Hallowed Be Thy Name

How good is Hallowed Be Thy Name on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    15
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

If you don't like this song, something is terribly wrong with your ears, and I don't see why you should keep them. I'm not sure if this or Stare at the Sun is the best song ever, but that's nitpicking. It destroys everything else. 20/10.
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

10. My childhood main soundtrack. We used to make fun we were Maiden when kids and we used to say that this was the hymn of the dead,; years later I learned the lyrics and found out we were right by saying that about HBTN. ETE(N)RNAL!!! :edmetal:
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

How can this song get anything but a 10?  There's a reason I've given 10 only once before Hallowed so far. 
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Because I didn't start with Dance of Death.
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

9/10. Yes, I know it is not 10 (or 15 or 20), but although I love this song, I do feel the have done better. It is a very, very good song and one of Maidens best "final track" songs (possibly 2nd best).
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

10/10. How could it possibly be anything else?

Let's take a look at the historical perspective. In rock and popular music, it usually takes about 10 to 15 years for a new genre to fully emerge and mature. Consider these examples:

1. Rock and roll. By which I mean the original rock and roll, which eventually developed into mainstream rock music. Summer 1955: "Rock Around The Clock" is the first rock and roll #1 single. Within a year, Elvis has broken big and rock and roll is the new style. But rock didn't fully mature until the psychedelic revolution of the late 1960s. That long experimental period was needed to explore the sonic possibilities of rock.

2. Rap. Started in the mid-70s in the Bronx. Reached the mainstream with Run-DMC in 1985 (only a few sporadic hits before that). But rap's formative period - that time usually called "old school" - didn't really end until the late 80s, when Public Enemy and NWA changed the game completely.

Now, what about metal? The starting point is always an argument starter, but we can agree on this much: it started no later than Feb 13, 1970 - the day Black Sabbath was released. And we can see the same pattern: for about a decade, a few giants lead the way. Then a time of fertile experimentation begins; in metal, we call it NWOBHM. That's when metal came of age, and the mature genre emerged.

So the NWOBHM was the most critically important time in metal's history. Maiden was the 800-lb gorilla in that room. And Maiden first completely found their classic sound on TNOTB - nowhere more completely than Hallowed.

In other words: there is no single song that defines Heavy Metal better than Hallowed.
You might get a more complete definition with more songs - but Hallowed is always at the top of the list.


All you folks saying "we don't need to explain why Hallowed is great, we all know" ... We aren't always posting just for ourselves, ya know.

When I was a kid, I heard everyone talk about Stairway To Heaven and how it was so great. Not why - just that it was. Didn't understand a thing till I was old enough to start buying Zep albums.

Somewhere out there, there might be some 12-year-old kid, just getting into metal, having no idea. Sometimes, you gotta post for the next generation. :bigsmile:
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

In the late '80s, when I was about 20, I made a six-cassette countdown of the top 100-and-something songs of all time.
My circle of friends was all into hard rock and metal and had the strong opinions about music only 20-year-olds can have.
This song was number one. No one argued.
I can't imagine anything has been recorded since to knock it off.

Incredibly powerful, without ever being overpowering.
Hypnotic, mesmerizing in the way it draws you in, hooks you, then takes you away.
It's the cool, mysterious woman you just can't stop staring at. She's moves, you follow.
And you keep coming back, looking for one more glimpse, a chance to get closer, deeper — capture that feeling one more time.

The singing, the lyrics, the performances, the way it slides from section to section — what part of it is not worthy?
The late instrumental guitar sections (you know the ones I am talking about) in Starblind and Powerslave are two of Maiden's music's finest moments on record.
The one at about the six minute mark of Hallowed is light years above either. It alone would make this song a 10.

I'm trying Mr. X, but I think the others are more on the mark.
Some things are beyond words.
It’s Hallowed Be Thy Name — what more do you need to say?
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

To all 12 year olds who need to know why this song is so great. Here's why:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J51LPlP-s9o

Like mckindog said, the one really special moment for me is at 5:52. That is just the most perfect part of a song ever but it has to be in context of the song. The whole emotion of the song is about the man preparing to die and that's the part of the song I imagine him actually having the noose tied around his neck before the plunge and somehow that just captures how I'd imagine the man would feel. Perfect.
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

This was the easiest thing I had to do today. 10. The intro and the guitar riffs are some of the most amazing things I've ever heard. The "Running lowwwwww" part is just fantastic.
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

10? Come on, really? Don't you think that's a little low, LC?
This track is the definition of metal. I was completely blown away by the sheer brilliance. I can't exactly say that about the entire Number of the Beast record, but this song, along with Children of the Damned, blew every other song on that album out of the water.
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

Albie said:
9/10. Yes, I know it is not 10 (or 15 or 20), but although I love this song, I do feel the have done better. It is a very, very good song and one of Maidens best "final track" songs (possibly 2nd best).
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

SinisterMinisterX said:
All you folks saying "we don't need to explain why Hallowed is great, we all know" ... We aren't always posting just for ourselves, ya know.

When I was a kid, I heard everyone talk about Stairway To Heaven and how it was so great. Not why - just that it was. Didn't understand a thing till I was old enough to start buying Zep albums.

Somewhere out there, there might be some 12-year-old kid, just getting into metal, having no idea. Sometimes, you gotta post for the next generation. :bigsmile:

Point taken  B)
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

SinisterMinisterX said:
WHO IN THE HOLY NAME OF ADRIAN SMITH VOTED 9

:eek:
That would be me. As I explained, I love this track but they have done better - but only marginally. Personally, I think both Fear of the Dark and Phantom of the Opera are better. Looking back, I gave Killers a 10 as well.

But this is just my opinion.
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

SinisterMinisterX said:
All you folks saying "we don't need to explain why Hallowed is great, we all know" ... We aren't always posting just for ourselves, ya know.

True. But where do I start to explain? The haunting, soft intro? The great riff that follows it? Or the even greater one following that one? The brilliant, haunting lyrics? The heart and soul Bruce puts into every single line? The great drive the entire song has? The instrumental break that has me air-drumming every time? The electrifying solos? The intense instrumentals with what may be the best bassline ever- a bassline I tap or hum absent-minded all the time even ten years after I first heard the song? The chilling finale? Everything about this song is atmospheric, intense and captivating. The chime of a church bell and the Lord's Prayer have never been the same to me since I heard all this. I must have heard it hundreds or thousands of times, and although I can hum every single note to it (and sometimes do, I also find myself tapping the entire song with my fingers or a pencil occasionally), this one just does not get old or boring. I'm listening to it as I type this, and it's taken me over once again.
 
Re: Daily Song: Hallowed Be Thy Name

This song to me was like a "lobster trap" in that once I first heard this song it embedded itself so deeply in my brain I could not escape. It encapsulates the complete Maiden sound: the gallop, the guitar harmonies and solos and the air raid siren. Elements of Hallowed can still be heard in their modern classics such as Starblind and BNW. Its a classic for the ages.

10
 
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