Maiden's darkest song?

Dr. Eddies Wingman

Brighter than thousand_suns
We already have discussions going on about the heaviest and least heavy song. But what do people thing are the darkest songs Maiden have done? I think both lyrically and musically.

Obviously, many would jump to The X Factor, or to some of the newer war-related songs like Paschendale.

However, there is some quite dark stuff in older albums as well. For example, Children of the Damned is just a musical re-telling of a horror movie, quite dark if you ask me. "... screaming in pain, peeling the skin from his eyes ..." - or what about the "anthem", Hallowed Be Thy Name? A man on his way to the gallows ...

Both No Prayer and [Fear of the Dark have some songs that are nearly dystopian, like Childhood's End. Of course Brave New World, based on a dystopian novel, is quite dark (lyrically)-

Still, I think we must go to the first album I mentioned here. On The X Factor, we don't just have dark lyrics (and plenty of them), the music is very fitting to that mood. The song that strikes me as the darkest one here would be Blood on the World's Hands, which I listened to today, for the first time in a while. The lyrics are very dark - and unlike a few other songs, you don't get the feeling that the music is too happy to fit the lyrics (Montsegur is often mentioned as an example of the latter).

So, let the discussion commence.
 
Fear of the Dark! Cause when there's no lights it's like... pitch black, which is as dark as it gets :p
 
Onhell said:
Fear of the Dark! Cause when there's no lights it's like... pitch black, which is as dark as it gets :p

I wonder... if Maiden played Fear Of The Dark and Brighter Than A Thousand Suns in the same concert, would the universe implode?
 
I'd have to choose 'The Edge of Darkness' and not because it has the root word in it.  :p It explores the dark side of a single man and his transformation.  At least three mediums exist of this theme.

A runner up would be '2 A.M.' because of the apparent thoughts of suicide and purposelessness .  

To me a dark song would represent introspection.  I have more experience with stuff like this than with world problems featured in war songs.  Songs like 'Blood on the World's Hands' while dark does not represent any particular individuals, so it is harder to emphasize.  Dystopian songs like 'Brave New World' are more projections into the future so they don't quite have the feeling of full reality as others.  
 
When I saw the topic, 2 A.M. immediately came to mind.  Virus is pretty darn dark, too, though I suppose "angry" may be a more apt adjective than "dark". 
 
SinisterMinisterX said:
I wonder... if Maiden played Fear Of The Dark and Brighter Than A Thousand Suns in the same concert, would the universe implode?

No, we're still alive.  :D
 
For The Greater Good of God certainly deserves a mention here. The subject matter is certainly dark - it's about great evil being done in the name of the divine. I certainly don't believe in any god, but the guys from Maiden clearly do, and I think they are very sad with the sort of evil that's been done in the name of the supposed ultimate good.
 
I find Fortunes of War to be pretty dark, but that whole album is pretty damn dark to be honest.

Lord of Light is also very dark in as much as it is very evil. Adrian's solo in that is the most evil bit of music I have ever heard.
 
I think Fortunes of War gets my vote on this one. Everything about this song is dark, even the solos sound mournful in my ears.
 
Paschendale is a great choice, both musically and lyrically.  I think Hallowed earns consideration based on the intro alone.  :) Powerslave was always sort of a dark number to me too.

I'm not really into the Blaze Bayley material all that much, but I think Blood On The World's Hands is quite brooding and effective.
 
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