Things about Iron Maiden that annoy you
- Thread starter Night Prowler
- Start date
- Sticking to the same setlist all tour and the flimsy reasoning for doing so (no one would care if the backdrop didn't match the song!)
- Steve's hearing or lack thereof and his influence in the control room
- Rod being being a tightwad whose purse strings have surely cost us a lot of interesting Maiden content over the years
Nothing to really complain about besides that!
- Steve's hearing or lack thereof and his influence in the control room
- Rod being being a tightwad whose purse strings have surely cost us a lot of interesting Maiden content over the years
Nothing to really complain about besides that!
Trevoire
Ancient Mariner
I mean yeah I get it, but by the time you've gone "well Trooper is someone's favourite song, and FOTD is someone else's, and so is NOTB, RTTH, TETMD, IM, 2MTM"
Now you've hardly got any time left in the set for something interesting.
I'm not saying don't play them, but maybe just do more of a rotation, so that it gets less boring for those who go see the band practically every single tour (which is ALOT of the fan base)
jazz from hell
Ancient Mariner
Re: Maiden keys an modes
As everybody knows, the tritone is the most “metal” interval. But contrary to Sabbath, Metallica and basically everybody heavier, Maiden never used it much (apart from blues bends etc.)
The minor second is also very “metal”, classic rock as well (for example phrygian, Gates of Babylon) and even neoclassical (harmonic minor, Yngwie).
Doug the composer on Youtube pointed out that the tritone is very present in Stratego’s first guitar-melody-riff; first over E (the tonic) and then over C: an F#, which is the second of E minor. So while everything is still kind of in the blues, it’s also (as Rick beato would say) quite sophisticated.
Then there’s the rhythmic aspect, and closely related, the riff. Maiden are more “drum-based” than most metal bands, because Nicko doesn’t blindly follow the guitars. Because of this, the “metal guitar-riff” isn’t as omnipotent as in most metal bands. But on Killers/Beast/POM/Powerslave, Steve and Clive/Nicko liked to play anticipated downbeats a lot, urgent and exciting. If there’s anything I would criticize, it is that it seems to me they tend to do that less.
TL;DR:
The tritone in a prominent riff or melody as in Stratego is new for Maiden, isn’t it? Where else do they use it in a riff or melody?
As everybody knows, the tritone is the most “metal” interval. But contrary to Sabbath, Metallica and basically everybody heavier, Maiden never used it much (apart from blues bends etc.)
The minor second is also very “metal”, classic rock as well (for example phrygian, Gates of Babylon) and even neoclassical (harmonic minor, Yngwie).
Doug the composer on Youtube pointed out that the tritone is very present in Stratego’s first guitar-melody-riff; first over E (the tonic) and then over C: an F#, which is the second of E minor. So while everything is still kind of in the blues, it’s also (as Rick beato would say) quite sophisticated.
Then there’s the rhythmic aspect, and closely related, the riff. Maiden are more “drum-based” than most metal bands, because Nicko doesn’t blindly follow the guitars. Because of this, the “metal guitar-riff” isn’t as omnipotent as in most metal bands. But on Killers/Beast/POM/Powerslave, Steve and Clive/Nicko liked to play anticipated downbeats a lot, urgent and exciting. If there’s anything I would criticize, it is that it seems to me they tend to do that less.
TL;DR:
The tritone in a prominent riff or melody as in Stratego is new for Maiden, isn’t it? Where else do they use it in a riff or melody?
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For a band with this budget and this visual potential there's really no excuse to put out anything subpar.
matic22
Ancient Mariner
Rod being a true Yorkshireman...
JudasMyGuide
Ancient Mariner
Got Shirley on a discount, promising him he won't have to do much and most of the production's actually gonna be by the half-deaf 'Arry.
There's just no other explanation as to how the misbegotten sound of Dance of Death came into being.
matic22
Ancient Mariner
*Cries in master-bus compression*Got Shirley on a discount, promising him he won't have to do much and most of the production's actually gonna be by the half-deaf 'Arry.
