Why Iron Maiden ACTUALLY messed up on Dance of Death artwork | Reaction
Vložit
- čas přidán 10. 07. 2024
- Iron Maiden’s album Dance of Death has one of the most controversial artworks in the band’s discography… okay, whom am I kidding? It does NOT! I literally don’t know anyone who likes it! So as a part of our Up the Irons Series let’s take a look at the history of the Dance of Death cover art, try and place it in the context of the early 2000s and what the band has been going through at that time, and hopefully answer the question what ACTUALLY is wrong with this artwork… beyond the regular criticism of its graphics. Here you go!
00:00 - Intro
00:53 - The backstory
05:48 - CGI it up
08:46 - Deeper problems
12:27 - A fun story
--------
If you would like to ROCK a Metal Pilgrim T-shirt and support the show (for which I'll be VERY thankful), please check out this form - forms.gle/gv7WPmKwmQ9Df7W7A
You can also support the channel and community on Patreon (again, I'll be SUPER thankful) - / metal_pilgrim
Every dollar you invest will be used to produce better material!
I also want to invite YOU to become part of the conversation! Join our community by SUBSCRIBING on CZcams, Instagram or other social media to submit your questions for future guests, more exclusive interviews, album and concert reviews and first-hand rock and metal news.
Instagram - / metal_pilgrim
Facebook - / metalpilgrimofficial
--------
Background music: "Uberpunch" Alexander Nakarada (serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
--------
All content falls under fair use: any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner.
Do you own a copy of Dance of Death?
Yes
Yup, I actually enjoy it from time to time. However, I'd say that it wasn't as good as Brave New World. The songs I enjoy from the album are: Paschendale, No more lies, Gates of Tomorrow, Dance of Death, Face in the Sand, and Journeyman. I wish that they would play Journeyman live again though.
You're in my brain! I've been scouring the web trying to find a copy of DoD on LP today but to no avail 😅
A great video and, in spite of the artwork, one of my favourite Maiden albums. Seeing that live footage brings back fond memories of seeing them on this tour, my very first live gig with my brother and my folks. My dad passed recently so it's been especially nice to relive those happy memories - thank you for all the work you put into these fantastic videos.
Sure I do! And I like it musically. The cover though...
I own every Maiden album plus several bootlegs.
Dance Of Death is the perfect example of "Don't judge a book by its cover"
It's one of my top 3 iron maiden albums of all time, along side beast and seventh son
Agree, one of my favorites. I ran this into the ground when it was new, the dvd, too.
Great album.
Definitely one of the best Maiden albums
Yes, anything that has the track Pashendale on it is fine by me
As bad as the front cover is, the music inside is absolutely incredible. "Dance of Death" is easily my favorite post-reunion album from Iron Maiden.
Paschendale is one of the heaviest Maiden songs i've ever heard. I prefer the Martin Birch-produced albums over the Kevin Shirley ones, but Dance of Death was pretty heavy for a Maiden album. I would say the same for A Matter of Life and Death. It was pretty heavy.
Bad artwork, Good Album.
The cover artwork looked weird when I got my copy of "Dance Of Death", but I never cared, because the album is SO good! I bought it when it was released and I remember classmates asking me if it's good! I always liked this album!
According to Bruce this was supposed to be just a rough idea and Dave Pratchett was to finish the hand painted version (Alà Cathedral 's Forst of Equilibrium) but time run short and Steve was happy with this??? result.
Dave Patchett, really? That would have been awesome, although very Cathedralish...
Where do I find Bruce's statements to this topic?
I own it and despite the artwork, Paschendale is one of my favorite songs.
It is one of the greatest songs in the Maiden discography!
The spiritual successor to The Trooper.
I literally like passchendale more than 'Hallowed be thy Name' and that really really says something. I roll my eyes here in America when I hear people say they like Iron Maiden in the 80s and don't like anything after that. I completely understand favoring their earlier decades but I don't know how you can look at a song like passchendale and not think it's in Iron Maiden masterpiece.
I agree! Paschendale is up there on the list of best ever Maiden tunes.
Since I bought my ticket for my first Maiden concert back in December last year I felt like I really wasn't into Maiden that much and thought about exploring them. After hearing Dance Of Death my Maiden love just showed. I couldn't stop listening to the riff from the song. I heard all of their albums and actually loved this album. Now 2 months after attending the concert I started to carefully explore the songs I listen and as a musician, I really love all of their albums and really feel like they have some underrated albums that deserve more credit. Maybe if it wasn't for the artwork this album might have been accepted better by the fans. Anyway, it still remains one of their best albums in my opinion simply because of the music which is the most important thing of all.
