Starblind

How good is Starblind on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    13
This song just doesn’t do it for me at all. While there are no parts that are as annoying as on songs like The Assassin, Weekend Warrior, etc., there’s no single part about this song that I genuinely enjoy, and I don’t think it is arranged that well either. I want to respect everyone’s opinion but I don’t see how some people view this song as a masterpiece. 4/10
 
A soft, clean intro leads into a gentle off-rhythm verse. Bruce sounds great here. A brief pause, then we kick back into a heavier version of the verse that works just as well.

The pre-chorus is just a variation on the verse, but this breaks into a brighter, vocally busy chorus with a cool downward modulation. A nice atmospheric solo bridges back into the verse, then continues under the vocals through the pre-chorus and chorus.

Another pause, and an interesting off-rhythm riff underpins a nice "outside" solo before breaking into a more traditional solo and a nice melodic interlude.

Another pause, and a gentle bluesy solo leads us back to the heavier verse. More pre-chorus and chorus leads to a soft fade-out ending.

Lots of great stuff here. A very robust 8/10.
 
10/10 masterpiece. Great vocals and fantastic lyrics. Nice solos too. The intro is one of their best ever and the whole atmosphere as well. Top 15 material
 
Yeah, I still don't quite get what everyone sees in this song, outside of the lyrics. Bruce is kinda wonky on the intro, the song rips out a key change straight from "Infinite Dreams", and as a whole can't match the lyrics... which happen to be some of the band's best. "The preacher loses face with Christ, religion's cruel device is gone / Empty flesh and hollow bones make pacts of life but die alone..." They're really good, and I only wish something more... special could've been done to bring them to life better. The instrumental section is probably the best part music-wise. As a whole, this is just above average, but I'll be generous and give it an extra point just because I like the lyrics so much. 7
 
When I first heard the album back in 2010, this was my favorite song from it at first (along with TMWWBK). Great intro (Maiden know how to write intros). The riff through the whole song is very heavy, but great. Good verses and the chorus is great. Strange solo from Adrian - I don't like those improvisations in the solos (in IOA and TMWWBK too), but in this song is not so bad and it fits. The harmonies and the calm part in the middle are good. It's a very experimental song from the band. Hard song for Bruce. This is probably the most progressive song from Maiden. It carries the feel of the SIT album. 8/10
 
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fantastic track that has wonderful ebb and flow and a great dynamic throughout - some of my favorite melodic yet rhythmic H riffing patterns.

for any Rainbow heads here, "Starblind" works great when played immediately after Rainbow's "Stargazer" and immediately before "A Light in the Black"

Not sure if there's a Rainbow discussion thread here, but "A Light in the Black" is my favorite hard rock/metal song by any band not named Iron Maiden
 
A lot of people love this song, and I can see why. I'm not one of them.

It has some potential.
The riff is good, but overplayed. The vocal line barely changes from the verse ("We can shed our skin" etc.) to the bridge/2nd verse ("Starblind, with sun" etc.). The chorus ("Take my eyes for what I've seen"/"The preacher loses face with Christ" etc.), apart from the Infinite Dreams controversy (which is frankly pointless: Infinite Dreams did not invent the minor third interval), is simply too high, and Bruce struggles.

The worst part, to me, is the jam session. That, without any doubt, tries to imitate Infinite Dreams. Also the solo section is a bit unsecure.

Lyrically it is very good. The clean riff is nothing memorable.

Barely sufficient: 5.75/10. I'll round it up to 6.
 
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That "endlessly decieved" just before the solo part seems very weird. It always throws me off guard (in a bad way).
 
There is something about this song, it somehow scratches an itch that no other Iron Maiden song can scratch, so in my giddier moments i end up thinking it might be the best damn thing they've ever done. It's not. But somehow it tricks me, everytime.
 
Boroking said:
There is something about this song, it somehow scratches an itch that no other Iron Maiden song can scratch, so in my giddier moments i end up thinking it might be the best damn thing they've ever done. It's not. But somehow it tricks me, everytime.
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Yeah, I think it might be about Starblind being overwhelming in a good way. It's busy, (quite literally) breathtaking and stuffed song with extravagance of Bruceisms in it's lyrics. Wow.

Doesn't mean it's outstanding Maiden song per se, but it really takes and holds you for it's runtime. I love it.
 
Boroking said:
There is something about this song, it somehow scratches an itch that no other Iron Maiden song can scratch, so in my giddier moments i end up thinking it might be the best damn thing they've ever done. It's not. But somehow it tricks me, everytime.
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I've written this elsewhere, but to me this is the single great Iron Maiden song of all time. Bruce sounds desperate like he's singing the last words he'll ever sing, the lyrics are phenomenal, and the constant soloing sort of ebbing and flowing to the fore and background just sounds amazing. I also believe this to truly be Maiden's most progressive song. It's not the longest and doesn't have the "most riffs" or changes, but what's there sounds quite complex and deep and it sounds like a song that took Maiden 30+ years of experience to be able to write.
 
chaosapiant said:
I've written this elsewhere, but to me this is the single great Iron Maiden song of all time. Bruce sounds desperate like he's singing the last words he'll ever sing, the lyrics are phenomenal, and the constant soloing sort of ebbing and flowing to the fore and background just sounds amazing. I also believe this to truly be Maiden's most progressive song. It's not the longest and doesn't have the "most riffs" or changes, but what's there sounds quite complex and deep and it sounds like a song that took Maiden 30+ years of experience to be able to write.
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That’s very well put. It truly stands out amongst their discography as something unique
 
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