just an occasional dalliance. I really think it is too much. Surely the band, or at least the band's producer, would have notice that the majority of songs here start the same way as they finish? Couldn't there have been a way to avoid that? Of course, perhaps this is exactly what the band was looking for, which if this is the case, I find maybe even a little more difficult.
Reading through all of this, I guess you would believe that I really dislike this album. That is not the complete truth, but some elements can only ring true. I certainly judge Iron Maiden albums tougher than most of my music collection, because they have been so brilliant for so long, and they are the front runners of any comparison of other bands and their albums. The truth will always be that "an average Iron Maiden album is almost always better than a brilliant album from another artist", and this is the case here. As much as I don't really like the way the songs are written and structured here, when you hear Bruce Dickinson singing you can forgive just about anything.
Rating: Somewhere there's someone dying, in a foreign land, Meanwhile the world is crying, stupidity of man. 4/5
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