Empire Of The Clouds

[Liveone]

spot on. the phrasing of the lyrics is brilliant as well it's like something a folk band would do. I can see a bearded old man in the corner of a dark boozer, with a few pints of guinness on board, bellowing out the verses unaccompanied

Or a few pints of Trooper Ale...

 

[srfc]

Early in the thread people were arguing about the climax of the track etc.

if it's not "to the moon and the stars, now what have we done, oh the dreamers may die, but the dreams live on" then I don't know what it is.

 

[Brave New Pilgrim]

Early in the thread people were arguing about the climax of the track etc.

if it's not "to the moon and the stars, now what have we done, oh the dreamers may die, but the dreams live on" then I don't know what it is.

Incidentally, that may be one of my favorite Maiden lyrics ever.

 

[Naty]

Early in the thread people were arguing about the climax of the track etc.

if it's not "to the moon and the stars, now what have we done, oh the dreamers may die, but the dreams live on" then I don't know what it is.

Somehow, I relate this lyrics with Bruce's involvement with the Airlander project. As mentioned in this thread, after the R101 crash, the only airship built in the UK is the Airlander. So... "the dreamers may die, but the dreams live on".

After a week listening to this album, this song still my favorite. The intro never fails to give me chills, it's a journey every time I listen to it. I close my eyes and imagine everything that's being told by Bruce and by the song. And it seems to get shorter and shorter at each listen... amazing!

 

[Mosh]

After the morse code is where the song (quite literally) takes off for me. Great melodies and riffing there. Very soaring, very cinematic.

 

[Consumer Of Souls]

Early in the thread people were arguing about the climax of the track etc.

if it's not "to the moon and the stars, now what have we done, oh the dreamers may die, but the dreams live on" then I don't know what it is.

Yeah that is obviously the climax and it's also amazing. That is when all of the song just gets compressed into your body and it sends shivers through you and tears to your eye. Powerfull as hell.

 

[Brave New Pilgrim]

Yeah that is obviously the climax and it's also amazing. That is when all of the song just gets compressed into your body and it sends shivers through you and tears to your eye. Powerfull as hell.

You know, it kind of reminds me of how Dream Theater end a lot of their "epic" songs as well.

 

[Mosh]

Is there really an argument on what the climax of the song is? If we're gonna use the actual definition of the word it has to be the crash part.

 

[Consumer Of Souls]

You know, it kind of reminds me of how Dream Theater end a lot of their "epic" songs as well.

Kind of, just that Maiden feels more natural, and actually good. Dream Theater feels mechanical and as if they're following some instructions book when writing their songs, (Yeah I'm not a DT fan, haha).

I still feel like Bruce probably had A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers in the back of his head, since I know he loves that song.
The story is even reminiscent of it, in that both are tragic events, there's a chaotic middle part (way crazier than Empire though).... I don't know, just a lot of it that makes me feel like there most have been some inspiration there.

Is there really an argument on what the climax of the song is? If we're gonna use the actual definition of the word it has to be the crash part.

Noun 1. sexual climax - the moment of most intense pleasure in sexual intercourse

Pretty sure that is perfectly suited for the "Dreams live on" part. At least in my case.

 

[Consumer Of Souls]

B= Bruce Dickinson
M= Mattias Reinholdsson

B= Oh, no, no, no, you mustn't get into, no! I was talking about this with the manager of Entombed, Dave Thorne, who's a huge Van der Graaf Generator fan and we were talking about how amazing some Van der Graaf Generator songs would sound if a metal band did them. It'd sound really f***ing heavy... I mean, can you imagine "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" done by a real prog metal band, it'd be amazing.

M= Or "Scorched Earth"...

B= Yeah, it's f***ing great. I might get there before them... [laughter] Peter Hammill was one of my childhood lyrical hero's but, you know, you say "Peter Hammill" to most people and they go; "Huh?"... And it's such a shame cause they had so much more to them, I think, than Genesis. They were a bunch of pansies compared to Van der Graaf, really...

 

[Brave New Pilgrim]

Kind of, just that Maiden feels more natural, and actually good. Dream Theater feels mechanical and as if they're following some instructions book when writing their songs, (Yeah I'm not a DT fan, haha).

