Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger

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How good is Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger on a scale of 1-10?

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    25
The weakest song on the album. Still, it's decent, but too repetitive and I don't like the drumming. 6/10
 
Easily the worst on the album. I'll never understand why Angel is the poster child for the hate Virtual XI gets when this song is far worse. Not only is the chorus too repetitive here, but it's annoying. They try to build it up but it fails where the Clansman did it perfectly. It doesn't really build into anything and it doesn't have the same power. It's just obnoxious. Forced intensity that just comes off sounding bland. Even the instrumental music is bland. Lots of generic riffs and melodies repeated endlessly.

At this point the sudden ending just seems lazy. This one should've been left on the cutting floor.

1
 
Seems almost a cliché to say it but the repetition is awful. Beyond that it's almost embarrassing because it's not even a good melody which is repeated (see The Apparition). Plodding instrumental and bad production too.

4
 
Actually guilty of all the crap people say The Angel and the Gambler is guilty of.

3/10.
 
Look...I know that Maiden's lyrics are cheesy at times, and most of the time it doesn't bother me, BUT this song is frickin' ridiculously bad. The lyrics and verse riff sound like they were written by 12 year old, and the big 'climax' is completely ruined by the 'muppet drumming' and the seemingly 4 hours of repetition that proceeded it. 3/10.
 
Well I'll give this song a 6/10, it's repetitious but I can still get into it. Actually my big thing with it is the fact that every time I hear it I instantly think of "Don't Talk To Strangers" by Dio... the two songs are quite different so it's probably just the title.
 
6/10

Don’t Look to the Eyes of a Stranger is another song with an overly repetitive chorus line, but it’s far better than Angel and the Gambler. Blaze successfully displays his full range of emotion, despite some more trite Harris lyrics. The repetitive section does grow old, but the underlying music continues to build and build, eventually leading to a completely madcap carnival section with the best solos on the entire album.
 
Bumped up my vote to an 8/10, possibly a 9 later on. I personally find it an enjoyable listen.
 
Ranko said:
I listened to VXI recently after a very (very!) long while, and the whole repetitive instrumental section in this song was just comical. It reminded me of those Benny Hill sequences where people chase each other in fast motion. Then I pictured clowns chasing each other in fast motion and I couldn't stop laughing.
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To me this song is so bad that it isn't even funny anymore. Just listen to the very ending: they didn't even bother to check if Blaze was in sync with the instruments (which he wasn't). This is the worst Maiden song ever.
 
Great song. The atmosphere is fantastic, feels just like you're being stalked by a maniac or something. Features some genius musical ideas, even though the lyrics are a bit shallow and repetitive. I also love how the guitars sound on the intro! A strong 8 for this one (really, the only thing keeping me from giving it a 10 is the repetition and unimaginitive lyrics).
 
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I don’t find this song to be enjoyable at all. Lyrics are very basic, Blaze’s singing is average, repetition becomes a problem once again and there’s a long buildup that ultimately leads nowhere. Probably the worst song of the Blaze era. I can’t give it more than a 4
 
OK, but uninspired opening. Surprisingly decent soft delivery from Blaze here, which stays decent when he gets louder.

The song shifts to the verse, which is mechanical, repetitive, and almost boring. Blaze is back to his inconsistent, half-spoken thing here. Things pick up very slightly in the return to the chorus, and then the song grinds to a halt.

Yes, let's listen to Blaze whispering for a full 20 seconds, because that's a great idea. When he picks it back up to a softer delivery he sounds pretty good, and then things get iffier again when he gets louder. In the end we get almost 2 minutes straight of "don't look to, don't look to, don't look to the eyes of a stranger", giving "The Angel And The Gambler" a run for its money. What the hell were they thinking?

This monotony is broken by switching into an unexpected cut time guitar jig, which I'm still not sure how I feel about. OK solo, then back to the jig, then back to the solo, then back to the jig. I think I almost like the audacity of it.

One last chorus, because we apparently didn't get enough of it already, and then a terrible final vocal spit out on top of a snare drum fill. What?

This is a bizarre, almost boring song, but it has just enough juice to eke out a 4/10.
 
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