Vaenyr
Ancient Mariner
And another super unorthodox number! The intro is great, the natural harmonics interlude hilariously stupid. It sounds as if they're checking the intonation of the instruments to see if everything's in tune. Thankfully they move on from that quickly. (Never noticed until this time going through the song for the review that you can hear someone shouting "hey!" right before the verse starts).
We get the verse, which is weird in the best way. It has a totally lopsided rhythm and feel, the vocal lines are written in a purposefully uneven way, the vocals are doubled in unison. It's a lovely bit of experimentation and one of the highlights of the album. Not only that, we move on to the pre-chorus which has much more traditional rhythms, but flanks the vocals with some acoustic rhythm guitars strumming along on the right speaker, while a clean guitar supports the unusual (for Maiden standards) chord progression in the left speaker and Steve gets playful on the bass. Funnily enough, this section gives me strong Skunkworks vibes. Must be the mid-nineties seeping in.
We return to the verse, before going back to the pre-chorus. This time we change keys after a couple of repetitions to prepare for the chorus. There's one transitionary riff that changes the tempo a bit and we get a passionate Blaze delivering some pretty challenging lines for his range in the chorus. I know that his voice is an acquired taste and that his performances on the album were uneven, but I really like this part since we don't really get anything like that on the rest of the album.
The reprise of the previous riff and the chorus immediately again is a bit unnecessary, but both of them are great sections so I don't really mind. We pick up the pace and get a pretty fun riff before going into another experimental part that I adore. In a sense it reminds me of parts in Childhood's End, one of my all-time favorite Maiden songs. We get some tribal drumming on the toms, Steve strumming along with his power chords on the bass before the lead and rhythm guitars enter. We also get a seamless transition to the solos which are both great. The second one gets a key change before changing back to the previous section and then back to the faster pre-solo riff.
We return all the way back to the intro of the song, thankfully skip the silly natural harmonics and go straight into the verse, which is a much better transition in my opinion. Then, a shorter variation of the pre-chorus, the transitional riff and the chorus. Another return to the intro riff but we end the song on the stupid harmonics riff unfortunately. (I also never noticed that there's some chatter at the end, "that's the one!" and "that's it, let's go have a listen").
I really like this song, despite the harmonics riff which drags it down the slightest bit. It's one of the most creative and out there Maiden compositions and I wish we had gotten more songs like that over the years. It helps finishing a very uneven album on a strong note with a 9.
We get the verse, which is weird in the best way. It has a totally lopsided rhythm and feel, the vocal lines are written in a purposefully uneven way, the vocals are doubled in unison. It's a lovely bit of experimentation and one of the highlights of the album. Not only that, we move on to the pre-chorus which has much more traditional rhythms, but flanks the vocals with some acoustic rhythm guitars strumming along on the right speaker, while a clean guitar supports the unusual (for Maiden standards) chord progression in the left speaker and Steve gets playful on the bass. Funnily enough, this section gives me strong Skunkworks vibes. Must be the mid-nineties seeping in.
We return to the verse, before going back to the pre-chorus. This time we change keys after a couple of repetitions to prepare for the chorus. There's one transitionary riff that changes the tempo a bit and we get a passionate Blaze delivering some pretty challenging lines for his range in the chorus. I know that his voice is an acquired taste and that his performances on the album were uneven, but I really like this part since we don't really get anything like that on the rest of the album.
The reprise of the previous riff and the chorus immediately again is a bit unnecessary, but both of them are great sections so I don't really mind. We pick up the pace and get a pretty fun riff before going into another experimental part that I adore. In a sense it reminds me of parts in Childhood's End, one of my all-time favorite Maiden songs. We get some tribal drumming on the toms, Steve strumming along with his power chords on the bass before the lead and rhythm guitars enter. We also get a seamless transition to the solos which are both great. The second one gets a key change before changing back to the previous section and then back to the faster pre-solo riff.
We return all the way back to the intro of the song, thankfully skip the silly natural harmonics and go straight into the verse, which is a much better transition in my opinion. Then, a shorter variation of the pre-chorus, the transitional riff and the chorus. Another return to the intro riff but we end the song on the stupid harmonics riff unfortunately. (I also never noticed that there's some chatter at the end, "that's the one!" and "that's it, let's go have a listen").
I really like this song, despite the harmonics riff which drags it down the slightest bit. It's one of the most creative and out there Maiden compositions and I wish we had gotten more songs like that over the years. It helps finishing a very uneven album on a strong note with a 9.
