The Longest Day, nearly a great song until.....

[Dominocracy]

it hits that horrendous chorus. A flawed masterpiece.

I agree completely. There's actually several instances of songs speeding along like a freight train through the verses only to hit a wall once it reaches the chorus, or the whole song suddenly changes tone right in the middle without warning. It's very strange considering how polished Maiden's compositions usually are. The most jarring to me are These Colours Don't Run, The Longest Day, and Lord of Light, but many of the others have a weird flow (or lack thereof) to them. It's almost as if the album is made up of many really cool pieces  of several different puzzles. It's a damn shame too, because with a little more polish AMoLAD could have been spectacular rather than just really, really good.

 

[Dr. Eddies Wingman]

Back to the subject of the Longest Day chorus... I like it, but I'll agree it is by far the weakest section of the song.

The atmosphere built by the first four stanzas (thru "enter hell's gate") is one of the finest bits on the entire AMOLAD album, though.

Agree. Up to "enter hell's gate" really fits the lyrics of the song. I think the chorus is a bit too light-hearted compared to this part. Compare to the previous "battle epic", Paschendale. There, the hopeless feelilng of being stuck in the war is carried on to the chorus. Now, maybe it still fits? After all, the battle of Paschendale was a terrible waste of life for hardly any gain at all, whereas the invasion of Normandy eventually was a success - making a somewhat triumphant chorus a bit more appropriate.

 

[Suicidehummer]

Maybe it's just because AMOLAD is the album I listen to most, but I've never felt anything out of place in any of the songs...