Heard the album... [Thread contains spoilers]

I prefer not to do a song-per-song review, but instead will try to give my first impressions.

A clarification first: BNW is one of my top 3 favourite IM albums, while DOD is one of the least 3 favourites.

New songs are very different from what you'd expect from the Iron Maiden we all know. These are perhaps most chord driven songs Iron Maiden has ever wrote. There seem to be a lack of concesus about if the album is heavy or not, and that must be because of mp3 quality. IMO, when the CD comes out and we listen it from quality speakers or headphones instead of winamp or mp3players this won't be the case. Heaviness is a very subjective criteria. if you listen to Testament (I do), Iron Maiden has never been and will never be as heavy as them. Nevertheless, I think this is the heaviest Iron Maiden album ever made. And I liked it.

As I said before, there are more chords and riffs than guitar melodies. They are scarce. This is the direction they are heading since mid 1990's and I think they found the right balance now. 3 guitars makes more sense now.

AMOLAD might not be a concept album, but musically, it has an integrity. and perhaps too much of it. The criticism I want to bring about Iron Maiden is that, when writing an album, they decide one guitar sound and that's it. every single song is played with same guitar sound, with equal heaviness. And the bassy and "let's make it heaviest possible" approach to production leaves no room for accents, variety. All songs sound so compressed. That makes the songs sound very alike. And this is the case since BNW. I don't blame maiden for that, maybe Martin Birch set the standards so high. But I also wished that Dave Adrian and Janick tried to add some variety to their guitar tones, according to the song they play, like in SiT or SSOASS.

I really liked song structures. Some songs tend to be longer than they need to be. Just like Dream Of Mirrors is a song played twice. but guitar passages, different beats and rhythms, are really dominating new Iron Maiden album, and that's a good change.

Finally, the album reminded me of Tool's latest album, 10.000 days :) try it too.

oh by the way, my only song-specific comment: someone said "Out Of The Shadows"  sounded like a Bruce solo song, I found it like wasting love, Fear Of The Dark era song.
 
i LOVE this album. IMO better than both DOD and BNW both in terms of songwriting and musicianship...best maiden cd of the 21st century. ive listened to it 3 times over today. that having been said, aside from 'different world' there arent really any songs that are instantly catchy; most of the songs are long and complex, and it would definitely take multiple listens to grasp all of them completely. basically, this album is a grower. and the fans of '80s maiden only will probably have mixed feelings about this one...there are reminiscences of the past, but as the band has said it delves even more into the progressive style, even more than the past 2 albums.

my personal comments:
-does anyone else think that bruce sounds like blaze at the beginning of 'for the greater good of god'?
-janick has gotten cleaner overall on his solos and they sound much better for the most part
-production is much better than DoD and surprisingly good for not being mastered
-Out of the Shadows = a GODLY song. i loooooooove bruce's singing especially. and guitar fills galore!!
-for that matter, bruce's voice is top notch
-nicko's drum sound is great, and so is steve's bass. glad to see steve being more active on his bass again rather than just playing root notes like he has been doing for a lot of the last 2 albums. ive seen nicko do better though, but hes still good.
-thank god for adrian him, without his contributions who knows where this album could have gone
-'different world' is the best opener since moonchild IMO

well theres my 2 cents. im gonna go pre-order this album now, the limited edition w/ the dvd  :D
 
RagingTurtle said:
Some things i cant make out obviously, the main thing missing is the pre-chorus

Slowly (solid?) we go
Only fear at our side
To the edge of the war
And we rush with the tide
All the water is red
With the blood of the dead
Although I'm still alive
Barely good I survived

The "although" in the second to last verse becomes "but" in the second repetition, of course.
 
I have been listening to this album over and over for a couple of hours now and can´t get enough.
I´m really shocked that Maiden could make an album this bloody good with 13 albums behind them. I thought that DOD was a very good album but still a bit uneven, but this one could be one of the best ever.

Quick review:

Different world:
Really impressive opener, the best since Be quick or be dead.

These Colours don´t run:
Looove the vocals on this one! Great guitar work! the middle part with the orcestration is amazing!

Brighter than a thousand suns: At first when I heard it I thought It was quite boring but now I love it. Incredible chorus or (prechorus)
the part before "out of the darkness"...

The Pilgrim: My favourite! Mixes everything I love about maiden, It´s got It all.

The Longest day:
Also my favourite hehe. The instrumental part before the solo is really cool. Not to forget the solos, soo beautyful!

Out of the shadows: Fantastic atmospheric song! Perfekt in the tracklistening as well to soften things up a bit. I get a slight Tears of the dragon vibe.

The Reincarnation of benjamin breeg: I didn´t like it that much at the first listening or the second, but now the song has caught up with me. Amazing song, with some really cool instrumental parts . 

For the greater good of god: Awesome!

Lord of Light: I guess I don´t have any negative thing to say at all about this album at this point...
the Guitarplaying on the verses reminds me of something out of NOTB or POM.

The legacy: Reminds me of Zeppelin a lot until it speeds up. Really cool vocal part 6-7 minutes into the song! great album closer!
 
First post.  Just neede to talk about the album, feel kind of weird discussing it on the IMOC.

Anyway, seems like a mixed bag of reviews, which is not a bad thing.  Personally I think the album rocks, after listening to it in my truck, and now at home, I am very happy with it.  Much more so than DoD. 

