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Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death



7.9 | 1609 votes |
Release date: 8 September 2003
Style: Heavy metal

Owners:

1799 have it
68 want it
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01. Wildest Dreams
02. Rainmaker
03. No More Lies
04. Montségur
05. Dance Of Death
06. Gates Of Tomorrow
07. New Frontier
08. Paschendale
09. Face In The Sand
10. Age Of Innocence
11. Journeyman

Featured in "Getting Into: Iron Maiden"

Additional info
Produced by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley & Steve Harris.
Mixing & recording by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley.
Engineering by Kevin "Caveman" Shirley, Drew Griffiths & Brad "The Brew" Spence.
Mastering by Tim Young.
Cover art & photography by Dave Patchett & Simon Fowler.

"Journeyman" is Iron Maiden's first ever fully acoustic track. "Face In The Sand" is their first song to feature double bass drumming.

The computer-generated cover art for the album was provided by David Patchett, but he asked to be removed from the credits because he was not satisfied with the result. The version used was actually a prototype provided by Patchett, but the band decided to use it in its incomplete form.

Guest review by
The Silent Man
Rating:
8.5
Dance Of Death. What a bad title. What a bad cover. What strange titles. Push play: what a banal opening! The single Wildest Dreams is one of the worst songs of this album. Why such a bad choice? Skip track and listen to the others. This album is great. I loved Brave New World but this one seems to be innovative and even better than his predecessor.

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published 18.09.2003 | Comments (8)

Staff review by
Pierre Tombale
Rating:
9.0
Iron Maiden's 2003 release was something that by the first listen didn't convince me much. I even went this far thinking to myself Bruce Dickinson should have rather continued with his solo career, but luckily I've waited long enough to change my mind.

Concluding there must be something entirely different to previous releases (which was also true for the Brave New World album) to make a die hard Iron Maiden (incl. Bruce Dickinson) fan shake his had (and I don't mean bang of course). The first thing that disturbed me was the first single ... It sounded rather poor and still does in comparison to the rest of the album. I mean it evokes the right feeling, continuing on paths of Brave New World, but on a much lower level and yes it took me some time to get into B. N. W., too... Anyway the second song' Rainmaker', that is still my favourite on the album, takes the opposite direction, entirely satisfying from the start, somehow something that I expected to be and it came out just right (thinking of nothing in particular though) the result is Rainmaker, an awesome song. Then at first I found other tracks to be rather lame and unsatisfying (for sure, I wouldn't have to state that I changed my mind, would I?). This category was filled by 'Dance Of Death' and the tracks from 'Paschendale' to the last song 'Journeyman'. I simply couldn't find the relation to older what I've heard before, indeed I rather thought, this is not really Maiden, this is some band of old dudes that will retire in the very near future.

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published 14.09.2004 | Comments (5)

Guest review by
Hyvaarin
Rating:
6.0
Singer Bruce Dickinson's return to Iron Maiden in 1999 was unsurprisingly met with a great deal of anticipation. Could his return bring the Irons out of the arguable rut into which they had fallen during the Blaze Bailey years? The energy and conviction of 2000's 'Brave New World' suggested that Iron Maiden were very much headed for the top once again. Unfortunately, this momentum was not to be sustained by the 2003 follow-up 'Dance Of Death'.

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published 19.02.2007 | Comments (16)

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Comments

Comments: 29   Visited by: 1281 users
22.12.2010 - 01:32
Rating: 7
JÄY
Metal slave
Like it better than Brave New World .... im surprised at the rating gap
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20.04.2011 - 13:58
*MetalSlave*

Written by Guest on 20.04.2011 at 13:28
When i checked this track, I felt like I was dancing in hell.
Hail Satan!!!!

LOL..!
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11.02.2012 - 20:52
Rating: 8
Poirot

The cover is terrible, but it has awesome songs in it ! Dance of Death, No More Lies and Rainmaker are the best here IMO.
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11.02.2012 - 22:04
JohnDoe
Account deleted
This album has become one of my least favourite IM albums with Bruce; it got old so fast. Only great song is Paschendale. Most of the songs are repetitive and drag on for too long.
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12.02.2012 - 03:38
RavenKing

Written by Guest on 11.02.2012 at 22:04

Most of the songs are repetitive and drag on for too long.


That's the case with lots of songs since "The X Factor".
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They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink
They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end
But everybody's only looking out for themselves
And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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26.03.2012 - 01:21
Cuca Beludo
Account deleted
The first three tracks are awful, especially "Wildest Dreams."
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26.03.2012 - 02:31
Rating: 4
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Written by Guest on 26.03.2012 at 01:21
The entire album is awful.

Fix'd.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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14.10.2012 - 00:01
LordHypnos
Account deleted
This is when Maiden became unoriginal...
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14.10.2012 - 23:04
Rating: 7
JÄY
Metal slave
Written by Guest on 14.10.2012 at 00:01

This is when Maiden became unoriginal...

