Frank Sinatra started losing the power of his voice at 50, Vegas odds have Michael Jackson's nose finally falling off at 50 and my neighbor Earl died at 50. Whats that have to do with the price of tea in China you ask? Nothing however when you realize that the members of Iron Maiden are either 50 + or pushing 50 it makes the rest of us look like chumps. Releasing the new album A Matter Of Life And Death in September of 2006 Iron Maiden proved to the world that age is nothing but a number. Easily their best release since 1988's classic Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Iron Maiden finally broke the top 10 US Charts for an album release. The topics in A Matter Of Life And Death seem to surround war which only makes sense as the title hardly suggests songs written about flowers and goldfish.

At any rate, the album kicks off with "Different Worlds" which finds Bruce Dickinson in rare form and the 3 prong guitar attack kicked up. As usual Steve Harris' bass lines are audible through the whole song.

Following "Different Worlds" we come to a musical Call to arms in the form of "These Colors Don't Run" Though it starts off a bit slow this song ROCKS! I wanted to go out and enlist the second this song ended. This band has been around long enough to know how to catch its listeners off guard and that's what this song did.

"Brighter than a Thousand Sons" continues the trend that "These Colors Don't Run" started in that it starts of slow but 45 seconds into the song Maiden remembers that they are Maiden and turn this into one of the best songs on the album. The guitar riffs are classic Maiden and the songwriting is compact and brilliant.

"The Pilgrim" in my opinion is the best song on the album. "Brighter than a Thousand Sons" is up there but this song takes it ALL! The opening riff is possibly one of the greatest riffs of all time. About a minute into the song it takes on a bit of a middle eastern slant musically which is definitely a new piece of the Maiden puzzle but it comes off sounding amazing.

"The Longest Day" is a haunting musical journey through D-Day. The song is a pretty traditional Maiden metal song but the lyrics are haunting and emotionally charged. "Oh the water is red/with the blood of the dead/but Im still alive/Pray to God that I survive. Though it's a metal song the lyrical content still choked me up. Steve Harris did an excellent job with the lyrics and the music. This will one day be counted among the Maiden classics.

"Out of the Shadows" is an interesting song. It's a slower tempo than most Maiden songs and while it's one of the weaker songs on the album it still holds it's own and contains an excellent vocal performance by Bruce Dickinson.

The "Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" was being hailed as the next "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner." Sadly, it falls short of it's pre-release hype but only because it seems to go on forever. Coming in at 7 minutes and 21 seconds the song actually feels like it's a 10 minute piece. The guitar work is excellent especially in the beginning after the first two verses. The only downfall as I said earlier is that it's too long. Shorten it by a minute or two and you very well might have a rival to "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner".

The longest song on the album award goes to 'For the Greater Good of God". This is definitely one of the weaker songs on the album and at 9 minutes and 24 seconds in length it can become quite tedious towards the end. Still, that being said, it's a decent Iron Maiden offering even if it will never be mentioned in the most memorable Iron Maiden songs list.

For whatever reason Iron Maiden decided that having all but one song under 5 minutes in length would be a good idea. Unfortunately there can be too much of a good thing. "Lord of Light" is the WEAKEST song on this album and all 7 minutes and 23 seconds of this song prove it. Yes it still rocks out and the guitar work is good but it's all stuff we've heard before. This song alone kept this record from being a 10 out of 10.

"The Legacy" clocks in at 9 minutes and 20 seconds and it is worth listening to every second of it. This is a very strong offering to close out the album and while it is long it is also beautiful. Its not your typical Maiden song which makes it great but the majority of it is instrumental so the Over-the-hill gang can really show off their musicianship. Excellent song and unlike nose hair you can never have too much of it.

In closing this cd kicks ass! Pay no attention to age folks because these guys do it better than most bands on the planet.