Looking Back At Iron Maiden's Dance Of Death 20 Years Later 

Under rated to this day. Janick hit a home run with the title track, and Adrian with Paschendale. Not to mention everyone in the band got a writing credit on the album, the first and only time ever. In my opinion far more varied and colorful than Brave New World while still keeping in line with it. To me they have always felt like sister albums and then AMOLAD had a bit of a different vibe.

I still remember when this came out. I was 14 and I remember going to my local record store to buy it a day ahead of the release date. The busty woman who worked there had it on full display behind the counter and I asked, "Omg is it out yet?! Can I buy it?" and she happily accommodated.

Dance of Death is now as old as Peice of Mind was when Dance of Death came out. Isn't that mental to think about?

What a Anniversary! Rainmaker is one of my favorites songs EVER!!! 🤘🌧

The cover art with just "Reaper Eddie" without all the junk around was perfect! What a shame. When it came out, i literally consumed the cd. Probably one of their most underrated works.

Saw them in Hollywood on this tour (what was rumored to be their final tour lol) and MAN did they play great. That Paschendale intro… whoa. Bruce even took a super gnarly fall from the riser into the drums, rolled down the stairs and appeared dead, Steve stopped playing and ran to him while the rest of the band played through the solo section, and to our relief Bruce popped back up in time to sing the chorus. I can’t remember the song but I want to say Number of the beast. After the song he said “whichever crew member left a puddle of water up there, YOU’RE FIRED!” Such a memorable show and one of the best I’ve ever been to!

I love this album! Montségur is maybe the heaviest Iron Maiden song of all time.

This album has an extraordinary complexity. It sounds like a powerful orchestra!

My wife bought me Dance of Death for my 30th birthday OMG I’m old now. Always loved this album though fav track Age of Innocence 🎸🤟🏻

"No More Lies," the song that never wants to end.

No more lies has always been a favorite. Love that harmony!

Such an amazing album, and the first tour I saw live. Despite not being my favorite album it has a very strong sentimental value because it reinforced my love for the band. I will never forget Paschendale and Dance of Death live 🔥

The lead work on "Dance of Death" (the song) is some of the best in Maiden's entire catalog. True world class.

I was 14 when it came out. Got it on DVD-audio disc with 5.1 mixes and had no 5.1 sound system at home. The box and artwork were absolutely amazing at the time. I think it's a really well-balanced record and just fun. Brings back loads of good memories.

Face in the Sand and Age of Innocence are two of my most favorite Maiden songs. I agree with Harris' sentiments in the lyrics. Face in the Sand has such an epic intro, the way it draws you in. An underrated album for sure.

one of my fav Maiden album that reached "soundtrack of my life" leveled after SIT, FOTD, VXI and BNW

Probably my favourite 2000's Maiden album. So many great songs.

Absolutely brilliant album. Pachendale is unreal. Wildest dreams, No more lies and the journeyman to end with outstanding. What I'm struggling with is its twenty years ago!!!!!!!! WTF!

9:38 That's exactly what has always stood out to me about Montségur: with no warning given, the song shifts from a totally dramatic chorus in E minor to this nearly jovial section in E major, without losing any of its power. Even more unexpectedly, the E major chord eventually prevails over the E minor, as the final chorus doesn't switch back to E minor and instead uses the same keys from the E major section, with the addition of a second main guitar. All of these are the main reasons why to me Montségur is a top favorite Iron Maiden song, and one of the best heavy metal songs I've ever listened to ❤

Amazing video for what I consider to be an amazing record. Personally, I've always loved DOD better than BNW although the latter is solid as well. I love every song on that record. A lot has been said on the album cover but as long as the songs are great I couldn't care less about the artwork!! My favorites are Rainmaker, NML and Paschendale.

For sure one of the best Maiden Albums! ILove it even more than i did 20 years ago when it came out ❤

The mood of “Journeyman” is one of the best moments of the record! I love it!

This was the album that really got me back into Iron Maiden and was the first one I connected with since Seventh Son. Oddly enough, it was also the last record I connected with until Book of Souls. I still listen to Dance of Death often. All of the songs I like from a guitarist POV, but the lead singer part of me really loves Face in the Sand. The anger in the lyrics and the ear-bleeding power of Bruce's delivery. I just love singing that song.

I started watching the video and after that opening I got the urge to hear the whole album, playing now. Will come back!

