Battle of the unsingable choruses

Which song do you prefer?

  • Mother of Mercy

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • Lightning Strikes Twice

    Votes: 17 81.0%

  • Total voters
    21
Good question.

I enjoy both songs. Mother Of Mercy's chorus is not sung good at all by Bruce (one of his ''bad'' studio takes, iirc he wanted to change the chorus, rightfully so), while Lightning Strikes Twice's chorus could have been with backing vocals. Both ideas work for the songs though.
Which chorus I like more? Dunno, maybe Lightning.

As songs, both are shorter with little time to get the chorus going, both sound like they could have been on the previous albums, and while I like them almost equally - I prefer Lightning for the melodies/harmonies, tempo and instrumental section. And I guess it's more unique in the discography, to say. The ''rocker feel'' is done great. I think I liked Mercy better when the album was released, although the dark feel and heavy gallop is superb.

Btw, Lightning is cool live and I think Mercy would have been better live if they had played it. Bruce would have done a better job with the chorus in 2011.
 
The chorus for Lightning Strikes Twice is phenomenal! Super catchy melody but unfortunately so difficult for Blaze's range that they had to copy/paste a good take.

Didn't someone on the forum explain at some point that MoM was written in E minor but they had to transpose it down a step to D minor, because he had issues with singing the chorus? And the lower chorus still ended up being and sounding super rough. Can't imagine what torture it would've been singing it in the original key.

Mine is the "Gone are the days" part in Total Eclipse.
Yup, I despise that part.
 
Lightning is the better song but the MoM chorus is easier to sing.

Mother of Mercy! Angel of Death's desirMother of Mercy, taking my last breath of firMother of Mercy! Angel of paaaain!

Seriously, MoM is probably my least favorite Bruce studio moment.

Mine too, but not so much for the chorus. I don't like the last line of the intro when he sings "I'm a soldier of wAaAaAaR!!", sounds like he's playing a ghost going "wooooo!". Such a let down and completely loses any sense of drama.
 
The chorus for Lightning Strikes Twice is phenomenal! Super catchy melody but unfortunately so difficult for Blaze's range that they had to copy/paste a good take.

I think it was @Jer that originally pointed this out, but it's the same melody as the guitar intro of Welcome to the Jungle. Once I made that connection I couldn't unhear it <_< Other than that I do quite like the song, copy-and-pasting and all.
 
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I think it was @Jer that originally pointed this out, but it's the same melody as the guitar intro of Welcome to the Jungle. Once I made that connection I couldn't unhear it <_< Other than that I do quite like the song, copy-and-pasting and all.
I have a similar melody on a couple of my songs as well actually lol

Starting on the high octave of the root and going down the pentatonic always sounds awesome.
 
Bruce says "what?"
Mother of Mercy! Angel of Death's desirMother of Mercy, taking my last breath of firMother of Mercy! Angel of paaaain!
With proper breath support you can do it. You’re also given enough pauses to take another breath. Bruce should’ve just done a couple more takes.

With “Lightning”, that punctuation is punishing. To properly hit each word the way Blaze does you literally can’t take a breath, ever.
 
With proper breath support you can do it. You’re also given enough pauses to take another breath. Bruce should’ve just done a couple more takes.

With “Lightning”, that punctuation is punishing. To properly hit each word the way Blaze does you literally can’t take a breath, ever.
Blaze has the audience sing the strikes twice part live nowadays
 
Mother of Mercy is one of my least favourite Maiden tunes, one of the few I dislike from the reunion era. Maiden by numbers, lyrics that seem leftover from the previous album, with an incomprehendible 'studio magic' chorus.

Whereas Lightning Strikes twice has a brilliant show-stopping Janick solo, as chaotically electric as the theme. I much prefer that song.
 
re: lightning's lyrics

Is it just me or are they totally shit? Right, the phrase "lightning strikes twice" is generally used to mean like some sort of profound, catastrophic event reoccurring to someone.

But Maiden's lyrics go on about lone dogs howling in the park, and people hurrying inside. Like the song is literally just about a lightning storm.
 
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