The Final Frontier

This article is about the 2010 Iron Maiden album. For the Star Trek film, see Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. For other uses, see Final Frontier.

The Final Frontier
Studio album by
Iron Maiden
Released13 August 2010 (2010-08-13)
Recorded11 January – 1 March 2010 (2010-01-11 – 2010-03-01)
Studio
GenreHeavy metal
Length76:34
LabelEMI
ProducerKevin Shirley
Iron Maiden studio albums chronology
A Matter of Life and Death
(2006) 		The Final Frontier
(2010) 		The Book of Souls
(2015)
Singles from The Final Frontier
  1. "El Dorado"
    Released: 8 June 2010

The Final Frontier is the fifteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released on 13 August 2010 in Germany,[1] Austria and Finland,[2] 17 August in North America,[3][4] 18 August in Japan,[5] and 16 August worldwide.[6] At 76 minutes and 34 seconds, it is the band's third-longest studio album to date,[7] a duration surpassed only by 2015's The Book of Souls and 2021's Senjutsu. Melvyn Grant, a long-time contributor to the band's artwork, created the cover art.[8] It is the band's final album to be released through EMI Records, marking the end of their 30-year relationship. It is also the last album to use the band's alternate logo. While not a concept album, themes of exploration, expectation, and discovery are frequent throughout. The Final Frontier is the band's first studio album in nearly four years, making it one of the longest gaps between albums.

The album received favourable reviews from critics and peaked at No. 1 in 28 countries. This included the United Kingdom, where it became the band's fourth release to top the UK Albums Chart following 1982's The Number of the Beast, 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and 1992's Fear of the Dark. On top of this, The Final Frontier also charted at No. 4 in the United States, marking their highest placement on the Billboard 200 until it was surpassed by 2021's Senjutsu at No. 3, in addition to gaining the band their first Grammy Award in the Best Metal Performance category for the song "El Dorado", released as a free download on 8 June 2010.

EMI released the album in most of the world, while in the United States it was released jointly by Universal Music Enterprises and Sony Music Entertainment – the successor to the Sanctuary Records/Columbia Records joint venture that had previously controlled the Iron Maiden catalogue in North America.

  1. ^ "Iron Maiden – Live @ Wacken 2010 – Blood Brothers – HD". YouTube. 7 August 2010. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  2. ^ "Maidenin uusi levy myi kultaa ennen julkaisua". Iltalehti (in Finnish). 12 August 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2010.
  3. ^ "Iron Maiden's The Final Frontier Tops UK, Finnish Charts". Blabbermouth.net. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  4. ^ "Twitter message". Twitter. IronMaidenFC. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
  5. ^ "メガデス-Oricon Style ミュージック" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  6. ^ "Iron Maiden Announces The Final Frontier North American Tour With Dream Theater". Blabbermouth.net. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference about.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference maiden 7 June announcement was invoked but never defined (see the help page).