Steve Harris Is 'Delighted' With Reaction

Band Photo: Iron Maiden (?)

IRON MAIDEN's new album "A Matter Of Life And Death" has not only been released to enormous critical acclaim across the globe but has also resulted in some of their highest chart placings ever. In addition to their No. 1 chart debut on the Billboard Pan-European chart, the album has now debuted at No. 9 on The Billboard 200 chart and at No. 2 in Canada.

This is the band's first ever U.S. Top 10 entry in their long and illustrious history and a remarkable achievement, this being their 14th studio album. The album is also No. 1 in the U.S. Independent Album chart. It has even crashed in at No. 4 in the official album chart in India which is far and away the highest placing any heavy rock act has ever achieved in that country.

Band founder Steve Harris comments: "We really enjoyed the process of making this record and were delighted with the reaction. It's very gratifying that our fans all over the world seem to agree by supporting us so strongly. We are now very much looking forward to the forthcoming tour and intend to play live as much of the album as we feel works in the set. This tour will be very different to the last one in terms of the songs we play and we will very much enjoy the challenge of playing this new material live."

Manager Rod Smallwood adds: "This is great news for the band, especially — finally — a Top 10 U.S. Billboard entry. During the '80s we had six straight million-plus selling platinum records and all of these would have been at least Top 10 under SoundScan with three or four probably debuting at No. 1. Having said that, though, we are very pleased to finally make it and this, along with great sales all over the world and No. 1 in Europe, really is a testament to MAIDEN's and metal's ever-increasing popularity. We very much look forward to starting our world tour in the States and Canada in early October and if ticket sales are anything to go by it will be quite an event for our fans over there."

MAIDEN's Top 10 U.S. debut comes hot on the heels of the band's No. 1 album in Europe on Billboard's Pan-European chart with nine No. 1 and eighteen Top 5 chart entries in Europe alone. First-week sales in the U.K. were also at their highest since 1990. In just the first week the new album has shipped over a million copies worldwide and impacted on the charts pretty well everywhere in the world.

Next month the band start "A Matter Of Life And Death World Tour" which takes them initially into major arenas through North America, Japan and most of Europe with the majority of the dates already sold out. They will play to over half a million fans over 44 shows in 11 weeks in 18 countries.

Chart breakdown summary to date:

#1: Germany, Sweden, Italy, Finland, Greece, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Brazil
#2: Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Hungary, Columbia
#3: Chile
#4: UK, Austria, Spain, India
#5: France, Ireland, Arabia
#6: Iceland, Belgium
#7: Holland
#8: Denmark
#9: USA
#10: Mexico
#11: Portugal, Japan
#12: Australia
#15: Hong Kong
#16: New Zealand

Read the full article at Blabbermouth.net.

Source: Blabbermouth.net