A Matter of Life and Death is the 14thstudio album by English heavy metalband Iron Maiden. It is the first albumin Iron Maiden's almost 30 year careerto enter the U.S. Billboard charts in thetop 10, and has seen significant chartsuccess in many other countries.A Matter of Life and Death is easilyIron Maiden's best album since 1988'sSeventh Son of a Seventh Son. Thealbum begins with Different Worldand These Colours Don't Run, twostrong, memorable anthems. Thenthe album settles into a darker, morecontemplative groove. The specter ofwar hangs heavy here. The LongestDay vividly describes D-Day; Lord ofLight bemoans "the slaughter of thebrotherhood of man"; Brighter than aThousand Suns calls nuclear armament"a race to suicide." Interestingly, thewhole album was recorded live in thestudio rather than having each bandmember record their part individually. ......