I actually am a DT fan, and they end a lot of their long, epic songs the same way. With a vocal line over some crashing power chords.

I do agree that it sounds a bit more natural with Maiden, though.

 

[Consumer Of Souls]

I actually am a DT fan, and they end a lot of their long, epic songs the same way. With a vocal line over some crashing power chords.

I do agree that it sounds a bit more natural with Maiden, though.

I am not opposed giving them a new try, at least their technical capabilities are pretty inspiring for a musician. Only heard like 3 songs before I gave up. Any songs you'd recommend? (Sorry guys, won't hijack the thread. Just this question)

 

[JudasMyGuide]

I am not opposed giving them a new try, at least their technical capabilities are pretty inspiring for a musician. Only heard like 3 songs before I gave up. Any songs you'd recommend? (Sorry guys, won't hijack the thread. Just this question)

Depends. If you're into Pink Floyd-type prog, I'd recommend Octavarium (the song) or Six Digrees of Inner Turbulence (both the multipart song and the album)... I hooked my wife on A Nightmare to Remember, IIRC, but that's not a popular song.

If you're a metalhead, then Train of Thought should be your first buy (you can try This Dying Soul off that one - my favourite DT song).

Lots of people will recommend you the first 2 albums with LaBrie, but if I started with them, I would probably end there, as I don't like them all that much.

Seeing from other threads that you like King Crimson, I had an idea to recommend something off Systematic Chaos (my favourite), however lot of people hate that album and call it "wankery", "self-induglent" and so on. @Mosh certainly hates it, although he used to like it, if the DT thread is any indication. Considering your opinion on DT already, it probably isn't the brightest of ideas.

Also, here as on the DT forums usually the recommendation for the first album is Metropolis 2: Scenes from a Memory. That's a good one, but it didn't sound as catchy as the others to me and it took quite a while to sink in. I don't know why.

So... I would probably try something off Six Degrees or... Octavarium the album - it has the pop (The Answer Lies Within, I Walk Beside You), the modern rock (These Walls), the metal (Panic Attack) and the prog (Octavarium + the concept as a whole). Also, they seem to be more song-oriented nowadays when Mangini came aboard, so something off A Dramatic Turn of Events is probably a good idea too - Bridges in the Sky is a cool song, if you're not put off by the throat singing in the beginning.

But I'm weird, man, I like the Fear of the Dark album, don't listen to me all that much.


EDIT: Oops, it seems I was mistaken. Mosh never liked that album. Oh well...

 

[The Alchemist]

this song would make such a perfect occasion to bring Michael Kenney on stage and finally acknowledge him as the official seventh maiden member. it would be perfect!

 

[BaronB]

I tried to like it, but I just can't. For a 18 minute song, there's not alot going on. I consider it to be Maiden's worst "epic".

This might be the one song that has suffered the most from Shirley's poor production. There's just no life to it and no sense of danger when the climax/crash approaches.

 

[Mosh]

For a Maiden fan wanting to try Dream Theater, it has to be Awake. It's one of their heavier albums and one where the metal influence is a little bit more stated than the progressive one. There are some long songs but not incredibly long. In fact the track lengths don't look all that much different from a reunion era Maiden album.

Anyway, I was wondering when Dream Theater would get brought up when discussing this song. I don't really see any comparisons. Empire is much more vocally driven than the average DT epic. The instrumental bits are really just there to help carry the story.

 

[Saapanael]

I'm a Maiden fan and I think Scenes is their best album.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

Anyway, I was wondering when Dream Theater would get brought up when discussing this song. I don't really see any comparisons. Empire is much more vocally driven than the average DT epic. The instrumental bits are really just there to help carry the story.

This.

 

[mckindog]

If people can't see the airship being buffeted by the storm in the instrumental part of this song...I don't know what to say.

 

[Meliegree]

Yeah, instrumental part is great but for me that slow part at the beginning is amazing.

Spoiler

We must go now, we must take our chance with fate
We must go now, for the politicians he can't be late

part give me chills everytime. Mostly beacuse couple years ago president of my country died in similar tragedy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Polish_Air_Force_Tu-154_crash and one of theories is that someone forced pilots to land in bad conditions.