Let's finish this off;
5. Judas Be My Guide
Another oddball choice, but Maiden's most underrated tune. This song fucking rules. Dave nailed this one and one of the shortest songs in Maiden's catalog. Hidden deep at the end of FOTD, this just rips. A real different vibe here, and I don't even know how to really catorgarize it. Was always a fav and just love the energy, the pulsing vibe, the pace, Bruce's evil style vocal delivery and Dave shreds.
D minor and that intro solo sets the tone. This one is similar in Rainmaker in structure and I think Dave took some inspiration from this song when he wrote Rainmaker. That pedal point style riffing in the chorus is cool. It's simple, but oh so good. That bridge works really well too, but Dave during the solo tears it up. FOTD IMO might be Dave's best lead playing all round. He's just on fire and this shows. It finishes quick but not before Dave dabbles again. Underrated as hell this song. A shame is was never represented live.
All leads - Dave
4. Caught Somewhere in Time
This one doesn't seem to get a lot of love. This was one of the first Maiden songs I tried to play and spent years trying to get it right. This is quite a technically difficult song. The rhythm is fast as hell and a great workout for your picking hand. Love the intro and a PERFECT intro to the album. The use of synths is promintent straight away but I fell in love with it from the get go. Steve's bass is strong here too. That second section of harmonies rips. Love the use of the harmonic minor at the end too.
The gallop here in the verses is frantic, really frantic. E minor but the 'time is always on my side' section reverts to A. I love everything going on here, it sounds really heavy. Love those Maidenesque harmonies over the heavy fast atmosphere too. I love the repeated lyrics in the chorus too. I LOVE that pickslide in the second line of the chorus. That riff before the solos is fucking hard to play too, good shit.
The solos are classic IMO, and tricky. Dave is in D minor and it's strict D minor here. His tone is warm, warmer than normal for him. The whammy bar work is simple and inspired, and works so well with the accents of Nicko's drumming. This is probably one of Dave's more challenging solos. Adrian brightens things shifting to E minor. He has a lot of cool shit going on too. The rundown on the Aeolin mode straight up is a nice simple touch. That subtle whammy bar work of his first bend too at 4:05 is so understated. The next section is so Shenker like with the bluesy touch. That slide down also at 4:15 is so fucking cool. His tapping through this section too also is quite inspired especially that last chromatic rundown. So clever and cool.
The song never lets up and busts your balls for 7 minutes. Never understood it being underrated, I top 5 for me.
Solo 1 - Dave
Solo 2 - Adrian
3. Aces High
The first Maiden song I ever heard. I use to watch a late night music program called RAGE on Friday and Saturday nights. I use to tape sections as it went all night. They use to have artists guest programming the show playing their fav tunes. Marylin Manson was the artist one night and one weekend morning I loaded up the tape to skip through and see what I could find. He played a lot of good stuff. I skipped through and the intro of the Aces High vid caught my attention. The hair, the leather, the stage presence, I gave it a listen. It seemed cheesy at the time but watching it, I though it was amazing but was hard to admit it. That changed my life eventually. To be honest, because I was a young kid in school listening to what was cool and popular, I kind of wrote this off. I was trying to conform and whatnot and the image of the band and the older nature of the video, I did my best to dismiss it. It kept coming back to me, and I slowly kept coming back to it. A young high school student became his own person and the metal attitude of being yourself, not conforming and not giving a fuck what other people thought was born in me from this video. It shaped me as a guitar player too, metal was it and it hasn't changed to this day.
Everything about this song is metal. This could be Maiden's best chorus, it's simply incredible. The key change from E to G is amazing. Bruce shows on this track why he has his nickname. Musically it's cool. A minor mostly but key changes to E in the verse to build tension. Nice shift to B for Adrian's solo too. The guitar harmonies are just beautiful.
Solo 1 - Dave
Solo 2 - Adrian
2. Powerslave
Aces High was a metal awakening but Powerslave was my guitar awakening. I adored this tune right from the moment I heard it. Bruce writing this solo is an incredible thought and shows his strength as an artist. This song was probably I think the very first songs I tried to play along with CSIT and a few others. The groove, the phrygian dominant, the riffing, the chorus, just a brilliant metal track that I have never gotten bored with. That main riff is a fucking ball breaker. The chorus is epic and so simple with the E/C/D progression. The solo is the highlight. I spend soooooo long trying to learn this. I had to come back to it many times to try and get it right. Dave's first solo is a thing of legends. The atmosphere, the tone, the tension and the climax is just brilliant. All b minor, strict b minor with many blues and dare I say Shenker elements. Adrian kicks in with a classic Adrian solo in b minor. There's a few standard licks in these solo that this is the place I learned these simple, classic blues licks. that smear lick at 3:39 was my intoduction to this lick and took and age to get right.
Those middle harmonies are magic and works so well in the live setting. Dave comes back in with another solo to bookmark his work. Some nice little harmonic minor in there too. It's funny based on the phrygian dominant nature of the songs the solos are strict minor, but you don't miss that phrygian vibe, very nice. Just a classic song, love it and so many memories learning the guitar with this one.
Solo 1 - Dave
Solo 2 - Adrian
Solo 3 - Dave
1. Sign of the Cross
It's hard to pinpoint why this is my fav song from Maiden, but it just is. The X Factor I think was the third album I got from Maiden after TNOTB and NPFTD. I was shoked by what I heard, but like No Prayer, I had no real knowledge or affiliation with the band beforehand, so I took this album for what it is and enjoyed it from the get go. The darkness, the depression, the mood everything about it, is perfect to me, and this represents it. I would sit up late listening to this album with headphones. I'd be at school wanting to get home to listen to this.
The moody intro is creepy and done so well. Blaze is perfect here in the intro. The alomst 3 minute buildup is justified before it gets going in typical Maiden form. Pure E minor. I've always liked Blaze and love him here. His passion, emotion and effort is excellent. I love the slight off key nature in his vocals in the chorus. He's putting so much effort in, it's slightly off and raw. I know people cringe but I have no issues with it. I love how short the verses and chorus are compared to the instrumental section.
This is Maiden now doing some prog. First we have key changes from E to D to give that evil feel. After the epic quiet section, that flattened fifith note is tasty. The off timing going on here is incredible too. Nicko is brilliant on this track. The shift in the key changes is great too. 7:07 is absolutely unbelievable, almost Dream Theater like to me. So heavy and dark and just the key changes keep coming. It explodes into a Maiden melody and the solos rip. Dave is first and explodes into a brilliant tapping section. Such energy and the song just takes off. That blues note lick at 8:26 is a great touch. Janick switches up to G minor for a typical Janick style solo. Great licks and love the strangled bend to finish the solo, so good.
Afterwards we come to another classic Maiden section and finish off with another chours. The ending like the beginning is the icing on the cake. Again, not completely sure why this is number 1, it's just a complete package for me. If I were picking a song to represent Maiden, I don't think this would be anywhere near the top, but it's my number 1 song.
Solo 1 - Dave
Solo 2 - Janick
Thanks for reading!!
Topic: Iron Maiden Song Ranking Thread (Currently Ranking: Mister Gold) (Read 29027 times)