Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Iron Maiden
Label: EMI Records
Release: 2011
Length: CD 1: 1:15:55, CD 2: 1:17:35
Rating: 2/5
Ah well… another Iron Maiden compilation. This time the heavy metal veterans are brightening our day and warming our hearts with yet another needless product, something the boys have been cranking out far too often over the last five years. Since 2005 we’ve been treated to The Essential Iron Maiden (2005), Death On the Road (Live; 2005), Somewhere Back in Time – The Best Of: 1980-1989 (2008), Flight 666 (Live; 2009), and even before those, another useless piece of plastic, the compilation Edward the Great (2002). From Fear to Eternity: The Best of 1990 – 2010 picks up right where the last best-of, Somewhere Back In Time, left off.
The nineties were the most turbulent and darkest decade in Iron Maiden’s history. First, in 1990, Adrian Smith left the band, the brilliant guitarist “to blame” for some of the most recognizable songs in the Maiden catalog, and three years later Dickinson shook the foundations of the world’s biggest heavy metal institution to the core when he quit the band to focus on his solo career (by the way, his solo albums Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding easily steamroll everything his home band put out without him). Before that came No Prayer For the Dying and Fear of the Dark, which signaled a pretty noticeable drop in quality, even though both contain a few phenomenal classics that could easily rank among the very best the Maidens ever did. Meanwhile, most people still slam, criticize and ignore the Iron Maiden era with Blaze Bayley on vocals, which is totally unfair. The fantastic The X Factor at least deserves a high spot on the list of the best Maiden releases. Its deep, dark, almost morbid atmosphere was something new, something we weren’t used to from Harris and co., and Bayley’s velvety deep baritone only made the album’s ambience better. So it’s pretty unfair that the compilation doesn’t have a single song from the The X Factor and Virtual XI era sung by Bayley himself. They pulled a nasty move by pretty much erasing Bayley from the band’s history, since the three tracks from “his” records are covered only by live versions with Dickinson on vocals (which they also did with Di’Anna on Somewhere Back in Time). He sings them, of course, in a way that gives you goosebumps, but the move still leaves a somewhat bitter aftertaste, and even more so because the guys took the easy way out and just borrowed versions already released on the live album Rock in Rio. It also sticks in the throat that there are as many as three tracks from the current record The Final Frontier, which isn’t even a year old yet, but Smallwood knows full well that you strike while the iron is hot. The selection of the remaining tracks is decent, but many of them already came out as singles (Fear of the Dark, The Wicker Man, Rainmaker, No More Lies, …), and picking more rarely heard songs would have made a lot more sense, if the goal of this compilation really is to win over fans and shine a light on the band’s nineties too. The selection from No Prayer… and Fear of the Dark alone could have been much, much better. Thank Eddie they at least didn’t force the boring “epic” The Angel and the Gambler on us.
From Fear to Eternity is yet another Iron Maiden compilation that brings absolutely nothing new or earth-shaking. At least the cover looks nice… Instead of stamping out compilations, Smallwood and the boys could have focused on continuing the excellent documentary series The History of Iron Maiden and getting the band’s wildest period onto film too. Or even better, if Somewhere Back in Time served mainly as promo material for the tour where they played songs from 1980-1989, why not surprise the fans for a change and give us something other than the standard setlist, something you can actually hear on the current compilation. One commendable thing, at least, is that this double disc is available for the price of one, so we get around two hours of good heavy metal at a wallet-friendly price. Still, the ultimate best-of release from the band remains Best of the Beast, which is also the only one truly worth buying. I wanted to end the review with the sentence, “I hope the boys have run out of material for best-of releases by now.” But on second thought, I have no doubt that Smallwood and Harris have a handful more ideas up their sleeves for future compilations… A compilation of war-themed songs, Invaders of The Longest Day, a compilation of literature-inspired songs, To Tame a Mariner, best-of compilations picked personally by the band members, Eddie’s Christmas album, …
Lineup
Bruce Dickinson – vocals
Steve Harris – bass
Nicko McBrain – drums
Dave Murray – guitar
Adrian Smith – guitar
Janick Gers – guitar
Tracklist
CD 1:
1. The Wickerman
2. Holy Smoke
3. El Dorado
4. Paschendale
5. Different World
6. Man On The Edge (Live)
7. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
8. Blood Brothers
9. Rainmaker
10. Sign of the Cross (Live)
11. Brave New World
12. Fear of the Dark
CD 2:
1. Be Quick or Be Dead
2. Tailgunner
3. No More Lies
4. Coming Home
5. The Clansman (Live)
6. For the Greater Good of God
7. These Colours Don’t Run
8. Bring Your Daughter… To The Slaughter
9. Afraid to Shoot Strangers
10. Dance of Death
11. When the Wild Wind Blows
