Hallowed Be Thy Name

How good is Hallowed Be Thy Name on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    16
No doubt about it. Marvellous lyrics, amazing atmosphere, great emphasis on the verses, good solo, a complete masterpiece. Obvious 10/10
 
10. No discussion. The mandatory epic track on The Number of the Beast (since Killers is the only album not to have one) and a genuine masterpiece. Harris' first epic since "Phantom of the Opera", this song delivers, both musically and lyrically (these have got to be Steve's most genius lyrics ever). The studio version is, however, quite shy and not fully developed into the gigantic monster it would become when played live in later years (the Live After Death version is still my preferred version of this song).
 
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About the Rock in Rio version:

The most effective way of using a bell in music. The guitar riff is like an earthquake. Solos at the end are the highlight that no other band matches. 10/10, best song of the 80's Maiden, their true masterpiece epic.
 
A bell tolls in time with a great soft guitar & bass bit. (The third and fourth bells seem slightly off-rhythm for some reason?) Bruce delivers a great emotive verse 1, ending with a ridiculously long note as the band kicks into a more uptempo mode. Another long note and wail, and the band carries into a brief interlude.

Bruce returns for a stunning a capella verse 2 with some musical punctuation before the full band comes in. A return to the earlier interlude eventually leads into an extended instrumental section that rolls up and down the scale harshly, then more gently. This rolls back into verse 2, then returns to the instrumental section.

This cuts into a hovering melodic lead with drum accents that breaks into a more driving section with a pair of excellent solos. A simple, driving riff with some swaying melodic breaks leads into a nice harmonized section that eventually emerges into the one and only rendition of the chorus. A soaring vocal greets the return of the hovering lead, and a final extended "yeah" and drum fill brings us to the end.

Brilliant from start to finish, and an obvious classic. 10/10.
 
Christoffer said:
10/10! I like how no one rated it below 8, it's my 2nd favorite Maiden song
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I'm one of the people who voted an 8. It's a great track but does better live than the studio version. The part that rubs me kinda odd is after the solos. Song on that album that I gave a 10 were Children of the Damned and The Prisoner even though I now feel Prisoner needs a 9 because the second half of the song doesn't live up to the first half.
 
Well, well, well. We're here now. Sure took a long time for me to finally get here. And I can't wait to deliver my lengthy thesis on why Hallowed Be Thy Name...

...is a sloppy, inconsistent mess. Let's start the fun, shall we?

Okay, to be fair, the first minute is excellent, the bells and the guitar riff set up a fantastic atmosphere with tons of tension. Bruce's vocals are particularly excellent here, showing more depth than the wailing heights he tends to go for in other places on the album. It all comes to a head with Bruce's soaring "Running looooooowwwwwwwwoooooOHHHHHYEAAAAHHHHH" vocal before the real song begins.

Ah, hahaha...this is also where the song falls apart for me. Let's detail my first issue with the song, the lyrics are far too wordy and sung way too fast to be properly deciphered without having them up at the same time. It's even better that the lyrics are actually not too bad, but the way they're incorporated and sung makes them really clunky and since they're sung at a rapid pace, they quickly lose their meaning. Not that they're entirely original either.

Then my second and biggest issue with the song...the song has no real structure to it. It goes from riff to riff, section to section with jarring transitions. Yes, I know Phantom did it too, but it was handled far better there. Here a section begins and just as quickly it's switched out for a new one, making the individual sections feel wholly unmemorable. Sure, they're good on their own, but as a whole, they just meander and plod along. It's almost like a Metallica song where it genuinely feels they slapped together a bunch of riffs together and based a song around them, which is not very common for Maiden. They would return to this style many many years later, but...it's baffling that this song receives so much darn acclaim when it's so poorly structured...at least in my opinion.

Then there's the solos...I don't like them. They're unmemorable as frick and they don't stand out. Not to mention that the fast-paced section they're in was done better on Genghis Khan and that one didn't even have a solo to begin with.

The song then ends with a lame "Yeaaaaaiiyeaahiiyeahh! Hallowed be thy name!" shouting section which I think is a lazy way to incorporate the title of the song. We then end on a riff previously heard earlier in the song before having a big, bombastic finish. What a finale, eh?

Well, there's not much else to say, really except...it's at least the best Beckett cover I've ever heard. Oh, and I'll give it a 4/10.
 
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Stardust said:
Well, well, well. We're here now. Sure took a long time for me to finally get here. And I can't wait to deliver my lengthy thesis on why Hallowed Be Thy Name...

...is a sloppy, inconsistent mess. Let's start the fun, shall we?

Okay, to be fair, the first minute is excellent, the bells and the guitar riff set up a fantastic atmosphere with tons of tension. Bruce's vocals are particularly excellent here, showing more depth than the wailing heights he tends to go for in other places on the album. It all comes to a head with Bruce's soaring "Running looooooowwwwwwwwoooooOHHHHHYEAAAAHHHHH" vocal before the real song begins.

Ah, hahaha...this is also where the song falls apart for me. Let's detail my first issue with the song, the lyrics are far too wordy and sung way too fast to be properly deciphered without having them up at the same time. It's even better that the lyrics are actually not too bad, but the way they're incorporated and sung makes them really clunky and since they're sung at a rapid pace, they quickly lose their meaning. Not that they're entirely original either.

Then my second and biggest issue with the song...the song has no real structure to it. It goes from riff to riff, section to section with jarring transitions. Yes, I know Phantom did it too, but it was handled far better there. Here a section begins and just as quickly it's switched out for a new one, making the individual sections feel wholly unmemorable. Sure, they're good on their own, but as a whole, they just meander and plod along. It's almost like a Metallica song where it genuinely feels they slapped together a bunch of riffs together and based a song around them, which is not very common for Maiden. They would return to this style many many years later, but...it's baffling that this song receives so much darn acclaim when it's so poorly structured...at least in my opinion.

Then there's the solos...I don't like them. They're unmemorable as frick and they don't stand out. Not to mention that the fast-paced section they're in was done better on Genghis Khan and that one didn't even have a solo to begin with.

The song then ends with a lame "Yeaaaaaiiyeaahiiyeahh! Hallowed be thy name!" shouting section which I think is a lazy way to incorporate the title of the song. We then end on a riff previously heard earlier in the song before having a big, bombastic finish. What a finale, eh?

Well, there's not much else to say, really except...it's at least the best Beckett cover I've ever heard. Oh, and I'll give it a 4/10.
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You’re doing god’s work, mate. I’d give this overrated thing a low vote too, but unfortunately it’s still a perfect song. :oops:
 
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For many, "Hallowed Be Thy Name" is the quintessential metal song. I disagree, but it'd be amiss to deny the greatness of this song. Opening with a tolling bell and Bruce's theatrical vocals, it builds into a monster slowly but surely. The guitar is great and Bruce's vocals are awesome. While the verse lyrics are thrown together, the new singer makes them work, taking Steve's stuff and sounded incredible while doing it. The instrumental section is pretty great too, if not their best ever, and the final lines and ended vocal are pretty damn amazing. As a whole, there's a reason so many people love this song, and I do too, but this same band has written nearly forty others I'd consider better. It's treading the lines of top marks quite well, though. 9
 
Wow! This have to be one of the best live versions of HBTN - mind blowing..... but the BOH version always will be the best. :rocker:

!!! This bootleg is from Stuttgart 1982.

 
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