Best Song Contest- Round 3, Part 3- The Grand Final!

I prefer Fear of the Dark album version over album version. But the live version of Sign of the Criss with Bruce wins imo. So I picked Sign of the Cross
 
Fear of the Dark was the song that got me into Maiden so it's very hard for me to vote against it.
 
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Sign of the Cross is a remarkable, once in a generation song, full of drama and pathos.

Fear of the Dark is Karaoke music.
 
Not thrilled about either of these, but “Sign Of The Cross” is more noodling than song, so I’m going for “Fear Of The Dark”.
 
As much as I enjoy these polls I haven’t voted since The Clansman lost to SOTC . Other than Virtual XI I’m just not into 90 s Maiden.

Just my personal preferences not trying to bash anyone else’s music it’s all subjective.

I’m still not voting as I have no horse in this race but if I was it would probably be FOTD but again no strong preference here.

However I am looking forward to the Reunion era polls.
 
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I could have easily voted for Clansman over Sign Of The Cross in the previous round (and maybe I should have), so my pick is Fear Of The Dark. One of my favorite songs of all time. Both songs have great intros, melodies, solos, verses and choruses. Classics from the 90's.
 
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Fear of the Dark is Karaoke music.
This is far from the truth.
Sign of the cross is entirely forgettable,
Even the instrumental section? Wow. I can understand why you don't like the sound of the drums or the sudden stops in the song, but the melodies are pure gold. And I think its placement in the album is great, it's so atmospheric. Overall, the flow in the album is quite good imo - most songs have slow intros (like in the Reunion albums), but after a longer song, a shorter one usually follows, so it's great.

Sign Of The Cross - atmospheric epic as an opener.
Lord Of The Flies - short mid-tempo song.
Man On The Edge - fast short rocker.
Fortunes Of War - long song with a long intro and fast instrumental section.
Look For The Truth - a shorter mid-tempo song.
The Aftermath - not a long but not a short song either (with a short intro).
Judgement Of Heaven - a faster song again.
Blood On The World's Hands - mid-tempo song again.
The Edge Of Darkness - a faster song with a long intro.
2 A.M. - the ballad of the album, so its place is right.
The Unbeliever - epic as a closer with unique parts.
 
Even the instrumental section? Wow. I can understand why you don't like the sound of the drums or the sudden stops in the song, but the melodies are pure gold. And I think its placement in the album is great, it's so atmospheric. Overall, the flow in the album is quite good imo - most songs have slow intros (like in the Reunion albums), but after a longer song, a shorter one usually follows, so it's great.
I normally play on random so album order makes no sense to me. Each song stands on its own.

Yeah, I don't know why more people don't complain about the drum sound, I think it is so bad it should be a common complaint. But I don't see others complain about it.
The drums are very tolerable and nice on the live version, but I think they utterly ruin the ability to enjoy the studio version.

I guess there might be nice parts to the songs. It's just that I'm in a bad mood already by having to listen to that damn drum. And utterly annoyed by having to turn up the volume to hear the quiet bits and then turn down the volume when the song get louder.
Or when I'm in the car I hear a couple of minutes of silence at the beginning and then a minute or so of silence in the middle. It's just really annoying. So how can I then enjoy the song?? and say it has some good bits????
 
What a tough competition was that! Sign of the Cross won by just one vote at the last minute (or hour) I guess. I was almost certain that FOTD would be the song of the 90s....
In this new part we are getting into 2000s which is my favourite era of the band and every song still in round 2 is a winner for me.

Still in round 2: Ghost of the Navigator, Dance of Death, Paschendale, For the Greater Good of God, The Talisman, The Book of Souls, Hell on Earth

Already in round 3: Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Sign of the Cross
 
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I love both of them very much but Dance of Death is something very special. It has everything that I love with Iron Maiden. Excluding only The Book of Souls, my ears haven't heard anything better...
 
Pretty close, but I’m going with “Ghost Of The Navigator”. “Dance Of Death” has a number of great parts, but there are some vocal struggles and multiple weaker sections too.
 
Already in round 3: Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Sign of the Cross
Round 3 is looking a bit dull so far, If those two were the top 2 songs of Iron Maiden's first 20 years it is amazing they survived and were able to make a living as professional musicians. I certainly wouldn't have been a fan.

But luckily IM actually have produced heaps and heaps of songs better than those two within their first 20 years. The majority of songs in fact are better than those two songs.

Surely we can get DOD into round 3, Surely!
 
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