IRON MAIDEN's 'Nights Of The Dead' Live Album Lands On European Charts

IRON MAIDEN's new double live album, "Nights Of The Dead, Legacy Of The Beast: Live In Mexico City", has registered the following first-week chart positions in Europe:

Belgium (Flanders): #10
Belgium (Wallonia): #7
The Netherlands: #14
Finland: #6
Germany: #6
Ireland: #29
Italy: #14
Norway: #12
Scotland: #4
Sweden: #5
U.K.: #7

"Nights Of The Dead, Legacy Of The Beast: Live In Mexico City" was released on November 20 via BMG. Containing over 100 minutes of classic MAIDEN music and available in multiple formats, including a limited-edition Mexican Flag, triple-colored (180g) vinyl and a limited-edition deluxe two-CD book format, "Nights Of The Dead, Legacy Of The Beast: Live In Mexico City" was recorded during the band's three sold-out arena shows there in September 2019 and is a celebration of their "Legacy Of The Beast" world tour which began in 2018 and will finish next summer in Europe.

"I'm really excited," singer Bruce Dickinson previously said about the effort. "I was at the mix with Steve [Harris, MAIDEN bassist] and had a listen to some of the tracks. Brilliant. 'Sign Of The Cross' — oh, yeah! Nicko's [McBrain] drumming on it is nothing short of earth-shaking. I mean, solid, solid, solid. Really, really, really good. I was blown away. 'For The Greater Good Of God' — nobody has ever heard that on a [live] MAIDEN album before. It's a great thing.

"In this mad world at the moment, the best we can do is give you some new live MAIDEN to listen to," he continued. "And [we] hope you don't drool too much, because when we do get back out on tour, it's gonna be even better. Oh, yes!"

The track listing is:

01. Churchill's Speech
02. Aces High
03. Where Eagles Dare
04. 2 Minutes To Midnight
05. The Clansman
06. The Trooper
07. Revelations
08. For The Greater Good Of God
09. The Wicker Man
10. Sign Of The Cross
11. Flight Of Icarus
12. Fear Of The Dark
13. Iron Maiden
14. The Number Of The Beast
15. The Evil That Men Do
16. Hallowed Be Thy Name
17. Run To The Hills

Harris comments: "When the final leg of our 2020 'Legacy' tour this summer had to be cancelled due to the COVID pandemic, the whole band was very disappointed and deflated and we know our fans felt the same. We'd been really looking forward to bringing the show to even more countries and although we've been able to reschedule most of our European own-shows for 2021, we thought we'd take a listen to the recordings from the tour so far and see if we could create a definitive live album souvenir that everyone, everywhere could enjoy. I'm very pleased with the results, especially as this set list includes songs which have never made it to a live CD before, such as 'For The Greater Good Of God' and other older songs like 'Where Eagles Dare', 'Flight Of Icarus', 'The Clansman' and 'Sign Of The Cross', which haven't been included in our live set releases for many years.

"We've never released a live album from Mexico before and I think this recording does justice to the passion and joy of our Mexican fans who always give us such a fantastic welcome whenever we play there."

MAIDEN manager Rod Smallwood adds: "All the shows on the tour so far have been amazing and our fans have loved the whole 'Legacy' extravaganza with the elaborately themed stages, props and drapes, not to mention the killer setlist!

"When our 2020 tour got cancelled, putting together a live album seemed the obvious thing to do and I think Steve, along with co-producer Tony Newton, has perfectly captured the essence of the 70,000-strong crowd across these three nights in Mexico City.

"The album serves both as a celebration of this tour, which almost two million fans have already seen, and as a taster for, hopefully, next year's final run for anyone who hasn't yet experienced the show."

The album is available in these formats:

* 2-CD digipak
* Limited-edition deluxe 2-CD book format
* Heavyweight 180g triple black vinyl
* Limited-edition heavyweight 180g Mexican flag triple colored vinyl
* Digital (streaming and download).

Last year, it was rumored that IRON MAIDEN had completed work on a new studio album. The group hasn't issued any fresh music since 2015's "The Book Of Souls" LP, which was recorded in late 2014 in Paris, France with longtime producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley.

If the reports of a new MAIDEN album are true, it will mark the band's 17th studio effort and the sixth to be produced by Shirley, who has worked with MAIDEN for the past two decades.

"The Book Of Souls" was the longest MAIDEN album, clocking in at 92 minutes, with lyrics heavily based in the themes of death, reincarnation, the soul and mortality.