What do you mean by unoriginal?
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15.10.2012 - 23:56
LordHypnos
Account deleted
Written by JÄY on 14.10.2012 at 23:04

Written by Guest on 14.10.2012 at 00:01

This is when Maiden became unoriginal...

What do you mean by unoriginal?

Throughout this album, some riffs sound the same, it's like they plagiarized themselves over and over... And the same happens in the next album, A Matter Of Life And Death. I didn't listen to Final Frontier yet, but I think it probably sounds the same. I didn't even bother to listen to it...
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16.10.2012 - 07:02
Rating: 7
JÄY
Metal slave
Written by Guest on 15.10.2012 at 23:56

I didn't even bother to listen to it...

I would advise you to keep it that way
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19.10.2012 - 15:49
LordHypnos
Account deleted
Written by JÄY on 16.10.2012 at 07:02

Written by Guest on 15.10.2012 at 23:56

I didn't even bother to listen to it...

I would advise you to keep it that way

Say, JÄY, is my English good or bad? I want to know... No jokes, please
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19.10.2012 - 18:46
Rating: 7
JÄY
Metal slave
Written by Guest on 19.10.2012 at 15:49

Written by JÄY on 16.10.2012 at 07:02

Written by Guest on 15.10.2012 at 23:56

I didn't even bother to listen to it...

I would advise you to keep it that way

Say, JÄY, is my English good or bad? I want to know... No jokes, please

I assumed it was your first language... so pretty good, dude
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20.10.2012 - 00:05
LordHypnos
Account deleted
Written by JÄY on 19.10.2012 at 18:46

Written by Guest on 19.10.2012 at 15:49

Written by JÄY on 16.10.2012 at 07:02

Written by Guest on 15.10.2012 at 23:56

I didn't even bother to listen to it...

I would advise you to keep it that way

Say, JÄY, is my English good or bad? I want to know... No jokes, please

I assumed it was your first language... so pretty good, dude

Thanks! ^^
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12.11.2012 - 22:22
Rating: 7
CobiWan1993
Secundum Filium
Definitely their second weakest 2000s album and the weakest artwork in their entire career (CGI for the lose lol ). However, it's still very solid, with awesome songs like the title track, "Paschendale", "Journeyman", "Gates of Tomorrow", and "Montsegur" heard throughout. It may not be one of Maiden's strongest releases, but when compared to some of the other albums that came out in 2003 (*cough *cough St. Anger *cough *cough), it still stands on it's own as a very good album.
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Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe (Lao Tzu).
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02.03.2013 - 13:20
Rating: 9
Aristarchos

The first 7 tracks are quite boring, but I really love the last 4.
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04.03.2013 - 01:06
Rating: 8
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by JÄY on 14.10.2012 at 23:04

Written by Guest on 14.10.2012 at 00:01

This is when Maiden became unoriginal...

What do you mean by unoriginal?


when people get old they becaim, but still for age 40 and such time and glory pass buy they still are orginal. Good album, and seems band find a way put best 2 songs in 1 and 2 at album ... well those are strongest there
I like thius better than Brave New World actualy
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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04.03.2013 - 11:10
Rating: 8
Ellrohir
Heaven Knight
This is where i started with Iron Maiden...still remember seeing "Wildest Dreams" video in music tv and thinking its pretty weird (was like 15 or so)
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My rest seems now calm and deep
Finally I got my dead man sleep


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16.07.2014 - 06:05
Rating: 10
mikeprado30

This is my favorite XXI century's Maiden album. More epic than ever and every song is majestic and magical. No More Lies, DANCE OF DEATH, Montségur, Paschendale, Face in the Sand and The Journeyman are EXCELLENT!!!
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BARDS WE ARE, BARDS WE WILL BE!
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24.09.2015 - 04:09
Rating: 9
Nicko's Nose

One of my favorite Maiden albums. So fcking underrated! Paschendale might be the best Maiden song since the reunion!
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08.07.2016 - 20:40
Rating: 8
majormalfunction

Overall I like this album, none of the songs are bad and there are some clear highlights (Paschendale, Face in the Sand and those guitar harmonies at 4 minutes into Montségur) but the album is way too long and the production is shit, the guitar tone is weak. Enjoyable but weaker than Brave New World and AMOLAD.
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Everything's twice as bright with money in your hands
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05.01.2017 - 01:46
Rating: 8
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
After re listen previuse and this oen actually I say this is and last one are powerful albums, not classic maiden but still band delivered powerful peace, a bit diferent musical, slower, band gets older but still all was in style
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...
26.08.2017 - 19:52
Rating: 4
Vinther1991

A rare misfire in Maiden's discography. The album is so packed with pretentious guitar segments that don't support the songs they are part of. The production is so overblown and tasteless that it alone almost ruins the record completely. It starts out with the uninspired Wildest Dreams, which is one of the most tedious singles Maiden has made, much in the nature of many of the other singles from the "reunion"-era. It continues through the powerful, although very repetitive Rainmaker, then progresses through a strong epic, No More Lies, which unfortunately suffers a lot from the production, then it comes with it's mandatory, stereotypical, generic, Iron Maiden historical track (Montsegur), before it finally hits a home-run with the melodic title track. Which is indeed a fantastic song.

