Iron Maiden – “El Dorado” free MP3 download
In anticipation of the upcoming studio album from Iron Maiden, The Final Frontier, the band is offering a free MP3 download of Track #2, “El Dorado.” The Final Frontier is scheduled for release August 17; meanwhile Maiden will embark on a U.S. tour June 9, kicking things off in Dallas, Texas. Get all the tour info at the official Iron Maiden website.
Singer Bruce Dickinson explains, “‘El Dorado’ is a preview of the forthcoming studio album. As we will be including it in the set of our Final Frontier World Tour, we thought it would be great to thank all our fans and get them into The Final Frontier mood by giving them this song up front of the tour and album release.”
Iron Maiden reunited with longtime Maiden producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in early 2010 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, to record the album and then moved to L.A. to finish the recording and do the mixing. Compass Point Studio is very familiar to the band; it was where they recorded the Piece Of Mind (’83), Powerslave (’84) and Somewhere In Time (’86) albums.
Dickinson comments, “The studio had the same vibe and it was exactly as it had been in 1983, nothing had changed! Even down to the broken shutter in the corner…same carpet….everything. It was really quite spooky. But we felt very relaxed in such a familiar and well-trodden environment and I think this shows in the playing and the atmosphere of the album.”
Thirty years on from their eponymous debut album in April 1980, The Final Frontier will be Maiden’s 15th studio album, making a remarkable average of a new album every two years for 30 years and totaling over 80 million album sales during this period.
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!”
OMG – that is the single worst sounding track I’ve heard – EVER. I thought the intro was a joke/special effect. But then the “goes to 11” levels/over-limited mix just keeps on. Who can listen to that? Its like TYPING IN ALL CAPS – its rude! What a rude mastering engineer!
Real shame – song sounds really cool. Classic maiden, with a tad bit of post-grunge. Are Rush & Maiden coming close enough together to co-headline a tour??