new future for the people's metal band," while the BBC praised the album as "a remarkable achievement", complimenting the band for "no compromises, just complexities and challenges and more moments of brilliance than perhaps even they thought they still had left in them". Many reviewers, such as Metal Hammer, deemed it "a demanding album, but one that most Maiden fans are going to absolutely adore". The Quietus commented, "The Final Frontier takes time, it takes effort, but it's overwhelmingly brilliant. They haven't just served up the easy option – that would have been boring for us and, more importantly you feel, boring for them." PopMatters considered the record "in some ways ... the most ambitious album Iron Maiden has ever made, a 76-minute opus." Many critics commented on where The Final Frontier rates in comparison to the band's past releases, with Consequence of Sound deeming the album "easily the best from the six-piece since 2000's Brave New World." AllMusic agreed with this, stating, "The Final Frontier still brings Iron Maiden closer to their aesthetic legacy and triumphant year 2000 rebirth than its two predecessors." Blabbermouth.net, on the other hand, praised it as "better than Brave New World", explaining that "this is the reason Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith rejoined the band, the fulfillment of a decade of promise, and arguably the first time that Steve Harris's post-Fear of the Dark cinematic vision has been backed up with consistently strong songwriting, spot-on production, and a fire-in-the-belly performance from the whole band". The Guardian were more critical of the release, commenting that "with four songs alone clocking in at 40 minutes, The Final Frontier becomes less an exercise in experimentation than old-fashioned endurance, and the hushed-intro-bombastic-chorus dynamic begins to grate a little". Drowned in Sound agreed, commenting that "standards sink fast after ["The Alchemist"], and don't rise again for another half an hour", although going on to add that "the epic 11-minute closer, 'When the Wild Wind Blows' ... shows the subtlety and craftsmanship of the four songs that preceded it, but adds an emotional depth that they seemed to lack". Accolades The album was ranked No. 1, No. 3, and No. 7 respectively in Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and Revolver'''s lists of the best albums of 2010. The song "El Dorado" won the band a Grammy award for "Best Metal Performance". Track listing Mission Edition bonus content "The Final Frontier" director's cut