30 years, 80 million album sales, close to 2000 live performances, countless satisfied customers and now 15 studio albums of unerring quality and power: Iron Maiden have more than earned their proudly-held status as undisputed heavy metal champions of the world.
The bands 15th Studio Record The Final Frontier is due out on August 17th. The directors cut for the video of the “El Dorado Video” off of Maiden’s 15th Studio album “The Final Frontier” can be viewed on IronMaiden.com and on the bands Vevo channel.
The Video was produced by the award-winning production company Darkside Animation Films. Darkside’s creative team includes animators who’ve created effects for feature films including “Lost in Space,” “Gladiator” and “Black Hawk Down.” The script was written by the director of BBC Radio’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy,” and the live action was co-ordinated and directed by Nick Scott Studios. As well as working round the clock to turn out over three months of animation in eight weeks flat, the Darkside team developed entirely new technology to bring to life as never before Iron Maiden’s mascot, EDDIE, in his new alien incarnation.
A total of 141 shots combined live action with integrated CGI as well as full 3D animation, resulting in a complete running time of five minutes – that’s over seven thousand frames taking up to a half hour to render each frame! Intriguingly, some of the integral footage was shot at Rendlesham Forest in southern England, which is associated with “The Rendlesham Forest Incident”–a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and alleged landing of a craft of unknown origin.
“The Final Frontier” album, which features 10 tracks listed below, including “El Dorado” (which was released as a free download to great worldwide excitement in June), runs over 76 minutes. Confirmed for release in North America on August 17, the album will be released in a unique Limited Edition, Collector’s “Mission Edition” CD case and will include access to extra bonus content, including the Director’s Cut of this new video, “Mission Debrief” band-interview filmed footage, wallpapers, photos and the exclusive game “Mission II: Rescue & Revenge.” Maiden also, for the first time, are making the album available as an iTunes LP with bonus content as well as the traditional digital format. There will also be a Limited Edition Double Picture Disc on vinyl.
The full track listing for the album (total running time 76:35) is:
THE FINAL FRONTIER
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 Final Frontier World Tour begins in Dallas on June 9, 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 shift over to Europe starting in Dublin, on July 30, to play a few selected major festivals and stadiums, finishing in Valencia, Spain, on August 21, and including a concert in Transylvania.
Says bass player and founding 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 I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I guarantee he will scare the hell out of you!”
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30 years, 80 million album sales, close to 2000 live performances, countless satisfied customers and now 15 studio albums of unerring quality and power: Iron Maiden have more than earned their proudly-held status as undisputed heavy metal champions of the world.
