If Eternity Should Fail

How good is If Eternity Should Fail on a scale of 1-10?

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    22
Night Prowler said:
This one was one of my favorites on the first listen, now it's fallen down the pecking order a bit, but it's still pretty awesome. What's drop D?
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Normally the lowest note on the guitar is an E2 but drop D tuning is where you tune the low E to a D instead. So it basically allows you to sound a little bit lower and maybe "heavier"
 
There was a German interview as well that stated that there was another Bruce song that Steve wanted as well but since it was co-written by Roy it couldn't be used.

I think this is a great opener. Probably my favorite opening song since at least the 80s. It just soars, especially the guitar leads which are interwoven all over the place here and sound fantastic. My only criticism is the spoken word outro which totally sounds like it was meant to forward or introduce a series of follow up songs but doesn't.

I'd imagine this one would work great as an opener, especially the way it builds until the guitars come in.
 
I think it lends itself to being an opener more so than Speed of Light. The buildup would work well on stage, lights go up when guitars come in.
 
jazz from hell said:
I just listened to this, but what you're saying doesn't seem to be in it. I do remember the interview though (which one is it???), where Bruce said that Steve wanted another song of his, but Maiden wouldn't use it, because it was co-written by Roy, and that Maiden didn't want to give songwriting-credits to outside people. So, as Brigantium said, that implies Eternity was written by Bruce alone.

In the loudwire interview you mentioned he says instead: "That first opening track is actually a copy of the demo. It's Iron Maiden copying me and Roy".
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That could just mean Roy played guitar on the demo, while Bruce still wrote the song.
 
I'm going to say it's the best opener since Sign of the Cross... certainly the most interesting for a long time. Great song. The intro proper (as opposed to the big build up) reminds me of Ghost of Cain with the harmonies.
 
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jazz from hell said:
I just listened to this, but what you're saying doesn't seem to be in it. I do remember the interview though (which one is it???), where Bruce said that Steve wanted another song of his, but Maiden wouldn't use it, because it was co-written by Roy, and that Maiden didn't want to give songwriting-credits to outside people. So, as Brigantium said, that implies Eternity was written by Bruce alone.

In the loudwire interview you mentioned he says instead: "That first opening track is actually a copy of the demo. It's Iron Maiden copying me and Roy".
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Thanks jazz. Looks like I am not convinced yet. If anyone has a link to an interview (German is fine) I'd appreciate to read or here myself if Maiden did not want to use a song co-written by Roy Z.
 
Forostar said:
Thanks jazz. Looks like I am not convinced yet. If anyone has a link to an interview (German is fine) I'd appreciate to read or here myself if Maiden did not want to use a song co-written by Roy Z.
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It is in the Eddie Trunk podcast, Bruce said there was another song called Nightmares that Steve liked, but Roy had a co-write so they would not use it. He said Maiden pretty much copied the demo of IESF ... they also tried it without the drop D and it did not work well that way.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this song was supposed to be part of a concept album
 
bearfan said:
It is in the Eddie Trunk podcast, Bruce said there was another song called Nightmares that Steve liked, but Roy had a co-write so they would not use it. He said Maiden pretty much copied the demo of IESF ... they also tried it without the drop D and it did not work well that way.
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Yes, that's right, I think I confused it with the Loudwire interview earlier (had no time to listen back to it all...).
 
Cody Cameron said:
This one has definitely grown on me! I love it! But... does anybody have a good grasp on what it's about?
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To me, it is about the more that science discovers about our universe, the less room there is for gods and the afterlife. We are finite and heading oblivion.

"Reef in a sail at the edge of the World". This took me a while to get but apparently a reef in a sail on a ship is the sections that can be folded up/down to control the sail. So the metaphor is that we are going to fall off the edge of the world, like in old myths, and the reef in the sail is to try and stop the ship. Keep us from falling into the void.

"Standing in line at the ending of time", is more obvious.

The verses deal with beliefs through the ages and up to present day.
"Eternal blackness beyond the stars
We think our wisdom will get that far
At the master’s table the table’s bare
No land of plenty, devastation, despair"

We have learned so much about the universe and reality and the truth is painful. We are finite and insignificant.

That's my take on it. I may be wrong.

The "evil voice" outro really does not fit the song. It's pure Spinal Tap.
 
Great Sage said:
To me, it is about the more that science discovers about our universe, the less room there is for gods and the afterlife. We are finite and heading oblivion.

"Reef in a sail at the edge of the World". This took me a while to get but apparently a reef in a sail on a ship is the sections that can be folded up/down to control the sail. So the metaphor is that we are going to fall off the edge of the world, like in old myths, and the reef in the sail is to try and stop the ship. Keep us from falling into the void.

"Standing in line at the ending of time", is more obvious.

The verses deal with beliefs through the ages and up to present day.
"Eternal blackness beyond the stars
We think our wisdom will get that far
At the master’s table the table’s bare
No land of plenty, devastation, despair"

We have learned so much about the universe and reality and the truth is painful. We are finite and insignificant.

That's my take on it. I may be wrong.

The "evil voice" outro really does not fit the song. It's pure Spinal Tap.
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I agree. Part of me kind of part of me kinda likes the "Necropolis" part, but the majority kinda makes me wish they left it out. In the end I don't think it fits and it comes out of nowhere. Maybe if therw was more emphasis about Necropolis in the song, then I would be more accepting of it.

As for the overall meaning, I can by that. Mankind is knowing too much and that's causing the great mystery of the universe to end. I also take from it that it's about a man, seeing the shaman (as featured on some of the BoS artwork) foreseeing what humanity's future beholds and it doesn't look good. The world was once "virgin" and untouched. Then the evils of man came and put a plague on it and our future is now spiraling into oblivion. The man and the shaman know this and now they are simply "waiting in line at the edge of the world if Eternity should fail..."
 
bearfan said:
It is in the Eddie Trunk podcast, Bruce said there was another song called Nightmares that Steve liked, but Roy had a co-write so they would not use it. He said Maiden pretty much copied the demo of IESF ... they also tried it without the drop D and it did not work well that way.
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Could you point it out? It's probably me but I can't find anything about Roy Z or the band about Roy Z here:
 
Thanks but nope: no mentioning of Nightmare and/or something mentioning Steve and/or Maiden not wanting to use something co-written by Roy Z.

The quest continues, but the longer it takes, the less believable it becomes. ;)
 
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