A Matter Of Experience

Each one of their albums is considered a major event for heavy metal everywhere. It's no different with "A Matter Of Life And Death", Iron Maiden's 14th studio album.
Ever since Bruce Dickinson returned to the band in 2000, their releases were considered to be the long-delayed successors to the monumental "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son" of 1988. This is bound to happen again, but this time it is a little bit closer to the truth.
Whereas the previous albums tended to contain artificially lengthened songs, with somewhat easy riffs and more or less predictable structures, "A Matter Of Life And Death" is definitely a surprise in its complexity. This time song duration is justified by the numerous changes within a song and the, finally, effective utilization of all three guitars. So, the compositions definitely remind us what the band was trying in "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son", but the sound has something of "Powerslave"'s heaviness. With 7 minutes as the average song duration, be warned that this is not an easy listening album. Even hardcore Maiden fans may have a hard time digesting it.
That said, even though I can't really find a significant flaw about the songs themselves, it is true that the speed has dropped considerably (no fast songs), and even "SSOASS" contained a "hit" song that was instantly liked ("Can I Play With Madness"). "A Matter Of Life And Death" is definitely an album of top quality and Iron Maiden should be proud to have kept this level throughout most of their carreer. Very few bands can claim this at the 14th album.