The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls

[cramx3]

Nothing bold about it IMO, both are great albums. TXF just gets the shit for blaze, but damn that album is good music.

[TAC]

I may not agree with his exact placements, but most of his comments I totally agree with.   

I certainly don't have TXF as high, but that is a brilliantly worded review of that album.

[TAC]

I know there's a lot of love here for BNW. What is everyone's opinion of Dream Of Mirrors?
Where would it rank among the Reunion era epics?

[jammindude]

The dream is truuuueeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuueeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuueeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[TAC]

The dream is truuuueeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuueeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuueeeeeeeeee
The dream is truuuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 
It is true. The dream, that is.

[sneakyblueberry]

I think it's a good song with some great melodies.  But it doesn't feel very maiden for me until it hits the fast part.  It's a little... 90s alt rock.   

[cramx3]

Not sure if anyone noticed, but the IM website's scrolling banner has upside down text saying the First set of tour dates will be announced September 14th.

[425]

I know there's a lot of love here for BNW. What is everyone's opinion of Dream Of Mirrors?
Where would it rank among the Reunion era epics?

Dream of Mirrors is excellent. It's hard to rank the reunion era epics, though, because there are so many and so many of them are good. But I think it's a really good song, one of the best on Brave New World for sure.

[cramx3]

I know there's a lot of love here for BNW. What is everyone's opinion of Dream Of Mirrors?
Where would it rank among the Reunion era epics?

Dream of Mirrors is excellent. It's hard to rank the reunion era epics, though, because there are so many and so many of them are good. But I think it's a really good song, one of the best on Brave New World for sure.

I also really like it, but it may be low on the reunion era epics just because they are so strong.  Never thought about ranking them though

[wolfking]

DOM is a great song.  The speedy middle section is awesome.

[jammindude]

As I hinted before, I just think it's too repetitive.  Other than that, it's OK.   Ghost of the Navigator is the big standout from BNW....one of the few songs NOT ruined by a lazy chorus.

[425]

I always really liked Out of the Silent Planet. I don't ever see it getting much love, even on Iron Maiden forums. But I always really liked it. I would say The Wicker Man, Ghost of the Navigator, Dream of Mirrors, Out of the Silent Planet and The Thin Line Between Love and Hate are the class of Brave New World.

[TAC]

Well I've always ranked Dance Of Death over Brave New World. Not by much, but to me it just feels like classic Maiden.

I think Brave New World is one of their most important albums, and I was highly impressed that they didn't just mail it in. Dream Of Mirrors is proof of that. I feel like I should love this song, but I "only" like it very much. I know the "I only dream in B&W" line is beaten to absolute death. But everything else about it is awesome.
Out Of The Silent Planet is like that too. Really unMaiden like, which is cool, but the chorus is repeated so many freaking times.


I have always been underwhelmed by The Wicker Man. Love the up tempo part, but the rest bores me. Favorite songs off of it have always been The Nomad and Ghost Of The Navigator, and of course the mighty Thin Line Between Love And Hate. That instrumental part at the end is AMAZING. Nothing wrong with the title track, and Blood Brothers is really aging well. I feel like I'm going to flip DOD and BNW in my Reunion era rankings. I'm going to give DOD a chance to redeem itself.

[cramx3]

I'll give this a shot and maybe this is not the best criteria, but I'm picking out of the songs from the reunion era that are over 8 minutes (not including S15/TFF and If Eternity Should Fail):

1. The Legacy
2. For The Greater Good of God
3. The Red and the Black
4. Dance of Death
5. The Book of Souls
6. Empire of the Clouds
7. Paschendale
8. The Talisman
9. The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
10. When the Wild Wind Blows
11. Dream of Mirrors
12. The Man Who Would be King
13. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
14. Isle of Avalon
15. The Nomad

I should add that the last two tracks are the only two I would say I am not a huge fan of (although both have parts that are great), the rest are all fantastic songs even if they are not high on the list.

[TAC]

Nice. That's a great list, Cram. When you think about it, it really is an amazing collection of songs.

