Speed Of Light

How good is Speed of Light on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    20
I will definitely have to check this movie out!

As for the song, I think it is definitely one of the very best rockers of the reunion era. The song has so much energy and it has a fun vibe to it. It's hard to say that it is one of the best songs on the album when the whole thing is so good but I would give it a 9.5/10 for sure.
 
Luisma said:
Source for this affirmation? I ment to ask what's the source to affirm that speed of light is based on the movie.
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I very much doubt it. The lyrics have nothing to do with the movie.

It's a horror movie on a space ship. I don't think its much good either.
 
not a great song by any means; a rather by-the-numbers riff, however, it does have a good chorus. a better track than the previous albums` opening single for sure.

a decent maiden track then; not up to their earlier standards, and not as captivating as "the wicker man" for example, but decent nonetheless.
 
A simple catchy rock'n number. Good level of energy, nice solos, love the "Shadow's in the Stars" part of the chorus the most, especially when Bruce hits the "Starrrrs" bit.
This song is my kids' favourite.
It' always a bit funny fitting the single back into the album because we are so familiar with it and looking forward to getting to know the new songs. The single is generally simple, catchy and rock'n this is better than the single from previous albums.
 
Upon first hearing, I did interpret the song the following way:
Astronauts are on board of some prototype starship, going for lightspeed (and possibly beyond).
Something goes wrong, control over the ship is lost, and the still accelerating ship is speeding away from Earth/humanity. The crew comes to the realisation that humanity has given them up, as they cannot be brought back.
And - after coming to peace with this death sentence - the narrator leans back, finding peace and also some pride in the fact that he is still the first person to go to regions that have been out of humanities reach until now.

I must confess to not being a native English speaker, so I did not unterstand every word upon first hearing (I also did not read the textbook, as I craved a "spoiler-free" first listening experience ;) ). After hearing the song several times (and looking up the few words that resisted becoming understandable to me ;) ), I noticed the actual lyrics did not really fit my initial understanding.

Yet, the verses still have an air of being "uncontrolled" for me, they still feel like a suitable score for a fast, tumbling, shaking spaceship.
With the more direct chorus implying some peace and sense of direction: If you cannot get the ship back under control, and you are lost in space, at least try to get as fast and far as possible, to set a record for the ages.

Anyway, thanks for the attention, and I hope at least some folks will consider my intial interpretation as something they did not regret reading, instead of the greatest nonsense ever to see the internet :)
 
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Very Deep Purple-ish, but with the energy of a much younger band. I really love the pre chorus riff on this, really shows Adrian being influenced by guitarists like Eric Johnson or maybe even Shawn Lane. It's a simple rocker but there's still a lot of interesting riffs and melodies to keep it from being generic. Plus the energy on this song is unreal.

Love the way the rhythm section builds up for the final chorus too.

9
 
Pretty much as I expected, I like the song much more now than when it came out on its own. The atmosphere (and Bruce's raspy scream in the beginning) remind me of FotD (the album) and the guitar line in the pre-chorus (the one that was in the 0:20 YouTube clip hyping the album) is very catchy. I don't like it as much as River, but it gets 8/10 from me nonetheless.
 
The Gillan scream and the cowbell off the top make it obvious what this is all about: When was the last time Maiden did a song that is this much fun?

The main riff is about as simple as anything they have ever done, but it is used judiciously enough that it doesn't get repetitive.
The solos are sublime — really, I'm struggling to remember if Dave and Adrian have knocked off a back-to-back statement equal to this in the reunion era.
The chorus is unbelievably catchy and the guitar pattern under the pre-chorus impossible to ignore.

But what I really love is the drive. This is the machine gun-bass of the NWOBHM Steve Harris with Nicko skittering around that irresistible force like oil on a hot skillet.
 

I don't know this band, but I have to say this cover sounds great! Shame that they buried the lead melody in the mix, though, and didn't use the post-solo part from the original.
 
It has a wonderful retro feel to it. The intro reminds me of Deep Purple, especially with the scream, and the guitar line behind the sung parts of the verse reminds me of something I cannot pinpoint - something off the "Killers" album.
In fact the whole song has such a 80s vibe that I swear that at times Nicko sounds like he's unconsciously playing more in the style of Clive than usually.
 
RE: cover that Srog posted: I suddenly recognize Enter Sandman (rhythm, the way the guitars were played/sounded) and Still I'm Sad (the riff during the verses, under the vocals).
 
Black Bart said:
It is probably "Another Life" (at 0'54 and repeated)
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Yes - but also the riff moves in a chord progression that also sounds familiar. Like I said much of the song is subtle in that it's reminiscent of the 80s without doing really blatant quotes, and I think the video clip supports the assertion that they were after a "retro" vibe.
 
Oh, I'm an idiot. OF COURSE now I remember which part I was reminded of by the SoL verse - the song "Killers", the link between the end of the chorus and the repeat of the main riff (1:34 in this clip):
 
A fun little rocker, but probably not as good as other little rockers in this category. 7/10.
 
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