06/08/2010 19:10
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden: 'The Final Frontier'
The release date for Iron Maiden'S new studio album 'The Final Frontier' is now confirmed for Monday 16th August. The new album pictured here features artwork illustrated by Melvyn Grant and, to mark the occasion, the band have made special arrangements for one new album track 'El Dorado' to be made available Worldwide as a FREE digital download MP3 with immediate effect. Click here for your free download (US fans, please go here).
Singer Bruce Dickinson explains: "'El Dorado' is a preview of the forthcoming studio album. As we will be including it in the set of our "Final Frontier World Tour" (which opens in Dallas On 9th June - full dates below) we thought it would be great to thank all our fans and get them into 'The Final Frontier' mood by giving them this song up front of the tour and album release."
The band reunited with long-time Maiden producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley in early 2010 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau to record the album and then moved to LA to finish the recording and do the mixing. Compass Point Studio is very familiar to the band, it was where they recorded the 'Piece of Mind' (1983), 'Powerslave' (1984) and 'Somewhere in Time' (1986) albums.
Bruce comments: "The studio had the same vibe and it was EXACTLY as it had been in 1983, NOTHING had changed! Even down to the broken shutter in the corner...same carpet....everything... It was really quite spooky. But we felt very relaxed in such a familiar and well-trodden environment and I think this shows in the playing and the atmosphere of the album."
Thirty years on from their eponymous debut album in April 1980, 'The Final Frontier' will be Maiden's 15th studio album, making a remarkable average of a new album every two years for 30 years and totalling over 80 million album sales during this period.
The full tracklisting for the album (total running time 76:35) is:
1. Satellite 15....The Final Frontier (8:40)
2. El Dorado (6:49)
3. Mother of Mercy (5:20)
4. Coming Home (5:52)
5. The Alchemist (4:29)
6. Isle of Avalon (9:06)
7. Starblind (7:48)
8. The Talisman (9:03)
9. The Man Who Would Be King (8:28)
10. When the Wild Wind Blows (10:59)
The album will be released as:
- Limited Edition CD with exclusive extra content
- Picture Disc Vinyl
- iTunes LP with access to extra content
- Standard CD
- digital versions
More details to follow.
"The Final Frontier World Tour" begins in Dallas on June 9th with 25 shows in major cities across the USA and Canada, playing to an expected 350,000 fans or more. Following this the tour will ship over to Europe starting in Dublin on July 30 and playing a few selected major festivals and stadiums, finishing in Valencia, Spain, on Aug 21 and including a concert in Transylvania.
Says bass player and founder member Steve Harris: "We're hugely excited about this tour. I think the fans will really like the brand new stage production and lights and we will also be debuting one of the new album tracks, 'El Dorado'. Our Texan fans will be the very first people anywhere to hear it live, so it will be interesting to see their reaction and how it goes down with the crowd on the night! Eddie has changed a bit for this tour but is possibly the most outrageous one to date... I can't say too much about him as don't want to spoil the surprise but I guarantee he will scare the hell out of you!"
The full list of dates for the First Leg can be found in the Tour Section on the band's website.
(source: Iron Maiden)
(older news about the topic:)
Iron Maiden are pleased to announce that their forthcoming new studio album will be called 'The Final Frontier', and is expected be released late summer of this year.
The announcement comes with news of a North American Tour with very special guests Dream Theater to open in Dallas, Texas, on 9th June and finish in Washington D.C. on 20th July, making it Maiden's most extensive North American tour in many years.
Following these shows in USA and Canada The Final Frontier World Tour will travel back to Europe for a few selected major festival and stadium shows with the band planning to continue to many other countries in 2011 (full currently confirmed dates below).
The full Live Nation North America press release for the North American Tour is posted here.
An exclusive pre-sale allowing members of the Iron Maiden fan club first access to tickets to the North American Maiden Shows will be made available two days prior to them being available to the public.
Tickets for the Canadian shows will go on sale to the public on Saturday 13th March at 10am PST (10am EST for Toronto and 12 noon EST Montreal).
Exclusive first access to the tickets will be available to IM fan club members on Wednesday 10th March at 10am PST through to Thursday 11th March at 6pm PST (EST for Toronto). Regretfully due to technical reasons an exclusive Pre-Sale in Montreal is not possible.
Tickets for the US Shows will go on sale to the public on Saturday 20th March at 10am EST.
Exclusive first access to the tickets will be available to IM fan club members on Wednesday 17th March at 10am EST through to Thursday 18th March at 6pm EST
As Iron Maiden are actively dedicated to ensuring their fans always have access to the best possible tickets at the fairest possible price, without being subject to scalping for good seats, so many North American shows will operate, at least in part, a paperless ticket policy: More information on Ticketmaster Paperless Ticketing can be found here
To give Iron Maiden fan club members a privileged insight to their touring world, IMTV will return to www.ironmaiden.com to cover The Final Frontier World Tour. This exclusive footage includes regular video from the live shows, touring, band interviews, insights into our crew and what they do and much much more. The website will also feature exclusive tour diaries, exclusive photographs and anything else that helps the fans get a real insight into the dynamics of a big tour.
(source: Iron Maiden)