Dance Of Death  by Iron Maiden

In 2003, Iron Maiden presented their fans with their thirteenth studio album. Iron Maiden had by then established themselves as a six-member band, and Dance Of Death was the second album with this lineup. It was preceded by Brave New World in 2000, and everyone was anticipating the band's next move. The recordings for the album took place in January and February of 2003.

Dance Of Death consists of eleven new songs. With the exception of New Frontier, all the others bear the signature of Steve Harris. The producer of Dance Of Death is Kevin Shirley. The first two songs of the album, namely Wildest Dreams and Rainmaker, played the role of singles. In fact, they are the only two songs whose duration does not exceed four minutes, while the others range from five to over eight minutes. This fact alone turns the album into a progressive metal record.

The album impressed both the public and critics. Both in the United Kingdom and Germany, album sales have reached around 150,000 for each country, while reaching No.18 on the Billboard with 230,000 copies sold is nothing to scoff at. Dance Of Death has secured a very respectable position among Iron Maiden's albums after 2000. The negative aspect of this album was its cover, for which digital technology was used instead of the hand of some designer. Even Bruce Dickinson has stated that it is an "embarrassing" cover (!)