Iron Maiden’s mascot Eddie The Head has seriously evolved since appearing as a teen street-punk zombie on their self-titled debut album 30 years ago. Today’s Eddy – illustrated by long-time Eddie artist Melvyn Grant – is a bulked-up extra-terrestrial killing machine on the artwork for The Final Frontier.

Check him out below: he’s cuddly as ever though!

Here’s the full tracklisting for The Final Frontier:

1. Satellite 15… The Final Frontier 2. El Dorado 3. Mother Of Mercy 4. Coming Home 5. The Alchemist 6. Isle Of Avalon 7. Starblind 8. The Talisman 9. The Man Who Would Be King 10. When The Wild Wind Blows

Lessons from today:

• Lots of birthdays (& consequent birthday cakes) occur in May.
• AC / DC tickets will always sell out very quickly.
• Flattening your loyal lifetime fans by dropping speakers on them from an airborne 747  is probably a bad idea.

…unless you’re Bruce Dickinson, in which case you have free range to do what you like in the world and we’ll luv ya regardless.

When Iron Maiden flew into Australia for the Somewhere Back In Time Tour in Feb last year, every one of the 100K punters broke out their outfits to declare Maiden Pride. The cities were surreally swamped with black Maiden tees and combat boots – and I didn’t want to cross any of ‘em. But the lure of the pumping arena was just too tempting.

The show at ACER Arena was simply visually and aurally spectacular, as was the ferocity of the roaring crowd. Fave moment was the 20ft cyborg Eddie trampling the stage and gunning down the audience. Words really can’t do it justice, so head to the triple j gallery for pics of the Sydney show.

The Somewhere Back In Time tour was attended by 2million+ punters worldwide, transported entirely by Flight 666 (the band’s own plane piloted by frontman/legend Bruce Dickinson), covered 6 continents with 91 shows, and took way over a year to complete. Frankly, that’s worthy of a major motion picture.

Flight 666,  in the cinemas worldwide on April 21 and it will sell out because Maiden fans are hardcore. Book your tix at www.ironmaiden.com/flight666.