This album was amazing! Was my second Iron Maiden cd and The Dance of Death World tour was my first Iron Maiden concert ever, this album has a place in my metal ❤

This was my first ever maiden show, so this album holds a special place. And what a show. The atmospheric, almost moody lighting really added to the whole theatrical affair. Rainmaker, face in the sand and age of innocence are really underrated songs, and quite unique with their like not seen again. The chorus on age of innocence is one of the best they’ve ever written. An aggressive, choppy verse into a hopeful and soaring chorus - all driven along by Nicko’s quite marvellous drumming. Listen out for the fill he does on the 2nd chorus after Bruce sings “exchange it”. Genius. All in all, a wonderful album with its own unique style and mood. Oh, and I’m glad someone else has mentioned the Am add9 in no more lies. That catches my ear every time 😊

I was on Milan in 2003 for the DEATH ON THE ROAD TOUR. This album Is probably One the most underrated in recent metal History. Some Maiden lovers like me thaught that 'Pashendale' was the new 'Halloween be thy name'!

Always felt this was such a quality album given an unfair reputation solely because of the horrendous artwork. Rainmaker, Paschendale and Montsegur all absolutely rip and i consider the title track to be a top 10 song in the band's discography. Awesome breakdown again Nico!

Most people discount this record because of the cover. Big mistake. Dont leave any stone unturned when it comes to Maiden. Great album. If you havnt given it a chance do it now. In my Top 5 of the 17 studio albums. Thanks for doing a breakdown. You will open peoples eyes to this record.

There’s a way to hear the album with clear production. If you have Apple Music, on your iPhone go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio/Visual > Headphone Accommodations > On > Tick ‘Brightness’ and move the slider to ‘Strong’. The album now sounds clear and you can hear each guitar track a lot better.

An absolute masterpiece.

I feel that this album is probably underrated for coming after brave new world, surely the best Iron Maiden album of the 21st

What happened with the album cover is that the artist quickly placed 3D characters on the cover to get the band approval before working on the final version, but for some reasons the band decided to use that draft as the final cover. The artist asked to have his name removed from the album credits out of embarrassment

My favourite album

One of my top 5 Iron Maiden album 1. Iron Maiden 1980 2. Fear of the dark 3. Dance of Death 4. Powerslave 5. Somewhere in time

I love the cover, got the shirt of it. I love the album from start to finish. Rainmaker, no more lies, montsegur, Dance of death and paschendale are great. Age of innocence is a masterpiece as well. Journeyman especially live is insane good. Nicko's new frontier has an old school maiden song and I would have loved to hear it live. People say it's production is not bright like BNW but I believe that's what fits the context of the album. It's simply darker. Great video Nico! UP THE IRONS 🤘

I remember when this album was first released. I was stunned by the artwork but the album itself is spectacular.

It's a great album for sure

This was the first new album release for me after becoming aware of the band sometime in 2001 or 2002 when I was just a kid. Got the album for christmas and loved it.

Great video. You could call me a “newer fan” as I became a fan in 2007. (I’m 31 and wasn’t exposed to this kinda music when I was a kid) I feel like Dance of Death is right there with No Prayer for the Dying in terms of being the most underrated. Dance of Death, the title track, is one of their greatest songs of all time. High level story telling, atmosphere, as you said that solo section is top tier and that “dancing riff” is one of their best rhythm sections ever. Paschendale is also a very good song. I put on Rainmaker almost every time it rains haha and I would also like to particularly shout out Face in the Sand. Great album.

Wow 20 years!!!! I wouldn't believe it if I'd didn't live it jajaja. What I like the most is the sound, the bass sounds very diferent, and Paschendale, sooo good

Grandissimo Nico!!! Album stupendo!!!! Ricordo ancora quando trascorsi 3 settimane in montagna con i miei nonni e tutti i giorni mi ascoltavo questo album e Somewhere in time tutto il giorno! Mentre leggevo, mentre facevo i compiti e mentre camminavo nel bosco!!! Mamma mia!!! Che ricordi!!! Sei un grande!!!

As always, thanks Nico for your great explanations on the structure of the songs! Really great retrospect. DoD is still one of my favorite Maiden-albums and it is crazy that it is already 20 years old. The first album I counted down to the release day and bought on the day of release. Very varied selection of songs on the album and yet it is held together quite nicely. And what a great show it was on this tour.. Saw them at Globen in Stockholm on this tour and it was incredible. My favorites on DoD: Rainmaker, Gates Of Tomorrow & Face In the Sand.

Great job as always! So many strong tracks on this album. They were truly reinvigorated when they made Dance of Death.

I remember the tour started in Debrecen Hungary. The town was so proud of having Maiden you can buy tickets in the newspaper booths, shops, etc.

I attended the Florence concert too! Maybe we also run into each other... it was really an amazing show, when the played Paschendale with that battlefield intro...I've had chills to this day!

