'the Wicker Man'
Finally, another one of my groundbreaking reviews.
The Wicker Man was one of the first Iron Maiden songs I heard. When I first heard it, it was a bit too heavy for my tastes, especially as the only Maiden stuff I knew back
then was the Number Of The Beast album. During the course of time, I grew quite attached to it, however. I am now also able to appreciate the song being something of a renaissance cry for the band after Adrian and Bruce returned. This is by no means meant to be a negative view on the Blaze era; but still, Adrian and Bruce seemed to take something undefinable with them when they left, and brought it back when they returned.
The song kicks in with a strong and wonderful metal riff not only announcing Iron Maiden wanting to resurrect their old glory, but also them wanting to return as the leading lights of a new Heavy Metal movement twenty years after they had already been successful with it. Viewing back on this after four years, one cannot deny the fact that they were successful to a certain extent. Metal is well on it's way back, even if it's general popularity still leaves to be desired.
Lyrically, the song is a bit obscure. It seems to be about death and afterlife -a reocurring theme in their music- viewed from a mystical to mythological point of view. The mentioning of the ferryman does not need to mean it is about Greek mythology. There are more than enough people who believe in this particular form of descendance into the underworld today.
Perhaps not so clear but also quite obvious is that the song may be about our 'ellbow-society' in which the strongest person succeeds in his goals at the cost of the weak. This arrogance goes so far that these people even feel they can defy and escape death. But even their "time will come".
The prominently featuring wicker man ritual may imply the move from the Christian moral to the wilder and more ruthless days of paganism. Since Christianity does not play such a prominent and positive role in Maiden's discography, this is rather unlikely. The line "Brothers and their fathers joining hands and make a chain" is too positive a
picture to be criticism. The rise of Christianity brought very much pain to the people following the pagan cults, and destroyed systems that worked very well for their age. This arrogance of Christianity is just as big as that of the people profiting from today's 'ellbow society', so the wicker man may well be a symbol of a better age.
The song is a brilliant opener, both live and in the studio. Only Be Quick Or Be Dead comes really close to the opening qualities. Bruce's voice does not sound very convincing if it was meant to announce the return of the golden years, but it is nevertheless much better than before he left Maiden. The drums on this song disturb me a little. They sound too much reminiscent of the later atrocities Lars Ulrich would do to his drums, and I'm very glad Maiden did not further maintain this trash can sound. The guitar solo is very dramatic at first, but is disturbed by the horrible drum sound. The middle section was not necessary the way it is, but it becomes good again. The finishing 'woa-oh' is probably a great audience participation number, but not really necessary. It still did manage to annoy my mother so much she started hating Maiden for almost four years!
As is a must for openers, this song is exciting and an absolute treat live. The general excitement it provides just by being fast-paced and loud also prevents listeners from
noticing how little depth there is in this song.
A very good but not great song, and perfect for a single.
Rating: 3 1/2
ooooooooooooooooooooooooh yyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaah!
Obvious ?? How's that ? 