There's just no other explanation as to how the misbegotten sound of Dance of Death came into being.
jazz from hell
Ancient Mariner
Good call! Warning: music theory ramble combing, blame Doug the composer from Youtube for the inspiration; if you don't have time for this shit, skip it --
Another one: Sign Of The Cross in the middle, first in the bass I think — combined with the monk singing — Bb over E, and Ab over D... where that monk singing comes from, is it russian orthodox? Interesting combination, monks + tritone, still irritates me that the monk recording is a few cents lower, perhaps it’s the secret punk in Steve indeed. And interestingly, the chorus in Cyclops from Balls To Picasso is quite similar to this part of SOTC in how it rides the tritone, alternating with the 5th; also, the beginning of Cyclops is basically “Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath”-riff. And "Hell No", ( from BTP) starts riff in lydian-b7 with #4 as another prominent tritone. Roy Z and Adrian both are more the lydian, tritone, and general modal aficionadoes, I think.
But in the case of Maiden the point still stands, they don’t use the tritone as much as most heavier bands, right?
JudasMyGuide
Ancient Mariner
Not as rare or exceptional as you might think, I'll see your Doug the composer (a great channel, BTW) and raise my favourite YT music nerd, the ridiculously handsome Adam Neely:
frus
Barbed Wire Hen
I was just listening to BTP today, and at the very beginning of Hell No I thought "here is a textbook tritone"
RueMorgue
Invader
Nicko mugging to the camera on pretty much every live DVD Maiden have released
Janick's attention-seeking antics at pretty much every Maiden show (I've nothing against Janick per se: I know he has made a big creative contribution in the studio).
Too many songs with that 'woah, woah' thing in them e.g. The Red and the Black.
Too many prog 'epics': some of them are brilliant but I wish they would balance it with more concise songs as well.
Those Celtic sounding intro's e.g. Blood Brothers, Dance of Death. Too many of them, and too much of a 'go to' for reunion era Maiden.
Lastly... (gulp)... I really just don't enjoy Nicko's drum sound or technique. I liked Clive Burr's sound and technique a lot better, and I wish his tenure in Maiden had been longer (don't mean to upset any Maiden/Nicko fans in saying this. I'm not casting any aspersions on Nicko as a drummer or querying his musicianship. It's just a personal preference. Peace).
Janick's attention-seeking antics at pretty much every Maiden show (I've nothing against Janick per se: I know he has made a big creative contribution in the studio).
Too many songs with that 'woah, woah' thing in them e.g. The Red and the Black.
Too many prog 'epics': some of them are brilliant but I wish they would balance it with more concise songs as well.
Those Celtic sounding intro's e.g. Blood Brothers, Dance of Death. Too many of them, and too much of a 'go to' for reunion era Maiden.
Lastly... (gulp)... I really just don't enjoy Nicko's drum sound or technique. I liked Clive Burr's sound and technique a lot better, and I wish his tenure in Maiden had been longer (don't mean to upset any Maiden/Nicko fans in saying this. I'm not casting any aspersions on Nicko as a drummer or querying his musicianship. It's just a personal preference. Peace).
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Sign of the cross
Even on my first listen to the new album I could definitely hear the chord sequences in my head. I was like ok they're on E and they're going to c or g next. Lol
SirRobbins
Ancient Mariner
plenty of interviews from the late 80s saying he loved several songs on that album and 2 in particular were among his favorite to sing.. everyone says what you are based on the history series DVD... Steve loves the album but according to his convo with myself back in 2020, they didn't work well live so that's likely the reason. I know Rod hated how they came out live and even stated they have most songs from that tour recorded live but may not be happy with how they sound and just decided never to release them...
Slartibartfarst42
Trooper
I can't say there's much that annoys me, though I find a couple of things mildly irritating.
- The years when the only dates they do in the UK are festivals. I understand they're big and prestigious but I have no desire at all to go to a festival. That doesn't mean I don't want to see my favourite band.
- Kevin Shirley. I just don't rate him as a producer.
- On the last two albums, I really feared that Bruce's voice had gone. He sounded so strained all the time, like they really needed to tune down for him. I liked a number of the songs on Final Frontier but I rarely listen to the album as I can't stand the strained singing. Book of Souls was even worse! It was like listening to a cat being throttled at times, but I'm pleased to see that on Senjutsu, Bruce is back on top form. One of the best albums they've ever done.