Dance of death

Suicidehummer said:
I don't understand why so many people put Paschendale above DOD. DOD is the quintessential storytelling Maiden epic. To be fair, the studio version isn't great, but like Paschendale, the DOTR version is better.
Click to expand...

I can explain. And firstly, I agree that live, DOD is an incredible song, and it slides up the listing when you consider live tracks. However, Paschendale is better for several reasons.

1) It actually happened. I had ancestors there, and the battle itself is a great piece of human tragedy, second only to Stalingrad in terms of "most miserable battles fought by mankind" and first in the annals of "pointless death". For what it's worth, Third Ypres is a very well-known part of British history (epitomized, for instance, in pop culture by the comic series Blackadder Goes Forth, which has a tragic, terrible end), whereas DOD is a story. A good story, but just that.

2) The music, being H-written, is a heavy, hard-hitting piece of music that tells the story on its own. DOD relies on Bruce to tell you what's happening, but there's no way I could hear anything else from Paschendale. The way Nick comes crashing down on the drums after the "daNAdaNAdaNAdaNAAAA", the way the guitar (H?) sounds after the "Rush of blood and over we gooooooo" part. Even the solos are great, frantic, desperate, like that of someone grasping wildly for life in a plain of death.

3) Every single member of the band is at their absolute best. I'm not sure if the same is true of DOD. I'm not saying anyone is bad, or even not great, but when I hear Paschendale, I hear perfection from every channel; I hear incredible effort and emotion in every strum, word, and beat. Again, this isn't to the lesser of DOD, which is just awesome, but I'm saying that the band put something special together - and they knew it. Look at what Davey said about why they stopped playing it on the current tour: they made too many errors and didn't want to ruin the song. Everyone knows they mess up pretty much every song every night in some way, and sometimes pretty heavily, but Paschendale, they didn't want to bollock it. I think that says something about how they feel.
 
Paschendale, Dance of Death, No More Lies, Journeyman, Rainmaker, Face in the Sand, Wildest Dreams (great solo), Age of Innocence, Montsegur.

only my opinion but those songs make Dance of death one of my favourite Maiden albums. I dont think Paschendale will ever be bettered....
 
I'm with the "this album does not get enough love" crowd.
It's not as deep as the other reunion albums but the top songs stack up well.
And while the bottom half is hardly what you'd call adventurous, they are decent rock tracks.
 
LooseCannon said:
I can explain. And firstly, I agree that live, DOD is an incredible song, and it slides up the listing when you consider live tracks. However, Paschendale is better for several reasons.

1) It actually happened. I had ancestors there, and the battle itself is a great piece of human tragedy, second only to Stalingrad in terms of "most miserable battles fought by mankind" and first in the annals of "pointless death". For what it's worth, Third Ypres is a very well-known part of British history (epitomized, for instance, in pop culture by the comic series Blackadder Goes Forth, which has a tragic, terrible end), whereas DOD is a story. A good story, but just that.

2) The music, being H-written, is a heavy, hard-hitting piece of music that tells the story on its own. DOD relies on Bruce to tell you what's happening, but there's no way I could hear anything else from Paschendale. The way Nick comes crashing down on the drums after the "daNAdaNAdaNAdaNAAAA", the way the guitar (H?) sounds after the "Rush of blood and over we gooooooo" part. Even the solos are great, frantic, desperate, like that of someone grasping wildly for life in a plain of death.

3) Every single member of the band is at their absolute best. I'm not sure if the same is true of DOD. I'm not saying anyone is bad, or even not great, but when I hear Paschendale, I hear perfection from every channel; I hear incredible effort and emotion in every strum, word, and beat. Again, this isn't to the lesser of DOD, which is just awesome, but I'm saying that the band put something special together - and they knew it. Look at what Davey said about why they stopped playing it on the current tour: they made too many errors and didn't want to ruin the song. Everyone knows they mess up pretty much every song every night in some way, and sometimes pretty heavily, but Paschendale, they didn't want to bollock it. I think that says something about how they feel.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but

1) Whether it actually happened or not does not make me feel any differently about the song. For example, I don't get any more emotional over a movie depicting a battle that actually happened versus one that didn't because either way, I know I'm not seeing people actually die.

2) I disagree, H writes great stuff, but a storyteller he is not. Janick's writing, on the other hand, lends itself to a great story because of the slow acoustic intros and powerful builds into galloping rock. The Talisman, for example, has the calm before the storm intro, then kicks into riding the waves and facing death. Then, add Harris' lyrics to Bruce's performance and you get the perfect Maiden epic.

3) Well, you have me there, but I think this is an aspect where it's really apples to oranges because DOD isn't a performance piece like Paschendale is. Nobody is showing off on DOD, it's all about the song, whereas I feel like Paschendale is more a a display of musical abilities.

