A Matter of Life and Death

 

 

“A Matter of Life and Death” is a heavy metal album by one of my favourite heavy metal bands, Iron Maiden. I have listened to quite a lot of Maiden before, nearly all their albums and they have produced a lot of music which I have truly enjoyed. They’re probably the most innovative heavy metal band out there, their lyrics are among the most meaningful and occasionally border on the profound, while the most uncanny thing about Iron Maiden is their ability to pick tunes out of nowhere. There is a very close relationship between the lyrics of their songs and the musical content, and Maiden is one of those bands, which just get going with their stuff: the music simply flows.

“A Matter Of Life and Death” is a pretty serious album. It deals with war, religion, politicians who use war as their manifesto and their strategy, birth. The album is a collection of songs about these themes, which are intelligently crafted, have historical backgrounds and have great sounds, riffs and lengthy instrumentals, “lengthy” being the operational word. The songs are all pretty long, perhaps sometimes without reason, but always with melody. The lyrics are hard hitting, while still maintaining no stances on war, religion or politics. The songs are about faceless and nameless people with the exception of the characters Benjamin Breeg and Lucifer, the Lord of Light, who rise to positions of power, religious authority or strategic advantage. I wanted to do a song-by-song commentary, so here goes the review after this sentence, with a commentary on the contiguity of the whole thing at the end:

1. Different World: A simple and rhythmic starter song which is typical of Iron Maiden, it deals with the different perspectives people have around the world and encourages common ground. (Iron Maiden are far from being a Satanical band as some people may be given to understand from the aggressive and fast nature of their music. They are not a death metal band, and this is applicable to them at all times during their long, 20+ year reign at the top of the heavy metal bands pile.)

2. These Colours Don’t Run: Superb riff for an intro, which picks up into a faster paced guitar and very smooth flow throughout. It is a song about how the soldier prepares and faces the prospect of war. The lyrics of the song say it aptly enough:

“It’s the same in every country
when you say you’re leaving.
Left behind the loved ones
waiting silent in the hall.
Where you’re going lies adventure
others only dream of.
Red and green light this is real
and so you go to war.”

“Far away from the land of our birth.
We fly a flag in some foreign earth.
We sailed away like our fathers before.
These colours don’t run, from cold bloody war.”

1. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns: A song about the first atomic bomb test, Codename Trinity, at Almogardo, New Mexico. Great lyrics, except for one line which goes “E=Mc squared you can relate…” which sounded silly in the song. Some of the other lyrics were awesome, so were the guitar solos:

“Shadow fingers rise above
Iron fingers stab the desert sky
Oh behold the power of the Earth.
Are your children ready for the fall?”

“Bombers launched with no recall
Minute warning of the missile fall
Take a look at your last day
Guessing you won’t have the time to cry”

1. The Pilgrim: This is a brilliant speed metal number with an amazing connecting guitar composition which connects the speedy portions of the song. The song is about the transcendence of a pilgrim of god, to a believer of the devil. More than merely a transcendence in attitude, it shows an internal struggle in the pilgrim who leaves “the kingdom of heaven” to reach “hell”:

“Quelling the Devil’s might
And ready for eternal fight
Aching limbs and fainting soul
Holy battles take their toll”

“To courage find and gracious will
Deliver good from ill
Clean the water clean our guilt
With us do what you will”

“Spirit holy life eternal
Raise me up take me home
Pilgrim sunrise pagan sunset
Onward journey begun”

1. The Longest Day: This is a track about one of the most inhospitable battlefield scenarios in history, D-Day at Normandy, France. It is one of my favourites on the album; it really captures the mood very well, almost as well as really being there. Of course, the award for realism here goes to “Medal of Honor: Allied Assault”, which is a first person shooter game which puts you in real world battle scenarios like Normandy and more. The lyrics of the song really capture the mood, as do the ominous riffs of the lead and rhythm guitars. There is a mean riff which runs through the centre of the song. Also, the chorus, “Sliding we go, only fear on our side…” is very descriptively accurate from what I have seen of Normandy in the movies.

“Sliding we go, only fear on our side
To the edge of the wire,
and we rush with the tide
Oh the water is red,
with the blood of the dead
But I’m still alive, pray to God I survive”

“All summers long the drills to build the machine
To turn men from flesh and blood to steel
From paper soldiers to bodies on the beach
From summer sands to Armageddon’s reach”

“Overlord, your master not your god
The enemy coast dawning grey with scud
These wretched souls puking, shaking fear
To take a bullet for those who sent them here”

Historical references abound in Maiden’s songs, with this one having “Overlord”, a reference to Operation Overlord. A quote by Omar Bradley rings true:

 

“Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.”

1. Out Of The Shadows: This is one of the more profound songs on the album, although musically simple. It is lyrically profound, and deals with the process of birth. It chills your spine when you listen to it, and to that effect, it was effective. A riff and some of the rhythm guitar in the song sounded slightly out of place and underdeveloped. However, it is a superb song and holds amazing poetry within. Steve Harris has outdone himself once more.

