Recorded in December at the Westfalenhalle Arena (Dortmund, Germany) during the band's 2003
Dance of Death
tour, the two-disc
Death on the Road
deviates little from
Iron Maiden
's countless other live albums. While blissfully heavy on the group's excellent -- and suitably theatrical -- new material, longtime fans do not need any more live versions of "Number of the Beast," "Hallowed Be Thy Name," "Run to the Hills," or "The Trooper." All that said,
do not disappoint, laying to waste any notions that they can't hold themselves to the performance standards of their younger days. Even
Bruce Dickinson
, despite a voice that's now often more choked than feral, can barely keep himself from leaping into the crowd, and it's that kind of enthusiasm that makes each and every live release -- and there are a lot of them -- worthwhile to some degree. ~ James Christopher Monger