Best album opener since the reunion

What is your favorite album opener since Bruce and Adrian returned to the band?

  • The Wicker Man

    Votes: 30 76.9%

  • Wildest Dreams

    Votes: 1 2.6%

  • Different World

    Votes: 8 20.5%
  • Total voters
    39
Deano

Deano

Ancient Mariner
My vote goes to The Wicker Man. I think it is musically the best song of the 3. The riff in it is incredible. It also surprised me very pleasantly when I heard it was released. I didn't keep up with Maiden current events too well at the time and had no idea that the lineup was changing again and that a new album was forthcoming. So there I was sitting in a tent in Thessaloniki, Greece listening to a Greek radio station that would barely come in. Of course the DJ is speaking Greek and going down the top 5 list of songs for the day (Band and song names for those that applied being in English). When I hear the # 1 song is Iron Maiden, you can bet my attention was peaked. I didn't even know a new song was out; then "The Wicker Man", so I brace myself for a new song I'd never heard before with Blaze on vocals. Then the singing starts and I'm freaking out everywhere because that's Bruce on vocals! Everyone in the tent with me is looking at me like I'm crazy but I'm thinking; this is way better than David Lee Roth coming back and doing 2 new songs with Van Halen and right up there with a mid-grade orgasm! When I got back to the U.S., I had to wait a couple of weeks for the album to be released there but I was happy for the entire rest of the year. The Wicker Man will always hold a special place in my heart because of this.
 
The Wicker Man.  I've never seen any of the three songs live, but I imagine this would be by far the best.  The riff is amazing, it screams "reunion" to me.
 
Let's channel thousand_suns and see what he has to say.

It is clear that since the reunion all three songs have been good.  But only one is more good.  I voted for The Wicker Man, but I do not know why. Different World to me is the best.
 
I'm going with 'Wildest Dreams', mostly for the same reason that Deano choose 'Wicker Man'.  I'd been eyeball deep in kids, a mutant for a wife and 65+ hours in a job when Bruce and Adrian made it back to Maiden.  I was sitting my chair, watching ESPN when I saw a commercial for 'Dance of Death' and I said 'Holy Shit!  Its ESPN, here in the USA, and its a Maiden commercial for a song and an album that I knew nothing about!  I have to have this!'  So, the next week, on my way to class (having enrolled in college again) I picked it up and listened to it non-stop for over a week!  That made me a happy man!!
 
Let's channel thousand_suns and see what he has to say.
Click to expand...

Who would have guessed that when the boys wrote Brighter Than a Thousand Suns that what they were really trying to portray in the title was an accurate description of almost everyone on the planet.  :D
 
"The Wicker Man" is obviously the best of these. The other two are good, but "The Wicker Man" is GREAT. Almost their best opener, period ... only "Moonchild" is better, and the only other openers that can be mentioned seriously in the same breath are the Blaze openers ("Sign Of The Cross" and "Futureal").
 
To me, "Aces High" is in the second tier with all the other openers from the first 6 albums - noting that CSIT is the best of those 6.
 
I'm also "attached" to wicker man. Sitting at home one morning, watching Viva Zwei...some badass riff starts, and suddenly...it's Maiden, with Adrian and Bruce again. I had no clue about the Ed Hunter tour before, back in 1999-2000 i didn't spend time browsing newsgroups about music and such, you're on a 56K line with a 1.5euro/hour rate. Internet was used for concrete and useful stuff then  :D

Having said that i voted for Different World. It's lyricaly above those two, music is great (the riff was originally written by Adrian in 7/4, Steve flatted the riff to 4/4 and used it here), and the solo is blazing. Wildest Dreams and Wicker Man both feature great solos from mr. H (especially the latter), both are fast sweepage but both also lack a quantity of emotion that H can put out into his leads. That's no case with Different World - it's melodical, emotional, yet it has some great faster parts. One of his best solos in 21st century.
 
The Wicker Man. Best chorus, and surely the best vocal lines!

Apart from this poll, I still find both Blaze album openers better than these three songs. It's about time Maiden will write a decent opening track again.
 
Apart from this poll, I still find both Blaze album openers better than these three songs.
Click to expand...

But considering Sign of the Cross is the best song on The X Factor and Futureal is one of only three good songs on Virtual XI, that's not such an achievement.  The three 2000s openers do what they're supposed to do: kickstart the album and get your blood pumping. :)
 
I rather say the following: The achievement is to put a strong track in the beginning.

I find it a bit disturbing that the opening songs are the weakest songs. Tastes differ but I find the last two opening tracks the worst tracks of those albums. If they both were left off, both albums would have been better imho.
 
I agree on this to some extent. Rainmaker is a better song than Wildest Dreams in my opinion, and would also work as an opener. But I am not sure "These Colours don't run" would make such a great opener, because it starts with a slow intro. It would've been the only "slow start" besides Sign of the Cross. And I actually like Different World as well. But on the topic I agree with the majority here. Out of the three latest openers, I prefer The Wicker Man. I think the latest two actually suffer from trying to follow the BNW recipy. They try to be The Wicker Man, but fail.

I must also mention that the four albums with the classic five-man lineup 'Arry, Dave, H, Bruce and Nicko all have openers that I absolutely love. Where Eagles Dare, Aces High, CSIT and Moonchild are all feckin' great.
 
I always felt that Bruce’s “Son of a Gun” and "Cyclops" were great openers as well.
Calm beginnings, but powerful opening tracks.

BTW: good point about the self-copying. I thought the same. It's one of the very few aspects which I do not appreciate in Maiden's music.
 
Wicker Man for me.

Sadly, i wasnt into Maiden when it came out (wasn't into music full stop untill 3 years ago), but i still think it is a kick-ass track, really sounds like the band has been rejuvinated by the reunion  :)
 
Thw Wicker Man, no question about it. It's one of the best openers from one of the best albums. Kudos to H, who's fabulous solo is the highlight of the song (Of course, Davey wrote it for him. I'm only kidding... :D). Different world though, isn't too far behind, which is a damn good track. Also, great solo there too, and actually, superior lyrics.
 
Happy Birthday Yax. I'm sure one of the mods will start an official thread, but I figured I'd slip it in early.
 
We only start birthday threads when we notice.  We expect all of you, the plebs, to start them too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top