Out of the Shadows

How good is Out of the Shadows on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    33
Collin said:
I turned on AMOLAD for the first time in a while driving home in the car today.

Apart from this being one of the most boring and unmemorable Iron Maiden songs, I found something else to nitpick about. The solo is one of the worst Iron Maiden solos ever. I have no idea what Adrian was trying to do. The rest of the solos on the album had been so good up to this point and this just went absolutely nowhere. Very anti-clamactic. If this solo had been somewhat similar to Gates of Urizen (in my mind both similar songs, but Gates is way better) then maybe this song could have been saved. Worst reunion era song. I lowering my vote to a three.
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Good job!
 
Edington said:
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This is interesting. Despite my love of the album, I think it has some of the worst Maiden solos (you mentioned the solos up to this song, These Colours and Longest Day in particular are pretty poor shows) but this one has been one of the few standouts to me.
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I will agree with you that the Longest Day might be a little lackluster. But DW, BTATS, and the Pilgrim all have fantastic solos. OOTS has a truly bad solo. At this time I can’t name a worse Iron Maiden solo (not including live performances of course) I’m sure there’s one somewhere on Virtual XI, but I couldn’t be bothered to listen to that album again.
 
Collin said:
Apart from this being one of the most boring and unmemorable Iron Maiden songs, I found something else to nitpick about. The solo is one of the worst Iron Maiden solos ever. [...] Worst reunion era song.
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But seriously, either we’re hearing two completely different things or we like this band for completely different reasons. The only thing about the solo I’m not completely sold on is the staccato bits near the beginning of the melodic phrase. Everything else about this track is perfect, IMO.
 
Fantastic power ballad - the chorus is gold, the guitar work on this track is amazing - very beautiful solo from Adrian (he does this type of solos just great) and the calm verses are one of the best from Maiden. Nice addition with the acoustic guitar and the little guitar fills that are through the song (played by Dave) are really great. 9/10
 
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The most boring performance of any Maiden song ever. Even the songs I like less have more life to them. This just feels like Maiden going through the motions. Bruce sounds bored on the verses and while the chorus is better, it's still not his most lucid performance. This song tries to do some interesting things but they just go nowhere. The final double run-through of the chorus is pointless and the song could've easily ended after that change-up after chorus #3. By the time it ends I'm very much tired with it all. There are some points of interest here, but they never get their chance to shine. The only thing saving this from getting bottom marks is the fact that there are worse songs out there. But really, this is an abysmal low-point for a pretty great record. 3
 
Edington said:
yD-dQYN8ZBKHybi_2YKrCZo7lP0=.gif




This is interesting. Despite my love of the album, I think it has some of the worst Maiden solos (you mentioned the solos up to this song, These Colours and Longest Day in particular are pretty poor shows) but this one has been one of the few standouts to me.
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the growth in the Three Amigos guitar playing skills (particularly in regards to solos) between AMOLAD and TBOS is staggering, IMHO.
 
Pibroch_Whistler said:
the growth in the Three Amigos guitar playing skills (particularly in regards to solos) between AMOLAD and TBOS is staggering, IMHO.
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I thought the solos on AMOLAD were great, with the exception of The Pilgrim and The Legacy which were not quite up to par with the rest of them. There wasn't anything actually wrong with them, they just aren't as memorable.
 
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AMOLAD has some of the Amigos better rhythm guitar parts and riffs (its definitely a step up from Brave New World in the riff department) - perhaps my ears don't warm up to particular sound of the non-mastered guitar solos (Kevin Shirley didn't master the AMOLAD album).
 
According to Dickinson, the lyrics of the song open
referring to the birth of a child. The word order is remarkable
which bear the meaning of light, since it seems to have been made with such
so that the intensity of the light to which they refer exhibits a
progressive increase, followed by a progressive decrease, giving
the feeling of completing a circular march as the lyrics close
referring to death. Explaining the verse that closes the piece, o
Dickinson refers29 to the necessary coexistence of opposites, since one
gives conceptual substance to the other. This verse, in fact, describes one
perception which appears in the popular beliefs of many cultures, between
and the Greek.
 
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5
Great ballad from Bruce. I re-evaluated it lately during my warm up for Senjutsu.
 
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6.

I spent a while debating between a 5 and a 6 for this. Settled on the higher score; it's a fun ballad with a strong chorus and adventurous guitar work underneath.
 
5/10

Eh? This song exists? Sure it does, but don't ask me to remember it. Would likely skip if it came up on shuffle, although it's not a bad song whatsoever. Suppose that means it never really went out of the shadows?

...too easy?
 
Maiden don’t do ballads often, when it’s all said and done we may go back to Out of the Shadows as being the standard for what a Maiden ballad should be. A lot of rock bands oft3n forget that just because it’s a ballad doesn’t mean it has to be boring. This song has a great groove, lots of tasty guitar licks (thank you Dave!), and some fantastic melodies. I love the layering of acoustic guitars on top of the electric guitars, and the instrumental section that strips everything down and slowly brings it back up. One thing I’ve always appreciated about this song is the way Adrian’s solo follows Dave’s fill at the end of the chorus. It’s a trade off worthy of 80s Maiden, but done in a much different and more matured way. When it comes to guitar pairs, they are still the best in the business.

Lyrically this song is interesting and tackles a somewhat unMaidenish topic that somehow fits the band and the album perfectly. My only complaint is that I would’ve liked to have heard some of the dynamics found in the intro and instrumental section sprinkled into the vocal sections of the song a bit more. Other than Dave’s licks, it feels fairly basic at those points. Maybe some instrumental variations between the verses or a softer first chorus? Something a bit more dynamic.

8
 
There's nothing really wrong with this one, it's pretty fine but I just... Don't care for it too much. The acoustic strumming section and the solos are cool, and it's actually a pretty catchy track and even memorable. 6
 
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