    

“Hold a halo round the world
Golden is the day
Princes of the Universe,
your burden is the way
So there is no better time,
who will be born today
A gypsy child at daybreak
A King for a day”

“Dusty dreams in fading daylight
Flicker on the walls
Nothing new your life’s adrift
what purpose to it all?
Eyes are closed and death is calling
Reaching out its hand
Call upon the starlight to surround you

Out of the Shadow and into the sun
Dreams of the past as the old ways are done
Oh there is beauty and surely there is pain
But we must endure it to live again”

The lyrics sounded superb, had a real relevance to the album’s title and theme. Strangely, there are no songs on survival instincts and base themes on life, death and survival. Instead, there are profound numbers such as this one.

1. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg: This is a strange song about a character who is troubled for his crimes and who wants to exorcise his demons. Benjamin Breeg was a man of mystery whose parents perished in a fire and who had a very tortured childhood; he was an artist in his early teens and later became a student of the Bible, a couple of books are credited to him. He lived solitarily most of the time, and was considered quite intelligent although troubled. (source: http://www.benjaminbreeg.co.uk/ ) The song describes a man who seems to be troubled for his past sins and wants out. More on this song at the website.

    

2. For the Greater Good of God: This is one of Maiden’s more sarcastic songs, in the same vein as Holy Smoke, one of their songs from their album “No Prayer for the Dying”. It is one of the best tracks on the album, and deals with how religion and war can be a fatal combination in a religious leader’s hands. Perhaps this is the only song which portrays the mindset of religious leaders and accuses religion as being responsible for a lot in history:

“A life that’s made to breathe
Destruction or defense
A mind that’s vain corruption
Bad or good intent
A wolf in sheep’s clothing
Or saintly or sinner
Or some that would believe
A holy war winner”

“More pain and misery in the history of mankind
Sometimes it seems more like
The blind leading the blind
It brings upon us more famine, death and war
You know religion has a lot to answer for”

It would be difficult to dismiss this song as being preachy or pretentiously aiming at defaming religious leaders and religion in general, because the lyrics don’t accuse any one party, and instead, see religion as a phenomenon arising from the herd mentality and the willingness of people to follow other people who may not be capable of taking real decisions and instead are content to gain and utilize their power on others. The song sums up its theme with the thought that religion was created as a means to spread noble ideas, and not violence and war:

“He gave his life for us
He fell upon the cross
To die for all of those
who never mourn his loss
It wasn’t meant for us
to feel the pain again
Tell me why, tell me why”

It is difficult also to miss the great lead and bass guitar in this song. There is an epic sound to this song and its guitar leads which is so typical of Maiden and that makes it special, as do the fitting lyrics.

1. Lord of Light: This is one of the best songs of the album and it is about Lucifer, the Bringer of Light, the fallen angel. Songs about Lucifer are not unusual to Iron Maiden, but this does not mean that they are a band which is pro religion or antichrist or pagan or echo some other sentiment. Nicko McBrain, the drummer of Iron Maiden, is a practising Christian, for instance. This is a great song about how Lucifer may not be such a bad guy after all. The lead and bass guitars are simply superb, and the highlight to me is the riff which comes just after the intro. The Lord of Light is the bringer of intelligence, prosperity, freedom of will. He ever pursues all and is never forgiven for his original sin of disobeying God. The lyrics are profound and provide interesting allusions to the music. The music varies widely in tempo and beat frequency, and is in the realm of progressive metal:

“There are secrets that you keep
There are secrets that you keep
There are secrets that you tell to me alone
I can’t reach things I can’t see
You don’t see this strange world
quite the same as me
Don’t deny me what I am
Nothing hidden still you fail to see the truth
These are things you can’t reveal”

“Free your soul and let it fly
Give your life to the Lord of Light
Keep your secrets and rain on me
All I see are mysteries”

The song talks also about the opportunities that people get to mend their errors:

“Others wait their turn
their lives were meant to last
Use yours wisely as the light is fading fast
Free your soul and let it fly
Mine was caught I couldn’t try
Time returns again to punish all of us”

Lucifer (the Unforgiven Fallen Angel) is portrayed as saying so, and it kind of fits in with the theme of the rest of the song. The songs provides food for thought on common ideas of free will and the greater good.

1. The Legacy: This song is probably the best of the album, along with Lord of Light. The intro of the song borders on scary and presumably describes a scene in a war where the soldiers have been poisoned with “a strange yellow gas”. The song is about how a leader who has ruled his populace with lies and manipulation lies on his deathbed and is now discovered as being responsible for a lot of carnage in war and for many unwise decisions and prophecies owing to his religious fundamentalism. This song seems to be about the legacy which the leader could have left but instead worked on his cover plan to decieve:

“You had us all strung out with
promises of peace
But all along you cover plan was to deceive
Can it put to rights now only time will tell
Your prophecies will send us all to hell as well”

“We seem destinated to live in fear
And some that would say Armageddon is near
But where there’s a life while there’s hope
That man won’t self destruct”

Perhaps this following and last verse in the album sums up the intentions of the faceless politician or religious “power monger” who is behind the killing:

But if they do stop to think
That man is teetering right on the brink
But do you think that they care
They benefit from death and pain and despair

Final thoughts: Overall, this is an excellent album musically and lyrically, one of Iron Maiden’s best. There are not many who would take this as a serious petition for “world peace” or some such concept, perhaps, because of the inevitability of things and the very nature of Man. However, this is a serious album with thoughtful lyrics and songs on many issues plaguing people, strange and mis-adjusted individuals, the process of coming to life and also about life in many war-torn and fundamentalist countries and regions of the world.