Where Eagles Dare
Keep Your Distance! Walk Away!
The year is 2006. I'm in 6th grade and to me Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time. My dad surprises with tickets to see them on there A Matter of Life and Death tour. I'm ecstatic and can't wait. As the day of the concert draws more near he keeps bugging me to listen to the new album or I won't enjoy the concert as much. We'll, being is 6th grade my ability to think ahead is somewhat non existence and I don't listen. Finally the day of the concert arrives and I'm so happy. I'm going to get to hear my favorites like Run To The Hills and The Trooper. We'll to my disappointment that doesn't happen. Iron Maiden decides to play there new album in whole. I'm pissed. My favorite band has just ruined my first metal concert.
Well years later I'm angry about that concert for a different reason. I realize the reason they played the album in whole is because they knew it was there best album they had recorded and forever would be and I wished I has been able to sing along with every word.
In my opinion this is there best album for a multitude of reasons. Firstly just the overall feel of the album. Its got a very dark tone throughout but one that doesn't bring you down but rather is very uplifting. Almost as if to pull you through all the depressing subject matter there discussing in each song. Which leads me to my second point about which makes this album so great. The lyrics. While not a concept album, every song seems to relate to either religion or war and maiden pulls it off flawlessly. By far there greatest album lyrically which I'll go into further detail later.
My third point regarding the greatness of this album is the musicians themselves. By far this is Bruce's greatest album vocally. Sure he doesn't have his cynical power of the 80's but his voice is much more refined and fitting for the the music.
I'm not much of a musician but there something about this album that sounds very modern to me, between the guitars, drums and bass. Almost as if this is a brand new band who hasn't put out 7 albums in the 80's. To me this is the only album they escaped that "80's" sound and it's amazing. I wish I could hear more from this "new" Iron Maiden.
The first track on this album is Different World. I've never really encountered someone who said this is there favorite Maiden opener and I'm not really sure why not. This is probably the albums least depressing song but still seemingly dark. The lyrics tell of a man who thinks his life is planned out until something life changing occurs. The overall message is how everyone views the world differently and we should appreciate our lives. The composition of this songs seems to be one of a kind. It starts with bruce singing normal, then goes to a chorus track with 2 Bruce's overlapping and then Bruce goes into a high note ( don't know the actual note lol) to finish the chorus. To me this is probably maidens strongest opener next to Moonchild simply because it's so different.
The next track is These Colors Don't Run. Somewhat of a pro war song which may be Maidens only. It tells the story of how every solider must go through the same thing. They must leave there family behind to go fly a flag in some foreign earth. To die for there country, possibly in a lonely unmarked grave. While this all sounds horrible the chorus explains why it's all worth it. For the passion, for the glory, for the memories, for the money. Towards the end of the song it goes into one of maidens typical whoa whoa whoas. What's untypical about it, is it has the feeling of many men doing it. You can almost envision soldiers chanting like this just to keep each other going. This is a great song with a refreshing message that sheds some light on why someone may choose to go to war. A stand on the topic not many bands have ventured into before.
The third song is Brighter Then Thousand Suns, my personal favorite on the album. It tells the story of the creation of the atomic bomb with some historic content sprinkled here in there. At one point it asks what ever would Robert have said to his god about how he mad war with the sun. An obvious reference to Robert Oppenheimer who worked on the Manhattan project. It also mentions E=mc2 the equation that allowed the atom bomb to be created. Musically this song is incredible. It's constantly changing tempos throughout and never seems to get boring. It seems to somewhat be one of a kind with the only song I could really compare it to is the Angel and the Gambler, but still it's light years ahead.
The fourth song is The Pilgrim. It could be considered the throwaway song of the album but to me it's still a 9/10. It seems to be one of the songs in Maidens many stories about sea travel. To be honest the exact meaning of thee song I haven't really decoded but much like the rest of the album I love it's composition. During the chorus it has the somewhat typical Bruce over Bruce vocal track but one of the vocals seem to be in a much higher note then the other (which could be usual and maybe it's just me) but it seems so much better done here. Much like in Different World after the chorus Bruce goes into a very powerful "spirit holy, life eternal" which is just amazing.
