The Final Frontier

The Final Frontier is the fifteenth album on which Iron Maiden, using a cosmic air, long song construction and layered triple guitars, draws metal like a grand adventure tale. Rather than exploding at once, a late-Maiden construction that carefully stacks tension within the songs and opens a large vista toward the finale runs throughout. From “Satellite 15... The Final Frontier,” with its experimental introduction, and the catchy single “El Dorado” to the lyrical “Coming Home” and the grandeur of the near-eleven-minute epic “When the Wild Wind Blows,” every song holds a deep immersion, while a long piece like “Isle of Avalon” heightens the album’s scale. It is a record where the more you follow the repeating motifs and the precise development of the long pieces, the more clearly the grand scale of the whole comes into view. It is a type of record to savor carefully over time, rather than flashy hooks. On which a veteran band fully displays its mature expressive power and adventurous spirit, it is an engaging late-period work.