August 2026 Feature Release - The Guardians Edition

OK, another month rolls by and it falls to me to select the Guardians release this time around. I have gone for Iron Maiden's 2000 album "Brave New World", the album that marked the return of Bruce Dickinson to the band and which, it was hoped, would put them back on track after the less than overwhelming Blaze Bayley years.

As always let us know what you think of it either in a comment below, as a fully fledged review or both.

https://metal.academy/releases/94

While I do think that "Brave New World" righted the ship to an extent following the utterly abysmal Blaze albums & was the strongest Maiden record since 1988's classic "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" record at the time, I can't subscribe to the consensus that it was a return to Iron Maiden's glory days as I've never found it to be more than a 3.5-star record. In fact, I'd take 2006's "A Matter of Life & Death" (3.5/5) over it these days & it's not particularly essential either.

I've done my review, here's its summary:

Like other famous metal bands that have existed for around half a century, the 80s was known as the band's pinnacle of fame and glory, then the 90s was when the quality dropped and gradually withered into forgettable oblivion. And the second half of the decade didn't even involve the widely-revered vocalist Bruce Dickinson whose temporary replacement was Blaze Bayley. Then when Mr. Dickinson came back to the band along with guitarist Adrian Smith, the result for this album is what's been hailed by many as a return to their earlier form of melodic anthems. And they're certainly right about that! The guitar melody and Dickinson's vocal power help perfectly exemplify their sound, and so do the drums and bass. The tracks that range from short bangers to long epics can certainly make a metalhead's day, though a couple off-putting tracks towards the end could've been trimmed or taken out to make a perfect experience. Nonetheless, the album is full of high-energy anthems that have made me understand how essential the band is. For many longtime fans, it is a comeback, but for the newer listeners such as myself, it's indeed a brave new world to explore....

4/5

I had forgotten that I have already reviewed this. "Brave New World" definitely saw Maiden take a turn for the better after their awful 90s run, although this wasn't immediately apparent to me, as I will explain below. Blaze Bayley wasn't the only one to blame either, don't forget that "No Prayer for the Dying" and "Fear of the Dark" were sub-standard offerings and the mighty Maiden were on a downward trajectory long before Blaze took up the mic. For me  "Brave New World" and "A Matter of Life & Death" are really the only post-Eighties Maiden studio albums worth my time now (along with "Paschendale" from "Dance of Death"). Both have filler tracks, but also some genuinely classy stuff too, the first three tracks of both AMoL&D and "Brave New World" alongside BNW's "Nomad" which is one of my favourite latter-day Maiden tracks, are all brilliant. In fact, I really must put myself together an album-length playlist of the best tracks from those three albums. Anyway, here is my review:

Upon my return to metaldom in the late 90s / early 2000s, I thought a safe bet would be one of my old favourites, Iron Maiden, so I purchased their (then) new album Brave New World from my local recorded music emporium. The last "Irons" album I had listened to at this time was Seventh Son, a decent album but one I have always believed is a little overrated, that however is a story for another day. Like someone who's been in a coma for a decade and wakes up expecting everything and everybody to be the same as before, I was extremely disappointed with Brave New World. This was no Powerslave, this was no Piece of Mind or Number of the Beast so what the fuck went wrong with Iron Maiden I asked myself as I threw the CD to the back of the cupboard and acted like it never existed.

Anyway, after 20+ years and the release of possibly Maiden's final album Senjutsu, I decided to revisit this much-maligned (by me) album. I have more perspective on Brave New World now that I am aware of how disastrous the Blaze years were for Maiden and, indeed, how below-par Bruce's previously final album Fear of the Dark was. So with fresh ears and a greater appreciation of where Maiden were as a band at the time (or more accurately where they had been) I have given Brave New World a reappraisal.

Firstly the facts: Bruce's replacement, Blaze Bayley, was out and Bruce was back in. Adrian Smith also returned to the line-up for the first time since 1988's Seventh Son, but Janick Gers (who's addition is the one decent thing to come out of the Blaze era) stayed on making Maiden a triple guitar, six-headed beast of a band.

