Iron Maiden: Өлім биі

Dance of Death is the thirteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released first in Japan on 2 September and then 8 September 2003 in the rest of the world excluding North America (where it was released a day later). The album was an analogue recording. On 6 January 2003, Shirley confirmed via his website that the band would begin recording that month, followed by the announcement that the basic tracks had been completed on 5 February and that the release was to be mixed in April. On 31 May, the band announced that the album, recorded at Sarm West Studios, would be entitled Dance of Death, after which the release date was issued on 17 June. The band undertook the Dance of Death World Tour in support of the album, which included many theatrical elements inspired by the record's songs. During "Dance of Death", Bruce Dickinson would wear theatrical masks and a cape while moving around the stage; at the end he would dress as the Grim Reaper for the final chorus. as worn during World War I, and the set would be decorated with barbed wire. The tour led to a live album and DVD, entitled Death on the Road, released in 2005 and 2006. The album was released as a DVD Audio disc in 2004, including 5.1 mixes of each song.

Dance of Death is the only Iron Maiden album to date in which drummer Nicko McBrain has a songwriting credit, having co written "New Frontier". This also makes it the only Iron Maiden album to date in which every member of the band receives a songwriting credit. Dickinson, who wrote the song's lyrics, states, "There is so much great stuff and so many great stories throughout history that you can make parallels with the modern day – particularly when history repeats itself as often as it does – that it makes for some very colourful subject matter." It features strong progressive rock elements, including its length, detailed structure, and multiple tempo changes throughout the song. Dickinson comments, "the beauty of 'Paschendale' isn't in the epic ness of the song – although you have to admit it is a powerful and stirring body of music – but the detail." According to guitarist Janick Gers, the album's title track was inspired by the final scene of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, at the end of which "these figures on the horizon start doing a little jig, which is the dance of death". "Face in the Sand" is based on the media coverage surrounding the Iraq War, taking place as the album was being recorded. although Mick Wall describes it as "a wistful tale of carpe diem". The song was originally recorded with electric instruments, however, as Dickinson states, "after all the battering that we've given the listener over the last hour of music it just seemed right to play out with something totally unexpected and left field." who asked for his name to be removed from the album's credits after the band decided to use an unfinished version. The album cover was received negatively by both fans and critics, being cited on several "worst of" lists. Dickinson later called the cover "embarrassing". The original cover art supposedly featured only Eddie and a few monks behind him but the band manager Rod Smallwood felt it looked empty, so he hired someone from IronMaiden. com to design characters surrounding Eddie using the program Poser. They then gave the roughs back to Patchett and asked him to work on the skin and mask textures. Patchett did so but was unimpressed with the result.

Reviews for the album were generally positive with Kerrang! describing it as "stupendous stuff and concrete proof that Maiden are as electrifying and important as they have been in a long time".

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes.