The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls

[The Realm]

Awesome stuff Wolfking - some really great detail in those song reviews. I think overall we have very similar thoughts on the album and the songs. But even if we didn’t I would still appreciate you taking the time to provide such detailed analysis. Darkest Hour - what a song! Also really love The Parchment. Also agree that the soloing is top notch and some of the arrangements are less predictable overall than usual and some great lyrics!

[wolfking]

Listening to the Parchment again now.  This instrumental section just keeps going, I fucking love it.  What a jam.

[MirrorMask]

Hell on Earth;

Wow, this chorus is bloody amazing! 

...and as I said, they use it ONCE.

I mean:

No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies
No more lies

A brave new world
In a brave new world
A brave new world
In a brave new world
A brave new world
In a brave new world

Don't you think I'm a saviour
Don't you think I could save you
Don't you think I could save your life

Don't you think I'm a saviour
Don't you think I could save you
Don't you think I could save your life

Don't you think I'm a saviour
Don't you think I could save you
Don't you think I could save your life

Don't you think I'm a saviour
Don't you think I could save you
Don't you think I could save your life


All of this are ok, but they got that chorus for Hell on Earth and they use it only ONCE?  worst decision by Steve Harris since hiring Blaze.

[Architeuthis]

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this album Wolfking, you got me stoked to really want to  delve into this release track by track.   

[wolfking]

All of this are ok, but they got that chorus for Hell on Earth and they use it only ONCE?  worst decision by Steve Harris since hiring Blaze.

I just listened to Hell on Earth again, and the first 7 minutes is fucking outstanding, just incredible.   I'm not sold yet on how it goes into the Wild Wind chugging riff into Jan's solo, but I do like this section from Bruce and it does make sense as I said it does make sense at 9:03 when the guitar melody comes back in.  This back end is taken too much from the Wild Wind structure but again, I'm happy they played around with the structures.  This song feels short as hell to be honest.

[wolfking]

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this album Wolfking, you got me stoked to really want to  delve into this release track by track.   

Thanks mate, I'm just happy people get a kick out of reading my random thoughts.

[TAC]

Kade, I have more to add in response, but outstanding job!
I'm busy all morning and day but I'll get back.

I told you that you would love Darkest Hour.


I get a big Wasting Love vibe from it, especially in the chorus. This song is so much better than what they've tried to do recently (Out Of The Shadows, Man Of Sorrows, ..)

[Lowdz]

Loving the new album. Forty years on and they can still do it.

I’ve always thought that Steve’s bass sound is the problem with the mix. It’s not holding down the bottom end at all and it unbalances things.

And the three guitars don’t help but on an album they don’t all have to be playing all the time. It’s hard enough to get two different guitars to sit right in the mix so three is even worse.

[wolfking]

Kade, I have more to add in response, but outstanding job!
I'm busy all morning and day but I'll get back.

I told you that you would love Darkest Hour.


I get a big Wasting Love vibe from it, especially in the chorus. This song is so much better than what they've tried to do recently (Out Of The Shadows, Man Of Sorrows, ..)

Huh, yeah, I can hear what you mean with Wasting Love, good call.  Yeah, just an incredible song.

[DoctorAction]

Those write-ups were a great read, @wolfking . Nice one.

[Polarbear]

I'm just surprised that Harris managed to come up with four, decent to outstanding epics for this album!

All four here are better than "The Red and the Black", which is one of the worst things Harris has ever written.

Here is how I would rank the epics now:

1. Hell on Earth
2. Lost in a Lost World
3. Death of the Celts
4. The Parchment

And, yeah! Great write-ups Wolf!

[TAC]

All four here are better than "The Red and the Black", which is one of the worst things Harris has ever written.

That mid section is one of the best 5 minutes in their catalog..

[WardySI]

Kade, I have more to add in response, but outstanding job!
I'm busy all morning and day but I'll get back.

I told you that you would love Darkest Hour.


I get a big Wasting Love vibe from it, especially in the chorus. This song is so much better than what they've tried to do recently (Out Of The Shadows, Man Of Sorrows, ..)

Huh, yeah, I can hear what you mean with Wasting Love, good call.  Yeah, just an incredible song.

Fer me it's not The Man Of Sorrows from Book Of Souls but Man Of Sorrows from Bruce's 96 solo album Accident Of Birth that I get from Darkest Hour.  That and plenty Chemical Wedding vibes which is a great thing.

2c

Good read wolf Cheers

[jingle.boy]

I actually don't think there's a huge circle jerk going on anyway. This album has definitely taken some heat here.

