Dance of Death

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How good is Dance of Death on a scale from 1-10?

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An epic title track and another excellent song by the Gers/Harris combo. This track is atmospheric and exciting and the arrangement of the song is great.
What is really cool is the 3/4 (6/8?) beat that really gives the dance feeling in the as well as the melodies which seems to fit the theme perfectly.
The solos are on of the greatest solos the band have made and all the guitarists really delivers. The only thing that bothers me is that both H and Janick plays 16 bars solo while Dave only plays 8 bars, I wanted more of Dave! ;)

A great epic. The only thing that's missing is the emotion connection and the overwhelming feeling I get from their all time best tracks, but like I said, still a pretty damn good song.

9/10
 
This song's always been one of my personal favorites. As far as works by Janick go, it's bested only by The Legacy. However there's no denying that Dance of Death is a far more "fun" song to listen to. It's theatrical as can be and really lets Bruce go full-throttle. I actually think that's partially due to the Spinal Tap-ish lyrics too. It's silly, sure, but it's just so epic too.

More importantly though, this song, or more specifically an interview Janick did about the song, actually played a role in changing my life. Due to personal reasons, I have never been able to see myself having a typical job as my main career in life. Whatever I'd end up doing, it'd be some form of art or entertainment. I figured I'd be a writer or a musician or an actor.

My writing was pretty great and I came up with quite a few really great ideas for stories, but I just couldn't dedicate myself to locking down and actually writing a whole book from start-to-finish. I kept moving around and having to switch instruments (piano, trumpet, guitar) from place-to-place and was never really able to become dedicated to any one. So in my senior year of high school, I figured out that I'd become an actor. I joined a film group that my friends were in at the local library shortly after starting community college, and became a recurring lead actor in their low-budget film projects. Overtime, I became more and more involved with the behind-the-scenes process and became more interested in the work of directors, but I kept telling myself that I'd never be a director or anything serious.

Then around early 2013, I got into a bit of a depression and spiraled into an existential crisis. Shit happened. As was the norm for me, I turned to Iron Maiden and listened to a lot of my favorite songs. When I got around to listening to this song for the first time in awhile, curiosity struck and I decided to look up what inspired Janick when he wrote the song. He talked about how he was inspired by this ending to a film called The Seventh Seal and I'd never heard of it before. So naturally I watched it and it turned out to be exactly the film I needed to see at that point in time. It tackled a lot of the stuff that I was dealing with at that time and was my introduction to my first ever favorite director, Ingmar Bergman. From there, I woke up and started slowly taking on my personal issues and decided that I needed to try and give it a go at directing.

Now I'm at UNC Wilmington as a Film Major. Thanks to this song and Janick Gers.

So hell yeah, it's getting a 10 out of a damn 10 for me. :)
 
Bergman also had a huge impact on my life. Own all of his Criterion Blu Ray releases, and cherish them unabashedly. I'm glad to hear you made it through a rough season and managed to gain some clarity and passion for what you wish to do/accomplish in the coming years. It's encouraging, especially for people like me who are still trying to figure things out.
 
Chazz Chetly said:
Bergman also had a huge impact on my life. Own all of his Criterion Blu Ray releases, and cherish them unabashedly. I'm glad to hear you made it through a rough season and managed to gain some clarity and passion for what you wish to do/accomplish in the coming years. It's encouraging, especially for people like me who are still trying to figure things out.
Click to expand...

I currently own Persona and the Faith Trilogy Criterion releases so far. Still need to get The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries soon. I'm also a big fan of Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles.
 
Eddieson said:
An epic title track and another excellent song by the Gers/Harris combo. This track is atmospheric and exciting and the arrangement of the song is great.
What is really cool is the 3/4 (6/8?) beat that really gives the dance feeling in the as well as the melodies which seems to fit the theme perfectly.
The solos are on of the greatest solos the band have made and all the guitarists really delivers. The only thing that bothers me is that both H and Janick plays 16 bars solo while Dave only plays 8 bars, I wanted more of Dave! ;)

A great epic. The only thing that's missing is the emotion connection and the overwhelming feeling I get from their all time best tracks, but like I said, still a pretty damn good song.

9/10
Click to expand...
No, this can't be. How could you possibly hear how many bars each guitarrist plays? :O
I'm really impressed. Could you explain it, please?

Also, DOD is great. One of the top 15 Maiden songs of all time.
 
DOD is a good song ( once you remove the 3 minute intro).
 
Last edited:
Hermes said:
No, this can't be. How could you possibly hear how many bars each guitarrist plays? :O
I'm really impressed. Could you explain it, please?

Also, DOD is great. One of the top 15 Maiden songs of all time.
Click to expand...

Well, it is not that hard to count actually. The first solo is Adrian (4:31 - 5:01.) If you start counting at 4:31 you will reach 16 when Daves solo starts (5:01 - 5:16). If you then count bars during his solo you will get 8, and on Janicks solo 16 bars. (5:44 - 6:14) .

Most Maiden songs have a 4/4 rhytm (even if this song starts of in a different rhytm it also changes to this rhytm in 1:44). In 4/4 songs its quite easy to count the bars for the verses, choruses and solos. What makes it even easier is that Maiden often uses a logic number of bars for each section; a solo is often either 8 or 16 bars. Of course there are songs which dont follow this pattern, but it's a good start if you want to understand the music. :)
 
This is actually the first IM song I'd listened to beginning to end (before that I'd only heard bits from Piece of Mind in a friend's car). I was at work and, sick of hearing "new rock" on the radio day after day, I resorted to YouTube for something heavier. While listening to Ozzy's "No More Tears", DOD showed up in the suggestions, and seemed interesting.

Well, Hell of a good formal introduction to the band, I must say. A great showcase of musical talent and setting theme & atmosphere. Three solos that just demand the listener's attention. The smooth rhythm and key changes - seldom used in the "popular" music on the radio. DOD really showed that these guys knew good music. I knew right then that I needed more Iron in my auditory diet (sorry, couldn't resist). I spent the rest of the day going through the rest of the suggested IM songs; the more I listened to, the more I loved it.

Now that I've heard every studio album at least once, this song still remains one of my favourites.
 
My favourite "classic-style" IM song (otherwise it's The Legacy). It has it all. The buildup, the catchiness, the absolutely astonishing instrumental part. Janick is a monster!
 
I especially like Bruce's alternate lyrics to it, on the last night of the Death on the Road tour in Japan. ;)
Only the "and I danced and I pranced" line keeps me from rating it 10/10.
 
I've probably said everything I ever wanted to say about this song previously. I'm giving it a 9/10 only because I reserve 10s for songs that actually give me goosebumps.
 
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