Just walk down the street in any part of the world and ask a random person (young, old, rich, poor... doesn't matter) to name you a heavy metal band and nine times out of ten, two words will be uttered from their lips whether they're actually fans of the band or not... IRON MAIDEN. What more can you say about a band whose history spans over three and a half decades and has gained recognition world wide from the largest cities to the darkest corners of the Earth? What this band has done is nothing less than astounding. Seemingly coming from out of nowhere, with virtually no radio support, advertising or top-ten videos, IRON MAIDEN has built their own private little empire selling over 85 million albums world wide with generations upon generations of ravenous fans who are still multiplying and growing to this day... and it ain't over yet!
Their latest release, a double-CD compilation entitled From Fear To Eternity: The Best of 1990 - 2010, is a career retrospect covering the development of the band over the past two decades. While some may argue the band's best work was done way back in the 80's on legendary releases such as The Number Of The Beast, Killers or Powerslave, with more recent releases like Brave New World or A Matter of Life and Death under their belts, the past twenty years haven't been all that bad.
From Fear To Eternity represents some of the best selections from the band's last eight albums. From 1990's No Prayer For The Dying, the CD includes fan favorite "Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter," one of my MAIDEN favorites "Tailgunner" and "Holy Smoke." From 1992's Fear Of The Dark there's the more progressive "Afraid To Shoot Strangers," "Be Quick Or Be Dead" and, of course, the title track "Fear Of The Dark" which has just about become a staple in any IRON MAIDEN live set since its release and also probably one of the reasons they went with the live version from Rock In Rio. Hey, 500,000 Brazilians can't be wrong!
Moving forward into one of the band's most controversial periods when front man Bruce Dickinson left the band to be replaced by new (and only temporary THANK GOD!) lead vocalist Blaze Bayley, MAIDEN released two CD's... The X-Factor and Virtual XI. Both of which are represented on From Fear To Eternity only here's the catch... the band went with live versions of the songs originally recorded by Bayley but now sung by Dickinson who upstages Bayley in every way. The epic, 11 minute version of "Sign Of The Cross" from Rock In Rio was a nice inclusion as well as "Man On The Edge" but one of the true highlights of this release is the live version of "The Clansman" which kicks some MAJOR ASS! I have always wondered what a studio version of this song would be like with Dickinson at the helm... hint!
As the "Bayley" period came to an end and with Dickinson back where he belongs, the band ushered in the new millennia with one of my favorite MAIDEN releases in years Brave New World. Disappointing to me, anyway, From Fear To Eternity only includes three selections from this release; "The Wicker Man," the title track "Brave New World" and "Blood Brothers." Now I know it's virtually impossible to put together a greatest hits collection from MAIDEN that could just about please everybody, but you'd think with the magnitude of this album where just about any song could be included, they could have found a little space for just one... or maybe two more.
Following up Brave New World, 2003's Dance Of Death is illustrated by four selections which include the title track "Dance Of Death," "Rainmaker," the gritty war anthem "Paschendale" and "No More Lies." Then, From Fear To Eternity includes four well deserved tracks from the critically acclaimed A Matter Of Life And Death in "Different World," "These Colours Don't Run," the mind-tingling "For The Greater Good of God," and the stellar "Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg." And finally wrapping up the decade, Final Frontier inclusions "El Dorado," "Coming Home" and the haunting "When The Wild Wind Blows" solidify the collection and brace the listener for the decade yet to come.
As I said earlier, with a band like IRON MAIDEN it's virtually impossible to come out with a greatest hits collection that everyone could agree upon. I could go on and on about which songs should have been included and which songs should have been left out but I digress... lets just say From Fear To Eternity more than successfully orchestrates two decades of one of the greatest metal bands of all time... period!