The fifth song is The Longest Day. Based on the movie of the same tile. It tells the story of the soldiers who invaded on D Day in WW2. The intro could be Maidens greatest with a killer baseline and a very ominous guitar rift. Bruce starts by somewhat whispering the first lyrics slowly increasing his seriousness as if to symbolize the soldiers nearing the beaches. While he's doing this you can hear the instruments slowly building with him. Eventually the song explodes into the chorus "how long on this longest day, until we finally make it through." Those are probably the most important lyrics in the whole song because it's probably the only thing on the soldiers minds. How long until they can just go home on a day that seems to last forever. Also maybe not super important but this song mentions Overlord, your master not your god. Which is just interesting because that was D Days "secret code name"
The sixth song is Out Of the Shadows. The only song that really slows down for the entire song through out this album. I don't have much to say about this song. Because of its beauty you can't really explain it in words, you just have to listen. The message is one that's very simple but also very meaningful. Bad things will happen to you in life but you just have to keep going to see the true beauty of life. At least that's how I see it.
The seventh song is the Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg. It tells the story of a man Iron Maiden created named Benjamin Breeg. If you haven't heard the story do some research, it's pretty cool. This song to me should be in at least everyone's top 15. It's amazing. It has a slow atmospheric intro which leads into a very powerful explosion of instruments. Bruce is narrating through the perspective of Benjamin Breeg asking why has he been cursed and why so many bad things have happened in his life. I know I sound like a broken record but I don't think Maiden has ever made a song much like this and it is somewhat one of a kind.
The eighth song is For The Greater Good of God. A very meaningful song to the whole world. Religion has ways been the main cause of war and had caused the most human deaths. The way I look at it is Maiden is asking is it really for God? Would your god want you to kill to show how much you care about him. They mention " You know religion has a lot to mention for" I don't want to get into a debate or anything bit for someone who is very anti religion as myself this is very meaningful.
I said anti religion not anti faith, just saying lol.
The ninth song is The Lord of Light. Many people seem to not love this song as much as me and that I don't understand. The content of the song seems to be through lucifers perspective, and how he is misunderstood. I think Bruce puts the most effort on this song then in any other song on the album. Overall this song is a great rocker with some very interesting lyrics that can be viewed in many different way.
The last song on the album is The Legacy which like most of the album focuses on war. It seems to tell the story of a nation that listened to a leader they thought would bring them peace who ultimately did the opposite. It also touches upon how world leaders don't really care about there people and are only worried about there own profit. It mentions that human kind has hope but we have to start treating out fellow man better. I say it again this song is 100 % one of a kind compared to all of maidens other songs. It starts of slow with acoustic guitars, makes it's way to somewhat of an instrumental section, blast into hard rock then finishes with the Bruce over Bruce AMOLAD style vocal track.
Sorry if some of the points I've made don't make sense to some of you lol. I guess my overall message is when I listen to this album, even though I adore maiden it's almost a different band and I have to say I like it better. Now having listened to maidens entire discography multiple times I can easily say this is there best effort light years ahead of anything else they've done.
Well years later I'm angry about that concert for a different reason. I realize the reason they played the album in whole is because they knew it was there best album they had recorded and forever would be and I wished I has been able to sing along with every word.
In my opinion this is there best album for a multitude of reasons. Firstly just the overall feel of the album. Its got a very dark tone throughout but one that doesn't bring you down but rather is very uplifting. Almost as if to pull you through all the depressing subject matter there discussing in each song. Which leads me to my second point about which makes this album so great. The lyrics. While not a concept album, every song seems to relate to either religion or war and maiden pulls it off flawlessly. By far there greatest album lyrically which I'll go into further detail later.
My third point regarding the greatness of this album is the musicians themselves. By far this is Bruce's greatest album vocally. Sure he doesn't have his cynical power of the 80's but his voice is much more refined and fitting for the the music.
I'm not much of a musician but there something about this album that sounds very modern to me, between the guitars, drums and bass. Almost as if this is a brand new band who hasn't put out 7 albums in the 80's. To me this is the only album they escaped that "80's" sound and it's amazing. I wish I could hear more from this "new" Iron Maiden.
The first track on this album is Different World. I've never really encountered someone who said this is there favorite Maiden opener and I'm not really sure why not. This is probably the albums least depressing song but still seemingly dark. The lyrics tell of a man who thinks his life is planned out until something life changing occurs. The overall message is how everyone views the world differently and we should appreciate our lives. The composition of this songs seems to be one of a kind. It starts with bruce singing normal, then goes to a chorus track with 2 Bruce's overlapping and then Bruce goes into a high note ( don't know the actual note lol) to finish the chorus. To me this is probably maidens strongest opener next to Moonchild simply because it's so different.
