Ascendingthethrone
Ancient Mariner
I’m thinking the same as well. I have disappointed with the quality of vinyl recently. CD is more reliable.
mtmccox
Ancient Mariner
Was a bit busy to write my impression, but this also allowed me to play the song many tens of times since Thursday. But now the bridge is broken I can give my 2 cents.
The first 3 or so listens I could not vibe with the high-and-whiney pre chorus, could not feel how it fits in the melody. That got much better with more listens and now I do enjoy it too, even though I also see it as somewhat distracting. The verses and the chorus are great melodies, great singing and powerful feel, it only gets better in time.
Roy's solos here are non existent - I do not consider this song having a "solo", only some strange sounds towards the end.
On the sound note - I will be forever and ever enchanged by the darkness of TCW, on the other hand if you want that you can go listen to TCW. I am glad I recognize some handwriting in that, but I can't expect the same sound after decades.
The video - my oh my, I don't want to start contemplating whether or not he was serious with boxing in the air, drumming with his fists or tossing the coin. I don't want to know, I want to enjoy the good song. And by now I stand, that the good song it is. Does not rock my socks off, but a well decent one, looking forward to more!!
PS: And to the guy belting out "AFTERGLOW" at random times, I have been doing the same last couple days
The first 3 or so listens I could not vibe with the high-and-whiney pre chorus, could not feel how it fits in the melody. That got much better with more listens and now I do enjoy it too, even though I also see it as somewhat distracting. The verses and the chorus are great melodies, great singing and powerful feel, it only gets better in time.
Roy's solos here are non existent - I do not consider this song having a "solo", only some strange sounds towards the end.
On the sound note - I will be forever and ever enchanged by the darkness of TCW, on the other hand if you want that you can go listen to TCW. I am glad I recognize some handwriting in that, but I can't expect the same sound after decades.
The video - my oh my, I don't want to start contemplating whether or not he was serious with boxing in the air, drumming with his fists or tossing the coin. I don't want to know, I want to enjoy the good song. And by now I stand, that the good song it is. Does not rock my socks off, but a well decent one, looking forward to more!!
PS: And to the guy belting out "AFTERGLOW" at random times, I have been doing the same last couple days
Last edited:
MindRuler
Ancient Mariner
MindlessPieces
Educated Fool
There is always an opportunity cost.
The Black album cost Metallica over 1 million dollars and that had terrific production.
People would be absolutely foolish these days to spend that money making an album.
I don't blame Iron Maiden for going cheap with production. It is a business after all. There is nothing wrong about these guys working hard for profit.
MindlessPieces
Educated Fool
Um, have people heard these songs? Or is this guess work made up from thin air?
Iron Lurker
Ancient Mariner
With the studio albums I'm sure no one is thinking "let's do this cheap". Shirley and Steve work on that until Steve is happy with it. I don't think Steve ever feels like he's trying to half-ass anything. You would think all bands are like this. No one sets out to make a shitty sounding record.
Absolutely. Love or hate it, Maiden's production today is what they/Steve want
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Machine Men's outro is a good comparison (iron in the soul!). I like the outro of Ragnarok a lot and I wish it was repeated one more time.
If I have to share my thoughts on the songs based on their titles alone:
Many Doors To Hell - this one is tricky. I think Bruce will follow the opener with a faster song, but I'm not sure. Give its length, I expect a song like The Tower, but why not like Chemical Wedding, with a longer melodic harmony.
Rain On The Graves - I feel this one will be like Abduction, Kill Devil Hill, Accident Of Birth or even Soul Intruders.
Resurrection Men - a dark and heavy song with a soaring chorus. Probably mid-tempo. Machine Men or River Of No Return.
Fingers In The Wounds - given its length, a song like Power Of The Sun, Magician, Road To Hell.
Eternity Has Failed - same as Maiden's.
Mistress Of Mercy - I think this could be a slow song. Man Of Sorrows/Gates Of Urizen type. Or Taking The Queen.
Face In The Mirror - catchy fast rocker.
Shadow Of The Gods - epic title, maybe something like Aquarius, Book, Tyranny Of Souls, The Alchemist, Omega, Jerusalem in parts.
Sonata (Immortal Beloved) - dark and calm parts, but other than that I have no idea what to expect from this song. Maybe acoustic parts.
This x2.
MindlessPieces
Educated Fool
They are in and out of the studio really quickly. They have stated in interviews that they record to get that live feel. I think this is just spin. I think they record all together because it is more efficient. The downside I presume is that there is a lot of bleed of sound into all the microphones etc and hence you get a muddy end result. I just presume they do it because they want costs low and just want to get studio over and done with.
With regards to doin albums every 4-6 years, this is what popular established bands do. Money is in concerts not in album sales.
As much as fans savour and want top quality crystal clear music, I think this is a pipe dream and isn't considering the band's perspective. This is business, they don't want to waste money that won't ultimately drive up sales and revenue.
It's just good business.
srfc
Ancient Mariner
Also, no one here has any idea what Maiden's studio bills come to.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
Bruce is on record saying that they pay Kevin Shirley a lot of money to produce their albums.
Helmuth Von Moltke
Educated Fool
The only thing both maiden and metallica consistently do now is record lots and lots and lots of material for each album. Like a brain dump of 80 or 90+ minutes making everything a double album. I think that is a cost decision and a time decision. That way you only bother going into the studio every 5 or 6 years. The albums don't generate real revenue from physical sales anymore. So why bother orchestrating a concise 50 minute album every 2 or 3 years?
Vaenyr
Ancient Mariner
If they only cared about money they wouldn't release any new material and would just do best-of tours non-stop. Look at how many albums Kiss released in the past decades.
Their process has nothing to do with efficiency. It is about capturing the "live" feel that Steve wants. There's no bleed between the instruments because they are recorded in separate rooms anyway (or at least used to, not sure how TBOS and SNJ were recorded).
The cost for a band of that size isn't an argument because they can pay whatever they want. They can more than afford it. They are paying for the studio anyway, it's just that they write and arrange the songs in the studio nowadays, instead of preparing them beforehand. After that they rehearse them a few times and then record a bunch of takes, which then get compiled into the best versions. Solos and vocals get some overdubs and Kevin gets to mix and master the result.
As for the pipe dream of "top qualit crystal clear music" you are right that it isn't a priority of the band anymore, which is a shame because in the Powerslave - SSOASS era it most definitely was important to them to deliver polished products.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
srfc
Ancient Mariner
Certainly they are paying way more than they did in the 90s when they were recording in a barn with no producer. Whatever issues people have with Maiden's albums, it's not because they are trying to save a few quid.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
They are definitely spending the money on the new studio albums. The live albums are a completely different story though (that's the main reason Kevin Shirley is not being hired to mix them).
Meliegree
Evening The Odds.
I get business side of things but still - Imagine that world famous photographer is telling you that yeah, he is good and famous and he is touring world galleries but at same time he is selling you grainy, pixelated photos with excuse that lenses are expensive.
Yeah, that's true and yet - music is music. It is not about how great musician is but about how well I can hear that he is good on an album. So if musician is telling me that I can't hear shit on album because recording studio is expensive I think that's not cool.
Yeah, that's true and yet - music is music. It is not about how great musician is but about how well I can hear that he is good on an album. So if musician is telling me that I can't hear shit on album because recording studio is expensive I think that's not cool.