Best Songs On Iron Maiden's A Matter of Life and Death

The Top Ten
1 For the Greater Good of God

This is my favorite album of the band but in no way is this the best song. It suffers from the Powerslave syndrome which is stretching out verse-chorus songs to 7-9-minute pseudo-epics by decorating them up with acoustic intros and extra choruses. The Legacy on the other hand has no chorus and fills out its 9-minute running time well by Iron Maiden standards. Even Brighter than a Thousand Suns and Lord of Light are better structured

This is one of those songs that propitiates a deep reflection on your part. It is true that the chorus is repeated regularly at times, but it just adds to the strength of the message. I love this song, its solo, the lyrics and the message, especially the last verse to close.

Absolutely beautiful songwriting and vocals. UP THE IRONS!

Awesome live

2 The Longest Day

God, this is not only the best song on the album, it's the best song by Maiden!
Especially the intro when Bruce sings "the cliff's errupting" and Nicko simulates the falling cliffs with his Tom's. Amazing!
And the "sliding we go... "-part is so perfect.
Should be played at every show!

Absolute spine chilling song and one of the best Iron Maiden chorus in my opinion, it has great chorus and instrumental that keeps you immersed for the whole song.

Dear God that chorus! I could listen to it for hours, literally. That epic riff and Bruce's godlike voice is orgasm to my ears. Easily on the top 10 Maiden songs ever.

There's always more going on in this song than I think.

3 The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg

Never liked this much when it came out just couldn't get into it,but started listening to the album again lately and I have come to love it and this song in particular love it love it love it

This song is catchy and sad. Its about benjamin breeg who was a good fighter and died anad is buried. A heart touching and catchy song but eddie is breaking his grave on the single cover!

Has some of the best riffs I've ever heard and it tells a great story I like for the greater good of god and the longest day a lot but this is by far my favourite

An amazing riff in this song, a very under-rated Maiden track. It's a unique song for Maiden to an extent with a catchy ballad feel to it!

4 The Legacy

This song is brilliant, the vocals at about 4 and a half minutes are absolutely haunting and I love it, and then those haunting vocals come back for the whole second half of the song that aren't just instrumentals, if you have yet to listen to this song please take the 9 and a half minutes it takes to make it through this absolute monster of a song, reminds me a lot of Natural Science by Rush and that's as good a compliment I can give any song. Arguably the best on the album.

I really don't know what do everybody likes about "For the greater good of God"...I never liked it. Never. Always thought The Legacy is the best track on this album..it has a lot of different feelings through the song...great versatility and epic riffs..a masterpiece by Janick

Absolute top on this album! Not love at first hearing, but when you play it 10times (or hundreds times like me) you really fall in love with this one!

Has a good intro, and the jam part is also great. And when it kicks in it's even better.

5 Brighter Than a Thousand Suns

This song is a masterpiece ;it should at least be in the top 2 of A Matter of life and death.
Besides, it is Iron Maiden's most powerful song by far and its message can clearly be understood at the very first listening.
UP THE IRONS!

MY FAVOURITE BAND AND MY FAVOURITE SONG! For me, it's simply much better than Fear of The Dark or other great hit. Just listen, it will smash your mind!

In Most Iron Maiden Songs, most of it is good, but in this song I like everything in it.

The ending is absolutely beautiful.

6 These Colours Don't Run

The story is just amazing. A song about war I really like. The awesome music makes it one of my favourite song

Amazing and underrated

7 Different World

Great solo. I hate to see a song of this caliber be so low because people just vote for the long. Every song is solid on this album but this and the final frontier are the best album openers. No contest.

This song rocks I probably listen to it every day. Its not as good as hallowed be thy name number of the beast and phantom of the opera but it is so catchy and awesome!

Great opener and a very nice contrast to the heaviness and seriousness of the rest of the album, overall awesome instruments and vocals!

8 Lord of Light

How is this at the bottom of the list?! Listen the whole way through and you will truly appreciate the quality of this song. In fairness though, this album has no bad songs but one has to be at the bottom and it shouldn't be this one.

Free your soul and let it fly ( best part of this song) it's a underrated song and why is pilgrim higher its not a bad song its just my least favorite from this album anyways you should listen to it more in my opinion it's a masterpiece

1. Lord of Light
2. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
3. Different World
4. The Longest Day
5. For the Greater Good of God
6. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
7. These Colours Don't Run
8. The Legacy
9. Out of the Shadows
10. The Pilgrim

1. Lord of Light
2. The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg
3. Different World
4. For the Greater Good of God
5. Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
6. The Longest Day
7. The Legacy
8. These Colours Don't Run
9. Out of the Shadows
10. The Pilgrim

9 The Pilgrim

This is the best song by far! The rest of the songs are Sign of The Cross recycled way too many times.

10 Out of the Shadows

Definitely deserves to be higher. The chorus is amazing and there are great guitar works. Not as good as For the greater good of god but still amazing.

Love the chorus. Maybe it's not their best, but still a very good song.

I think that the whole album is very, very good.

One of the best iron maiden song! Why not higher!?

BAdd New Item