UP THE IRONS!!!
Watched them last night for the 7th time. Absolutely glorious.
Watched them last week for the 4th and 5th time, love it. I don't care what anyone thinks, I like the artwork to Dance of death.
On dance of death are some of my all time favourite maiden songs. E.g No more lies, Paschendale, journeyman and of course dance of death
Although I've never been a fan of that cover artwortk I kind of understand why they used it as it is. Because all those things you pointed out that are wrong with those figures also makes them look creepy. Like disjointed mannequins coming alive or, if you take the album title into account, eerie manifestations of ghosts. Or maybe figures in a dream or a hallucination. So, in the end, it's not just bad or unfinished CGI to me (even if that's what it essentially is), but it does serve a purpose looking the way it does.
The thing is it was never supposed to look that bad tho
It added to an uncomfortable vibe or a disjointed reality which conceptually fit for me although I much prefer a cover like Somewhere in Time or Killers. It doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the music in the slightest. This is an extremely strong album for Maiden…
Dance of Death was the record that really got me back into Maiden back when it came out. I just fell in love with that CD and played it constantly. The CD is still in heavy rotation when I'm driving. Honestly, I never really cared much about the album artwork. It was the first of the "reunion" records I really connected with. Everyone seems to love Brave New World, but after repeated listens, I just can't get into it.
I feel the exactly the same way, Brave New World get so much praise, i always liked this more, never really got inte BNW either
And off course the widely ignored woman to the right side of the reaper (from his perspective) who appears to be pleasuring herself 7:16
I was 10 years old when i listened to this album. In fact it was my first ever metal album and band i heard. Since then only metal runs through my veins. So for me this album is in the top of Iron Maiden.
Iron Maiden should release an alternative cover for it.
My 2 favorite bands of all time
Maiden and Priest.
Unbelievable shows you do on each.
The only thing that sucks about this album is the damn artwork. Underrated record
I also don't get the hate. Love that record
Its my second favourite Iron maiden album cover after Brave new world. Theres just something haunting and nostalgic about it.
Dance of Death is one of the albums that I always played every time I jam on my guitar
Just found your channel, love your content and enthusiasm. Proud of your country for staying strong and positive in spite of everything. You will prevail !
I agree!!! After this past weekend's near mutiny, or coup, or whatever you wanna call it, i think pootin's days are numbered, which is a very scary thing for Ukraine, and much of the world, as he may set off a tactical nuke, or even a strategic one, if he knows his time is short, and his military is getting more and more decimated.
Growing up in the 90s watching Reboot and Beast Wars, this artwork has always been unacceptable to my eyes 😵
Beast Wars rule!!!
Thanks for the video. Great analysis of the circumnstances that surrounded the album. I missed more comments about the compositions. Greetings from Chile
"...their very first acoustic song."
*"Prodigal Son" has entered the chat.
Love this album, love the title track, love the idea behind the album artwork. As a photographer, I did a photoshoot partially inspired by it for my college final graded unit last year.
What annoyed me is that they remastered it in 2015. They've had the chance to do an amazing painted version of this artwork but left it
It’s only the front cover that’s somewhat odd (though it never really bothered me). The back cover and photography throughout is absolutely stellar. And the album itself is one of my all time favourites. They should just put out a new version with the proper fully realised and completed cover art. I’d buy it - on both CD and vinyl.
I agree, they redid the art of the debut album for the 1998 remaster for some reason (not an improvement). So they are familiar with the concept of doing it
It's like game graphics back then. I find it very interesting and deep
Not seeing all the comments either Metal Pilgrim.
As for the Dance of Death artwork, I think it’s okay and reminds me of an old horror movie Mask of the Red Death.
Since Derek Riggs has not been involved with the cover art, the artwork has been lacking. Eddie no longer seems as menacing as he once did. Derek was always able to create a good theme on his covers to go with the music. The only good post Derek artwork would be from The Final Frontier however Eddie is far removed from his more humanistic form and became more of a space alien character. Would like to see one last cover art by Derek before both him and Iron Maiden retire.
Yeah, the only Eddie's I like past the 80s is Brave New World, The Book of Souls, and Senjutsu
Aw maaan... I remember when all the new melodic Death fans started flooding the scene... They usually sat in a corner looking depressed because they didn't know any of the music the DJ played and people were smiling and laughing and being 'un-metal'.
