IRON MAIDEN REFERENDUM 2020: Results -> Hallowed Be Thy Name wins for the 5th time!

Are you satisfied with the results?

  • Total voters
    18
Let's go

Different World will probably be the easiest pick for a long time, I never got why anybody thinks this is such a great opener.

I just had this brilliant idea of actually listening to the album, but I already cast my votes. So I have to roll with them now...

Back to DW, the intro blasts too loudly and suddenly and this carries over to the verses. The chorus tries to relieve it with Bruce's higher notes, but the music behind him keeps it dense. At least it has a nice solo, I really like how it ends and then goes over to the chorus again.

Out of the Shadows is better than DW, but it's still the obvious second vote. Why do you have so many choruses. The solos are glorious though. Especially the one with the strumming at the beginning, only listening to this instantly erased the pressure from the cuckoo opener.
Perun said:
Coming Home is a decent remake of Out of the Shadows, giving Adrian the spotlight rather than Dave, which is fine. I think the subject of the song is rather pedestrian if you compare it to the predecessor - flying your plane vs the miracle of birth.
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You know I never gave much thought to interpreting this song, the only thing I've read somewhere is that it's about vampires. But reading the lyrics again, this is almost obvious... I like this, thanks.
Also, the first verse is top 5 most memorable Maiden verses.

The other 2 votes go to SoL and DoG. I can't really decide between them, though I think I'd usually give an edge to DoG for how fun it is. I passed on TRATB because when I like it, I LIKE it, but whenever I give the album a critical listening I want to quit half way through.

And before it goes out, let me say this:
The Pilgrim >>>>>> The Wickerman.

The Flash said:
Second shocker of the game for me after Mother of Mercy being the first song to go.
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This was very expected for me, MoM and TMWWBK always seem to get the short end of the stick.
 
Shmoolikipod said:
Out of the Shadows is better than DW, but it's still the obvious second vote. Why do you have so many choruses.
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It’s amazing to me how people could defend stuff like “The Pilgrim” with its aggressively awkward lyrics and by-the-numbers songwriting, or “The Legacy” with its ear-splittingly bad vocal harmonies, but then turn around and trash “Out Of The Shadows”, a beautifully written and sung ballad that gets pretty much everything right.

And to answer your question, it has so many choruses because the chorus is fucking outstanding.
Shmoolikipod said:
And before it goes out, let me say this:
The Pilgrim >>>>>> The Wickerman.
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Name any part of “The Pilgrim” that’s better than any part of “The Wicker Man”. I’m genuinely curious.
 
I think the verses of The Pilgrim are at least on par, if not better than The Wicker Man's. The Pilgrim has a better intro. Overall I prefer The Wicker Man though.
 
Jer said:
It’s amazing to me how people could defend stuff like “The Pilgrim” with its aggressively awkward lyrics and by-the-numbers songwriting, or “The Legacy” with its ear-splittingly bad vocal harmonies, but then turn around and trash “Out Of The Shadows”, a beautifully written and sung ballad that gets pretty much everything right.

And to answer your question, it has so many choruses because the chorus is fucking outstanding.

Name any part of “The Pilgrim” that’s better than any part of “The Wicker Man”. I’m genuinely curious.
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TRASH?! My only complaint was the choruses. Which, by the way, are the weakest part of the song. I literally started to regret my vote because I realized I praised so many of its other parts. The verses are so beautiful, and instead of keeping it mellow and elegant the chorus just comes out like AAAAAAAAAOOWT OF THE SHAADOWS. The song could be an elegant one, something more like the first half of Remember Tomorrow, but a four line long chorus isn't the same as RT's riff, and RT at least goes somewhere. The chorus in OOTS is just misplaced, it kills the song.


As for The Pilgrim: I wouldn't exactly say The Wicker Man is The Fugitive either, so I don't see the problem with defending a "by-the-numbers" song!
We have this part after the choruses, and near the outro, the slow sluggish guitar. And the drums evolve to the "TAN-TAN! TAN! TAN-TAN! TAN!" thing. I particularly love this. If I made a comment on the song's thread, it was about this.

The Pilgrim has a better chorus. I know The Wicker Man is anthemic and all, and for sure the better chorus live, but listening to these songs here The Wicker Man doesn't have an impressive chorus. The Pilgrim's follows up perfectly from the pre-chorus, and it has just enough drama to not shake the whole song up.

I will give it to The Wicker Man on lyrics though, I always loved the imagery it conjures in me. But for songs on albums, The Pilgrim wins. If the poll writes "The Wicker Man (Rock in Rio)", I won't be so hesitant to vote for it, yes?
 
Shmoolikipod said:
You know I never gave much thought to interpreting this song, the only thing I've read somewhere is that it's about vampires. But reading the lyrics again, this is almost obvious...
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Not only is it obvious, but Bruce talked about it during interviews and at gigs. I have no clue how you would think it's about vampires.
 
Perun said:
Not only is it obvious, but Bruce talked about it during interviews and at gigs. I have no clue how you would think it's about vampires.
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“The man who casts no shadow has no soul.” Lots of lyrical metaphor about staying out of the light. It’s an easy connection to make, and one I made myself. Birth and death also fits, and that was Bruce’s inspiration based on interviews.
 
