Your Maiden blasphemy

2Mins said:
Dream of Mirrors is one of my absolute least favourite reunion tracks. I find it musically dull, and the introspective lyrics, which suit Blaze, don't sit well with Bruce imo. I think he is much more at home telling stories and using rich imagery, and any track where he's not doing that is a waste.

Nomad and GotN are headbangers-supreme.
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Completely agree on all 3. Dream Of Mirrors is an extremely boring song, Nomad is a stylish song with intriguing lyrics and sound, and Ghost has very much grown on me as of late.
 
I'm ashamed to say I kept skipping most of Dream of Mirrors. It must have been at least a year before I actually heard the faster part, and decided it wasn't such a bad track. Ghost is odd in that it seems to be overshadowed by the songs around it on the album, but imo it's one of the strongest songs on there. Wicker Man is a great opener, though, both in terms of the album and live. It grabs the attention.
 
The day BNW came out, I purchased the CD on my lunch break, but wasn't able to listen until driving home from work. Wicker Man was naturally awesome, but Ghost blew me away. I literally pulled off the road to sit and listen; Ghost was so good it was distracting me from driving safely!

I've never considered Ghost to be "overshadowed" at all. It's a very strong second track, just like CotD or 23:58 or ID.
 
Yeah, those two do grab you. I consider Wicker Man to be one of the finest openers anywhere, with the possible exception of Where Eagles Dare, although Revelations doesn't follow on well enough from that.
 
Ides of March/Wrathchild also function perfectly, the first one almost being an opener for the second. CSIT/Wasted Years. Sign of the Cross/Lord of the Flies are also great : an epic and a short but fantastic track.
 
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Children of the Damned is awesome, I'm probably one of the biggest fans of that song on the forum, a Top 10 song for me. Invaders, on the other hand*...

* Love its bassline, though
 
I agree with all of that. Invaders has a great bassline, but that's it. Children of the Damned is a classic, and it should be played more often.
 
I understand your opinion, but I've always loved Invaders : the bassline is awesome and litteraly drives the song ; the chorus is great and the music perfectly fits the lyrics. And I'm a big fan of Invasion too.
 
Mosh said:
Wicker/Ghost is possibly the greatest 1-2 punch on a maiden album.
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Gigantic disagree. First off, I think Moonchild/Infinite Dreams might be my favorite 1-2 punch, since it doesn't let up with CIPWM, Evil that men do, etc.

I'm finding that I've got one of the most unpopular opinions on Maiden here. I remember when I picked up BNW for the first time, so happy that Bruce was back but with trepidation at what they might be after the 90s (remembering Fear of the Dark and how disappointed I was by that platter). Wicker Man was a good, straight-up rocker, but once I got to Ghost, I couldn't believe it. It sounded like classic Maiden, but it was a pale imitation. And the chorus pains me - the out-of-meter "They'll count the cost!" just reminds me of the last time they used that phrase and what a better song that one was.

The rest of the album is good, not quite meh but not much better. For me, the standouts always have been Dream of Mirrors and The Thin Line, perhaps because I felt like they really stretched the boundaries of what Maiden was. Blood Brothers was good, and BNW wasn't bad, but there was nothing else that really distinguished itself.

In fact, it was the letdown from Wicker Man to GOTN that set the tone of the album for me. I guess I'll just never get over that first disappointment, *sigh*
 
Chartwell said:
And the chorus pains me - the out-of-meter "They'll count the cost!" just reminds me of the last time they used that phrase and what a better song that one was.
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What you call 'out-of-meter', I call singing-across-the-beat. A 'storytelling' style of singing that puts the narrative over the music. This is Bruce's great strength, particularly since the reunion. It takes confidence. It sounds more mature than his early singing, when he could hit every high note with clarity. It's one of the things I love about reunion-Maiden. Listen to Frank Sinatra if you want to hear another storyteller singing across the beat.
 
2Mins said:
What you call 'out-of-meter', I call singing-across-the-beat. A 'storytelling' style of singing that puts the narrative over the music. This is Bruce's great strength, particularly since the reunion. It takes confidence. It sounds more mature than his early singing, when he could hit every high note with clarity. It's one of the things I love about reunion-Maiden. Listen to Frank Sinatra if you want to hear another storyteller singing across the beat.
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Absolutely! Singing across the beat is certainly a newer thing for Maiden and does not appear often in most heavy metal (that I can recall). I personally love it. Whether it is intentional or just a means to an end to cram in more words, I'm always intrigued by this technique and I use it often in my own songwriting.
 
It especially works given how wordy Steve`s lyrics are too. And I think it fits Bruce`s current voice quite well.
 
They are a progressive band. I'm not sure if this is unpopular, but at least since The X Factor (and jumping back to 7th Son), it's true. I don't say this to take anything away from them as metal pioneers, but for nearly 2 decades, they've evolved into a heavy prog band, which I love (I was always a fan of the Harris epics anyway).
 
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