The Parchment

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

  • Total voters
    37
For me that moment of Thereeee is the highlight of the album. I don't care if it's Pro-Tooled, it's still a genius moment.

Now to the main dish: As someone around here said, Where the Wild Wind Blows is all over the place in this album. I find it particular true for The Parchment (and I still worship the latter).
And here goes my Statement:

Where the Wild Wind Blows is for Senjutsu what Paschendale was for A Matter of Life and Death.
 
Hell on Earth has more WTWWB in it (intro, outro, some vocal melodies; riff/drums later on). Much more, I'd say.

And Lost in a Lost World as well (which uses the WTWWB moments which were taken from ATSS; bass & drum accents with guitar melodies over it; they may haver added or subtracted some accents, but the core idea stays the same).
 
Forostar said:
Yes.

And my point is not that I think that Bruce (or anyone else) is not able to sing in this manner, or can bring such power, note bending or breath.
My point is that this particular result does not sound real. The segments really seem (robotic/technical/trickery/you name it) duplicates.

@Yax I'm sure you could figure this out to be sure, with some technical/digital analysis.
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I'll chop it up and compare. Bruce has held some notes for a rather long time live every now and then. I would guess this was punched in, but done in a take. But again, once I'm done with my vinyl rip editing I'll chop it up and compare it.
 
____no5 said:
Yes, true about Hell on Earth. Lost in Lost World I didn't notice, time stamp?
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will get back to that later
Yax said:
I'll chop it up and compare. Bruce has held some notes for a rather long time live every now and then. I would guess this was punched in, but done in a take. But again, once I'm done with my vinyl rip editing I'll chop it up and compare it.
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cheers, no rush
 
Now we go to my two favorite songs on the album and one of their best duos to close an album ever in my opinion. Steve Harris has done it again. I'll save the Hell On Earth comments to its thread, of course, just wanted to point out that these are my favorite tracks of the entire album. Now, about the monster that is The Parchment:

This song is a bloody experience. It's very atmospheric and it takes me instantly to the ancient middle east. From the haunting beginning to the explosion with the main riff. Bruce's delivery is also very good on what is a great vocal melody. It's even hard to find a word to call those riffs and melodies, but I think the best one would be hypnotic. They just hook you in and don't let you ever lose the attention. Yeah, maybe they get repeated a little bit but that doesn't bother me in the slightest, it's a very cinematic track and I can almost see the "prodigal" traveling through the desert, I think the repetition is intentional and it immerses me even more on the song. I think it's what The Nomad always tried to be but fell short. Best instrumental section they've done in quite some time, Dave's solo in special is great, but all of them are lovely.

The melody starting at 6:45 is also hypnotic, Bruce's return is great and then we go on to a crescendo that keeps going until the amazing "meet me theeeeeeere". Again, the cinematic feel is very strong here. I can almost visualize the return of that prodigal character going towards his revenge. Then the tempo goes up unexpectedly and Jan simply shreds like there's no tomorrow. Amazing solo, good melody at the end as well with a loud 'Arry bass that sounds great. Then the haunting ending again.

Overall, this one was already one of my favorites after first listen and even then it's one of the biggest growers for me. It's like everytime I hear it I discover new stuff. Amazing track, that's all I can say. I don't think it's that likely but really hope they play that one live, would love to see the lads playing those instrumentals. Hard lyrics for Bruce to remember for sure though :D
 
If they play this one track I don't care a rat's ass about the rest. Whatever show, Wrathchild or length the set may have. This would be the absolute highlight.

Hypnotic, haunting, that's exactly it.
 
Out of the Harris epics, this is the only one that is almost perfect. A 9/10 for me, but it's a close 10. The most cinematic piece besides Senjutsu (the song) and has tons of very good prog rock influences, but despite its length it does not drag. Some of the parts could have been performed maybe slightly better with more focus and impact, like the glorious vocal part towards the end, but it's still very good. Of course it has nods to previous Maiden songs, but unlike in other songs on the album, it's used well here. This is another highlight on the album.
 
I will abandon my dream of seeing Maiden play Sea of Madness live if it means we get to see this one, I'll be very upset if this doesn't get it's due on stage
 
I wonder if this and Death of the Celts are the songs Bruce sang while recovering from his injury. With Death being exclusively lower notes and this only having higher notes towards the end, it would make sense.

Anyway enough of that. I was pretty disappointed with this song on the first couple listens, with it being 12:39 long I was expecting it to maybe not put The Red and the Black (and certainly not Rime) to shame but at least be a bit structurally similar at least. But after several listens, by the time I got my box set on Friday I absolutely fucking was in love with it. With the exception of The Final Frontier (I never did grow to Mother of Mercy and I want to love The Man Who Will Be king but it just seems... off for some reason), the most recent albums have had my least favourites on first listen end up being major favourites after some time and I don't really know what it was with The Parchment that made it click, but...

This song is just so goddamn epic and almost touching sounding in a way. The eastern influences, kind of like The Book of Souls by way of The Nomad, set the foundation perfectly. Bruce singing the setup of the story before letting the three amigos do their thing, the solo section, and then the "third act" of the song with Bruce delivering those lines in an emotional and melancholy tone almost seems to pair perfectly symbiotically with the music...

Then that outro, THAT FUCKING OUTRO, the boys just letting loose after 9 minutes of tight, sweeping music, a few more solos and a badass final riff before reprising that outro.

Well fucking done Steve. Play this live on the album tour, you'd be crazy not to
 
It's hard to articulate the words about how this song makes me feel. It's so brooding and powerful. Steve's melodies are out of this world. The vocals are low and powerful, Bruce's phrasing and diction is excellent. I love the sporadic multi layered vocals 'such loyalty, a shameless thing' and who can forget the 'meet me theeeeeeeeeereeeeeeee' bit? Absolute chills, maybe the highlight of the album for me. It feels very cinematic and epic to me, I would absolutely love to hear it live!
 
It is great, no doubt about it! Maybe it could do with a bit of triming after the 7+ minute part and before the gear shift on the 10th min, but still quite memorable.
 
Kind of reminds me when i've heard people say ROTAM would be better with the middle section cut out, imo if you cut out the atmospheric parts out it makes the other section less powerful and impactive.

on a side note this song really makes me want to get OM to get around to recording a new album
 
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