Empire Of The Clouds

How good is Empire of the Clouds on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    25
I kind of understand what you mean, some songs on The Book of Souls feel like they need some fine tuning (*cough The Red and the Black *cough*).

But come on, Metallica spent 8 years in the studio on and off, and churned out a completely generic, uninteresting, by the books metal album, bar a few very good tracks.
 
Bruce and Steve, just get Michael Kenney to play keyboards, and atleast attempt to perform it live.

Just from that video of an amateur tribute band you can see how exciting the song would be when performed live. Come on Maiden, give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen?
 
I think it's an actual quote from the guy in charge of the project, that the chances of something disastrous happening to R101 were million to one
 
Got a singalong reaction from the audience, too, when they weren't talking amongst themselves, that is.
 
Gk1 said:
Could have been so much better it they edited the middle part melodies. It is getting very boring with all the repetition of the same guitar exercise like melodies.
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My only gripe with this song is the one part that sounds like The Legacy repeating twice. Other than that, it's absolutely perfect.
 
Travis The Dragon said:
My only gripe with this song is the one part that sounds like The Legacy repeating twice. Other than that, it's absolutely perfect.
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Hey Travis! U ok?

Well, I can understand why lots of people really like this song. I can also relate to your thoughts on The Legacy rip off. This song surely is a breath of fresh air in the Maiden discography.

I can also relate to people saying that the repetition adds to the drama of it and so forth. It is that in my opinion if you listen to the song enough..........it is kind of obvious that the natural progression and flow is somewhat held back by these melodies. I mean that I found my self expecting for the two solos 4-5 times before they actually happen. :)
 
Yeah, I just straight up disagree with that. Proper ballad storytelling means allowing a song to develop to give the listener's imagination time to catch up to the melodrama of the song.
 
Gk1 said:
Hey Travis! U ok?

Well, I can understand why lots of people really like this song. I can also relate to your thoughts on The Legacy rip off. This song surely is a breath of fresh air in the Maiden discography.

I can also relate to people saying that the repetition adds to the drama of it and so forth. It is that in my opinion if you listen to the song enough..........it is kind of obvious that the natural progression and flow is somewhat held back by these melodies. I mean that I found my self expecting for the two solos 4-5 times before they actually happen. :)
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Considering The Red And The Black and EOTC have become my 2 most favorite Maiden songs of all time, I have to disagree as well. And I'm a little offended by you asking if I'm OK. Are you saying there's something wrong with me for having my opinions about theses songs?
 
This description could be so long... but I just don't know what to say. It's a journey every time, and 18 minutes are over before it started. This is why I love Maiden, you get lost and travel to another place and become part of the story and world.

Easy, up there with the other epics.

10/10
 
10/10

Empire of the Clouds is Bruce Dickinson’s greatest achievement in songwriting. He’s firing on all cylinders. The lyrics tell a story of the doomed R101, the British airship equivalent to the Titanic, Bruce’s delivery and tone perfectly convey every note, and the music shifts with each passage to guide the listener through the different scenes of the story. This is storytelling at it’s finest and I simply cannot get over how impressive it is as a song written by a single man who is primarily a vocalist! Janick Gers leads the other two guitarists through an endless slew of beautiful melodies, from dark and brooding minor pieces to major key moments of bombast so breathtaking that they conjure images of the R101 ascending to the clouds. Nicko contributes heartily with constant rhythm and tempo shifts, including a gong section patterned out to beat “S.O.S.” in morse code. Murray turns in his most inspired, energetic solo of the album as the story takes a dark turn - the music sounds like storm clouds rolling in and engines setting on fire, with some added synth flourishes on the keyboards thrown in for good measure. Adrian’s frenetic lead precedes Bruce’s next vocal passage before some pummeling toms guide the ship towards destruction. A chromatic flurry of piano notes brings the song to the climax with Bruce belting, “The dreamers may die, but the dreams live on!” When this album was announced, it was unclear as to whether or not this might have been Iron Maiden’s swan song. If Bruce’s voice never recovered from surgery and chemotherapy, I can’t help but think that he would be proud of his accomplishment here. Empire of the Clouds is the pinnacle of Bruce Dickinson as a musician and it would have made one hell of a final recorded performance.
 
I'm a long-time Maiden fan, but embarrassingly enough, a "play the classics" fan. I went to the San Antonio show this weekend (no, I am not the kidnapper posting from jail) and discovered TBoS album and Empire as a result of the show.

I side with those who feel it's the most epic IM song in their repertoire. I was blown away at the first listen and it hasn't diminished over the last 10 times I have listened to it today. I wouldn't change a thing.

I discovered this site (and the fact that the R101 tragedy was an actual event) through researching Bruce's inspiration for the song. I'm glad I did. I've read every post on this thread and have learned a lot.

The reason I signed up was to post the one comparison I haven't seen made yet. I don't know if anyone is familiar with Bloodrock's D.O.A. but the descending bass line behind the SOS section and the dissonant descending part after the 14:25 piano riff (the crash) seem like definite homages to the ending finale to that song. Oddly enough, that song is also about an air disaster (not to spoil the details for anyone who is going to seek it out). Throughout EOTC, there seems to be a feel that resonates like D.O.A., maybe it's the same key, chord progression, the subject matter, the pained vocals, something. I don't know.

If anyone is familiar with that song or wants to search it up, I would be interested in seeing if it's just me or anyone else hears it.

watch
 
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