As I said, I hadn't been following the thread, but the last 2 pages are more praise than not, and the longest written reviews are extremely positive.  Seems most here are 'gaga' over.

Let's just enjoy it for what it is instead of being frustrated by what it isn't then.

Can't we be neither?

For me, IM is not a peripheral band, but not a Top-5 - they might land in my all-time top-10 (or just outside it).  I've really tried with the last 3 albums, but all of them have largely left me underwhelmed and limp.  Nothing stands out.  The writing and production is bland, the melodies are uneventful, and Bruce gets worse every album - some of the songs I heard yesterday weren't much above a spoken delivery..  If those three albums were released by a 6-pack of 50.60 year old guys in a band called Idle Machine, would anyone have taken notice?  I can't help but think a lot of the adulation is because it's Iron-fucking-Maiden.  It's like watching my elite sports athletes age and try to hang on to the thought they can still play at a top tier.  In hockey terms, I'd much rather watch Matthews/McDavid over Thornton/Chara.  That's what I feel when I listen to Maiden's recent releases ... old and tired.

Again, this is very likely a 'me' thing.  But I'd much rather listen to 'fresh' sounding music than trying to convince myself that this is something I'll grow to like/love.  And it's not just an IM thing - for me, DT is rapidly approaching this camp (if not already there).  I'm fine with bands doing 'by-the-numbers' releases (lots of my fave bands have been doing it for years - Ayreon, Avantasia, Pretty Maids, Vanden Plas).  Same old / same old music can still be good... I just don't find this to be good.  It's like drinking my favorite beverage that's been severely watered down.

It's funny, Kade said the 80 minutes flew by.  For me, it was a chore just to get thru the first "disc".

[KevShmev]

Some of you may (or may not ) be interested to know that Iron Maiden is the next band for whom I am doing a deep dive.  A friend and I have been doing them with bands for about a year now (we do daily album reviews, pick favorite songs from albums, etc,; it is an excuse to talk music and break up the work days a bit), and we are still in the midst of Styx, but I suggested we do Maiden next.  They are his favorite band, and I have always struggled to get into them, so I thought maybe a deep dive where I listen to each album in order might do the trick.  Should be interesting.  Will likely start in a couple weeks once we finish up Styx.  So yeah, I likely will be posting thoughts on them in this thread as we move along, good and bad.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Don't think i've heard Maiden open with a slow track like Senjutsu before, that will work really well live I think. I can already see moody light and fog being used! 

3:08 in The Time Machine is just pure Maiden! 

4:15-4:33 Hmm is that celtic drums or something in the background, don't think that's Nicko or maybe he's using gongdrums...interesting.

Darkest Hour;

I listened to this once and running through it again, that intro which is pure Adrian, I didn't know what to expect, but holy shit this song is amazing.  It's obviously the Coming Home of the album, it really reminds me of that, but darker, and to me, probably more impressive.  Get a real Chemical Wedding vibe from this one to be honest, a real Gates of Urizen feel in the verses along with that Coming Home feel.

I kinda felt that with alot of the songs. Not complaining though.

[DoctorAction]

All four here are better than "The Red and the Black", which is one of the worst things Harris has ever written.

Oh god, yes. I hate that song. 

[Architeuthis]

Book Of Souls is my least favorite out of the reunion era, also with the worst Eddie. I've only heard Senjutsu once and like it better allready.
This leads my to ask,, which is your favorite incarnation of Eddie on the post 2000 albums? 

[TAC]

Some of you may (or may not ) be interested to know that Iron Maiden is the next band for whom I am doing a deep dive.  A friend and I have been doing them with bands for about a year now (we do daily album reviews, pick favorite songs from albums, etc,; it is an excuse to talk music and break up the work days a bit), and we are still in the midst of Styx, but I suggested we do Maiden next.  They are his favorite band, and I have always struggled to get into them, so I thought maybe a deep dive where I listen to each album in order might do the trick.  Should be interesting.  Will likely start in a couple weeks once we finish up Styx.  So yeah, I likely will be posting thoughts on them in this thread as we move along, good and bad.

[Luoto]

Writing on the Wall is a catchy tune and Hell on Earth is alright, but other than that Senjutsu a snoozefest that could use cutting off maybe 20 minutes of it's total runtime. Quality wise it's not much different from the two albums Bruce didn't sing on.

I'm just surprised that Harris managed to come up with four, decent to outstanding epics for this album!

All four here are better than "The Red and the Black", which is one of the worst things Harris has ever written.

TRATB is a mess structurally, but at least it has some good melodies on it. Almost anything over 8 minutes on this album is plain unmemorable to me.