The next track is These Colors Don't Run. Somewhat of a pro war song which may be Maidens only. It tells the story of how every solider must go through the same thing. They must leave there family behind to go fly a flag in some foreign earth. To die for there country, possibly in a lonely unmarked grave. While this all sounds horrible the chorus explains why it's all worth it. For the passion, for the glory, for the memories, for the money. Towards the end of the song it goes into one of maidens typical whoa whoa whoas. What's untypical about it, is it has the feeling of many men doing it. You can almost envision soldiers chanting like this just to keep each other going. This is a great song with a refreshing message that sheds some light on why someone may choose to go to war. A stand on the topic not many bands have ventured into before.
The third song is Brighter Then Thousand Suns, my personal favorite on the album. It tells the story of the creation of the atomic bomb with some historic content sprinkled here in there. At one point it asks what ever would Robert have said to his god about how he mad war with the sun. An obvious reference to Robert Oppenheimer who worked on the Manhattan project. It also mentions E=mc2 the equation that allowed the atom bomb to be created. Musically this song is incredible. It's constantly changing tempos throughout and never seems to get boring. It seems to somewhat be one of a kind with the only song I could really compare it to is the Angel and the Gambler, but still it's light years ahead.
The fourth song is The Pilgrim. It could be considered the throwaway song of the album but to me it's still a 9/10. It seems to be one of the songs in Maidens many stories about sea travel. To be honest the exact meaning of thee song I haven't really decoded but much like the rest of the album I love it's composition. During the chorus it has the somewhat typical Bruce over Bruce vocal track but one of the vocals seem to be in a much higher note then the other (which could be usual and maybe it's just me) but it seems so much better done here. Much like in Different World after the chorus Bruce goes into a very powerful "spirit holy, life eternal" which is just amazing.
The fifth song is The Longest Day. Based on the movie of the same tile. It tells the story of the soldiers who invaded on D Day in WW2. The intro could be Maidens greatest with a killer baseline and a very ominous guitar rift. Bruce starts by somewhat whispering the first lyrics slowly increasing his seriousness as if to symbolize the soldiers nearing the beaches. While he's doing this you can hear the instruments slowly building with him. Eventually the song explodes into the chorus "how long on this longest day, until we finally make it through." Those are probably the most important lyrics in the whole song because it's probably the only thing on the soldiers minds. How long until they can just go home on a day that seems to last forever. Also maybe not super important but this song mentions Overlord, your master not your god. Which is just interesting because that was D Days "secret code name"
The sixth song is Out Of the Shadows. The only song that really slows down for the entire song through out this album. I don't have much to say about this song. Because of its beauty you can't really explain it in words, you just have to listen. The message is one that's very simple but also very meaningful. Bad things will happen to you in life but you just have to keep going to see the true beauty of life. At least that's how I see it.
The seventh song is the Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg. It tells the story of a man Iron Maiden created named Benjamin Breeg. If you haven't heard the story do some research, it's pretty cool. This song to me should be in at least everyone's top 15. It's amazing. It has a slow atmospheric intro which leads into a very powerful explosion of instruments. Bruce is narrating through the perspective of Benjamin Breeg asking why has he been cursed and why so many bad things have happened in his life. I know I sound like a broken record but I don't think Maiden has ever made a song much like this and it is somewhat one of a kind.
The eighth song is For The Greater Good of God. A very meaningful song to the whole world. Religion has ways been the main cause of war and had caused the most human deaths. The way I look at it is Maiden is asking is it really for God? Would your god want you to kill to show how much you care about him. They mention " You know religion has a lot to mention for" I don't want to get into a debate or anything bit for someone who is very anti religion as myself this is very meaningful.
I said anti religion not anti faith, just saying lol.
The ninth song is The Lord of Light. Many people seem to not love this song as much as me and that I don't understand. The content of the song seems to be through lucifers perspective, and how he is misunderstood. I think Bruce puts the most effort on this song then in any other song on the album. Overall this song is a great rocker with some very interesting lyrics that can be viewed in many different way.
The last song on the album is The Legacy which like most of the album focuses on war. It seems to tell the story of a nation that listened to a leader they thought would bring them peace who ultimately did the opposite. It also touches upon how world leaders don't really care about there people and are only worried about there own profit. It mentions that human kind has hope but we have to start treating out fellow man better. I say it again this song is 100 % one of a kind compared to all of maidens other songs. It starts of slow with acoustic guitars, makes it's way to somewhat of an instrumental section, blast into hard rock then finishes with the Bruce over Bruce AMOLAD style vocal track.
Sorry if some of the points I've made don't make sense to some of you lol. I guess my overall message is when I listen to this album, even though I adore maiden it's almost a different band and I have to say I like it better. Now having listened to maidens entire discography multiple times I can easily say this is there best effort light years ahead of anything else they've done.