Your favourite three album closers

[srfc]

I'm one of them. While Hallowed is an absolute monster of a classic, I feel the band exceeded that on later releases. But if we had, say, a "top 17 best album closers" instead of just three, I'd absolutely have had Hallowed on that list.

I'm not sure if @Perun's reaction is the same as mine, but for me, the shocking part is that the song which easily wins every poll on best song full stop is not winning this poll which defies logic.

 

[____no5]

Hallowed Legacy of Rime

I'm not sure if @Perun's reaction is the same as mine, but for me, the shocking part is that the song which easily wins every poll on best song full stop is not winning this poll which defies logic.

Well, currently raking is still ongoing ahem, it could be ranked second this time.

 

[sea.of.madness.1986]

Hallowed, Rime and Alexander

 

[Vaenyr]

Hell On Earth
The Legacy
Empire Of The Clouds

 

[Poto]

1. Hallowed Be Thy Name
2. Rime of the Ancient Mariner
3. Hell On Earth

I am pleasantly surprised to see Hell On Earth being the third most voted. People clearly got great taste.

 

[Siddharth]

1. Hallowed Be Thy Name
2. Alexander The Great
3. Fear Of The Dark
4. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
5. Hell On Earth
6. To Tame A Land
7. The Thin Line Between Love & Hate

 

[Fozzie]

1. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
2. Hallowed Be Thy Name
3. Alexander The Great
4. Hell On earth
5. To Tame A Land

 

[sea.of.madness.1986]

My honorable mentions: Hell on Earth, To Tame a Land and Fear of the Dark

 

[Prowler]

Hallowed and Rime were pretty obvious. I knew most people would vote for them. I'm pleasantly surprised with Hell on Earth.

 

[dickinson1978]

I will go for fear of the dark. I always loved the studio version.sound great the main riff

 

[karljant]

Not a single song I dislike and to be fair some are utter masterpieces. That being said, like everything, i like some more than others:

Tier S - Perfection!

• 1) Rime Of The Ancient Mariner: IMO best Maiden song ever tied with Aces High. Enough said.
• 2) To Tame A Land: A masterpiece that perfectly throws me back to the Dune universe. Jaw dropping performances.
• 3) When The Wild Wind Blows: Melody, intensity, pomp, man... I love this song so much. A late classic and a rare case when a Maiden "epic" doesn't go uptempo... and it works amazingly well.

Tier A - Top tier stuff. Now we're talking!

• 4) Alexander The Great: If it wasn't for the boring way the lyrics are penned, I'd easily put this beast of a song one tier higher
• 5) The Thin Line Between Love & Hate: Hidden jewel. Amazing passages, solos, singing, etc... Underrated as hell.
• 6) Hell On Earth: Without those pesky guitars mimicking the vocals and if the chorus were repeated this would also be a tier higher.
• 7) Only The Good Die Young: Wicked as hell, fast, excellent harmonies and man... that bass doodle.
• 8) The Legacy: A lumbering imposing giant filled with exquisite details (not to mention that creepy intro). Love it!
• 9) Hallowed Be Thy Name: Yup, HBTN is a masterpiece. But mainly due to massive overplaying, I got fed up with the main verses from a fair number of years now. Yet I still love the intro and everything since the song goes uptempo till the end like the first day I listened to it.

Tier B - Good but overplayed as hell (and IMO overrated).

• 10) Fear Of The Dark: Works amazingly well live. The song is superbly well structured and all passages are really good but IMO none of them makes my jaw drop. And then there's the overplaying factor. Still one hell of a hit for the band that elevated their name even higher.

Tier C - Really good stuff yet featuring some traits I'm not the greatest fan of:

• 11) The Unbeliever: Those first 54 seconds are an utter mess. Surprisingly, after that, all the other sections are top tier Maiden IMO.
• 12) Journeyman: When I think of "acoustic" Maiden I think of Prodigal Son. This tune's nice but that's all. The chorus' a bit boring, too.
• 13) Empire Of The Clouds: I basically avoid 99,999% of Rock operas like the plague. But I must confess this tune has some wild passages.

Tier D - "Merely" good tunes:

• 14) Iron Maiden: Lots of energy and a blast to play. But in the end, we all know why I put it here: overplayed to the maximum.
• 15) Mother Russia: Great tune but IMO needed more twists and turns on the instrumental and at least another verse at the end.
• 16) Como Estais Amigos: Beautiful, melodic and emotional. IMO, the acoustic part should be longer, though.
• 17) Drifter: Despite being the one I like the least from the pack, this one's a really cool rocker... always a ball to listen to.