The Final Frontier

For The Final Frontier, Melvyn began with a series of sketches based on the title alone, exploring atmosphere and intrusion before the final direction was set. As the concept developed, Iron Maiden steered the scene toward a spacecraft setting — an encounter inside a sealed, hostile space.

Early versions were intended to feel more stealth-like: a hatch opened, a skeletal crew within, and a creature almost slithering in rather than tearing the ship apart. Over successive revisions, the image was pushed toward something more brutal — more damage, more decay, and a more aggressive presence — until it became the harsher final painting seen on the released cover.

Melvyn has explained that the figure on The Final Frontier is not Eddie in the traditional sense, but an alien entity created to fit the album’s space theme — with the understanding that “the old Eddie” could still return in later contexts. It’s a deliberate step into unfamiliar territory, shaped by close collaboration and repeated changes throughout the painting process.

Across Melvyn’s Iron Maiden work, he often aims for psychological tension rather than straightforward brutality — imagery that rewards a second look. Here, the unease comes from scale, confinement, and the sense that something has entered the ship that cannot be reasoned with.