1 Overlooked Gem Song From Every Iron Maiden Album
3. The Talisman - The Final Frontier
After three excellent releases post-Blaze Bayley days, 'The Final Frontier' received more mixed reviews with some citing the run time as being far too long. There are some lengthy tracks on the album, and it seems that many fans checked out in the latter half before the epic 'When the Wild Wind Blows' brought them back.
Three of the four songs that made up this period of the album, 'Isle of Avalon', 'Starblind', and 'The Man Who Would Be King', are relatively forgettable, but not 'The Talisman'. It is criminal that this epic track is too often thrown in with the rest as filler until the album's closer.
This almost feels like a sequel of sorts to 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', as it details a ship lost at sea and caught in a thunderous storm. The crippling irony however is that just as they spot land and appear to be out of the woods, the protagonist survives the storm only to die from sickness.
This has the atmosphere of a powerful Iron Maiden epic, and is another in the long, long line of excellent collaborations between Janick Gers and Steve Harris.