The Wicker Man

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


  • Total voters
    33
If you are going to make a comeback, this is the way to do it. I love the energy and drive to this song. Lyrically it works for me. It was a successfully updated sound. Different but familiar. The hook is eerie to me but in a good way. I always enjoy listening to this song. It is still probably my favorite or at least one of my favorites of the newer albums 8.5/10
 
Oh my god. What can I say. Best opener in all of Maiden's discography. Adrian's solo, the chorus swelling the emotion, that epic intro. I'd imagine oit's a killer live.

10/10
 
I feel that this song gets more appreciation than some that deserve it more but the solo makes Wicker Man a 9/10.
 
Wicker Man is probably the song that made me get back into listening to Maiden again after a 5 or 6 year break during the late 90's so it definitely is something special to me.
It's catchy, melodic, absolutely rocking and has a great solo.....all topped off with a huge sing along section at the end. Brilliant10/10
 
The solo and the vocals are brilliant.The chorus is awful and of course repeated to death
 
This song hits you like a train! The riff is simple, yet effective. The production is huge. Bruce is back, and he sings with such conviction, and the vocals almost sounds like a controlled and matured version of Be Quick Or Be Dead. The chorus in anthemic, but it miss the extra vocals I've heard in other versions. The guitar section by Adrian is excellent, and he proves why the band needs him. The song feels like it belongs to Bruce and Adrian, and they are both shining through-out the song.

My only complaints are the chorus which could have been better, and the repetition, they didn't need to double the chorus at the end.

8/10

Isolated vocals and guitar solo
 
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I think this is better that what we got on the album. It is not just the different chorus but the sound as well. I like the drum sound better.
 
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I agree with this Youtube comment from the radio edit video.

Jacob Morgan
I actually edited both versions together so that only the final chorus part has the extra vocal lines because I thought that made it much more climactic. I'll have to post that sometime so people can hear it.
 
Well I'm dumb. I've been listening to this song for years, and never once interpreted the song as intended. Not once did I think it was uplifting, I always thought the chorus was almost sinister, a threat or a warning. I just stumbled upon this, and boy was I wrong. Changes my perspective completely, it's almost like a different song now when I hear it.

Bruce Dickinson on The Wickerman
What I was trying to get on the lyrics was a feeling, just this real positive vibe--the same vibe I get when I stand on stage in front of all these people, and they're all yelling at you, and chanting and singing with you. This huge, uplifting feeling [of] "It's just great to be alive," right at that moment in time. The song is totally in favor of promoting that attitude, that one day, something good is going to happen to you, and when that day happens, don't back away from it. If you get an opportunity, grab it by the balls with both hands and just do it. Hence, "Your time will come" [in the lyrics]. When the audience goes and sees Maiden, that's it--your time has come.

When I was writing the words to it, you start free-associating things. What happens to this kid? The first line in the song is, "The hand of fate is moving," and suddenly, the finger [pointing]--"OK, out of bed. You--your turn today." The idea of the finger of fate knocks you to your feet, says, "OK, what'cha gonna do about it?" The dumb kid at the back of the class, who's always too shy to speak, his tongue was frozen, all of a sudden he pipes up, he goes, "Hey, I think you all suck!" He's got something to say. This whole thing--fly from the gates of dawn, eternity calling you his way. In the song, he says goodbye to gravity, he says goodbye to death. Live for every moment. One of the lines in the song that just sums it up is, "Every second is a new spark to set the universe aflame." If you just take that attitude in your life--every second that's alive is another spark in eternity--it's great. It's a great, uplifting vibe.
 
An absolutely brilliant opener, and one of the songs that got me into Maiden in the first place.
10/10
 
9 - possibly my favourite track on BNW. Great song. As an aside, anyone else notice the similarity between this song's main riff and the verse riff on Futureal?
 
What a messy noise Adrian makes at the end of (or rather after) the solo @3:14. Yaaiks. Glad that isn't audible or present in the song.
 
The whole solo is a bit messily performed. I think it has to do with that "not striving for perfection" mentality Maiden has when recording.
 
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