The Man Who Would Be King

How good is The Man Who Would Be King on a scale of 1-10?


  • Total voters
    11
The Mid-Distance Runner said:
Didn't Kevin Shirley say it was recorded backwards? That's interesting itself.
Uh oh. Satanic guitar playing!! :innocent: If you play it back, backwards, you'll probably find that the licks are references to satanic worship.
:uhm:
 
Yax said:
Uh oh. Satanic guitar playing!! :innocent: If you play it back, backwards, you'll probably find that the licks are references to satanic worship.
:uhm:

Don't meddle with things you don't understand :ninja:

This song has many good things to it. The transition from intro to verse is great, and the solo in the middle is different in a good way. The whole song feels like a breath of fresh air. The lyrics don't really grab me, but the music does. Another 9.
 
5.

This song is the exact opposite of "Starblind" from a composition standpoint. Whereas the former is incredibly focused and specific, TMWWBK sounds like four songs that have been jammed together (Dream Theater comes to mind).

The quiet intro and outro is the catchiest part of the song, whereas the verses and choruses tread no new ground, and the lyrics are simplistic and annoyingly nebulous. Murray's solo break is spectacular, but as with the rest of the riffs, it comes completely out of nowhere. I've got nothing against prog, but the odd shifts in meter and key in this song just don't make sense.

The parts are much greater than the sum, in this case.
 
I love the intro, the instrumental sections, the ending, and the overall vibe of this song. However, Bruce seems a bit....bored on this song. There is almost no passion in his vocals, which brings the song down for me a bit. Still a 7/10 for me though.
 
The parts are much greater than the sum, in this case.

Agree with this, several of the part are really good, but the end product is not perfect.
The intro and the build up is good, and so are the verse and pre chorus, but the don't really fit together. The break is really cool to, but comes is suddenly with no real reason. The best part of the song is definitely the outro, its so beautiful and I wish it could have been longer, or could have been used in another way.

7/10
 
How to ruin a great song:

1) Play the brilliant intro theme one too many times. Remove the harmony guitar.

2) Compose a great harmony part and then play it 40 times while the drums play something different each time.

3) Get one of the best vocalists and make him sing some 10 year old child's lyrics,while he is a obviously bored.

4) Use the same SSOASS rhythm in the prechoruses.

5) Use a perfect inverted solo in the same song, where it doesn't fit at all.

6) Create a 8 minutes worth structure using 4 minutes worth ideas


However I do feel that the solo and the ending part are amongst Maiden's best ever.
 
7/10. This could have been a hit, too bad that they decided to complicated and the result is an architectural mess, plus the vocals are really too much and too stressed in the variations.
 
This song is great in part, but too soft and tedious in some parts. I dislike the intro and Bruce singing has a strange rythm, too much words I think. But it's pretty dramatic, and got some slick parts, with signature Iron Maiden guitarwork, so it is not an uninteresting song. 7/10
 
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