15. The Nomad

After The Thin Line, The Nomad has always been my second fave on BNW. Still, I can't help but feel they missed an opportunity with this. And the transition from the instrumental part to the verse is a little awkward.

[wolfking]

I'll give this a shot and maybe this is not the best criteria, but I'm picking out of the songs from the reunion era that are over 8 minutes (not including S15/TFF and If Eternity Should Fail):

1. The Legacy
2. For The Greater Good of God
3. The Red and the Black
4. Dance of Death
5. The Book of Souls
6. Empire of the Clouds
7. Paschendale
8. The Talisman
9. The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
10. When the Wild Wind Blows
11. Dream of Mirrors
12. The Man Who Would be King
13. Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
14. Isle of Avalon
15. The Nomad

I should add that the last two tracks are the only two I would say I am not a huge fan of (although both have parts that are great), the rest are all fantastic songs even if they are not high on the list.

That's a really excellent list, but I think it's way too early to judge the new songs.

[TAC]

I'm fine putting Empire Of The Clouds right up there now.

[wolfking]

I listened to it in the car for the first time yesterday.  Holy shit!

[cramx3]

Totally agree about judging the new songs with the old as there hasnt been enough time yet, but that's how I feel at the moment.

[425]

I'll take a crack at this. Not including the new songs because I've heard them once and the other ones like 40 times. Too soon to tell.

• Paschendale
• Isle of Avalon
• The Legacy
• When the Wild Wind Blows
• The Talisman
• For The Greater Good of God
• Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
• Dream of Mirrors
• Dance of Death
• The Man Who Would be King
• The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
• The Nomad

In my mind, Starblind, The Longest Day and Lord of Light belong on this list just because of the songwriting style, though I understand why they were excluded. Starblind would probably go at #2 for me, The Longest Day would go above The Thin Line and Lord of Light would go ahead of The Talisman.

This is really hard. I mean, all of these are good. The only one that I wouldn't say is a fantastic song is The Nomad, and that one is still hella good.

[425]

Just listened to this for the first time, and just read through this thread for the first time. I don't have well-formed thoughts yet, but I feel I ought to clear this up, since I was the one who mentioned it in the other thread.

How do you spoil an album?

Yeah, I'm with you.  I'm buying my copy tomorrow and have been reading this thread all week.  I'm pretty sure I don't know what I'm going to hear based on comments here haha.

I would get it if it were a concept album with plot points... but how does hearing about an album spoil it?

That's what I was wondering too some pages ago. I had hoped that those who feared spoilers in the original thread would explain what there is to spoil.

Actually, I did explain why I thought there should be a new thread, in the original thread. I explained, and then had like a five-post long conversation with bosk as a result. It can't have been that easy to miss. Nevertheless, I'll explain again here.

My problem was that the album was leaked and that people were listening to a leaked copy. Regardless of your own feelings on the subject, listening to a leaked copy of an album is, in fact, illegal. And in the opinions of many, many people, including myself, morally wrong. What's more, the policy of this forum frowns upon the discussion of leaked material.

My objection was that over a week before the album was released to the world by the band and the label, who own the music and have the right to dictate how it is released, there was already discussion going on in the main Iron Maiden thread. The same thread where those of us who wanted to abide by the law and our own views on what is a morally right way to deal with intellectual property, and talk about other Iron Maiden material and build the excitement and count down until the album was legally released. Essentially, by having discussion of the leak in the new thread, the experience would be ruined for anyone who did not want to listen to the leak.

My own objection was never about having the album spoiled, it was about allowing discussion of illegally leaked material in the main thread (which, in order to even be in accordance with forum policy, you have to intentionally avoid the topic of how you managed to obtain it) and thus disrupting those who are not okay with listening to such material.

[TAC]

It's cool, man.

[jjrock88]

I know there's a lot of love here for BNW. What is everyone's opinion of Dream Of Mirrors?
Where would it rank among the Reunion era epics?

Top three for me, great track.

[Phoenix87x]

I love Dream of Mirrors

"I only dream in black in white" That shit is catchy as hell and often stuck in my head after listening to BNW

[wolfking]

I've decided this album is a fucking masterpiece.

