Isle of Avalon

[Pibroch_Whistler]

instrumental section is uplifting, soaring even - Dave's intro solo is classic Dave, then 'Arry comes in with the deep bass note runs (no more "rickety" 'Arry bass notes of his youth), H takes flight and pauses to enjoy the lush, verdant scenery of his bandmates riffing below. He then switches to a "rhythm as lead" style (Alex Lifeson of Rush used this technique beautifully on "Afterimage" from Grace Under Pressure - among other songs), and then Bruce re-enters with his glorious refrain.

one of my favorite moments in music

 

[Pibroch_Whistler]

instrumental section is uplifting, soaring even - Dave's intro solo is classic Dave, then 'Arry comes in with the deep bass note runs (no more "rickety" 'Arry bass notes of his youth), H takes flight and pauses to enjoy the lush, verdant scenery of his bandmates riffing below. He then switches to a "rhythm as lead" style (Alex Lifeson of Rush used this technique beautifully on "Afterimage" from Grace Under Pressure - among other songs), and then Bruce re-enters with his glorious refrain.

one of my favorite moments in music

Not to mention how impactful the return to the intro progression is after the peak described above

 

[Eliot1988]

I can not understand the meaning of this piece in the lyrics. can someone in simple words if they want to explain to me what the piece wants to say?

 

[Black Abyss Babe]

I can not understand the meaning of this piece in the lyrics. can someone in simple words if they want to explain to me what the piece wants to say?

I don't think it can be explained both simply and adequately because it's complicated and there are a lot of references. But in a nutshell it explores a number of pagan celtic legends surrounding the Isle of Avalon/Western Isle of the Dead (Glastonbury in Somerset), mostly to do with the earth's fertility (ie for growing food: "the fruits of her body") represented by and/or connected to human fertility (a woman's ability to produce children: "fertility of all mothers") and a male sacrifice, the "Year King" (the song's narrator), to The Goddess ("Mother Earth"). In this worldview death is not the end but the gateway to regeneration ("to die and be transferred into the earth and then for rebirth").

When I was first researching this song I found the following article which explains most of the references (Annwyn, corn dolls, the nineteen maidens etc), but I was struck by how many times actual lyrics from the song are found in the text ("keepers of (the mysteries of) the Goddess", "sacrifice now united", "the waters in (the) rivers and rhynes rises quickly", "the fruits of her body"). I wouldn't be surprised if Steve has an old dead tree copy of this somewhere in his cavernous library.

The article can be found here, but should come with a warning: pagans are not at all squeamish about going into details

 

[Eliot1988]

I don't think it can be explained both simply and adequately because it's complicated and there are a lot of references. But in a nutshell it explores a number of pagan celtic legends surrounding the Isle of Avalon/Western Isle of the Dead (Glastonbury in Somerset), mostly to do with the earth's fertility (ie for growing food: "the fruits of her body") represented by and/or connected to human fertility (a woman's ability to produce children: "fertility of all mothers") and a male sacrifice, the "Year King" (the song's narrator), to The Goddess ("Mother Earth"). In this worldview death is not the end but the gateway to regeneration ("to die and be transferred into the earth and then for rebirth").

When I was first researching this song I found the following article which explains most of the references (Annwyn, corn dolls, the nineteen maidens etc), but I was struck by how many times actual lyrics from the song are found in the text ("keepers of (the mysteries of) the Goddess", "sacrifice now united", "the waters in (the) rivers and rhynes rises quickly", "the fruits of her body"). I wouldn't be surprised if Steve has an old dead tree copy of this somewhere in his cavernous library.

The article can be found here, but should come with a warning: pagans are not at all squeamish about going into details

very interesting! thank you! immerse yourself more in the song!

 

[Eliot1988]

Are you saying that Harris was influenced by this book? Have you read it? you look interesting ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mists_of_Avalon

Of course it speaks mainly of the Celtic religion ...
It's awesome how many gods and goddesses there are in the Celtic religion!

 

[Siddharth]

A 'forgotten epic' by the band! The song totally utilizes it's time length with different changes in the tempo, the solos throughout the songs are also really good and instead of plain shredding, actually add to it's dynamics.

Call me funny but the instrumentals during the part,
"I hear her crying the tears of an angel,
the voices I hear in my head..." reminds me a lot about Mission Impossible's main theme.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

Used to be a big hater of this song.
After carefully re-listening it recently after some time, trying to "clean" myself from prejudice and preconceptions, and after checking my old transcriptions of it, I ended up finding myself an even bigger hater.

I can concede the chorus is decently entertaining to the listener (the guitar part is boring tho, and the word choice is frustrating in the last part with all those enjambement one after another and even a terrible synaphia - "brought here to die and be trans/ferred into the earth"), and that Adrian's solo is not bad (but please let's not make ridiculous comparisons with Rush).
But for Christ's sake DO SOMETHING in the first 2-and-a-half minutes! Instead of repeating the same riff over and over (and no, the most predictable modulation ever - in A major - doesn't count). "It remembers me of Seventh Son" yeah true, too bad tho it's one of the worst sections of Seventh Son.

The descending chromaticisms under the post-chorus ("I hear them crying", etc) are the long-awaited variation (more or less), too bad the section lasts for like 15 seconds before H pulls off the most cliché metal riff ever (self-recycling from Paschendale) leading to the solo section.

The 7/4 riff is good. Dave & Adrian's solo are... quite good. The finale is good too but doesn't have much to share with the post-chorus leading into it. The transition to the solo was much more fluid.

They wanted a long "song" - because clearly the album hadn't enough long songs already - and unfortunately they did one, because they didn't have enough material to turn it into a suite. This is the same disgustingly low level of songwriting that made Virtual XI.

3/10.