[Zydar]

Yeah, I'm not feeling this album much. Nothing here grabs my interest really. It's not bad, but not mindblowing either.

Although I'm not a big fan of the reunion era, I still keep coming back to the 80s stuff as my favourite albums.

[Glasser]

Yeah, I'm not feeling this album much. Nothing here grabs my interest really. It's not bad, but not mindblowing either.

Although I'm not a big fan of the reunion era, I still keep coming back to the 80s stuff as my favourite albums.

Growing up on early Maiden I never compare era’s as bands age and their own tastes and writing influences change as well. I do agree nothing compares to the early stuff but when I listen to new stuff I go in with an open mind and if it grabs me for what it is that’s great and if it doesn’t, oh well. I do like Senjutsu.

[MirrorMask]

Second spin. I can confirm my initial opinions more or less. Senjutsu is great but would have benefitted from the pace picking up halfway through the song. Time Machine felt better the second time around. Darkest Hour is great. Death of the Celts is as useless as funny, great song. Parchment is interesting, a lot to digest. Hell on Earth would have been a standout track of the reunion era if it would have ended with the chorus repeated again.

[porcacultor]

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this album Wolfking, you got me stoked to really want to  delve into this release track by track.   

Thanks mate, I'm just happy people get a kick out of reading my random thoughts.

Count me in that list!! Your enthusiasm is contagious and I enjoy reading your impressions in general (whether it's of Frequency Unknown or Senjutsu!).

Also, thanks WardySI for the kind words on my post!

I'm glad to see so many people mentioning the 03:09 part in Time Machine, that melody honestly knocked my socks off.

[DoctorAction]

I'm another listen in and I'm loving it. There IS a lot of stuff we've heard before. Of course, there is. That's expected. But it feels like care and attention has been made in the performances and songwriting. There's a really good energy and a beefy sound. It's everything that Book Of Souls wasn't, for me. And I'm not trying to slate that album. I know it's really highly regarded by lots but it feels very different to me.

Its early days but I think this will end up my joint favourite reunion album with DOD.

[Dedalus]

wolfking, amazing job! 

[Dream Team]

Bigger streaming royalties for 2 discs? I sure hope that wasn’t the motive for stretching the songs.

[wolfking]

Cheers all, glad you enjoyed my reaction posts and solo credits.

[wolfking]

All four here are better than "The Red and the Black", which is one of the worst things Harris has ever written.

That mid section is one of the best 5 minutes in their catalog..

Agree with Tim here.

[Dream Team]

Some of you may (or may not ) be interested to know that Iron Maiden is the next band for whom I am doing a deep dive.  A friend and I have been doing them with bands for about a year now (we do daily album reviews, pick favorite songs from albums, etc,; it is an excuse to talk music and break up the work days a bit), and we are still in the midst of Styx, but I suggested we do Maiden next.  They are his favorite band, and I have always struggled to get into them, so I thought maybe a deep dive where I listen to each album in order might do the trick.  Should be interesting.  Will likely start in a couple weeks once we finish up Styx.  So yeah, I likely will be posting thoughts on them in this thread as we move along, good and bad.

Looking forward to it!

[IDontNotDoThings]

Bigger streaming royalties for 2 discs? I sure hope that wasn’t the motive for stretching the songs.

I don't know how it is on other streaming services, but on Spotify, this is not a thing. Artists aren't paid by play time, but by play count, & a song counts as being played after 30 seconds regardless of how long the song actually is. The band would be more insentivised to write lots of short songs (or break their long songs into small parts) than writing a few long ones.

I think they reason why they didn't edit the album to be under 80 minutes is just because they didn't care.

[TAC]

If anything, isn't making a double CD more expensive?

[wolfking]

Second spin in the car today, this album is absolutely outstanding.  Up to the Parchment so looking forward to these last 2 songs on the way home tonight.

Song that jumped out on this second listen was Lost in A Lost World.  That one is brilliant.  Harris has knocked it out of the park on this one.

[Mladen]

Kudos to wolfking for his detailed reviews that got me worked up to spinning the album again today. 

Also, KevSchmev, go for it and let us know if Maiden finally clicks.  I remember being a new DTF member, bumping into your thread of top 50 bands that was going on at the time and being shocked that Maiden isn't on it. I was an 18-year-old that had no idea there were metalheads that didn't have Maiden in their top 50. 

[wolfking]

Thanks MIaden.

The Parchment is amazing.  I absolutely love that Steve threw everything we've ever known about basic song structures on the last 3 tunes.  Complete freeform, long instrumentals and sections never really repeating.  I find this incredible songwriting.