The Parchment

[GhostofCain]

This is a song that has grown on me. The first couple of times I listened to Senjutsu as a whole, I generally didn't like it. The song felt sloppy, boring and it was generally very long.

It still does…

 

[Brigantium]

Shame!

I actually find it the best put-together of the longer Senjutsu songs, even if it feels to me like they rolled a couple of encores into it and made it sound like a show closer.

 

[Poto]

From Janick's first solo and onwards the song has a really magical feel. Almost hypnotic.

 

[Iron Lurker]

The Parchment is my fav track off this amazing album.

 

[Edington]

While the emotion of Hell On Earth puts that as my favourite Senjutsu song, I think The Parchment is the best written track on the album.

 

[MindlessPieces]

I like the middle eastern feel to the song.
I love when Bruce does that middle Eastern thing with his vocals at about 9:22-9:32. That's the highlight of the song for me. But the lead up to that part, drags on for far too long.

The song has actually dropped a bit since the early days for me. It really is insanely repetitive in parts and takes a long time to get to the good parts. It's a good song, it could have done with a bit more effort in making it more succinct.

 

[Pibroch_Whistler]

The Parchment is my fav track off this amazing album.

2nd (and only by a hair) to Lost in a Lost World.

those piledriving riffs in LIALW (along with the plum gorgeous lilting intro and - especially - the outro) make it my fave on the disc.
Parchment, LIALW, Hell on Earth, Time Machine, and Darkest Hour are all easily in my Top 30 all time Maiden songs.

LIALW and Parchment are probably in my all time top 10 now.

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

WOW

 

[Murder of Rue Morgue]

As expected this has grown to me, it's not perfect (it is very repetitive in many sections and overall is poorly arranged, the remix I posted above works much better) but it's my favourite off the three epics.

 

[Kalata]

I actually find it the best put-together of the longer Senjutsu songs, even if it feels to me like they rolled a couple of encores into it and made it sound like a show closer.

Best written song on the album? Every song is well written more or less, but from the longer songs I would say: The Parchment and the title track. No second repeat of the chorus in Hell On Earth and the instrumental section of LIALW (not the chorus!) and even of DOTC could have been a bit shorter (although the main instrumental melody in the long songs should be repeated at least twice imo). Lost World would be with a standard length of a song without the intro & outro. Parchment, Senjutsu, Celts and Hell On Earth have a perfect combination of music and lyrics.

About The Parchment - I think it needs the repetition because you have to keep the mesmerizing vibe with the melodies (with solos and vocals too) on point throughout the song and the tempo is perfect for that. That's why it doesn't even need a chorus. The repetition is also needed for the build-up of the climax with the fast part. Like the title track needs more lyrics to picture the scene. And if you add more different parts (melodies/riffs), it will be a mess. One epic song should have a main structure and theme. I think they rolled a couple of encores into its twin song from the previous album (TRATB ) - it also could have been a great 7-8 minutes long song with: only two repeats of the riff after the bass intro, without the ''Meanwhile we play the waiting game...'' part and the ''oh-ohs'' after it, only three repetitions of the chorus (not four) and a shorter instrumental section (1 minute shorter, for example). Whereas The Parchment won't work if it's shorter (like Book Of Souls and Empire). It sounds like a show closer because it has a similar structure to HBTN.

 

[Melony]

I do not agree that "The Parchment" is poorly arranged. In my opinion, it was written with the goal of first hypnotizing the listener and thus in the first part transporting them to its world/time. And one of the tools in the songwriting toolbox to do that is repetition; that's not a failure in this case.

 

[Kalata]

Adrian's two solos are a bit of a let-down here, given his work on the rest of the album. They both start off really strong, I especially love the almost creepy licks of the first solo and the way it snakes in from the main riff, but they quickly lose their way and sound as though Adrian didn't really know where he was going with them.

I think all the solos are perfect and great (given the vibe and theme of the song), especially Adrian's 1st one.

Janick's fantastic when he slows down and he can come out with some really exotic-sounding stuff, it suits this track perfectly.

^ This is the very truth.

 

[Pibroch_Whistler]

WOW

Sounds a bit fast to these ears.