#130 - 126:
130 - Childhood's End
Childhood's End is an interesting song. It has one of the most interesting and recognisable drum rolls in Maiden's entire discography. Indeed, it pretty much carries this song, along with the riff behind it. Without this I'd be tempted to write this song off as complete filler, but it really is a fantastic spot in an otherwise ordinary song. I really wish I had something more exciting to say than "standard song is otherwise saved by interesting musical theme" but that's pretty much it from me here. It's a cool song that I wouldn't immediately reach for but is always fun to listen to.
129 - Sun and Steel
For a long time I don't think I've given this song quite the props it deserves. I used to think this was the worst song on Piece of Mind. Whilst it's definitely one of the worse ones, I've grown attached to it recently and can see it on the way up. It's just great fun. The quick galloping verses are fun and lead into a surprisingly enjoyable chorus. The solo is at it's best around 2:15, though the rest isn't too bad. The ending of this song is always the bit that gets caught in my head afterwards, though.
"And it's rolling still..."
128 - Invaders
If you haven't noticed, there's a theme at this section of the list - the fun fillers. Invaders is a song that I very rarely press play on, but whenever it comes on I'm always surprised by how much better it is than I remember. The verses are nice, aggressive pieces of work, but the memorable part of the song is definitely the very odd chorus. This is unlike anything else Maiden have ever done, and it's very difficult to measure alongside the rest of the work.
Personally, I like it. It's not a standard chorus, and I find it difficult to rate it much higher than it is already - but it's always fun, and it's a chorus that, to its credit, sticks in my head much more vividly than others I will claim to like more.
127 - Como Estais Amigos
This song is a bit of a change of pace from the above, but no easier to discuss. This song is a weird one, on both the album it's on and the discography it comes from. I'm not into Maiden's more ballady songs on the whole, but this song definitely has plenty to offer. The instrumental part of this song, starting at 3:15, is utterly fantastic, for example. The rest of the song tends to fade from my memory quickly, but it's perfectly nice and complementary. It doesn't outlive its welcome, either.
This is the first Virtual XI song so I thought I'd talk a bit about the album. Virtual XI is my favourite Blaze album, by quite a margin. The reason is the entire feel of the album. Whereas I am constantly complaining about the feel and atmosphere of X Factor, Virtual XI, for all its flaws, feels like I am listening to a Maiden album, and that allows me to forgive a lot of the things it does wrong. The song-writing isn't as good. My favourite songs on X Factor beat my favourites on Virtual XI relatively comfortably. But I would much, much rather listen to this album all the way through, because it's got charm, it's got energy (drums aside) and is, in my opinion, severely underrated.
126 - Twilight Zone
As far as the Killers filler goes, this one is in my opinion the best. The verses feel not much different than before, but this song has a wonderful chorus.
This is one of the songs that reminds me that Paul Dianno was a pretty great singer back in the day. Whilst I don't like Killers as much as Iron Maiden, I do think Paul sings better on this album. He seems to try a lot more things, more ranges, and it suits him. His higher pitch on some of the songs is a nice contrast to his usual singing and I think it works quite well.