[jjrock88]

I've decided this album is a fucking masterpiece.

That's a good decision

[cramx3]

I've decided this album is a fucking masterpiece.

That's a good decision

 

[Dream Team]

I've decided this album is a fucking masterpiece.

Yeah, just amazing at this stage of their career. They improved 5 things from TFF, which I thought was a great album:

1. Bruce's vocals are better
2. The production is better
3. The guitar solos are better
4. No endlessly repeated choruses (IESF comes close)
5. No overdone acoustic intros

Man, they NAILED it.

[Nick]

For a long time Dream of Mirrors was my favorite Maiden song. It still ranks top 10.

[Kwyjibo]

Actually, I did explain why I thought there should be a new thread, in the original thread. I explained, and then had like a five-post long conversation with bosk as a result. It can't have been that easy to miss. Nevertheless, I'll explain again here.

My problem was that the album was leaked and that people were listening to a leaked copy. Regardless of your own feelings on the subject, listening to a leaked copy of an album is, in fact, illegal. And in the opinions of many, many people, including myself, morally wrong. What's more, the policy of this forum frowns upon the discussion of leaked material.

Thanks for answering, it's all cool. I'm kinda with you on the leaked material, but not everyone who has early access to the album is listening to the leak, there may be people with promo copies. And I have no problem when they give their impressions of the album, but I also don't have a problem with a new thread.

I was just curious about the spoiler thing in regard to music. I didn't understand how you could "spoil" a record in regards to story, surprise endings, who dies, who did it etc. like you could spoil a movie or a book. I probably just have a different definition of a spoiler.

[Kwyjibo]

Dream of Mirrors is one of the best tracks on BNW and one of the best Reunion-Tracks for sure. I don't mind the repetition if it is nicely done. The Nomad is another great track, cool melodies and a bit of eastern/arabian music flair that fits the theme perfectly.

[aurorablind]

I was a bit let down the first time I listened to the album, but holy hell this album has grown on me!
Im still not digging Shadows of the Valley, but hell. A 90+ minute album with so little filler is amazing for a band 40 years into their career with 16 studio albums.
My four year old daughter loves the melodies on Empire btw. We sing along to it in the car every morning   

Is somebody loving When the River runs deep? I love the Somewhere in Time-esque intro, and the verses are killer!
I just love how tastefully they add vocal harmonies to certain sections on this album. TFF and AMOLAD had basicly no harmonies at all.

HOLY CRAP THIS ALBUM! 

[Lowdz]

I've decided this album is a fucking masterpiece.

Surprised the shit outta me too 
I was expecting something along the lines of the last one but I was very wrong. As fine an album by an "old" band as I can remember.

[Zydar]

The cover of the new Kerrang! magazine, out now.

I think it would be a great cover if they were to release Death Or Glory as a single.

[wolfking]

Still listening to disc 2 in the car at the moment.  This album is incredible, from start to finish, the band have knocked this out of the fucking park, I can't believe it.  Empire of the Clouds is one of the most emotional, moving and stunning pieces of music I've ever heard.  Hearing it full ball in the car made me realise just how fucking amazing and special this piece of music is. 

Death and Glory is a cracker and so lively and well done.  Shadows of the Valley has that amazing middle section and the whoa oh part is just epic and one of the best parts of the album IMO.  Tears of A Clown i a solid enough addition which gets better each time and The Man of Sorrows is one of the most ambitious and unique pieces the band have done too.  Dave nailed this one too.  Those key changes give me chills.

I don't see how the band could possibly top this.  I would love to see the band make another couple of albums because no band this far into their career I believe has accomplished what they have here.  In a way, if this was the bands swansong, you could hardly argue.

Iron Maiden have been by a long margin my favourite band since I discovered them about 16-17 years ago, but what they have done here just confirms that even more and makes me proud to be a fan.  A band 40 years into their career creating what could be a top 3-5 all time album, maybe higher, is just unheard of.

Well done Bruce, Steve, Dave, Adrian, Janick and Nicko, the stars aligned perfectly for this and you have created something extrordinary.  Metal gods of the highest order.