Either way, you must admit that DOD doesn't get the credit it deserves because it's always overshadowed by Paschendale.
 
I can admit that DOD probably deserves more credit than it gets, but Paschendale should overshadow everything.
 
I don't understand why this album gets so much hate among fans, and the worse thing about it is when some say it's the worst album ever from Maiden... How can an album that has in it Paschendale (a top 5 Maiden song) and Dance of Death (a top 10 Maiden song), I could mention some others (but these are the stand-out tracks I think everybody agree on this) be considered worse than FotD and NPFD? Hard to believe, but everyne to each own I guess.

I only consider it the worse since reunion because the other 3 are truly amazing.
The only songs I think are sub-par are Age of Innocence (specially this one) and Gates of Tomorrow, all the other ones are good/very good/piece of art. I think this album has lots of under-rated songs, the most obvious being Dance of Death, but I have to mention Face in the Sand (I love this track, the verses are among Maiden's best and chorus is catchy as hell) and Journeyman (one of the best acoustic songs I've ever heard, love it, specially live).
And I didn't mention my favourite rocker since reunion, Rainmaker.

This is a pretty good album and besides that it has Nicko's only writing credit, so this has to mean something  :D
 
[quote author=LooseCannon
One of these things is not like the other.

    Yes Loose I am always on the  Maiden Wagon and backing the band 100%. That is when the band is at 100%.  Blaze was a scab.  He was a replacement player.  Love, I mean LOVE much of the MUSIC and writing on those two albums.  But the post vomit gargle that is Blazes' singing voice, makes them incomparable to Dance of Death....again in my opinion.  Not bashing, just answering to the thread.  
 
Pashendale, DOD the song and Montsegur are classic all time Maiden songs.  The album is SOOO under-rated!!  It is a fraction behind AMOLAD and BNW.
 
Well, I'm sorry to hear you feel that way. A lot of people actually quite like Blaze's voice, and I'm among them. Again, I don't hear Bruce singing all his tunes properly: Lord of the Flies grates on my ears, as does Futureal, and Sign of the Cross I'm not so huge on either.
 
Don't you prefer Sign of the Cross with Bruce, LC?

Sign of the Cross at Rock in Rio is one of the best moments I've ever seen from Maiden, imo Bruce takes it to a whole new level, the most improved song from the Blaze era.

Blaze isn't as bad as much fans think, i kinda like his voice on the studio albums.

Still,  I prefer DOD over Blaze albums.
 
I agree with LC, Sign of the Cross is better with Blaze. Rock in Rio is a horrible album, so bad I returned it. The DVD is better.
 
Onun said:
Don't you prefer Sign of the Cross with Bruce, LC?
Click to expand...

Absolutely not. Bruce tosses in high notes where Blaze didn't, and he's not nearly as good at the fast singing. Besides, compare Bruce live with Blaze live, and you'll hear the differences.

Bruce would probably sing the song better now, in 2010, because his vocal range has dropped a bit.
 
LooseCannon said:
Absolutely not. Bruce tosses in high notes where Blaze didn't, and he's not nearly as good at the fast singing. Besides, compare Bruce live with Blaze live, and you'll hear the differences.

Bruce would probably sing the song better now, in 2010, because his vocal range has dropped a bit.
Click to expand...

I can't agree that he "tosses in high notes". He basically sings it straight but adds a tiny bit of "theatrics" that the song was sadly lacking with Blaze. SOTC at Rio was astounding. Saw Blaze sing it live in 96 and it was horrendous.
 
I'm sorry that you see it that way; I hear a voice that reaches above the song, much as Blaze sung too low for many Maiden classics, but the live versions I have from 98 and 2003 I find to be far better.
 
LooseCannon said:
Absolutely not. Bruce tosses in high notes where Blaze didn't, and he's not nearly as good at the fast singing. Besides, compare Bruce live with Blaze live, and you'll hear the differences.

Bruce would probably sing the song better now, in 2010, because his vocal range has dropped a bit.
Click to expand...

I like the way Bruce sings it, higher than the original and I think it fitts the song well, sounds a bit more dramatic.

I'd love they would bring this song back to the set, it's one of their best songs.

And regarding the cd quality I agree Onhell, i only own the DVD and this song is the highlight of a great show to me.
 
Blaze and maiden were in a no win situation, that bruce put them in (which was his choice to do was right for him at the time)
Would people prefer it if they would have just quit.
 
  I'm sorry if I contributed in  bending this Dance of Death thread towards the same ol' Blaze sucks/doesn't suck routine.  of course the band is all the better for having Blaze fill in' and keep the band alive.  The addition of Janick is great blah blah blah.  The good part is, he kept the seat warm and we get masterpieces like Final Frontier in the end.  Happy ending.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top