Goofy shit like this is why it's embarrassing for mature adults to identify as "metalheads"
Oh god, just two seconds in of seeing Gers on stage and he's already posing.
Strange... I've been a Diehard Maiden fan since I first saw them on the N.O.T.B. tour and I Love D.O.D. , but I didn't realize the controversy over this album cover until this video! I love the strength in the colors and imagery but didn't notice the odd details for some reason. Still, D.O.D. is an awesome album, saw that Tour in NYC at the Hammerstein Ballroom.... Right in front of the stage... Awesome!!
Just got the rare surround sound version of this album. Can't wait to blast it
I love the album immensely and I have never had a problem with the artwork, I even have the shirt of it. It's odd for sure but I don't hate it what so ever. UP THE IRONS 🤘
you cover all my favorite topics >
Never had a problem with it ever. The album is included in my One Band One Album Spotify Playlist.
I HAPPEN TO LOVE VERY MUCH EVERY SINGLE ELEMENT OF 'DANCE OF DEATH' INCLUDING THE ARTWORK!!!!!!!!!!
This guy would be amazing at Album Cover Sins.
Am I the only one who doesn't see all the comments unless I select "New first"? What's going on?
Had that issue a couple of hours ago today, first time ever.
Same
i´ve had that issue some time ago, even unable to see or comment but somehow it fixed itself
Dances With Death is one of my favorite IM album covers, I never heard any 'controversy' over it.
As a 40+ year Maiden fan I’m glad I found your channel - I just subscribed! DOD is a really interesting and surprising album. I don’t listen to it regularly but Paschendale remains in my Top 20 IM songs! Do you still have that fan art ‘Bootleg’ cover? Would love to see it…
I have 80s Maiden and that's all the Maiden I need.
What guitars do you have there in the background?
The start of the guitar solo on the title track though... 🔥
Redoing that cover would cost about $4000, or what they sell in T-shirts in 10 minutes every show. They've redone the debut cover and NOTB's sky. It's sheer stubbornness of admitting it sucks that prevents them from doing this, I think.
Hm... an interesting thought. Never thought Iron Maiden could consider redoing it
Steve will never admit he's wrong.
But there is an interview where the band admit it was rushed and not to their standard. So dunno why they would be stubborn about
@@MetalPilgrim They have redone the cover of No Prayer and the first album too when released the remasters, so they could redo this one too if they cared.
When Eddie becomes a full AI robot, i wonder will Eddie have flashback memories to a life he never knew, but of a life that has spanned heavymetal for over 40 year's lolz ❤️
Up The Irons
\m/ \m/
This is just a little story Up the Irons will appreciate. I own a carpet cleaning business and I did work for Ozzy's road manager and they were regular customers so we are on good terms and everything but When the little incident happened with Sharon vs Iron Maiden( not a Sharon fan at all). But on their invoice I wrote "up the Irons" and drew the symbol for it so they knew where I stood. I also have done work for Zack Wilde too but If sides had to be taken I Up The Irons!!!
Appreciate the info. You know what, I have sat hours staring at the cover as the music played and not for once found anything amiss. I instantly loved the enigma in the artwork. It was still very Maiden. \m/
they should release the album with the artwork finished.
I love the artwork in like a "so bad it's good kinda way" lol
I like to forget this album art exists, on my iTunes I always make sure to manually add the non-CGI version so I never have to see it
Any album with Rainmaker and Dance of Death in it, will be fine. Not their best work and the 2° of the "last era" (when they are older and write long stuff), but a pretty decent album.
Thanks for sharing !
And... that's what happens when you don't read the title of the video xD
Yeah, is not that good, but you get used to it. The colors are on spot though.
I really hope that next year they will reissue it with new and relevant artwork. Of course, next year will be the 20th anniversary of it's release.
Where cool they Play one Song in the future past Tour
First ever acoustic song? Prodigal Son anyone?
To be honest, it could have been a completely empty stage with just the iconic star and shadows behind the curtains.
Death is unknown, unseen and menacing. Yet alluring, hypnotic and grandiose... adding all of the extra CGI rubbish ruins the mystique.
funny! i also connected the Kubrick flick, Eyes Wide Shut, to the Dance of Death album cover! Small world, huh???
I was eeriely thinking of this very cover and what it looks like. Interesting that a video about it surfaces like one or two days later.
