Isle of Avalon

How good is Isle of Avalon on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    18
Pre-chorus and chorus are among the worst and laziest melodies they've ever put down on record. Sounds like they just had to speak out some lyrics and the melody is whatever first came to mind. It's really irritating, considering how great the intro and the instrumental section are.

5/10
 
Super track from Geddy Harris and Adrian Lifeson. Some of Steve's best lyrics as well. 9/10 I think it runs a bit long.
 
8/10

The album changes gears completely halfway through. My biggest complaint with The Final Frontier is the tracking. The order of the songs makes the whole affair sound repetitive, even though the songs on the latter half do not share many similarities other than their length. Coming Home and The Alchemist could easily have been rearranged to break up the onslaught of epics in the album’s latter half. Isle of Avalon begins with a yearning, slow build intro kept interesting by Nicko's nervous hi-hat work. The vocal melody of the post chorus is grating, but not enough to ruin the song. The bridge is very reminiscent of Paschendale and Dave's solo is fantastic, leading the band into a Rush-inspired jam with a killer Adrian lead. It's great to hear them playing something so typically un-Maiden, especially Steve's funky, Geddyesque bass line. The lyrics are absolutely bananas, though. I don’t know what the hell Steve was smoking when he wrote that chorus about the corn doll.
 
Another song that is kind of a sleeper and I agree with the fact that The Final Frontier tracking doesn't help, why did they put all the lengthy songs on the latter half of the album is something I fail to understand. As for the song itself, listening to it right now, I love the intro that builds slowly before exploding in the pre-chorus and the instrumental part is really a very good one, specially not being just a simple guitar solo. The fact that it has some clear Rush influences here and there and Rush being my favorite band along with Maiden, helps me loving this song. The only thing I'm not fond of is the way Bruce spits out the chorus way too fast , it loses some of the melody that vocal lines have throughout the whole song.
8/10
 
This one took a really, really long time to grow on me. The whole album did, actually, but I think this song was the one that took the longest. It's by no means a masterpiece, but it's a great song! Very good intro, very atmospheric, and it sets up the rest of the song particularly well. Very memorable chorus and a great instrumental section, though not quite up to par with this album's very best. 9.
 
I adore the beginning to this song. It's amazing. And then the heaviness hits and all that is shattered in the blink of a moment. There was so much potential for this to be a great song, but none of that came to pass. Easily the worst song on The Final Frontier. 6/10
 
After the first chorus, everything is quite weird, and that’s including Bruce’s vocals. What could have been a very good song becomes a strange mix of stuff, with some cool things thrown in there. 5/10
 
A gentle but driving clean riff supports a great soft verse. Some nice atmospherics and a modulation, then we return to the verse, which continues to build up tension until it breaks into a bright pre-chorus and a vocally busy but still catchy chorus 1. Bruce strains a bit here, but recovers nicely on the less busy chorus 2.

An aggressive riff supports a strong solo, leading into a great extended off-rhythm interlude and solo section. Ascending guitars return us to the pre-chorus, then back to an intro reprise.

More verse, pre-chorus, and chorus 1, now with some melodic guitar fills, before closing things out with chorus 2 and a big rock ending.

This is more like it. Aside from a little bit of awkward phrasing and some straining on chorus 1, this is a great song with some really special sections. I'll round this up to a 9/10.
 
Maybe a bit too long and kind of boring song in a way, but it has by far my favorite chorus in the entire discography so I have to give it a 10/10. What a melody...
 
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This is the closest Iron Maiden have ever been to writing a Rush song, and as a whole, they succeed at putting their own spin on it. The build-up here is pretty good, I like the lyrics (even if they're a bit wacky at times), and it creates some nice imagery over its span. That being said, this is far from the band's best epic, but it's good enough for what it is. 7
 
This song has a mystic feel to it (which is perfect for the theme of it). Underrated song. Love the chorus and all melodies through the whole song (especially the one under the chorus at the end of the song). I'm not a big fan of the proggy instrumental section. The end of the song is crazy, Nicko hits are brutal. Amazing long intro which is the jewel of the whole song. Bruce's calm parts are fantastic too. Nice improvisation in the solo from Adrian, ala SIT era. 8/10
 
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easily in the top 3-5 post-reunion Maiden tracks.

Pacing is sooo good -edges out Paschendale here, and it takes me more places that Book of Souls (title track) does.

Is there another post-reunion song that I'm missing, that could compete with these three?

The slight Bruce vocal strain in certain verses doesn't bother me a bit - his vocals run the gamut from low to high and everywhere in between -with the high degree of tension in the lyrics, melodies, and rhythms, the straining is a natural fit for the dramatic tale being told
 
Pibroch_Whistler said:
Pacing is sooo good -edges out Paschendale here, and it takes me more places that Book of Souls (title track) does.

Is there another post-reunion song that I'm missing, that could compete with these three?
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The Longest Day, Out Of The Shadows, For The Greater Good Of God, and When The Wild Wind Blows.

And Paschendale isn’t all that great.
 
Pibroch_Whistler said:
Is there another post-reunion song that I'm missing, that could compete with these three?
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Empire Of The Clouds, best Maiden song. But, contrary to what Jer said, Paschendale is great. I’d also bring up the heavy-hitting For The Greater Good Of God. Those are probably my Top 3 from the reunion era.
 
Pibroch_Whistler said:
The slight Bruce vocal strain in certain verses doesn't bother me a bit - his vocals run the gamut from low to high and everywhere in between -with the high degree of tension in the lyrics, melodies, and rhythms, the straining is a natural fit for the dramatic tale being told
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It´s strange but it´s true: the slight strained voice fits the song. In The Legacy or WTRRD they´re plain awful.
 
This is only about Bruce strained vocals. :)
Most of the time they make me cringe, but in this song (which is one of the highlights) they seem to fit in the atmosphere of the song.
 
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