What follows though is the awful, awful Gates of Tomorrow, which might be one of Maidens absolute worst songs. A throwback to the style Maiden practised in the early 90's, of course including a forced raw performance by Dickinson. Then comes Nicko McBrain's only writing credit on a studio album, New Frontier, and frankly we would be better off without a Nicko McBrain writing credit, cause the song is absolute trash, with a hammy chorus. Then comes track 8, the popular Pascendale, which is fortunately as good as people say, interesting structure with gorgeous guitar segments. Stylistically it's almost a teaser for Maiden's next album.

After Pascendale it's all downhill again. Face in the Sand is a passable filler. Age of Innocence is a disaster, with some of the worst Steve Harris lyrics to date. The Album closer, Journeyman, is passable, but overall a pretty uninspired ballad.

Auch, after Brave New World promised an Iron Maiden with renewed energy and lots of ideas. Dance of the Death makes them sound tired and outdated. Had this been the reunion album, I'm pretty sure I would have prefered Maiden to have kept Blaze Bayley. Because even Virtual XI is a stronger album than this one.
Thanksfully the reunion album is Brave New World and Dance of the Death would be followed by the masterful A Matter of Life and Death.
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11.02.2020 - 20:50
Rating: 9
Metal Rasputin

I remember when this album had just come out and nobody liked it, not even some of the crazier Maiden fans I know. So eventually this album was buried somewhere in time (sic) until I happened to pick it up again and have a listen. At first I disliked it, then I began to discover some finer details I had missed and now after dozen or so times through I have learned to really like it. Maybe the last two or three songs are more average and the production could be better, but that's pretty much it. It's just underrated.

The cover art is one of the ugliest ones I have ever seen in my life, and it gets more ugly the more time passes. I've heard the original artist had much more ambitious plans for the cover, but for some reason they just took the unfinished messy one. I hope they'd fix this issue with the future re-releases of the album.
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You've got a lot of guts. Let's see what they look like!
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11.02.2020 - 21:59
Rating: 8
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Re listen it its not bad album but they 80 haydays are over
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...
03.09.2021 - 08:30
panths

Not the biggest fun of Iron Maiden...but listening them 3 decades now,i must say the vocal are sound to me that they came from Bruce by "forced"....Maybe a few spins and i change my mind...will see.
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08.10.2021 - 06:15
Rating: 7
CobiWan1993
Secundum Filium
Been revisiting every Iron Maiden and this album is still not exactly one of their top tier albums, though it does have some top tier moments sprinkled throughout. Most songs on here don't really grab me to the same extent as the material off of Brave New World, and it doesn't really get going for me until Montsegur, which is a badass and very underrated song with an explosive opening riff, great lyrics and a wicked performance from Bruce.

The title track and Paschendale are phenomenal epics with a great cinematic quality, like I'm watching a movie unfold in my mind. Paschendale especially has one of the best guitar solos I've ever heard from the band and the lyrics about the famous WWI battle foreshadow the heavy war themes of the next album, A Matter of Life and Death. I also love the last song Journeyman, which shows a much softer, acoustic side of the band that we rarely get to see and makes great use of an orchestra, present on some of the longer songs like Paschendale as well.

Many of the other songs just flow through one ear and out the other so there's not much to really say about them, though I thought Age of Innocence was really strange in how it mostly plays in the minor key but then changes into the major key for the chorus, making it sound uncharacteristically "happy" sounding for some reason. I suppose it's meant to be ironic with the bitter subject matter being sung but it's executed in a way that makes it sound rather bizarre and takes me out of the listening experience. it's a middle-to-lower tier album by their standards, but has some particularly high climaxes every now and then.
----
Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe (Lao Tzu).
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27.04.2022 - 21:27
Rating: 4
Vinther1991

My opinion on this album has not changed much the last five years. However, compared to the last 2 Iron Maiden albums, this one almost seems like a masterpiece in comparison. The production on Dance of the Death is very rough and too loud, but I still prefer that to the first-take recordings, essentially non-produced 4 follow-up albums.
Dance of Death's biggest strength is its title track, which I will argue is the best Iron Maiden song since the return of Bruce Dickinson. It is the perfect example of a song that is so well crafted that the parts build seemlessly on each other. It goes from the moody melodic intro to faster and heavier parts later, and the transitions are spot-on.
People also seem to love Paschendale, and it is a solid track, a decent amount of cool riffs and leads, but the vocal melodies are not strong enough to elevate it to true greatness.
Rainmaker is also a highlight, even if slightly repetitive. No More Lies is half-decent. The rest of the tracks range from average to awful
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18.11.2023 - 16:24
Rating: 8
DarkWingedSoul

I like the brave album better, but find this one good as well, only now i finally dived into it. i did not like it when it came out and so it faded into oblivion for years and years... today i span it already 3 times, and i consider it rehabilitated
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