The Red And The Black

How good is The Red and the Black on a scale of 1-10?

  • Total voters
    21
Gave it another listen. Sat much better with me this time, but it's still not as great as IESF or TBoS for me, as far as Disc 1 goes. Seems to be a grower.
 
Favorite song after first listen to disc 1. Unbelievably good. Can't wait to learn those riffs when I get off work.
 
This song is incredible. The best Maiden song since Paschendale. Steve Harris took every good thing he learned from writing his previous epics and put it all together perfectly. Steve is right: if it weren't for Bruce coming up with Empire, this would be regarded as the major highlight.
 
The instrumental passages in this song are absolutely incredible.

Kind of like if Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Dance of Death had a baby
 
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I like it, more because I feel as if it's their nod to what came before it as far as the "woah ohs" and the Rime feel. The verse is catchy and the notes with Dickinson is awesome. Whatever, it's fucking cool. That's all.
 
SinisterMinisterX said:
This song is incredible. The best Maiden song since Paschendale. Steve Harris took every good thing he learned from writing his previous epics and put it all together perfectly. Steve is right: if it weren't for Bruce coming up with Empire, this would be regarded as the major highlight.
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Wow. Consider my hyped.
 
Mosh said:
Wow. Consider my hyped.
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I strongly disagree with that opinion personally, and I know some others agree with me on that, so your mileage may vary. Almost definitely the weakest epic on the album, imo. That said, it IS growing on me with each listen, so who knows?
 
Remember in one of the interviews someone said each member came with 1 hour worth of material with the belief they would get about 15 minutes each. I think steve cut all the best parts from his hour and jammed them into TRATB, it just seems like 13 minutes worth of great ideas jumbled up in one song
 
Severian said:
Remember in one of the interviews someone said each member came with 1 hour worth of material with the belief they would get about 15 minutes each. I think steve cut all the best parts from his hour and jammed them into TRATB, it just seems like 13 minutes worth of great ideas jumbled up in one song
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You nailed it. There's plenty of great stuff going on here, it just feels all cobbled up together and rushed to me.

For example, the "woah oh oh"s are executed well enough, but they just pop in out of nowhere, seemingly for no good reason.
 
One of the best songs on the album, Steve was going for a Rime of the Ancient Mariner feel with a bit of Dance of Death vibe. The chorus is chilling. 10/10
 
We don't have to use spoilers in this section. Just in the pre-release thread. Anyway, that first vocal part with Bruce singing along to the harmonic, melodic guitar is FREAKING AMAZING!!! And that incredible 6 minute instrumental section MUCH MORE than makes up for Maiden not having release an instrumental in all these years.
 
Chained Prometheus said:
You nailed it. There's plenty of great stuff going on here, it just feels all cobbled up together and rushed to me.

For example, the "woah oh oh"s are executed well enough, but they just pop in out of nowhere, seemingly for no good reason.
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Some of Maiden's very best songs (like Infinite Dreams) felt that way to me until I got used to the swerves and changes.
There is a forest for the trees I'm sure, it will just take some time to see it.
In the meantime, I can't stop gobbling those vintage Maiden guitar melodies.
 
Steve writes big, long, epic songs. But this is balanced, and NOT repetitive. This one is interesting the whole 13 minutes through, AND has loads of catchy hooks. The whoaas works surprisingly well!! This can go all the way up to the likes of Phantom of the opera, To tame a Land, Sign of the Cross ++.
 
First listen: I don't like it. The faster tempo is very awkward, it feels to me like they're rushing all the time.
 
That's that part
with that odd drumming, in which Nicko leaves out lots of bass drums
isn't it?
 
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