Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

How good is Brighter Than A Thousand Suns on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    44
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

Brilliant. Just brilliant. 10
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

I love it. Together with Paschendale, Dance of Death and a couple from BNW my favourites from 2000s Maiden (I haven't placed the songs from TFF anywhere in my ranking yet, but there are a couple of contenders there).

LC summed up pretty well what I think about the song, but I'll say more about how I appreciate the buildup. All the way from the start, the song feels different from a typical Maiden song. It helps that they start it in an odd time signature, where the vocal line seems to follow its own time signature rather than the 7/4 laid down by the instruments. Then when we finally get to a straight-forward 4/4 beat, it feels like the tension is released, but without losing any power. Then after a little more we get the "chorus" which just builds and builds - from the quiet clean guitar melody which again feels like something new (the chord progression is unusual for Maiden, but they use it several times on this album) to the last line which bursts into a great solo. The part which follows has to be the heaviest on the album. Then we get an aggressive solo from Janick before returning to the 7/4 riff.

The lyrics are a masterful way of describing how mankind, by making the nuclear bomb, now holds the power to destroy the world we live in - in just a short time. And still, this song would be 10/10 even as an instrumental. With lyrics, I wish I could go to 11.

10/10.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

A classic, but the rhythm sometimes seems to fall out of place...

Anyway, a 9.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

Meant to vote 8 but accidentally voted 7 :(

Anyway, this song is good, but I've never been able to get into it as much as others from the album. As a result, its actually one of my least faves from the album, but its still a great song :)
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

Everything Eddie's Wingman says and then some. Heavy. Melodic. Acoustic. Epic. Monster riffs. And still contains the Maiden gallop. A very large song. Very large. My fave part is actually the post chorus verses. The whole band is in perfect sync in a riff that changes from gallop to an almost black sabbath vol.4 sound. This song proves to me that old bands are legitimate and can reach perfection.

10
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

Apart from my doubts about earlier grades I've given to older songs, now I encounter new uncertainties:
I can't decide on the grades for the best songs from AMOLAD. There are some songs I'd like to a give a 9 or 10, and in one case I doubt about an 8 or 9. I might experience the same problem when we go to the next album, maybe in smaller proportions (I hope).

Even after playing AMOLAD a couple of times, this week, I can't figure it out, I can't decide.

To help me with this problem I think I'll play (a number of) the 10 songs I've given, even if that's time consuming.
Then back to this album. So I am going to give myself some time for evaluation before I want to finish this properly. :)

Any other tips?
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

I'm having doubts about earlier ratings I've given out as well. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but I think it will be interesting to compare next years grades with what I've given out this year.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

I hope to do it now as good as possible, trying to prevent a bigger than necessary reperation.  :D
I am also careful, because I do not want to give out 10's too easily and it seems that this particular album is giving me some headaches... some songs are damn good, but worth a 10..?

I find the album very strong (best of this line-up for sure), but first I'll see how brilliant older songs are. I know how brilliant those songs are but I want to feel it. And then learn what kind of feeling the gems of AMOLAD evoke afterwards.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

BTATS and Lord Of Light will get 10's from me. All other tracks will get 8/9, because this album is the most consistent one they ever did.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

taker64 said:
I'm having doubts about earlier ratings I've given out as well. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but I think it will be interesting to compare next years grades with what I've given out this year.

I want to emphasize that I am not going to be running a new set of these topics next year. I've been doing this since August of last year, so we're going to be...9 months or so.

In a year, I will be posting again, encouraging people to UPDATE their rankings. Re-evaluate these songs and change their votes (I'll make that option available once every song has been posted).
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

mckindog said:
I guess it's up to me to be the blasphemer here. This is a very good song, that for me is a notch below the band’s great epics. Love the heaviness and the complexities, but the melodies could be a little hookier and I find Bruce is straining at times to rise above the din and not quite being successful. Eight.

I agree, but I am a tougher grader. In 2006 I would have given it an 8, but can only concede a strong 7 now. I just don't find myself going back to it that much recently.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

'Brighter Than A Thousand Suns' is in my top ten Maiden songs. Needless to say, it's 10/10. Everything is perfect here.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

My favorite from A Matter of Life and Death. Perfect song, it's done on the way it should be. 10/10.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

If Maiden were reading this thread they would be very happy. What an amazing album. The fact they wanted this song live in 2010 show what it means to the band. Wratchild over BTATS would have surely been painful to the band. 
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

This song gets a 10 from me (and I tend not to throw those out).  I love the way it builds, the fast galloping section, the solos, the lyrics (Strange Love pun and all), pretty much everything.  Bruce strains on this song but I think it really adds to the tension and vibe of the song. 

My only slight complaint would be that Bruce never seemed to do this one well live, his vocals always were off beat.  But musically it's awesome and tied with Lord of Light as my favorite AMOLAD song.  Great, great stuff.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

I do not remember having ever seen so much praise over a non-classic song from a one but last album, in a different topic, within 24 hours. I am glad to see that this song is Lord of Light, I'm positively surprised about it! Looks like this one has worked itself up next to BTATS. :ok:
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

Lord of Light completely won me over live. That and Breeg were the 2 best AMOLAD songs on that tour.
 
Re: Daily Song: Brighter Than A Thousand Suns

I vividly recall the first time I heard Brighter Than A Thousand Suns- Maiden streamed 3 new songs on their site back in 2006.  Breeg, Different World and this one.  I just remember expecting a good Maiden song and I got a great one.  I must have listened to that tune a good 10 times that first day it was on the site.  I actually had to force myself to stop listening to it.  Great memories.
 
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