Iron Maiden – Dance Of Death

Just thought I'd add my two cents worth on this. I wasn't expecting too much given the negative reviews this album garners (for the sound not the songs themselves) so I was pleasantly surprised at how good it sounds on my system. Nice bottom end and the top end is noticeably better than the original CD, which indeed sounds pretty horrible at times. I'm using an AT-VM540ML - A cartridge with a notably bright sound so maybe that's helping but I would say if you have slight doubts about this pressing it might just be the best you're going to get soundwise for this particular record. Yes it's the 2015 remaster but it's still way better than the original.

It's known in Maiden circles that the poor sound of the album was down to Steve Harris himself, I'm afraid. The tracks were actually recorded on analogue tape but the album itself was mastered from a CD given to Steve Harris by producer Kevin Shirley that he processed through, in his words, an "old" digital convertor that you could "Really smash the crap out of". Harris liked the sound and took the CD to the studio and told the mastering engineer to master direct from the CD (!). Shirley has said that he has also done a proper 1/2" master from the tapes but this has never seen the light of day unfortunately.

Bought this expecting bad things after reading the reviews here, but found out the sound is quite dynamic and there is a lot of bottom end, which I like, you want a brighter sounding record? just add some treble in your EQ and that's it. To me this sounds wonderful, nice instrument separation and warm, even sound. The package is top notch, yeah the album cover looks a bit outdated and not at the level of pretty much all the other IM records, but still, it has its charm. Glad I bought this and for a decent price as well.

I would say that it sounds really good ... From the comments i waited worsed listenings.. But it sounds really well...i have the original CD and the production was poor from back then .i am really satisfied..i can hear all the organs separated. 4/5

Could anyone please share on whether this version is better than the BMG release (US 2017)?
Thanks

This sounds overly compressed and as if coming from a low bit rate file.
Original masters seem to be the culprit here.
Pressing is excellent.

Not a fan of the sound on this one. What a letdown.

I agree there is something wrong with sound on this release - compared to "Brave New World" and "A Matter Of....." remasters

to my ears this sounds very compressed...much different from the Brave New World remaster, which sounds great! So I would say it isn't remaster's fault, it might be something to do with the original recording itself. but other than that it's a great copy in of packaging and the discs are nice too, flat and quiet.