Album
Dance of Death
Dance of Death is Iron Maiden's thirteenth studio album, released in Japan on 2 September 2003 and in the rest of the world a few days later, with North America following a day after Europe. Recorded in analogue, it sits in the heavy and progressive metal camp the band had made their own.
It was the second record made since Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith rejoined in 1999, following Brave New World in 2000, and again the band worked with producer Kevin Shirley, who has stayed with them ever since. Two details make it stand out: "Journeyman", the band's first fully acoustic track, and "New Frontier", the only song drummer Nicko McBrain has co-written for them. Both are worth hearing for how they stretch the Maiden template.
Dance of Death: tracklist, credits and charts
11 tracks · 1:08:03Tracklist
- Disc 1
- 1Wildest DreamsSteve Harris and Adrian Smith3:53
- 2RainmakerDickinson, Harris, Murray3:49
- 3No More LiesSteve Harris7:22
- 4MontségurDickinson, Gers, Harris5:50
- 5Dance of DeathJanick Gers and Steve Harris8:37
- 6Gates of TomorrowDickinson, Gers, Harris5:12
- Disc 2
- 1New FrontierHarris, McBrain, Smith5:04
- 2PaschendaleSteve Harris and Adrian Smith8:28
- 3Face in the SandDickinson, Harris, Smith6:31
- 4Age of InnocenceSteve Harris and Dave Murray6:10
- 5JourneymanDickinson, Harris, Smith7:07
- Produced by
- Steve Harris, Kevin Shirley, Steve Harris
- Recorded at
- Sarm East Studios, Sarm West (London)
- Recorded
- January–February 2003
- Mixed by
- Kevin Shirley
- Engineered by
- Drew Griffiths, Kevin Shirley
- Label
- EMI
- Length
- 1:08:03
Line-up
- Janick Gers · electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Steve Harris · electric bass guitar
- Nicko McBrain · drums (drum set)
- Dave Murray · electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Adrian Smith · electric guitar, acoustic guitar
- Bruce Dickinson · lead vocals
Singles
- “Wildest Dreams” · 1 September 2003
- “Rainmaker” · 24 November 2003
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 2003 | 2 |
| US Billboard 200 · 2003 | 18 |
| Finnish Albums · 2003 | 1 |
| Italian Albums · 2003 | 1 |
| Swedish Albums · 2003 | 1 |
| German Albums · 2003 | 2 |
| Greek Albums · 2003 | 2 |
| Scottish Albums · 2003 | 2 |
| Swiss Albums · 2003 | 2 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums · 2003 | 2 |
All 27 charts
| Austrian Albums · 2003 | 3 |
| French Albums · 2003 | 3 |
| Hungarian Albums · 2003 | 3 |
| Norwegian Albums · 2003 | 3 |
| Polish Albums · 2003 | 3 |
| Spanish Albums (AFYVE) · 2003 | 3 |
| Belgian Albums (Flanders) · 2003 | 4 |
| Portuguese Albums · 2003 | 4 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard) · 2003 | 5 |
| Ireland 2 · 2003 | 6 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2003 | 9 |
| Russian Albums (NFPF) · 2003 | 9 |
| Danish Albums · 2003 | 10 |
| Dutch Albums · 2003 | 10 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 2003 | 11 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 2003 | 12 |
| New Zealand Albums · 2003 | 21 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| Argentina | Gold |
| Brazil · 2007 | Gold |
| Finland · 2003 | Gold |
| Germany · 2005 | Gold |
| Greece · 2003 | Gold |
| Norway · 2005 | Gold |
| Sweden · 2003 | Gold |
| United Kingdom · 2003 | Gold |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
68.9
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
3.4k
ListenBrainz listeners
103k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
21k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Also released on 2 September
Every year →
More from Iron Maiden
Full discography →
The Soundhouse Tapes
1979
Iron Maiden
1980
Live!! + One
1980
Killers
1981
Maiden Japan
1981
The Number of the Beast
1982
Iron Maiden Lo mejor de Iron Maiden 1983
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1983
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1983
Piece of Mind
1983
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1984
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Christmas EP
1984
Live After Death
1985
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Audio Pieces
1986
Somewhere in Time
1986
Iron Maiden Maiden Mania 80–87 1987
Maiden Mania 80–87
1987
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
1988
Maiden England
1989
The First Ten Years
1990
No Prayer for the Dying
1990
Fear of the Dark
1992
A Real Live One
1993
A Real Dead One
1993
Live at Donington: August 22nd 1992
1993
The X Factor
1995
Best of the Beast
1996
Iron Maiden An Introduction to… Virtual XI 1998
An Introduction to… Virtual XI
1998
Virtual XI
1998
A Real Live Dead One
1998
Ed Hunter
1999
Brave New World
2000
Rock in Rio
2002
Iron Maiden Eddie's Archive 2002
Eddie's Archive
2002
Edward the Great
2002
BBC Archives
2002
Beast Over Hammersmith
2002
No More Lies: Dance of Death Souvenir EP
2004
The Essential Iron Maiden
2005
Death on the Road
2005
A Matter of Life and Death
2006
Somewhere Back in Time
2008
Somewhere Back in Time: The Best of 1980–1989
2008
Iron Maiden Flight 666 2009
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2009
The Final Frontier
2010
From Fear to Eternity: The Best of 1990–2010
2011
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More on EMI
The label →The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden · 1982
A Night at the Opera
Queen · 1975
Piece of Mind
Iron Maiden · 1983
Powerslave
Iron Maiden · 1984
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden · 1992
Hot Space
Queen · 1982
Somewhere in Time
Iron Maiden · 1986
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13
Black Sabbath · 2013
Queen II
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + wikidata; also seen: 2003-09-03 (musicbrainz)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 3 September 2003 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 2 September 2003 | |
| Wikidata | 2 September 2003 | |
| US release | 9 September 2003 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 8 September 2003 | earliest UK or European date |
17 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | XW | Parlophone | 0825646128303 | other |
| 2003 | XE | EMI | 724359234014 | other |
| 2003 | CA | EMI Music Canada | 724359301020 | other |
| 2003 | DE | EMI | 724359234021 | other |
| 3 September 2003 | JP | Capitol Records (International) | 4988006813571 | original |
| 8 September 2003 | GB | EMI | 724359301020 | other |
| 8 September 2003 | GB | EMI | 724359234021 | other |
| 9 September 2003 | US | Columbia | 696998906129 | other |
| 9 September 2003 | US | Columbia | other | |
| 2004 | XE | EMI | 724359234090 | other |
| 6 September 2006 | JP | EMI | 4988006846739 | other |
| 2015 | XW | Sanctuary Records | other | |
| 27 May 2016 | XW | Parlophone | 190295524104 | remaster |
| 23 June 2017 | XE | Parlophone | 0190295851965 | other |
| 22 November 2019 | XE | Parlophone | 190295567613 | other |
| — | — | Sanctuary Records | 4050538463880 | remaster |
| — | — | Capitol Records | 4988006813571 | other |
Cover art sources
itunes · native: native 1500x1500
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| itunes ✓ | 1500×1500 | native: native 1500x1500 |
| deezer | 1200×1200 | upscaled |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 508×500 | upscaled |