New single: Stratego

[The Writing Of The Beast]

Not wanting to offend anyone, but these obligatory complaints about the production/mix that multiplies on the internet (common to many bands, not just Maiden) are more of an addiction than anything. It's almost an automatic reflex at this point.

The Stratego song sounds great on my headphones (which are far from the most sophisticated) with all the instruments perfectly identifiable. The overall result is quite nice.

Spot on!

 

[Kalata]

Curious to know how many of you can hear the riff H is playing over Dave's gallop in E (6.53 on the video)?

Great riff.

 

[Jeffmetal]

The difference from the youtube to the mp3 is like it's another mix, same as with TWOTW (with sfx) in which Bruce's voice comes to front big time and I love it even more.

Those synths on 'Stratego' I was trying to remember where I heard it with this same patch programming, to cause, almost, the same effect on the atmosphere of the song, and, it is on Mastodon's 'Emperor Of Sand', specially on 'Clandestiny'.

 

[Mega]

Guitar lesson Stratego on youtube

Curious to know how many of you can hear the riff H is playing over Dave's gallop in E (6.53 on the video)? I had to customize my EQ on my headphones to fully hear it.

I still can't hear it. I'll try doing what you did.

 

[Kalata]

Have to say that the more I listened to Stratego the better the mix sounded in my ears compared to day 1

The mix of the two singles is a bit different. The production is great in both songs (especially the sound of the drums) - way better than TBOS production.

 

[The Red and the Black]

A polite reminder that it is perfectly possible to be a huge Iron Maiden fan, including their post 1999 material, *and* to think that Bruce's vocals are a little too low in the mix on this track.
When you truly love something you can admit its flaws.

If I can't understand the lyrics without reading them because the singer's voice is buried in the mix and I can't make out the words, then I think there is something wrong. This was a problem for me on A Matter of Life and Death and on The Book of Souls. At some point in the production process Steve must listen to the mix and decide that it sounds good. I guess I have to try to learn to hear the music like Steve hears it.

 

[Meliegree]

If I can't understand the lyrics without reading them because the singer's voice is buried in the mix and I can't make out the words, then I think there is something wrong. This was a problem for me on A Matter of Life and Death and on The Book of Souls. At some point in the production process Steve must listen to the mix and decide that it sounds good. I guess I have to try to learn to hear the music like Steve hears it.

At this stage in career I think that we can assume that Steve hears music through vibrations of the stage more than by his ears.

 

[chaosapiant]

I pronounce it “struh-TEE-go.” That’s my time folks!

 

[Diesel 11]

I pronounce it “struh-TEE-go.” That’s my time folks!

I pronounce it “STRA-teh-go”. Or “SHTRRUH-teh-go” if I’m vibing.

 

[Arrakis]

If I can't understand the lyrics without reading them because the singer's voice is buried in the mix and I can't make out the words, then I think there is something wrong. This was a problem for me on A Matter of Life and Death and on The Book of Souls. At some point in the production process Steve must listen to the mix and decide that it sounds good. I guess I have to try to learn to hear the music like Steve hears it.

It may be Steve's revenge. He gives Bruce unpronunciable lyrics so that he struggles to record them, then in the mix he buries the vocals so that it does not matter anyway LOL

 

[frus]

At this stage in career I think that we can assume that Steve hears music through vibrations of the stage more than by his ears.

When people start losing their hearing, usually the treble goes first. So, to hear something "correctly", they tend to increase the treble (like, allegedly, Leo Fender's amps became more and more trebly as he was getting older).
Muddying the sound up seems counter intuitive, if Steve and Kevin are going a bit deaf

 

[Vaenyr]

I pronounce it as it's read in German, Struh-TEH-go.

 

[____no5]

What comes to my mind is El dorado

Interesting you say that.
El Dorado still contains intro & outro but also its galloping in my ears is not a pleasant one, let alone mighty.

 

[____no5]

I have a dumb question on the pronunciation. Is it strate "go" or "joe". I saw YT videos pronouncing it both ways

Joe seems completely wrong to me.
Regarding TE, I always pronounced the game as Stra-tè-go. Some people plus English Wikipedia pronouncing it as TEE.

 

[Jadukor]

Interesting you say that.
El Dorado still contains intro & outro but also its galloping in my ears is not a pleasant one, let alone mighty.

Well Stratego is not 100% gallop right? You have that section right after Jan's solo.
I totally agree with you that the gallop in El Dorado does't sound as pleasant or mighty. I think the drums and bass in Stratego plays a huge role as well as the use of keyboard. Also Stratego is more dark/sinister sounding where as El Dorado is more of a playful sounding riff.

 

[The_17th_Son]

I know many have already stated this, but DAMN does Bruce sound good on this song. He's channeling some BNM and DOD singing on this tune, and some of the same mannerisms as well in terms of phrasing. If you were to show this is how he would sound in 2019 to a late '80s Bruce (before he got his technique revamped), I'm positive he wouldn't have believed it.

His performance on this track is better than the average singing quality on all reunion albums except possibly BNW.

 

[Jadukor]

To me Bruce sounds amazing on every album. His performance on the "The Book of Souls" title track was also insanely good.

 

[____no5]

Well Stratego is not 100% gallop right? You have that section right after Jan's solo.

Yeap though I don’t feel it as interruption, it serves more like a bridge.

I totally agree with you that the gallop in El Dorado does't sound as pleasant or mighty. I think the drums and bass in Stratego plays a huge role as well as the use of keyboard. Also Stratego is more dark/sinister sounding where as El Dorado is more of a playful sounding riff.

What about Talisman? I think it does qualifies as a mighty gallop, nothing close to Stratego though.
Galloping in Stratego is phenomenal everything is there, production, drums, bass, harmonies all tied together and Nicko is the man of the hour.

 

[Jadukor]

Yeap though I don’t feel it as interruption, it serves more like a bridge.



What about Talisman? I think it does qualifies as a mighty gallop, nothing close to Stratego though.
Galloping in Stratego is phenomenal everything is there, production, drums, bass, harmonies all tied together and Nicko is the man of the hour.

Yeah Talisman definitely qualifies. The gallop feels more epic because of the steady build up to the chorus. I must say I am not a fan of making Bruce sing in such high registers. He sounds incredible in lower registers as evident with Stratego. Give the man a break... Steve lol.

 

[Meliegree]

I wouldnt say that this is best Bruce performance in last 20 years but its among the best. Last week I was listening to TFF and I was blow by some of the performances. This is still amazing song so I just cant wait.