Well, in truth I really must have been in a foul mood when I first listened to this because I can't now for the life of me see why I was so pissed off with it at the time. It's not perfect for sure and there are a couple of tracks that I find a bit irritating, Blood Brothers especially has a terrible chorus and if it and The Fallen Angel had been exorcised to produce a more concise runtime I think the album would have been all the better for it. But there is some great stuff here too. Wicker Man is a decent opener and I love the longer tracks, Dream of Mirrors, The Nomad and Ghost of the Navigator, all of which are suitably epic in execution. There's some good 'bangers too - Brave New World, Out of the Silent Planet and the title track to name but three. All in all I would now have to renounce my former idiocy and revise my opinion to a considered and conditional thumbs up for Brave New World. It is a worthy successor to Maiden's eighties' output, whilst not quite achieving the same level of metal heaven due to the lack of any earth-shatteringly killer tracks like Hallowed Be Thy Name, The Trooper or Rime of the Ancient Mariner. But it most certainly is not the abject failure I originally had it pegged for.

4/5 [83/100]

Through no conscious effort on my part, I completely missed the Blaze-era albums that Maiden put out in the 90s. The fact that I have never heard or read a good word about that period anywhere has ensured that I have never bothered to find out if I was missing anything at all. I guess I am comfortable for once in not knowing if the criticism was justified or not. As such, listening to Brave New World is essentially me listening to the follow up to Fear of the Dark. Acknowledging that this approach does neglect an important comparator, it is still more than a valid reference to base my review on and arguably is unique amongst the Bayley-bashing that normally goes on.

Fear of the Dark was poor, making up for none of the lost ground that No Prayer for the Dying sacrificed before it. In my review scenario then, if I am not treating Brave New World as a standalone release, it has an easy task. The bar was already low, let’s be honest, before BB entered the fray. Brave New World feels like it would have been a great opportunity to kick on from the duller years and make this a proper reunion album that realised once again the glorious melodies that Maiden had for so many years been able to consistently deliver. And you know what? They almost get there. In fact, no, in fairness they do get there for some of the album. The first three tracks are consistent winners, well-written and hooky as you like. Later, too there are treats like ‘The Mercenary’, ‘The Nomad’ and ‘Out of the Silent Planet’. Whilst I could not go so far as to say the reunion is held together by the same glue that made them such a strong songwriting machine for so many years (Bruce does sound a little disconnected at times), it is encouraging to find some enjoyment from an artist I had all but written off some years before this album had been released.

Consistency is my main gripe with Brave New World. Tracks like ‘Blood Brothers’ and ‘Fallen Angel’ are just not of the same quality as the above-mentioned ones. The terrible closing track is perhaps one of the worst tracks I think Maiden have ever released and I can only guess that they simply had little other material to bring for consideration given the track is frankly laughably bad. Has this album managed to pique my interest into any later releases? Well, yes and no. I won’t be dashing off to jump into Dance of Death by any means but I have been able to take heart from some semblance of quality still being present in one of my teenage go to bands of yesteryear.

3.5/5

Through no conscious effort on my part, I completely missed the Blaze-era albums that Maiden put out in the 90s. The fact that I have never heard or read a good word about that period anywhere has ensured that I have never bothered to find out if I was missing anything at all.

Trust me when I say that you are not missing out in any way. Those two records may well be worst pair I have ever heard by a major metal act. At least by one that I formerly respected. 

Through no conscious effort on my part, I completely missed the Blaze-era albums that Maiden put out in the 90s. The fact that I have never heard or read a good word about that period anywhere has ensured that I have never bothered to find out if I was missing anything at all.

Trust me when I say that you are not missing out in any way. Those two records may well be worst pair I have ever heard by a major metal act. At least by one that I formerly respected. 

Close for me, but I have Judas Priest's "Turbo" and "Ram It Down" even lower - yes even lower than the 'Ripper' Owens' pair.

Close for me, but I have Judas Priest's "Turbo" and "Ram It Down" even lower - yes even lower than the 'Ripper' Owens' pair.

Quoted Sonny

I have to admit that I actually really dig "Turbo" (4/5) & I don't mind "Ram It Down" (3.5/5) either. The Priest records that I struggle with are "Jugulator" (3/5), "Demolition" (2.5/5), "Nostradamus" (3/5) & "Redeemer of Souls" (3/5).