Mordred

It's Iron Maiden week on MSotD so sit back and relax we celebrate the release of Dance of Death

"Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Iron Maiden from '84s Powerslave Powerslave is probably my favorite Maiden album because it has everything. Killer singles ("Aces High", "2 minutes To Midnight"), an amazing instrumental ("Losfer Words"), a beautiful cover and the epic masterpiece "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". This was Maiden's first really long track (13+ minutes) and was an excellent experiment at melding '70s progressive stylings with a metal feel. Plus it tells a good story which any epic song should do well. A true highlight on an album filled with them.

jk4w

Its weird that you mention Maiden because right now im listening to the song CRIONICS by Slayer off of the Show No Mercy album & this song has a total Maiden riff in it.
The guitar team of Murray & Smith have influenced many.

edclem

Fantastic cd. My second favorite Maiden (tops is Somewhere in Time)
They really need to release this concert video on DVD in R1. SOON! (obviously , I'm referring to the Live After Death Video)

Mordred

S.I.T. is my 2nd favorite Maiden release... although it's real close to this one

Hollow Man

This album rocks. But don't forget "Flash of the Blade". The riff in it is killer.

-HM

Flashback

Ah the famous Coleridge poem that Maiden made into an awesome song. Great album too.

I saw this performed on the Powerslave tour at Radio City Music Hall. Awesome stage on that tour (so was the 7th Son stage).

Snowmaker

That song actually inspired me to read the entire poem.

Mordred

"Paschendale" by Iron Maiden from Dance of Death The new Dance of Death album is out and all I can say is that it's amazing. I haven't listened to the album as much as I'd like yet, so I don't want to give it any kind of rating right now, but it certainly sounds great on initial listen. "Paschendale" was one song that really struck me the first time through. It's the recounting of a famous World War I battle as only Iron Maiden could tell it. The song is as epic and grandious as the subject matter and just makes for great listening all around. For those who haven't picked up their copy of Dance, I say give this one a listen and then go grab a copy.

I wasn't able to post yesterdays MSotD to the newsgroup, but this one is up now if you want a listen.

Jason

Okay, I wasn't overly impressed with the "Wildest Dreams" single, but if they're doing songs about WWI battles, I'm there! Always loved their more epic works.

raiders757

ROTAM is one of the greatest metal epics ever written. I remember my English Lit. teacher, way back in the day, borrowed my Live After Death VHS to show this song to the class. It's funny this showed up as your metal song of the day, the other day. I hadn't heard it in a while. My friend has that XM radio thingy, and when he pulled it out, while we were tailgateing before the Nascar race in Richmond Va. last Sat., that was the first song that came on. I couldn't beleave it. It was a great way to start a great day.

As for the Powerslave album. It is one of thier best, but as far as I'm concerned, Piece of Mind is by far, the best Maiden album. Powerslave was a pefect follow up to such a masterpiece.

Paschendale

It's songs like Paschendale, that set Iron Maiden apart from most every other metal band. It might even be one of the best, if not THE best, songs penned by the band since the 7th Son album. I've only heard it twice now(only had the CD a few hours), and at first I was only a little impressed with the song, but the second time, it blew me away. A Maiden classic, that's a fact for sure.

As for the DOD album. I need to hear it a few times before I give my final opinion. So far(after two listenings) I like it better than Brave New World. There are a few songs that will need a little more time to grow on me, but overall it is a great album. I find it to be a bit different than any other album they have released so far, but at the same time it reminds me of a few different eras at once.

SAShepherd

As someone who is definitely not a metal fan, I just wanted to chime in and say that ROTAM is a great song. I remember hearing it for the first time in a high school English class and thinking, I probably wouldn't like this on a regular basis, but every now and then that'd be pretty cool.

