Following announcements that the band had begun composition of new material and booked studio time in early 2010 with Kevin Shirley producing, "The Final Frontier" was announced on 4 March. The album, the band's fifteenth, was released on 16 August, garnering critical acclaim and the band's greatest commercial success in their history, reaching No. 1 in twenty-eight countries worldwide. Although Steve Harris had been quoted in the past as claiming that the band would only produce fifteen studio releases, band members have since confirmed that there will be at least one further record.