IRON MAIDEN Singer Says 'El Dorado' MP3 'Sounds Like S**t'

Even though British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN opted to away a new song, "El Dorado", as a free MP3 download via the band's official web site, the group's frontman Bruce Dickinson wants to make it clear that the finished product sounds much better.

After announcing to the crowd at IRON MAIDEN's June 22, 2010 headlining concert at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington that the band wanted to perform a new track from its much-anticipated new studio album, "The Final Frontier", Dickinson said, "I do apologize to those of you who've downloaded [the song], ripped it, done whatever... 'cause it's a freebie on the web at the moment. I do apologize to those of you who have downloaded it, not for any other reason but stuff that is on the Internet sounds like shit — it just does. MP3s, how to take all the balls out of the song... It's like, MP3s to music is what zombies are to Shakespeare — absolute bullshit. It's terrible. All these people listening to songs with cotton buds stuffed in their fucking ears. What is that all about? So for all those of you poor victims who downloaded it and thought, 'Oh, right. Yeah.' Well, the song is called 'El Dorado' and if you buy the record, it should sound like this."

Fan-filmed video footage of Dickinson's speech can be viewed below.

"El Dorado" audio stream:

"The Final Frontier" will be released in North America on August 17 (one day earlier internationally) via Universal Music Enterprises (UMe),the centralized U.S. catalog and special markets entity for Universal Music Group. The CD features artwork illustrated by Melvyn Grant.

The band reunited with long-time MAIDEN producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley in early 2010 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau to record the album and then moved to The Cave Studios in Malibu, California to finish the recording and do the mixing. Compass Point Studio is very familiar to the band, it was where they recorded the "Piece Of Mind" (1983),"Powerslave" (1984) and "Somewhere In Time" (1986) albums.

30 years on from their eponymous debut album in April 1980, "The Final Frontier" will be MAIDEN's 15th studio album, making a remarkable average of a new album every two years for 30 years and totaling over 80 million album sales during this period.

"The Final Frontier" track listing (total running time 76:35):

01. Satellite 15....The Final Frontier (8:40)
02. El Dorado (6:49)
03. Mother Of Mercy (5:20)
04. Coming Home (5:52)
05. The Alchemist (4:29)
06. Isle Of Avalon (9:06)
07. Starblind (7:48)
08. The Talisman (9:03)
09. The Man Who Would Be King (8:28)
10. When The Wild Wind Blows (10:59)

Following the U.S. dates, the tour will ship over to Europe starting in Dublin on July 30 and playing a few selected major festivals and stadiums , finishing in Valencia, Spain, on August 21 and including a concert in Transylvania.