About Eddie as the Grim Reaper, if people found it bad it's because they know too little about the band to remember that ghostly Grim Reaper version of Eddie in the No Prayer for the Dying album booklet.
That NPFTD version of Eddie as the Grim Reaper has to be my favorite Eddie version ever, btw. So, for real die hard fans, it was not a real issue let alone the first time Eddie had the scythe in his bony hands.
And about being a copy of COB mascot, I'd just say "Beckett" and all theories about copying someone else's art intentionally wouldn't come as a surprise, quite honestly lol.
No, it wasn't that bad. It was the worst.
I was 19 back then, and I remember going through the Iron Maiden forums day after day to see if there was any news on the new album that was about to be released. One of the topics was the cover art, and lots of people were putting fake covers there since no one knew nothing about it yet. When a user put the just released promoted art cover in the topic, everyone thought it was another fake. All the jaws dropped when we realized it was official.
Dance of death is in my top maiden album. It's amazing. It's got real heavy stuff and then it gets pulled back with journeyman. What an absolute powerhouse of an album.
My favorite Maiden album after 2000. I simply LOVE "Age of Innocence" that reminds me of Bruce's Skunkworks vocal lines, "New Frontier" has the vibe of Piece of Mind, and "Face in the Sand", an epic track with double bass.
Such an amazing album. It’s unfortunate that the music itself gets overshadowed by that album cover
DoD is one of my favourite IM albums. It is inspirational great music, so No More Lies! ;)
...really, it is not horror, it is not war, it is philosophy and spirituality.
...And uplifting music!
Big problem with IM fans that most of them are horror fans - or it seems so. (that is why I cannot say "most of us")
I love that album musically, honestly!
@@MetalPilgrim I think it is about flawless. Nico's song is a bit "simple", but only a little bit and I love it. Wildest Dream is a great opener, Rainmaker is a great eye opener as well as No More Lies with deep lyrics and melodies...
...The drama of Paschendale and Face in the Sand rams one down and during Journeyman in Debrecen, Hungary (tour opener) I got close to the stage and felt Love waves up from the fans to the stage and down from the band towards the fans at the same time - one of the most profound experiences of my life.
All in all, I actually prefer this one compared to Brave New World - if I really must rank IM albums.
Where do I find Bruce's statement to thid topic?
The art work for *Somewhere in time* was never bettered.
I have the Limited Picture Disc of the Album and i love the Artwork on it..
I think this album is just awesome haha. It was the first album of 21st century iron maiden i heard and fell in love with the title track! I have it both on CD and vinyl haha 🤘🏻🤘🏻
I have never really paid much attention to the cover of the CDs, I’m just into the music, and have been since they started playing at places like Hammersmith Odeon.
The album artwork is poor by Maiden's standards, but the issue isn't Eddie, it's the other graphic sprites, they looked glitched. I really loved most of this album, No more Lies and Dance of death are absolute classics.
This was really interesting. Nice job and thank you.
Slava Ukraini 🤘🇺🇦
Героям Слава!
Героям Слава! Thank you my friend!
I love Dave Patchet's work with Cathedral. There was one album, I think Endtyme, that the label didn't want to pay for his art, so we got that shitty cover, but then Japan refused to release the album there without Dave's artwork. So the Japanese release got a different cover
Nothing wrong with the artwork. I think the whole song is a trip report and what he saw was also reflected on the cover art. Entities
always looked for the Grimm Reaper and Riggs mark
The first Iron Maiden acoustic song was Prodigal Son.
I always chalked this up to the phase that they were going through that included making the "Ed Hunter" video game. Someone got really into computer graphics while making that game (Steve Harris?) and even though the video game was total crap, they doubled down on the CG look for their next album. Although they have continued to release other video game projects that may be slightly better than Ed Hunter, at least they've not continued to form their album image around the games, instead forming the games around their album images. Video game graphics and 3D CGI technology has come a long way since 1999, so it's easier to not look like total crap nowadays.
Do you have a kind of official source for all of this information?
The quality cover is totally different of the quality of the music.
The fingerless baby standing on the goat looking like "fight me bro"... absolutely iconic.
The title track it’s one of my very favorites
I saw the Dance of Death tour in NYC and the show was cut short as an idiot spilled beer on the sound board and it shorted out. The encore was cancelled 😢
Please do a video on why Adrian and Bruce left and then returned to the band. Thank you.