Title track is alot of fun to play.... especially if you play Janicks parts

I took my mum and dad to see the dance of death tour,they loved it lol

Man, I was really looking up to this one! Dance of Death has to be within my top 3 Maiden albums, it just hits a certain spot... Not only was it recorded in a time period that was just awesome for me, so it always brings back so many amazing memories, but it's just generally SO enjoyable to listen to! But you were right when you said it doesn't feel like it's already been 20 years... I still remember the release day and my first minutes listening to it as if it was yesterday. I was actually at work and on my way home went straight to a record shop and no matter my absolute exhaustion and desire to come home and fall right onto my bed, I instead waited for like 30 minutes in a queue at the record shop and I had to listen to the full album right as I got home. A neighbor even came banging on the door that it's too loud, but actually stayed over for a beer or two, because when he heard it better, he fell in love with the album too! It was Gates of Tomorrow what he heard after I opened the door and to this day any time we talk about music, we bring this moment up and laugh at it, especially because now it's both of ours favorite song from this madness of a record. I just couldn't think of words to explain how much this masterpiece means to me and how much I just love it. It does sound somehow "fitting" into the time period it was recorded at (don't ask me to explain 😃), but it's still innovative in ways. Awesome performances, just... After 20 years of knowing and loving it, it still feels just as amazing to listen to it now as it did on the first day. And I still get the same chills from Dance of Death's intro, it's just really well written and sets the atmosphere perfectly.

dude.....your analysis is ALWAYS enlightening. You're the Beato of Maiden.

Awesome video! Will always go back and listen to this album.. it's so rare and perfect!

get video. This is one of my favourite iron maiden albums. It was the first Maiden album I heard as I was getting into heavy metal in 02/03 and I still love it now.

My favorite

Great , great album ! There are many great songs on this Dance of Death . Great video as always.

I believe Nicko said in an interview that he didn't use a double bass pedal, he simply played and then they doubled up the layer in production so that you had the same play twice, making it sound like double bass. Nicko has always been the double bass enemy #1 ;) At least that's what he said, I unfortunately can't remember which interview it was and if you have sources claiming otherwise then please share :) On topic, I think this is an underrated album. Songs like Face In the Sand, New Frontiers and Montsegur are great songs that no one talks about. I am probably the only Maiden fan who never had any problems with the artwork for Dance of Death ;) To me it was simply just a different style, but yeah.. I can see why people don't like it.

Love this album, one of my favorites. And the live show? Wow!

My favourite Maiden album

Awesome video. Death on the road tour was the first time I saw maiden. Can't believe 20 years has passed! I wish this video was twice as long, there are so many interesting songs on this album. I really hope you revisit these songs individually in future videos!

Rainmaker is successful work of their album!

Your tone sounds really great. Love it

Bought it on release day. Still a very very good album.

DoD was the first album I have bought as a kid (I was 12) and it wasn't even a CD. I bought a casette version cause I didn't have enough money to buy a CD. This album was in my walkman everywhere I went. Tons of wonderful memories, pure love. Thanks for this video, mate!

My favorite song on the album: "Age of Innocence." As is typical for Dave, this is a beautiful gothic composition, with a romantic intro. Very similar to "The Prophecy" and "Men of Sorrows" in terms of color and overall mood. And, yes, the harmony in the middle is one of the best modern-day Maiden harmonies. A true thing of beauty.

I really appreciate the development over the years . I was caught by Iron Maiden in Brave New World, and to see all of those Powerslave tangling makes me ever so excited to what’s coming up

I always feel this album is underrated because of its cover. I always get a certain autumn mood when I listen to it. It's awesome. Reminds me of the time when I discovered Maiden. I love it.

Watching this video and each time a song comes into focus, it's like "damn why don't they play this live?". It was my first release as a fan, and the tour my first live gig, but goddamn, this album slaps and Paschendale is my fave among them. Adrian is untouchable.

My rating for this album has grown once I started to appreciate Dance of Death and especially Paschendale; it took me a long time for me to appreciate this two song and I don't know why... anyway, I've always had a thing for Montsegur, from the first listen, so bad Maiden never played it live

More of these videos, please NICKO!!! I would love it if you made a Powerslave and especially a Brave New World video like this one, going through points of interest in the different songs! Perhaps a Killers and A Matter Of Life And Death album video as well ? And what about out fav album Somewhere In Time, more album videos please :D

This. Was. Wonderful. Nico, thank you for this. Well done, sir. I genuinely and thoroughly enjoy what you do for us.

