If Eternity Should Fail

How good is If Eternity Should Fail on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    22
This has now cracked my top 5 Maiden album openers, beating out Moonchild. I hope they start the show with it for this tour.

Caught Somewhere in Time
Sign of the Cross
Aces High
Where Eagles Dare
If Eternity Should Fail
Moonchild
The Wicker Man
Be Quick or Be Dead
Futureal
Tailgunner
Different World
Prowler
Invaders
Ides of March
Wildest Dreams
Satellite 15...The Final Frontier
 
Good mid tempo song.
I've recently chopped the intro and the outro off though, the song doesn't miss them. They were interesting on the first few listens and perhaps the intro makes some sense if I listen to the album in sequence order and if I haven't listened to the album for a while, but with the frequency I'm listening to this album, I prefer to take them off.

Overall the song is good, but it isn't the defining highlight of the album. Can't expect them all to be.
 
I love the instrumental portion of this song, especially when Nicko clangs it up on the second go round. Wish there was some way they could've made it longer. Rest of song decent but unremarkable (for Maiden, that is). As for the weird intro & outro......not big on the intro, but Necropolis alright.
 
Moonchild
Aces High
Be Quick or Be Dead
The Wicker Man
Caught Somewhere in Time
Sign of the Cross
Invaders
Ides of March
Where Eagles Dare
Satellite 15...The Final Frontier
Prowler
If Eternity Should Fail
Different World
Tailgunner
Futureal
Wildest Dreams
 
I like pretty much everything in this song, and think it's one of the strongest tracks on the album. My only gripe is the spoken word outro really makes it sound like it was originally written for a Bruce solo album (which I understand it was), and sounds a bit incongruous on a Maiden album
 
If they had skipped the outro I would have rated it a 10.
Abide with pain
Devastation, despair
And that chorus, that glorious powerful chorus
Easily one of my favorites, not just on this album either.
 
This song is by far the most amazing and dramatic Maiden has ever done. Taking a bit from Satellite 15, the intro really refines what they were trying to do there. It's much more clean and atmospheric. Then instead of going into a generic rocker, we get something a bit different. There isn't a single negative thing I can say about this song. The riffs are crushing and Bruce delivers an epic performance. The chorus is also among Maiden's best. The instrumental section here is also very unique, mostly due to there being no solos. Instead we get a bit of call and response with the guitars and bass. The recap of the main twin riffs and the intro synth melody works really well as a climax too.

The outro seems to be a bit of a controversy but I personally love it. I don't really care that the Necropolis bit has nothing to do with the rest of the album, why can't he be a character within this song? Doesn't seem any different than Benjamin Breeg or any time Maiden has written a song that tells a story. It still does an excellent job of setting up the mood for the album.

10
 
EDIT:
The following was already discovered by Sixes, last August:
http://forum.maidenfans.com/threads...ins-album-spoilers.31236/page-132#post-527386

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From Strange Tales #138, a 1965 Marvel comic:

https://ditkocultist.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/marvel-strange-tales-138-if-eternity-should-fail/


steve-ditko-strange-tales-1380001.jpg

steve-ditko-strange-tales-1380003.jpg

Synopsis for "If Eternity Should Fail!"
Traveling to Eternity's realm, Dr. Strange comes face to face with the living embodiment of Eternity. Strange asks the being to grant him with the power to defeat Dormammu and save his master, however after much consideration Eternity decrees that Strange needs no additional power, as he has the means to defeat Dormammu on his own.
Traveling back to Earth's dimension, Dr. Strange learns that Baron Mordo had kidnapped the unconscious body of the Ancient One and transported him to the Dark Dimension and is now being held hostage along with Clea. Strange is then told to duel Mordo for their freedom.




Appearing in "If Eternity Should Fail!"

Featured Characters:
  • 6
    Dr. Strange
    6
Supporting Characters:
  • 6
    Ancient One
    6
  • 6
    Clea
    6
Villains:
  • 6
    Baron Mordo
    6
  • 6
    Dormammu
    6
Other Characters:
latest


 
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I wonder how much (if any) inspiration Bruce took from it for his own story, though? The title surely came from this comic, it's too much coincidence.
 
The intro is perfect. Huge, mysterious — maybe the best intro the band has ever done.
Bruce sounds magnificent and the lyric is so evocative and laden with images.
"Here is the soul of a man..."
"...black dog in the ruins is howling my name"

Great stuff.
Love the little rattlesnake bits of percussion slithering through the mix.
Chills

I rather like the outro too.
The acoustic guitar is somber and contemplative — something bad has happened and its import is slowly starting to seep in. Very Heaven and Hell
The multi-tracked vocals are suitably creepy.

In between, we get something that is quite good, but — and I am surprised to see it not remarked upon much here — musically kind of ordinary.
The Maiden gallop is pulled back to a canter. The rhythm section is tight, well-behaved and rather samey throughout. The guitar hooks rather simple, the instrumental break rather Maiden-by-the-numbers. Again though, the touches — the rolling drums to bracket the instrumental, the pick slide as they kick back into the chorus, the licks dancing around the final chorus — so tastefully and precisely done.

The thing is, the band can get away with pulling its punches because the composition is so strong.
The melodies are powerful and memorable, the pacing is excellent and the atmosphere...somehow bleak and grand at the same time.
It's exactly in Bruce's wheelhouse, and he delivers so well.
I'm going to compare this song to Revelations in that the mood and the melody render the lack of musical adventurousness moot.
 
This song is truly fantastic, but it feels like it's missing something. Something...Z. It's a fucking monster. The Necropolis bit at the end takes you out of it, though. 9/10.
 
An absolutely fantastic track. One of Maiden's best openers ever. Bruce sounds immense on this song. His singing has never been more passionate and powerful. The chorus is mindblowing, and I love those long notes Bruce holds at the end of some verses. Nice little instrumental part as well.
I happen to think the ending is quite cool, and I would love to hear the rest of the album Bruce was planning to do. A concept album I think I read somewhere?

Anyway, it's a nine of out ten. Close to perfection. The three opening tracks that came before this suddenly seem so underwhelming and simple.
 
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