Mother of Mercy

How good is Mother of Mercy on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    18
Agreed on that section from 2:42-2:54, the progression going on underneath the singing gives it a dark, almost desperate quality. I don't know how I feel about the ending yet, true it is perhaps a little abrupt. Will come back to that later ;).
 
After the "I'm a Soldier of War" I'm looking for a big heavy, loud part and I keep getting shocked when it goes to only Bruce's vocal singing "War" for longer and a drum beatinstead. I don't even know why but that is how I assume the song should go next but it doesn't!
 
My favourite thing in this song is actually the guitar lick going off at 1:34, which returns several times during the song. I think it really adds something to the mood of the song.
 
I love the sinister gallop, but there's just something about the chorus melody that doesn't seem quite right. 
 
I keep going back to the chorus on here, I love it now.  Folks say Bruce sounds strained which is odd since it's not a high note chorus.  I think it's just an oddly dissonant melody for Maiden.  Cool and compact song.
 
Donner said:
Folks say Bruce sounds strained which is odd since it's not a high note chorus.  I think it's just an oddly dissonant melody for Maiden.  Cool and compact song.
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Donner said:
I love the sinister gallop, but there's just something about the chorus melody that doesn't seem quite right. 
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It sounds like a very high note chorus to me. When I try to sing along all the way thru, it almost "takes my last breath". It does sound a bit strange too. Some lines seem to have been artificially glued to the next ones. Almost like Bruce is crossing over his own voice for the fraction of a second. On the other hand, it really helps with the feeling of desperation and longing to die. One of my favorites on this album, cool and compact indeed, and not as demanding as most of the epics. Just riffin' and groovin' and man, what a f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c solo by H.
 
Invisible said:
Some lines seem to have been artificially glued to the next ones. 
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Yeah, i noticed that the first time i listened also. They "punched" in those parts. Pretty obvious to me anyway.
 
wsoul1 said:
Yeah, i noticed that the first time i listened also. They "punched" in those parts. Pretty obvious to me anyway.
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Yeah absolutely no break in between "Angel of Death desire" and "Mother of mercy" if I remember right
I think the "mother of mercy" referred to is death. Death is merciful to this solider because he doesn't have to endure the killing and pain anymore. Some of you have hinted at this too.

More later, on mobile.
 
Loving this tune more and more.  As someone stated above, you can totally picture the scene, soldiers standing around waiting for something to happen.  Reminds me of some scenes from Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan, as well as a level from Medal of Honor: Spearhead (I think that was the one) where you're standing around in the snow, soldiers having chow around fires, etc. when mortar fire starts hitting and you have to make your way through the camp to safety. 

Lyrics are a huge strength, and I'm surprised this one hasn't gotten more attention.

Mother of Mercy
Angel of death desire
Mother of mercy
Taking my last breath, of fire
Mother of mercy
Angel of pain
Mother of mercy
Taking my last breath
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Such a beautiful irony written into the lines here, with the angel of death that takes his last breath being referred to as merciful.

I'm at a place of where
I give no grace
I'm a soldier of war

I sit waiting for my darkest hour
To com
I cannot think about the things
That I have done
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What's great about this tune is that the soldier is not just an innocent bystander of the horrors going on around him - he states that he "gives no grace" - or has started to turn into a ruthless killing machine himself.  The things that he has done are too much for him to think about.  This line here:

The making of a man is fire, not giving into our desires
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sums up the song nicely for me, and is one of the most beautiful Maiden have written.
 
i'm waiting for someone to kill me for saying that there's a little riff before the "outro verse" or this song which having a more or less s similar atmosphere to a semi-final portion of metallica's "disposable heroes"! BUT i'm not talking about any rip-offs here .. and yes! this song is the only one that I initially skipped out of the rest but not it keep growing on me particularly that part before guitar solo .. so haunting!
 
owa said:
this song is growing on me over the last day.  Still my least favourite on the record though.  But that doesn't mean I think it's bad :p
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you like the Alchemist better than Mother of Mercy?!  :blink:

This was an instant grabbed for me. Loved it from the first listen. Some of the others that I know to be better tunes are still worming their way in (point in case Starblind!) but MoM had me at hello.
 
Raptor said:
you like the Alchemist better than Mother of Mercy?!  :blink:
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They're two completely different types of songs; one is fun and bouncy, the other is dark and serious. Other than the fact that they're two of the shorter songs on the album, they're not really comparable.

Anyway, I love the chorus on this one. A lot of people I've talked to dislike it, but I love how Bruce wails this heartfelt melody out over that sinister chromatic chord progression. This song also has Adrian all over it, which is never a bad thing.
 
When the guitar join on that unisson octave melody after Bruce sings 'I'm a soldier of war' reminds me a lot of Death's guitar tone on masterpiece The Sound Of Perseverance, specially on Flesh And The Power It Holds. Also on a sidenote, the beginning of These Colours Don't Run starts like Spirit Crusher with arpeggios in jumping fingering through the strings style, and he plays chords with 2 fifths on the "For the passion, for the glory.... part, just like on the second figure of Spirit Crusher.

My question is (although I doubt, but who knows): has Mr. H been listening to the great and late Death?
 
Actually, I recall from one of the DVD documentaries (or maybe it was an episode of IMTV, not sure), Adrian said "I don't listen to music these days".
 
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