Children of the Damned

How good is Children of the Damned on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    13
"Invaders" drifts away, and the quieter beginning to this song begins. "Children of the Damned" is evil and emotional, and has some great music and an incredibly blistering solo. That said, I definitely think Bruce needed a little to mature in his singing skills. He sounds great, but there's definitely room for improvement. He does hit some high fucking notes, though.

For the first time ever, this song is down. But not by much. 9/10.
 
A nice acoustic opening is joined by a melodic lead. This gives way to a great soft verse where Bruce really shines. This builds nicely into an unfortunately plodding and kind of boring chorus.

Another great verse and so-so chorus, then we break into an uptempo extended bridge, where Bruce is kind of all over the place. This cuts into a by-the-numbers harmonized bit and a pretty great solo, before another extended bridge with some OK "whoah-ohs" that turn into an OK vocal, and eventually end on a nice scream with a big rock ending.

Great verse, great solo, but the rest is pretty flat. Not sure why this one gets so much love. 6/10 for me.
 
A haunting track with a nice acoustic opening and a great vocal performance from Bruce, this one is nonetheless falling steadily down through my ratings. It's good, but not quite good enough. 7
 
I’m a fan of this one. It has good verses, a good solo by H, and a great intro. Not really a perfect song, but I always enjoy listening to it.
8/10
 
Here's some trivia about the song:

'Children Of The Damned' was incorporated into the set on the first UK gig played by Maiden with Bruce at the front (10) and from then on it has been played on:

The Beast On The Road (4); Scorpions – Blackout Tour – North America (3); Superfest XV (3); Chicago Fest V (4); Reading Festival ’82 (4); Judas Priest – World Vengeance Tour – USA (2nd Leg) (4); World Slavery Tour 1984 - UK (Some venues) (5); Somewhere On Tour 1986 – Europe & UK (4); Somewhere On Tour 1986 – Europe (Budapest) (5); Somewhere On Tour 1987 - Japan (4); Somewhere On Tour 1987 – North America (First 2 Dates) (4); Somewhere On Tour 1987 – North America (3); Clive Burr Ms Trust Fund 2005 (15); A Matter Of The Beast Summer Tour ’07 (6); Somewhere Back In Time World Tour ’09 (4); The Book Of Souls World Tour 2016 (3) & The Book Of Souls World Tour 2017 (4).

The number besides the name of the tour is the place in the setlist

Bruce, Roy Z & Adrian played the song acoustically in an in-store promo tour in 1997.

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Wonderful intro starts this classic! The acoustic guitar sounds great. The verses are amazing and the chorus is great. The part before the solo is amazing too. The twin-lead guitar harmony and the solo from Adrian (which is one of his all time best solos) are top-notch. The ''oh-oh'' part after the solo fits right and the end is epic with the scream. Great performance from Bruce. Masterpiece - one of the very best songs of Maiden. 10/10
 
love love love those bends in the twin guitar harmony parts -- while driving and listening, those bends have been known to move and shape all of the scenery flashing by me. Just a fantastic composition.
 
one of my all-time favorite floor Tom drum sounds.

Nicko seems to have improved his live drum sound on this track, quite a bit since the LAD days.
 
According to Harris, the lyrics of the song are inspired by
the 1963 film of the same name, which, semantically, is the second part
of the movie "Village Of The Damned"
("Village of the Cursed")
(originally filmed in 1960 and
returned in 1995). Both
movies based on the novel
"The Midwich Cuckoos"
Midwich ») (1957), the great
British science writer
John Wyndham (1903-
1969).
The plot unfolds in
small village Midwich, where the
people and the living are immersed in a strange
sleep that lasts a day. A few months later,
it is found that all the fertile women of the village were pregnant. The six
children born upset the village. They have twice the growth of
the normal, overdeveloped intelligence, the same, blond hair and one
a strange, piercing look that can telepathically direct them
actions of their fellow villagers. People feel threatened by it
in the presence of the children and finally decide to kill them so that
prevent their possible extinction by a mysterious, more developed form
of life.
The lyrics of the song seem to be the thoughts of one
an observer narrating the murder of the last child. The narrator,
initially, he seems to be trying to substantiate why the child
must be killed, but after killing the child, leaving temporarily
unanswered the question "what did we learn", wants to make the listener to
realize how unjustified the murder was.
He then addresses the participants in the crime and gives
the answer to his question. He warns them that in reality
these are the "children of the accursed." He tells them that they are at a dead end.
He is "with his back to the wall". The children who were killed are symbolized by
flaming candles that scatter light. Their death is, that is,
didactic. It is a warning to those who participated in that
they will experience a similar fate if they deviate from the limits of what is acceptable
defined by the society to which they belong.
And the lyrics of this piece are governed by the theme that characterizes
the whole album. The role of the victim here has the last child while the role
of the authoritarian power have its persecutors.
 
The acoustic intro tricks you into thinking that Maiden is going soft. Actually they’re leveling up. Bruce gives a spellbinding performance on this one. Using Steve’s raw and critical yet darkly devilish lyrics, he puts on his first amazing performance in the Maiden catalogue. That chorus riff is fantastic, and Bruce’s vocals on top… good god. Adrian and Dave get some great dual guitar moments in the instrumental section. The song never loops back to the chorus, instead choosing to end in a more anthemic outro with an incredible high note. It’s one’s not perfect, (Bruce does struggle with the vocal melody a bit), but man is it a great heavy metal tune. 8/10
 
Another attempt at a half-ballad, only this time they nail it. Bruce delivers fantastic vocals, the clean verse riff is captivating, the middle section delivers the drama and angst necessary and the solo explodes with the pent up energy. A high 7.
 
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