It is an amazing album from start to finish. The artwork is probably could have been better and the music video for the "Wildest Dreams" single could have been better as well, but by and large it is a really really really good Maiden album, hands down one of my favorite ones.
It'd be awesome if they rereleased it with revamped artwork, sorta like what Pink Floyd did with Animals, but as an illustrated version.
Still looking back and forth between the album cover and my own dog laying next to me. He has this "unnecessary joint" in his leg which is actually not his leg anymore, but his wrist / carpus. A dog cannot walk properly without it, so I'm quite sure he would not call this joint "unnecessary". A lot of great info about metal on this channel but dogs anatomy is not your topic, obviously. ;o)
Haha thanks man! I guess I’m calling off my new “dog anatomy channel” then 😂😂
They should have used the album cover that they used for Death on the Road.
Always thought it was a bit of a joke. I recall the tour bus on Gimme Ed tour having one of the digital characters on the bus and nothing else.
You description of the art needed the minion to say what!
Hail Ukraine ! I've never been a metal fan tho I love a few tracks like Can I Play With Madness but I did recently make a hard rock playlist (my non active channel with not a single video features well over 200 playlists) I immediately noticed the passion and how well made and the depth this video had and the only upside to the gruesome, deplorable idea of Vladimir to start a war is getting to know the soul and the people of this proud nation which is absolutely hardcore awe inspiring. (In my city of Deventer in The Netherlands I've met a few of you guys too, both students and refugees) and I can't wait to be able to see your country rebuilt and enjoying the peace you deserve and you guys have more soul, character and culture in your left toe than russia will ever have in it's lukewarm corpse and we will support our brothers to the end and dare I say, the flag, the trident, even the azov symbol radiate finesse, power and intelligence, Culture. I'm sorry i did not want to make this all about the war just wanted to leave a deserved compliment and subcribe >
Thank you so much, my friend! This truly means a lot to me!
I LOVE the DoD artwork!
I remember when it was revealed. Oh, how the internet laughed. There were immediate uploads of better artwork by fans. We laughed even more when it was realised that had the baby-surfing-on-the-wolf on the side of their tour bus. It was obvious the band were oblivious to how awful it was.
hey could you make a video about young metal bands that are going to hit it big. Or that they are currently in a whirlwind
The baby is just standing on the side of the dog
I've never had an issue with the artwork, it makes sense to me, the grim reaper (death) dancing in a ritual, sweet and simple, I understand the cgi puts people off but it's still a good album cover and one of my favourite all time maiden albums
I have had several friends who know I love Maiden message me randomly like "wtf is up with this artwork". The album itself is great, but the art was...a choice
I wish they would get riggsy back. His art was an integral part of maiden.
I never noticed anything wrong with the art on Dance of Death. Since Derek stopped doing the covers they've pretty much been fanart unsuitable for an album cover. Why is this one picked out as having the bad cover amongst a slew of bad post-Riggs covers?
I love your accent, man. All fear the Grim Ripper!
Metal Pilgram: ”Dance of Death is the first album to have an acoustic song.”
Prodigal Son: “Am I a joke to you?”
First to have a FULLY acoustic song. Prodigal Son isn’t ;)
I guess I should have been more specific ;)
I love this artwork. Unironically. The beautifully rendered Eddie, juxtaposed by the unsettling, low quality cgi models is so strange. I can't stop looking at it. As a one off cover, it's awesome. Just so long as we never do this type of artwork again.
From the artwork of Derrick Riggs who did all the original Iron Maiden album covers from the very first all the way down to no prayer for the dying is fantastic now the dance of death album cover is different it's Unique now if a bunch of head bangers went and complain about the album cover why did you bother to buy the album in the first place it's still Iron Maiden no matter what if you can't stop complaining about it then don't bother commenting it's just that I'm cover I like it it's different I love the album I love the songs it's Iron Maiden simply put best up the irons.
I guess the universe tried to balance the amazing quality of Maiden's best song, which is the one that names Dance of Death album, and so made the cover artist not have time enough to finish it, smh
What did the bootleg artwork (that you thought was the real artwork) look like?
We used to joke that the band lost a bet to Nicko during a drunken bar hop. Nicko had taken a week of graphic design class, and the band agreed to let Nicko design the cover and the band HAD to use it.
If you see the cover thinking it is supposed to be creepy, bizarre or ironical, its a good one
I like the artwork. There, now you know someone who likes it :) good video tho :)