Favorite tracks so far:

    The Longest Day -  I absolutely love this song!!  As soon as the pre chorus kicks in, wow...just in awe.

    BTATS - Wasn't too sure about this one at first, but now, I am getting into it.  The gallop in the middle seems somewhat forced, but after a couple of listens, it fits in well.

    Different World - Straight forward track, great chorus, great tune!  Good one to sing along to.

    TROBB - When I heard this on the Maiden site, I was very pleased, I still dig this song. 

    The rest are about even, though I think that The Legacy is the weakest track on the album.  Not really a good track to end the album on.

    Overall, 9 out 10.  Much better than DoD.  About Even with BNW.  Though time will tell, it took me a long time to get into BNW, but now it is one of my favorites, if not my fav.
 
I'm currently listening to it for the third time. Even though not everything has yet clicked with me, my general impression can be summarised with one word: Wow.

The songs that have left the deepest impression so far (I'd rather not yet say 'favourites') are 'These Colours Don't Run', 'The Longest Day', and 'Out Of The Shadows', next to, of course, those I already knew. I'm also amazed at 'The Legacy', though it hasn't really sunk in yet. The others still need a bit of time, I think.
 
I haven't heard the whole album yet, but it seems Maiden have lost that chorus reptetitivness? What do you think?
 
If you mean the repetitiveness of songs like The Angel And The Gambler that's fine with me......
 
Lazo said:
I haven't heard the whole album yet, but it seems Maiden have lost that chorus reptetitivness? What do you think?

Ummm... they already lost that on the last album. The only comparatively repetitive chorus on that one was "No More Lies"... and besides, I don't want to give too much away, but...

For the greater good of God
For the greater good of God
For the greater good of God
etc...
 
Lazo said:
I haven't heard the whole album yet, but it seems Maiden have lost that chorus reptetitivness? What do you think?
That you should listen to 'For The Greater Good Of God'. Then again, I don't care if parts of a song are repetitive as longs as these parts rock, and in this case they do...

I must say that I wasn't as excited about Amolad as I thought I would be for the past few weeks but now (yes, Perun) I'm in love.  -_-

EDIT: Yes, Perun ;)
 
For The Greater... is a great one too. The vocal melody is absolutely beautiful.
 
Perun said:
For The Greater... is a great one too. The vocal melody is absolutely beautiful.

Yes, and the instrumental part is really epic! *My favourite for now*  ^_^
 
Perun said:
For The Greater... is a great one too. The vocal melody is absolutely beautiful.
Indeed!

For the greater good of GOD!

Great celtic vibe!
 
After second listen, my short opinion:

The Legacy is one of the greatest Maiden-Tracks ever. Could be no better way to end the album. Janick is no longer "the new one". He is a songwritign GOD!!!

FTGGOG, TCDR and TLD are also future classics for me. 10 out of 10 points. At least.

Rest: No really weak song, only "Out Of The Shadows" is not really a killer. But in some way I like them all.

Best since 7th Son? Maybe.

More to follow. Greetings from Germany.
 
Smith is officially a genius.

His contributions:

Different World
These Colours Don't Run
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
The Longest Day
Lord of Light

Oh my... :eek:
 
The only song i dont like is Benjamin Breeg. And man i hope they play Longest Day and Greater Good of God live on this tour. The Longest Day IMO is the best song they wrote since Alexander The Great. Im really looking forward to this tour now more than before.
 
I LOVE the riff at about 1:40 in Lord of Light... wish they expanded on it a bit, but man what a great song. What an incredible album.

Still deciding on which is my favorite... but so far I think it's probably The Longest Day.
 
Have it since yesterday and there's so much stuff to talk about actually.

I am not going into a song by song review now, but I agree very much with The Saint (after the first album listening For The Greater Good Of God was the track that impressed the quickest).

It's an early conclusion but (for me) this could be the best album that Maiden did since Janick arrived, in other words: the best Iron Maiden album from the second half of their album-discography, which is an unbelievable effort for a group who started in 1975!

The sound (production) of this album is the best from all the Iron Maiden albums.
Lyric wise Bruce surpassed himself and the album's atmosphere reminds me a lot of Maiden's work in the Blaze period (those two records, especially TXF, had great atmosphere). Difference with the Blaze period is the huge contribution of mr Adrian Smith, who wrote a lot of quality songs and has more inspiration than ever !

The album has variation and each song really stands strong on its own. Ok, some are less than others but this has more to do with taste, I think. There are hardly weak moments to be found.

The first thing I did this morning was analyzing the solos of which the report is now in Mav's mailbox. ;)
 
Acronym warning!

You lot have a keyboard, not a mobile phone pad, so please use it! I'm getting increasingly cheesed off with the abuse of acronyms on this board. They are incredibly annoying and difficult to decypher so, while typing "Ben Breeg" or "Greater Good" are ok, "TROBB" and "FTGGOG" will not be tolerated any longer.

:down:
 
Are all the songs on this album panned the same standard way:  Dave left, Adrian centre, Janick right?  If so, this would mean that Janick plays the first guitar on Longest Day, beginning of 1000 Suns, and that awesome riff in Lord of Light (1:35 in)?!  The Lord of Light riff especially doesn't sound like Jan, but Adrian (plus he wrote the song).  So perhaps we won't be able to tell who plays what based on panning alone.  Wish they release a DVD-Audio version later... 
 
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