Darkest Hour

How good is Darkest Hour on a scale of 1-10?

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    30
I'm still trying to find some twist in those lyrics, this seems to be too straightforward for Bruce
 
Darkest Hour - 7.5/10 - I don't mind Maiden ballads and this one may be the best of the lot for now for me. I think it's better than Out of the Shadows and Coming Home at least. 1 point deducted for nearly a solid minute of sound effects that add absolutely nothing whatsoever. This one kind of reminds me of a mix between Gates of Urizen and Tears of the Dragon more than any other Maiden song. Adrian's solo is unreal.
 
Think this one is better as a song. The lyrics are also beautifully written. But as Ghost said the topic isn't something wide audiences can connect to, whereas coming home is something we've all experienced.
 
I don't like this Sons of Albion Save this sacred Land nonsense. I think it is to be understood from Churchill's point of view and in the context of the time. Still, it has a negative connotation for me.
 
I completely fail to connect to the narrative of the song. For example Hollywood-forced D-day exaggeration (in the sense of effect on the outcome of war) I can live with. It was a huge thing, not the biggest not the one solely responsible for the outcome, but a huge thing nevertheless.

As for Albion it was never under threat, the situation was shaky because Brits tried to defend their whole empire. Somehow the will of one man being so important for the survival of a country that fields largest Navy and one of the largest armies of the world is a bit moot. The bombings were indeed killing civilians but not on a scale that's too damaging. Britain was somehow defending itself even while having pacific theatre operations so excuse me of not believing this viewpoint.

I don't know the story about morale, public opinion, whether he motivated Brits into fighting, but they had enough to fight with in a first place. Once Japanese stopped being a offensive force (after Midway) Brits were free to regroup their Indian and Pacific navies. After Italy capitulated there was no contender on the Mediterranean.

The war was largely over when Germans failed to induce a strategic blow on Russians and Japanese failed to do the same to Americans. The Allies were larger, more powerful, more numerous. The only way Axis could do anything is force these asymetric theatres because Allies have a less "dense" armies. When that failed, the war was over. There was no going back after Midway as there was no going back after Stalingrad.
 
I don't know much about history, but isn't this supposed to be about the very beginning of war, when things were still very uncertain?

Anyway, I've got gripe with the presentation itself. The way Bruce described it before the album came out ("he was a flawed character, but overcame his flaws..."), I thought it would be something about facing his personal demons, but instead we got what looks to me like a collection of superlatives and hollow phrases (which I already had too much of in my own country, so maybe for that reason I'm extra irritated that Bruce would go down such a path).

The instrumentation, atmosphere and musical texture of the song is great, and conveys the title "Darkest Hour" much better than the lyrics themselves
 
Noticed now that the 4+4 snare drum hits when Bruce sings "... hour" in the chorus mirrors the snare pattern after 5:51 in The Longest Day (only shorter).
 
frus said:
I don't know much about history, but isn't this supposed to be about the very beginning of war, when things were still very uncertain?

Anyway, I've got gripe with the presentation itself. The way Bruce described it before the album came out ("he was a flawed character, but overcame his flaws..."), I thought it would be something about facing his personal demons, but instead we got what looks to me like a collection of superlatives and hollow phrases (which I already had too much of in my own country, so maybe for that reason I'm extra irritated that Bruce would go down such a path).

The instrumentation, atmosphere and musical texture of the song is great, and conveys the title "Darkest Hour" much better than the lyrics themselves
Click to expand...

It is based on Churchill’s eagerness to fight Germany whilst many others in the UK weren’t that keen (among other things because they thought the country would have probably been crushed).

I posted this on page 2:

www.independent.co.uk

Not his finest hour: The dark side of Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill is rightly remembered for leading Britain through her finest hour – but what if he also led the country through her most shameful hour? What if, in addition to rousing a nation to save the world from the Nazis, he fought for a raw white supremacism and a concentration camp...
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk

A “man with flaws” might be the understatement of the century by Bruce!
 
It’s a song, capturing a feeling, inspired by crucial period in the history of the author’s nation - in all likelihood coming from stories told to him in his formative years by people who lived it.

Those of you hoping for a more detached, thorough, clinical, academic take on the life and impact of Winston Churchill from an Iron Maiden song aren‘t really paying attention to what the band generally is about, IMO.
 
As said before topically it doesn't connect like "The Longest Day" does, a wonderful song nevertheless. Great prechorus and chorus, some slightly atypical chords and tonalities in the vocal melody here, more akin to Dickinson/Z than Iron Maiden. Works as a charm. Great solos, good intro lick, beautifully written lyrics.
 
Zare said:
As said before topically it doesn't connect like "The Longest Day" does,
Click to expand...
Now that would really take something special. The verses of The Longest Day are the best war-themed verses in any Maiden song and yes, that includes Aces High and Paschendale. The melody, lyrics and vocal delivery makes you feel you're on board one of those boats approaching Normandy.
 
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