IRON MAIDEN Singer Says The Songwriting On The New Album Is 'Looser' Than Before

IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson recently spoke to Canada's Chart Attack about the group's forthcoming CD, "Dance Of Death", due on September 9 through Columbia Records.

"The writing style's a bit looser," Dickinson said. "We were prepared to be a bit more open with our emotions on this record than we were on [2000's] 'Brave New World', and on 'Brave New World' in fact we were more open than we were on a lot of the previous albums."

This doesn't mean, however, that the MAIDEN fans should expect to see the band drastically altering their tried-and-tested formula.

"Every MAIDEN album is a challenge because you have to stay within the tramlines of what MAIDEN is, or else you lose it," said Dickinson. "To develop within that framework can be tough, so you just have to relax about it and you have to sometimes not try so hard and just wait.

"The key thing about writing a MAIDEN album is patience and waiting 'til the right idea comes along," he continued. "It's not about locking yourself away and writing feverishly every day for six months, it's probably about playing pool for about six months and then going, 'Ah, an idea! Great!' When it does happen, it happens very quickly, and when we get a really good idea it can be turned into a song in 24 hours."

"Dance Of Death" was produced by Kevin Shirley, who, along with bassist Steve Harris, co-produced the group's 2000 album, "Brave New World", and last year's concert set "Rock in Rio". The 11-track CD was recorded in West London prior to the band's recent European tour, and will include a stereo mix and a 5.1 Surround Sound mix.

"Brave New World" debuted at No. 39 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 270,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.