Jer said:
“The man who casts no shadow has no soul.” Lots of lyrical metaphor about staying out of the light. It’s an easy connection to make, and one I made myself. Birth and death also fits, and that was Bruce’s inspiration based on interviews.
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Jer said:
A heavy opening riff with backing acoustic guitars gives way to a sweet clean lead with some electric fills. Bruce delivers an excellent soft verse on a bed of tender arpeggios, eventually kicking into a soaring, glorious chorus.

Another round of verse and chorus, then we get a very tasteful solo and another round of the chorus. A nice melodic break follows, eventually building back into that excellent chorus, and wrapping up with a soft outro. "The man who casts no shadow has no soul..."

I love how the lyrics might be about a vampire contemplating the meaninglessness of immortality, or might be a metaphor for a recluse who is reluctant to rejoin the world, or perhaps a blend of both.

Superb. Aside from a few of those staccato notes at the start of the solo, I wouldn't change a thing. 10/10.
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Yeah, I guess that was the comment I talked about, nothing on songmeanings.com.
 
Jer said:
“The man who casts no shadow has no soul.” Lots of lyrical metaphor about staying out of the light. It’s an easy connection to make, and one I made myself. Birth and death also fits, and that was Bruce’s inspiration based on interviews.
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"Hold a halo round the world, golden is the day
Princes of the universe, your burden is the way"


I don't really see where vampires fit in here, and those are the first two lines.
 
Perun said:
"Hold a halo round the world, golden is the day
Princes of the universe, your burden is the way"

I don't really see where vampires fit in here, and those are the first two lines.
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Perhaps if you read what I wrote or made it past the first two lines it would make more sense — but that would distract you from making snide comments, so I understand your reluctance.
 
Jer said:
Perhaps if you read what I wrote or made it past the first two lines it would make more sense — but that would distract you from making snide comments, so I understand your reluctance.
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Yeah, you know, it never occured to me that the song would be about anything else than birth and life, and that was before I read Bruce's interviews or heard his rants at the gigs, and afterwards, well...
 
Perun said:
Yeah, you know, it never occured to me that the song would be about anything else than birth and life, and that was before I read Bruce's interviews or heard his rants at the gigs, and afterwards, well...
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I’m sorry that associating the lyric “the man that casts no shadow has no soul” with the only mythological creature that actually meets those criteria was somehow beyond your comprehension. Clearly the appropriate response is to make straw man arguments and mock users across multiple threads on a forum where you’re ostensibly a moderator.

Stay classy, Perun.
 
Pretty sure the line — in a song about being born and then dying — is about leaving a mark (casting a shadow) or you’ll be nothing (no soul), but the vampire idea is interesting because they suck the lives out of people, and that’s a metaphorical theme that seems to pop up a lot in AMOLAD (The Legacy in particular).
 
Collin said:
I don’t even like the song so I could care even less.
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To quote the inimitable Weird Al:
I hate these word crimes
Like "I could care less"
That means you do care
At least a little

But hey, maybe you do care about the song.
 
Jer said:
I’m sorry that associating the lyric “the man that casts no shadow has no soul” with the only mythological creature that actually meets those criteria was somehow beyond your comprehension. Clearly the appropriate response is to make straw man arguments and mock users across multiple threads on a forum where you’re ostensibly a moderator.

Stay classy, Perun.
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How is using other lines from the same song to contradict your argument a straw man? You'd think the lyrics talk about the same thing, no?
 
Perun said:
How is using other lines from the same song to contradict your argument a straw man? You'd think the lyrics talk about the same thing, no?
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When you cherry pick lines that support the view you’re pushing and intentionally ignore the ones that undercut it, and then present that as a refutation, that is a straw man. It’s intellectually dishonest and you know it.

You haven’t offered any response on the lyric that is a glaringly obvious vampire reference. It’s apparently just an allusive turn of phrase, which is fine, but pretending that it’s ridiculous to make that association is absurd. Bruce has recorded at least two songs about vampires (“Dracula” and “No Way Out...Continued”), so it’s not silly to think he’d touch on the subject matter again.

The lyrics in “Out Of The Shadows” that talk about a person being cooped up indoors, with life seeming all the same, questioning its purpose, and calling for the starlight to surround him — not hard to see the association with a long-lived vampire who can only have freedom at night, in the starlight.

“Princes Of The Universe” is a phrase used by another rock band as a metaphor for immortal creatures who suck the life force out of others and are unable to have children. Hmm. “Who will be born today?” could well be referring to who will be turned and reborn as a vampire, thus being a “king for a day”, reveling in their newfound power until they realize its cost.

Vampires are undead. The only way to “live again” would be to cast off the curse, and other than a stake through the heart, the only way to do that would be through self-immolation. Ending his pointless immortal life by stepping out of the shadows and into the sun. Thinking of the past as he burns away the curse (“the old ways are done”). There is both beauty and pain in that crucible, but he must endure it to “live again”.

Yes, Bruce has made his own lyrical intentions clear in other media, and I don’t dispute that. I just find it ridiculous that you would treat an alternate interpretation as ridiculous when there are plenty of references that could be read in that way, and lyrical precedent from Bruce’s own work. Just because it never occurred to you doesn’t mean that it’s silly for it to have occurred to someone else.
 
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