Fantastic video about an absolutely amazing album, i though have to mention Janicks solo on No More Lies that imo is one of his best

Love these album breakdown/retrospectives Nico. Montsegur is top tier for me!

Brilliant ...

Thanks for the great video Nicko! It is incredible that it has already been 20 YEARS that this album came out. I remember in 2001, 2002, 2003, etc. thinking about "Oh, Killers/The Number of the Beast/Piece of Mind was released 20 years ago, it was a long time ago, they are vintage albums", now 2003 is as distant in the past today as the early 80s was when Dance of Death came out. I think that Dance of Death was the last Maiden album that I trully liked. I really miss those 3-min long fast killer songs like the Rainmaker. I totally shared the same excitement towards this album, especially because as a Brazilian I was super pumped after the historical Rock in Rio 2001 concert. I remember too being excited after each song release and following online forums about the album :)

One of their best albums imo

Love this album ! Th songs for me that stand out is Dance of death ,Paschendale, Face in the Sand and Journeyman

First Maiden album I bought and experienced on its release date. Along with Piece of Mind this is the album I put on more frequently for a laid-back Maiden session. An interesting trivia for me is that the riff before and during the solos of New Frontier is basically the main riff of Dickinson's Wickerman from his solo carreer (check it out at his Best-of album).

Wow, feels almost like this album came out yesterday, I think I am one out of few that has this album in my top 5 Maiden albums =) This album released at a special time in my life, so I hold special and great memories with this album. It was also the second album with my fav guitar trio of all time, and it had great shoes to fill after the Brave New World masterpiece album. I do not know about you guys, but I still get shivers when hearing the trio play the guitar solos in the title song And Bruce singing it like he tells of a great story, such a storyteller :D

awesome album

I've only been a maiden fan since around march 2021 and somehow i feel old with dance of death being 20+ years old now, prolly because a lot of the maiden songs i got into first were songs like "No More Lies" and "Dance of Death" and without knowing when the album first came out when i was getting into maiden at the time, it felt pretty fresh for me

20 years ago imagine that. I had the chance to see them in NYC, the famous concert that ended without encore.

That clean sound in No More Lies is just spot on compared to the album!

Every maiden album is fantastic but this is one of my favorites, I get a lot of joy riffing along to dance of death, some really fun guitar parts! keep up the great work mate, love the channel!

OMG 20 years 😮😮😮

Great video as always! Dance of Death came out when I was in college and it was a mainstay in my CD Walkman. The cover is bad indeed, but it's definitely a solid album. It's hard to rank it high against their other albums because they have so many classics. If anything, this album features some of the most badass riffs of their career, IMO.

It has Paschendale, so it’s great. Many of the songs lack a certain final touch in greatness.

Nico’s advanced studies for Metal Maniacs! 🤘 Loved it! 🤘

Paschendale is a masterpiece. I consider this album second best of the 00's

The guitar solo on the title track is amazing. Literally the first couple of notes alone are a work of beauty. It's not the fastest, it's not the flashiest, but it's just so soulful. Always makes me smile... and rewind a few times. 🤘

No gallop on the album and it's very organic. They tried something different and I like it.

Yay, Miles! 😍

Uno dei miei album preferiti...sono già passati 20 anni! Thanks Nico, up the Iron!

I wonder if Ai could generate a new version of the album cover in the style of Derrick Riggs ?

I remember when I bought this album. I was in shock over the cover art, like everybody else, but I loved the songs. Rainmaker, Paschendale, Dance of Death, Face in the Sand, Monsegur and Wildest Dreams are killer tracks. Paschendale and Dance of Death are among the best from the band. I never understood why people didn't care much for this album. The tour was also incredible. I saw them live in Toronto and it was insanely good.

I wish Dave Murray wrote more songs

I was so excited for this album I bought the picture vinyl so I could get it a little earlier than the cd came out in the states. They played Wildest Dreams on the Give me Ed Till I'm Dead 2003 tour when I first saw them. In terms of the mix, this is the loudest mix Kevin Shirley has done with the band. While I think some of the songs could be trimmed in length, I still think this is a solid record. Hard to believe it's been 20 years. Great analysis Nico. As much Maiden history as I know, I always learn something and get interesting perspective from your videos.

OMG, that's not a dog, that's a bear! XD

Thanks!

Great retrospective. Brave new world next please 🙏

"Everybody" says that the Dance of Death album art is bad. But I think it's cool. I get what it's trying to convey. (Sometimes I have outlier opinions on Maiden stuff; for example I think Fear of the Dark is a top 3 Maiden album.)

Thank you for making me appreciating the music even more😊