The Mercenary

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


  • Total voters
    35
Good rocking song, but like Fallen Angel lacks that special "something" to make it a great song (like Wickerman).  I give it a 7.
 
The worst rocker on the album, and I don't like that people often seems to mention this in the same vein as The Fallen Angel, the Fallen Angel is much better! (Even a tad better then The Wickerman, but that's blasphemy I suspect... :p )

But even the worst rocker in good on Brave New World! Verses are cool but nothing special, the chorus is to repetitive and uninspired but still good, but I prefer the alternative melody Bruce does in Rock In Rio.

(2:48 )

6/10
 
Notice the little aerial runway Bruce uses at 2:00 in that Rock in Rio video. Looks fun :D
I had a school presentation back in 2008-2009 something. Everyone talked open their interests and I talked about Iron Maiden. I told them their singer is so cool because he sings while running, jumping and flying around the stage. My class didn't believe me so I showed them this clip from Rock In Rio. :D
 
Montsegur is the song that really jumps out to me as one where you can hear White Spirit
 
If this song was written today, it would likely be forgotten in favor of the epics and never played live. I'm glad they did play it live because it goes down really well.

After a slew of more complicated proggy songs, we get another classic rocker. The main riff sounds like something off of Fear of the Dark. The chorus totally rocks. It sounds like familiar territory for Maiden, but it's not a rehash. It sounds like a modernized Maiden.

7
 
After what are arguably the best four openings songs on any Maiden album, this is a bit of a letdown. It does have it's moments though. I like the pre-chorus, and the chorus itselft has some nice guitar playing. Good solos as always.

7/10
 
10/10

The Mercenary is an upbeat rocker about a hitman who becomes caught up in his own game of cat and mouse. It’s placed perfectly on the album between the more emotionally heavy material. Although it has never been stated by the band members, the lyrics share some similarities with the plot of Predator, which makes me like the song even more (whether it actually inspired the words or not). Gers wrote most of the music, but it’s Dave and Adrian who get to trade solos on The Mercenary and it is sheer joy to hear these guys dueling each other again. Dave’s blistering solo paves the way for a wailing lead by H before all three guitarists join in for a brief unison section. Small compositional choices make this album special, like the single line delivered here by Dickinson accompanied by only the drums before the rest of the band crashes in with the final chorus. A classic Maiden rocker with new Maiden attitude.
 
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