The Alchemist

How good is The Alchemist on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    11
Detective Beauregard said:
I like Roy Z and all, but I feel his last solo album really suffered without H. The only song I really liked from it was Kill Devil Hill.
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I disagree strongly, there's some great stuff on that album. The title track is terribly good.

While I love H's contributions when it comes to most of his solos, the writing of the best songs were always done by Z. H hardly contributed imo. I know a lot of people like "Road to Hell", but I don't find it that special with its "The Prisoner" solo-copy. All other H co-written songs (Return of the King excepted, love that song!) are imo less than all Roy Z songs.
 
*Sins again*

I think kind of the same about "The Tower". The song rocks, I remember it well, when I saw it live, especially its instrumental section with the cool harmonies.

However, the tempo and rhythm remind me of Wrathchild and songs like "King in Crimson" and "Book of Thel" get me way more excited.
 
Forostar said:
While I love H's contributions when it comes to most of his solos, the writing of the best songs were always done by Z. H hardly contributed imo. I know a lot of people like "Road to Hell", but I don't find it that special with its "The Prisoner" solo-copy. All other H co-written songs (Return of the King excepted, love that song!) are imo less than all Roy Z songs.
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That's mainly what I was getting at. I don't find H's songwriting on Bruce's solo stuff to be anything special (Killing Floor was easily the weakest song on The Chemical Wedding, and Machine Men probably follows it). But his solos added a much more dynamic vibe. Roy is one hell of a player, but he's more of a shredder - the emotion really lied with H's solos. King in Crimson is a fine example.
 
I agree that there's more variation with 2 guitar players.

But Roy Z is a very versatile player. His solo in King in Crimson is great as well. This song probably features some of the best solos from the whole Bruce discography. And he can do much more than shredding. He's very melodic, even in his fast work (take Soul Intruders). But he's done also some really delicate solos. Take "Arc" or "Taking the Queen", which was done with intense feel. His solo in "Tears of the Dragon" is pretty awesome as well.

Of course I am very happy if H would join on Bruce's next solo album, but when he's not into it, I can't really miss him either.
 
Forostar said:
I agree that there's more variation with 2 guitar players.

But Roy Z is a very versatile player. His solo in King in Crimson is great as well. This song probably features some of the best solos from the whole Bruce discography. And he can do much more than shredding. He's very melodic, even in his fast work (take Soul Intruders). But he's done also some really delicate solos. Take "Arc" or "Taking the Queen", which was done with intense feel. His solo in "Tears of the Dragon" is pretty awesome as well.

Of course I am very happy if H would join on Bruce's next solo album, but when he's not into it, I can't really miss him either.
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I didn't mean that Roy never plays with feeling, or that I dislike shredders. I actually prefer Roy's style of playing over Dave's or Janick's. In fact, Roy is probably closer in style to H than to either of those two (I get the feeling he writes out most of his solos as opposed to improvising them). And yes, he has some killer solos; Tears of the Dragon is amazing.

You're definitely right about the increased variation with two guitar players; I felt that Tyranny of Souls suffered a lot because of it. It's not a weak album by any means, but the songs just didn't have the same cohesiveness that The Chemical Wedding tracks did; a lot of songs felt pasted together to me.

But anyway, back on topic. I'm assuming that's Adrian playing the low harmony in The Alchemist intro...
 
Ranko said:
I agree about Road To Hell, it's vastly overrated.
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I agree. I find the song catchy, but I've never cared for it.

Tyranny of Souls is terribly underrated. There isn't a single song on that record that I don't love. Some great material on there (with Navigate and Kill Devil Hill and the title track and whatnot).
 
Prowler_108 said:
Damn I guess I'm only one who likes Devil on A Hog.
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You didn't read my post, did you? :p

Devil on a Hog is great. I love the guitar and the verses. The chorus could use a tad work but I find it ridiculously catchy anyway. You won't see my face no more...
 
Devil on a Hog is Just a balls-out outstanding riff rocker.
I love that track.
I think the album overall is excellent and under-appreciated.
 
Devil On A Hog is one of the best. This was the first song that came to my mind when I saw The Final Frontier video clip.
 
Forostar said:
I disagree strongly, there's some great stuff on that album. The title track is terribly good.

While I love H's contributions when it comes to most of his solos, the writing of the best songs were always done by Z. H hardly contributed imo. I know a lot of people like "Road to Hell", but I don't find it that special with its "The Prisoner" solo-copy. All other H co-written songs (Return of the King excepted, love that song!) are imo less than all Roy Z songs.
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No realtion between the two solos. Maybe your talking about the pre solos of both songs, which are somewhat base on the same idea.
 
There is a clear comparison. Can't explain it well by words unfortunately. Just listen to the beginning of The Prisoner solo and the beginning of the Road to Hell solo. The tempo and pattern are quite alike. There are different notes but the whole idea (with the drums/bass and rhythm guitar accenting in the background) is the same, from which H lounges in the test of the solo.
 
That pattern on the beginning of The Prisoner's instrumental section is something Adrian uses on The Wicker Man too, but on the live version in middle of the solo and on the beginning of Road To Hell. If you think well, it's quite like the intro of Wasted Years, which he uses on The Fallen Angel and on El Dorado's intro, too. It's a feature of his style, not a tentative to recreate past solos.
 
For the sake of archiving:

For this album, The Alchemist was the 9th song that was recorded, on January 21, 2010.
 
Man I dismissed this song rather early as a blatant attempt to write a rocker but it's quickly vaulted up to become one of my favorites.  Sure it's rhythmically derivative of Man On the Edge, but the melodies are far stronger and that harmony section after Jan's solo is simply to die for.

To me the Coming Home/The Alchemist/Isle of Avalon/Starblind/The Talisman sequence of songs ranks pretty high up there on my list of favorites.  That series of tunes defines this album for me.  Great stuff.

Know this, I will return to this laaaaaand (love that melody)
 
I also thought this song was just "generic fast Maiden rocker" but now absolutely love it.  The whole "you have taken up my wife and lain beside her" part is just spellbinding.  Excellent tune, and a great joice to end the first half of the album with.
 
This song has also turned into an album favorite for me. In fact, my playlist tells me that it is second to Starblind in the number of plays. Janick's solo gets my "Best of Album" award, a follow up to his winning my same award for his performance on AMOLAD's The Legacy. Bruce's vocal is one of his high points on the album for me; his treatment of the lyrics are just so....Bruce. The harmony guitar part following Jan's solo is Maiden at it's most classic... it's a timeless tune... 9 out of 10.
 
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