Jupz's Top 50!

Nice to see the love for Rainmaker - 18 for me.
Blood Brothers is another great song, 40 for me because it drags a bit, but only relatively speaking.
 
Here we go, the top 10!


10. Paschendale
Into the top 10 we go with a track that is often considered Maiden's best reunion effort and even their best overall. This song is very emotional and heavy. The intro is one of my favourite intros ever, the tapping is so awesome!  :shred: The intro riff is great and I love how it reverts back to the tapping after a few measures. The vocals are haunting, powerful and great at getting across a sense of despair and hopelessness. The chorus is very emotional, changing the wording slightly on the first repeat to give it the opposite meaning. The lyrics are a highlight, some of Maiden's best, with some fantastic lines such as "Cruelty has a human heart, every man does play his part, terror of the men we kill, the human heart is hungry still". The riff that follows this after the brief pause and Nicko's tapping is my favourite Maiden riff, and the first solo would be in my Maiden top 10 easily, a very powerful solo. The vocal melody in "Blood is falling like the rain, it's crimson cloak unveils again" is awesome. The second solo doesn't live up to the first one, but is still great. Then comes the chorus and then one of my favourite endings ever, its just so haunting when the distortion fades out and Nicko starts tapping, then Adrian comes in. Amazing.
Unlike most, I don't think this one would be that incredible live. It seems too calculated and perfect to work that well live, with a whole crowd of people.  I much prefer listening to this by myself, usually at night when I can hear the wind howling outside
 
Paschendale is my 6th. But changes places constantly with Phantom of the Opera which is 5th for now. This masterpiece has a magical atmosphere, paints the scene perfectly and has some of the best lyric works I've ever seen.
 
Paschenfuckingdale is 3rd in my book, and often likes to change with Hallowed on #2.

Fantastic song, words cannot describe this magnum opus.

And it's "Do we have a human heart", if I hear it right? :blink:

Bruce seems to say it way too fast, so I can't really figure it out. :)
 
According to the CD booklet, it's Cruelty has a human heart...
...and it's number four on the mckindog list
 
Yes! The epic Blood Brothers getting the respect it deserves.  It is so great live.  So so great live!! What a nice high grade for rainmaker as well.  I always thought this song [rainmaker] sounds like it could have been on piece of Mind. 
    Paschendale.  Paschen Fu**in' Dale!!  What can anyone say to explain this epic experience of a song and do it justice.  Top 10 off with a bang!
 
That was interesting.... :p


9. For the Greater Good of God
This is an awesome, awesome track. Its a very powerful song about the stupidity of religous war. The intro is sinister, and the vocals are emotional. When the song goes heavy for the first time (midway through the first verses to the first chorus) is amazing, it doesn't sound like much but its probably my favourite moment on the whole record. Its very intense and heartfelt. The chorus is also very emotional, and Bruce sounds like he is giving his all. The "second chorus" (For the greater good of god) that appears later in the song is also very good. The instrumental section of this track is amazing. Some of Maiden's best guitar melodies are here, and they aren't repeated long enough to get boring. Great solo's aswell. One of the best things about this song is the lyrics, absolutely some of Maiden's best (probably in my top 3, along with Starblind and Hallowed). I quite like songs about war and religion, particularly this one because I agree with the lyrics, I can relate a bit more to the song. The ending is also quite touching. Amazing song, I don't know how people think this one doesn't live up to the 80's material :)



5. The Final Frontier
This is where the albums take another huge step up. I think in a few years this one will be higher on my list, and looking back I think it should be higher already. This album has no bad tracks, I look forward to every track on the album. Having said that, the quality is a bit uneven - there are a few masterpieces, but a few songs that are just good songs, not good enough to beat the insane classics on the couple of 80's albums above this one.
 
8. The Wicker Man
Maiden's first reunion track, and WOW what an effort. Even though I wasn't a fan at the time (only 7 years old :p) I can imagine most people would be be extremely excited that Maiden is BACK! This song is rather special to me because it was the first whole song that I loved from Maiden (The first part I loved was the poppy intro to Wasted Years   :lol:) (Although, this wasn't the song that got me fully into Maiden - theres another song I will credit that to later on :)). The chorus just really got me, its a fantastic vocal melody, one of my favourite ever. The pre-chorus is great and still gives me a shiver of nostalgia when I hear it. The riffs are awesome and the solo is spectacular. The "ooohhh" part is great too. This is my most listened to Maiden song. This song carries an energy that I must admit has been lacking a bit in the reunion era (not that I'm dissapointed, I love the proggy stuff), and this is my favourite opener from the reunion era and one of my favourite songs from that era and overall. The lyrics are interesting too.
I was extremely excited for this one live on the tour, and it was pretty good, but it was overshadowed by how amazing the rest of the show was in my eyes. The crowd didn't show the same excitement for this one compared to tracks like 2 Minutes and Fear of the Dark.
 :edmetal:

4. Piece of Mind
Its very hard to look past the insane amount of classic material on this album. To be honest, if not for a couple of songs that let down the quality, it would easily be in my top 3 (my top 2 albums currently are a gap ahead of the rest, and this one could join them if not for these songs). But still, this album contains a good amount of Maiden's very best material. Really classic stuff, Maiden at their peak.
 
I think Maiden has produced some great short rockers post-reunion. This is one of them.
Not quite as good as Rainmaker and a titch better than Different World and Final Frontier — 21.
 
7. Children of the Damned
This song is one of Maiden's most intense and powerful songs. Based musically from Black Sabbath's "Children of the Sea" (and surpassing it in my eyes, no easy feat), this song was perfect to showcase their new singer. This is my favourite vocal performance by Bruce ever. His voice is very strong and powerful. The line "God knows he wants to go home" is very emotive. The chorus is awesome, with the background riff being one of my favourite riffs ever. The line "He thought oblivion, well it beckons us alllllll!" always sends a shiver down my spine, its incredible and leads into the chorus amazingly. The part after the chorus, where the lyrics describe the childs burning, is also a very powerful section, especially if your in the right mood. The solo is great and the ending is just perfect. The lyrics are some of Maiden's best, written exceptionally well and I think the concept of the movie it was based on is an awesome concept, the idea of six children with supernatural powers.
 
I don't know where I'd put it, but it's somewhere in the top 15-20. I've always enjoyed listening to the chorus, where Bruce belts: "Children Of The Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamned" four times. :edmetal:

Bruce co-wrote it with Steve, but Steve kept the credit because of the Bruce's connection with Samson at that time.
 
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