If eternity is better overall.
Overall, I have to agree.
So, I've been digesting the new single. It's a decent song, and Bruce is singing fine indeed. The chorus is catchy, but I don't think it gels naturally with the verses and the pre-chorus (the pre-chorus is pretty stock. It doesn't do much for me). From what I can tell from skimming the thread, the production has caused some to go "wow, Maiden should change their approach", while I certainly put myself in the other end. This is far from Roy Z's best. The synergies with his work on Spirits of Fire's first album are evident, with that dodgy, recessed mids "fat" drum sound that doesn't fit that well with the rest. It sticks out a bit like a sour thumb. Roy doesn't do this kind of production very well, while he's excellent with old school fairly "realistic" sounding records like CW, AOB, Resurrection (yes, is certainly sounds and is sample reinforced, but there is still a measure of realism and there are mids here). Sure, this is scooped and all, and a lot of people seem drawn to recessed mids. But just because there's treble and bass and can be perceived as "fat" doesn't necessarily make it great. As far as I'm concerned, this release is around the floor in terms of production quality I expect from a Bruce release.
All in all, this doesn't get me that excited about the new album, but it hopefully contains better tracks.
At first I thought the same about the chorus transition (Steve is a master at this), but I don't think so anymore. The contrast is not abrupt, but rather nice. I'm excited about the album ofc and I think Bruce purpousley didn't released one of the best songs from the album this time (methinks). The album will have more special songs - like Maiden did with some Reunion albums.
As for the production, I kind of expected it and knew Roy wasn't going to make the best modern sounding album. I don't have a problem with the sound of the drums, but the mix should have been better. TOS has a much better production, the albums from the 90's too, which is really odd for me. But I like the production.
Bruce said the album is a heavy rock album, and that fits the first single, but I think and hope that by rock he meant metal. I think so. He said that's an amazing and special album and he loves all of the songs. Maiden's page also said something like that. He also said that it will be difficult to beat it. The only other time Bruce has said such thing was for TCW.
I personally think the song is very average, but the production is really mediocre. I am a big fan of the work Roy Z did in the late 90s/early 00s. The guy made metal sound modern whilst sounding classic at the same time, with Chemical Wedding being the perfect marriage - no pun intended - of classic and modern metal.
This new song is nothing like that, which is a shame. Let’s hope the rest of the album is (and sounds) better.
Very average, wow, only the instrumental work. It's a good song with the traditional catchy chorus from Bruce, but it could have been even better for its almost 6 minutes. Not saying this song will be like that, but imo all of Bruce's albums have at least 1 song that can't compete with the rest of the album or with the strongest songs (only Maiden are such a band for me). I think it serves its purpose as a single well, a very memorable song. With its melodic chorus, Bruce wanted to display -> the light and shade that the rest of the album brings.
The rest of the album will be better, it is described as:
rich in musical textures. Roy teased heavier style/sound than TCW, but maybe not vocal-wise. I don't think we should expect Bruce to repeat himself and Ragnarok is a good example of that. The sound/production will be the same. It's a more polished production than Maiden.
It seems to me more like we were anticipating a more polished (and for many better) production than Maiden and that was clearly not the case. Drums are certainly more polished but to the point of sounding artificial.
The fans were anticipating much better production than Maiden and a fast really heavy song with soaring chorus. Bruce needs to deliver with the 2nd single big time. And I feel he will.
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