Iron Maiden lyrics tournament final: Empire of the Clouds rises above all

Pick the song with the best lyrics from each pair

  • Total voters
    17
  • Poll closed .
My dream of empire for my frozen queen will come to pass

One great thing about the Alchemist is the melody is complex with a lot of beats and there isn't a single forced syllable, and a lot of great imagery.

The Trooper is extraordinarily evocative of the music, but don't you think Steve might have taken the easy way out on the chorus?
 
The two Janix (though it's a coincidence, really). The Trooper sounds really simplistic when pitched against any of these and Coming Home lost only barely.
 
Winners are the Trooper and Ghost of the Navigator

Next up

Revelations


versus

The Talisman


and

Still Life


versus

El Dorado

 
Tough matchup in the first battle. If I could, I would vote for both Revelations and Talisman, as I find them much stronger than the two options in the second battle.

Since that's not the way it works, I'll just have to go with The Talisman and El Dorado.
 
El Dorado is good, but Still Life has great storytelling IMO.

Talisman vs Revelations is tough, but I ultimately went with Revelations.
 
Revelations and El Dorado advance

SIGN OF THE CROSS


versus

POWERSLAVE



MOONCHILD


versus

THE LONGEST DAY

 
I really love both sets of lyrics in the first match up. They are both dark, brooding, yet oddly triumphant and poetic. Sign of the Cross, however, has a few clunky lines whereas Powerslave is great from start to finish.

The second pair is really hard. They are both blazingly dark and ripping lyrics, violent and harsh and wicked throughout. Moonchild benefits from the mysterious context of the story and is allowed to have more fun because of it, whereas Longest Day tells a firsthand account of a traumatic war story. I haven't decided yet and will refrain from voting for now until I can listen to them a few times over.
 
Very tough matches, four excellent lyrics.

Haven't decided the first yet, but I will be voting for Longest Day.
The fit in the opening may be Maiden's best ever, and the words are so perfectly descriptive.
"Sliding we go..." still puts a lump in my throat.
 
This is really hard.

Moonchild for the mysterious concept album intro and Powerslave for...being Powerslave. Though on another day, I could go the other way.
 
Powerslave for being one of the nice comicbookesque storytelling 80s ones. Sign of the Cross is a decent work, but this game has made me more aware (and less appreciative) of stock Steve songwriting devices.

Longest Day is very nicely done, but I've had to go for Moonchild as it's much more poetic and fluid, and very effectively written in-character, dripping with menace.
 
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