Mordred

"The Tower" by Bruce Dickinson from '98s The Chemical Wedding The Chemical Wedding is Bruce's personal exploration of the works of William Blake and as such the lyrics are long on poetry and meaning. "The Tower" is easily the best song on the album and probably the best track Bruce had worked on since his departure from Iron Maiden. The song is filled with all the little nuances that helped make Maiden such a great band. The influence of Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith is certainly on this album (as well as Accident of Birth) has he provides a bridge between the groups. Of course "The Tower" isn't the only great song on this album: "Gates of Urizen" is a more progressively styled cut that fully displays Dickinson's amazing voice, while the crushing "Machine Men" proves that the Dickinson/Smith combination is one for the ages. Of course it would be remiss of me not to mention the brilliant effort from guitarist/producer/co-writer Roy Z who ably helped this album become the masterpiece it truly is. The Chemical Wedding is the best of Dickinson solo and highly recommended for any Maiden fan.

Mordred

"The Trooper" by Iron Maiden '83s Piece of Mind Rounding out Iron Maiden week is my favorite song of the band's "The Trooper". This is a quite simply a metal masterpiece and easily one of the greatest metal singles of all time. Even people who don't like Maiden have to admit that the Trooper is a solid track. Of course the rest of Piece of Mind is amazing with such hits as "Flight of Icarus", "Where Eagles Dare" and "Die With Your Boots On". This is generally considered the band's finest moment and while I give the ever so slight edge to Powerslave, Piece of Mind is probably an even more essential album to have in your collection.

Flashback

Love this album.... I haven't played guitar that much in 6-7 years but I can always pick one up, anywhere I see one and rip the intro and verse (very well still....thank you) of The Trooper and smile.

Still..I will always pick Number of the Beast as my favorite from these guys....

Rypro 525

guess I'll have to buy some Maiden soon, I sadly don't have any.

Mordred

Funny story: several years ago I was hanging out with a friend just screwing around on guitar improvising. All of a sudden from nowhere I busted the intro riff out. This was before I really knew as much as I do now about metal and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what the song was. I knew I'd heard it and that it was from the mid-80s but I didn't have a clue other than that and neither did my friend, but we both knew it sounded great.

Of course now I'm shocked that I didn't realize what it was but it always impresses me that just noodling around I was able to come up with the Trooper riff from some dark recess of my subconcious. That's great song writing folks

(And yes, now I can play the entire song in the right key and right tempo hehe)

raiders757

I've got to get off my butt one day and go get the Chemical Wedding album. I don't know why, but for some reason, I never got into the Bruce solo stuff. I liked his debut Tat. Millionare, but wasn't to impressed with it at the same time, so for some dumb reason I never really gave any of the other Bruce stuff a listening to, untill recently. I think what it was, was I didn't like the direction Bruce went with TM, so I just didn't bother with any of his other stuff. Not very Maiden fanish of me I must say, but in those days I was becomeing very disinchanted with the entire music industry. I hardly ever bought music anymore at all, and was fed up to the point I eventually boycotted everything. So it wasn't like I just ignoreing ol' Bruce, it was everybody.


The song "The Tower" kicks!! For a second there, you would almost think that Wrathchild was coming on, but only for a second. This song is even better than a lot of Maiden songs that came out in the 90's. Great tune!!


The Trooper!!!!!!!!

A classic Heavy Metal jam from my favorite Iron Maiden album Piece of Mind. I just love it when Iron Maiden do war songs. Makes me all happy inside. The POM album had some great war songs with Where Eagles Dare, The Trooper, and Die With Your Boots On. If your a fan of metal and do not have the POM album, then your collection is not complete. I would sugest putting down what you are doing, and going to get it asap.


Rypro 525 - "guess I'll have to buy some Maiden soon, I sadly don't have any"

Yes, very soon. I would suggest Piece of Mind(imagine that), but don't forget to pick up the new album Dance of Death.


UP THE IRONS!!!!!!

edclem

picked up Dance of Death and the Visions of the Beast DVD today

Jason

I went to pick up Dance of Death at Best Buy on Saturday and they were sold out! Didn't have a chance to stop anywhere else to get one , but it's cool to see them selling so well

sho kosugi

Where Eagles Dare

Aces High

Somewhere in Time

can't ask for three stronger opening tracks!