Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger

How good is Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    21
So atmospheric, so frantic, a song that puts you right there in the narrator’s shoes and I love it so much. It’s a 9/10 for me, verging right on a 10/10.
 
The bestworst part of this song is the "St Anger Muppet" drums that kick in during the "fast" parts. It sounds like Steve is drumming on two drums with one hand.
 
A symphonic opening leads to a cool guitar bit before we get the vocals. This song really succeeds at building atmosphere. There's tension, there's suspense, it's great. The frantic bit throws you right in the action and while the middle part has the most repetitive lyrics in any Maiden song, it only makes the song better. And then the solo section! This song has its weaknesses, yes, but it's also really great at the same stroke. 9
 
I really love this song ! It has an amazing melancholic intro, great riff/rhythm and even better twin-lead guitar harmonies. The chorus is good and after the repetition (I don't find it that annoying, but they could have stopped the repetiton around 4:33 minutes) the song really goes crazy - this part is amazing, so fast with great solos, drumming and guitar harmony that is out of this world! 9/10

Btw, I think I've read somewhere that Janick was not satisfied with this crazy ending to the song, but as Steve always says: ''At the end, they all agree with me''. :lol:
 
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The lyrics deal with the innate distrust of the different and
the unknown, which, in the age of globalization, often leads to
social isolation of minority groups of any kind. Nouns,
refer to the fear that prevents modern man from being
seeks to establish close and honest relationships with those around him. The fear
this is another important factor that pushes modern man
to become a spectator and not a communicant of life.
Harris has stated that the inspiration for this piece of his
gave an old man, who changed course for fear of him
caused by the sight of Harris walking with a friend.
 
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3
I don't find this song that bad. For one its instrumental section is one of the very best in Maiden catalogue. The song is very repetitive with quite an honest and original message which makes repetition pretty bearable. The singing part that leads to the instrumental section has a great build up and the synthesizer in the background fits perfectly. Then enters the bombastic instrumental section with some great playing & solos.

Blaze's performance is ok too. I don't know if someone else noticed, but there are some moments in Virtual XI that seems as if Blaze were starting to find his way with Maiden. Or Harris found the way to better write for his voice. We'll never know if a third album would be the one for Blaze to really shine, but those sparse moments in VXI plus the titan album of Silicon Messiah was, make me believe that yes.

Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger is ranked somewhere between 120 -136 in Maiden's catalogue.
 
Possibly the most underrated Maiden song and definitely their most 'danceable' song as well! (talking about the later half of the song)
The intro certainly creates that suspenseful environment, love the fast parts in the chorus and the even the slower passages keep it engaging.
For real, if they were to perform it live, I would really like it to be performed with an entire Symphony-ensemble (Metallica S&M style!) and even featuring an operatic singer like how Primal Fear does with atleast one or couple of songs in their albums, having duets with the singers from Nightwish, Epica or the like...
For some reason I'm really intrigued by the song. Totally dig it's atmosphere.
The lyrics deal with the innate distrust of the different and
the unknown, which, in the age of globalization, often leads to
social isolation of minority groups of any kind.
What exactly do you mean?
 
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