A Matter of Life and Death (album)

A Matter of Life and Death is the fourteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 25August 2006 in Italy and Finland and 28August worldwide—excluding the US, Canada and Japan, where it was released on 5September. It is the first album in Iron Maiden's career to enter the US Billboard charts in the top10, achieving significant chart success in many other countries as well. While it is not a concept album, war and religion are recurring themes throughout, as well as in the cover artwork. The band supported the album with the A Matter of Life and Death Tour, during which they played the record in its entirety.

Iron Maiden began writing new songs near the end of 2005, after a break following their hugely successful festival dates in the US and Europe during the Eddie Rips Up the World Tour. The album was recorded from 1 March to 4 May 2006. To provide a more "live" sound, the album was not mastered. Shirley said, "Spoke to 'Arry (Steve Harris) on Friday, who has decided against mastering the Iron Maiden album  It means that you will get to hear the new album exactly as it sounded in the studio, no added EQ, compression, analogue widening, etc., and I must say, I am pretty happy with the end result." Speaking to Metal Hammer in September 2006, lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson commented that "Everyone was up for pushing things as far as they'd go, but the record was so easy to make." Dickinson went on to claim that they "finished the record with two months to spare," with Harris adding, "A lot of what you hear are first time takes." Speaking about the record's musical style, Harris states that "It is heavier than we've ever been, but also very progressive. And I don't mean that in the modern sense, but like Dream Theater, more in a 70s way." A Matter of Life and Death is Iron Maiden's fourth studio album that does not have a title track, following Piece of Mind, The X Factor and Virtual XI. Drummer Nicko McBrain and guitarist Janick Gers claim that the band originally intended to name the album after one of its tracks, with both "The Pilgrim" and "The Legacy" being considered. According to Gers, "sometimes a title will just leap out at you as the obvious choice, but it didn't this time for some reason", so the band decided on A Matter of Life and Death, which, according to McBrain, was amongst "two or three ideas which we were kicking around". Neither Gers nor McBrain can remember who came up with the title, which they state was thought up by either Harris, Rod Smallwood (the band's manager) or "Drew" (an engineer at Sarm West Studios). He had a tight schedule, receiving for reference the songs to listen to and key art done by Peacock Designs UK, who directed the booklet's artwork. Along with redrawing a few of the original elements – which featured the tank described by Bradstreet as "Korean War era but with a twist" as the gun barrel is patched over from another vehicle – Bradstreet added Eddie as a general leading an army of skeletons. Bradstreet's colourist partner Grant Goleash finished the art, which was then retouched by Peacock. The back cover would originally feature Eddie shot on the back, but then the band opted to instead feature a detail of the tank icon featuring Eddie's head along with crossed guns. During the 2006 leg of the A Matter of Life and Death Tour, Iron Maiden performed the album in its entirety, which received a mixed response. The band still supports their decision to play the record in full, with McBrain commenting that "I think that this is the best album I've ever made with this band" and that "a lot of people [were] very happy to hear this album in its entirety", while Dickinson says that doing so contributed to the fact that "the fans are attracted to us because we are still an active musical force".

The first single to be released from the album was "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg", released on 14 August 2006. On 10 August, "Different World" was made available for public streaming on the band's website, as was "Brighter than a Thousand Suns" the following day. "Different World" was the second single, receiving airplay on many rock radio stations. The song also features an animated video, similar to that of "Wildest Dreams".

The album was met with highly positive reviews from music critics. Metal Hammer rated it 10 out of 10, stating that "Iron Maiden have utterly surpassed themselves" and that "it makes for a riveting listen." IGN awarded it 8.3 out of 10, praising the album as "the crew's best release since Piece of Mind". The album was voted Best Album in the 2006 Burrn! magazine readers' poll. It also won the 2006 Metal Storm Award for Best Heavy Metal Album. Rolling Stone gave the album 3 stars out of 5, finding the music and lyrics "relevant", although also claiming that "the songs now march where they once galloped", implying that the band is "ageing gracefully". AllMusic were also less positive, rating it 3.5 out of 5 and commenting that it is "a more elaborate and meandering experience than [its predecessor] Dance of Death, but a rewarding one for fans willing to indulge the group's occasional excess".

On 14 September, Iron Maiden released an update which stated that "in just the first week the new album has shipped over a million copies worldwide and impacted on the charts pretty well everywhere in the world". This was their first album to chart in the top ten in the Billboard 200, reportedly selling 56,000 units in its first week. Debuting at No. 4, it was the highest charting rock album ever in India, until their fifteenth studio album, The Final Frontier, which debuted at No. 1. the band's eighth from the country.