The worst offender repetition-wise is still to come and it's a damn shame 'cause it could have been a great song.
Blood Brothers. Again, I came to Brave New World through Rock in Rio so this was obviously one of the tracks I knew before getting the studio record. My memory is that Blood Brothers wasn't a particular favorite and that it was really long, like 10 minutes plus long. I enjoy it more now although I still would have said that it's a ten minute song so I'm surprised now to see that it's actually "only" a little over seven minutes. The chorus is certainly repetitive but I think the lyrics overall are good and it's one of those songs that I think will be a devastating listen one unfortunate day.
Brave New World The song is OK but maybe just a bit to repetitive in the brave new world parts. Gawd I can only imagine Blaze F'n this up with that grating monotone delivery. I am not sure this is a keeper going to give it a few more spins to determine.
Blood Brothers Not a bad song I think @Cheevyjames pointed out the Celtic vibe and I do like that! I think the song was meant for performing live and that's where it really shines (but hell by the time they played it we'd all be down a few drinks and all of us brothers (and sisters) would be crowd singing along) That being said the repetition of the verses works in the live setting well. Listening to the album version to me however, feels a bit lacking in that the wording and then chorus repetition just don't seem to go anywhere. It's not a bad song by any means and when I feel like it I would listen to it. It just doesn't have the staying power of some of Maidens other songs.
Brave New World I like this one too. I like the guitar work a lot. The “repeating chorus” bug pokes his head in here but it’s not that annoying, like say, No More Lies. It has a bit of an X Factor style intro (like several other songs on this record) but it doesn’t wear out it’s welcome.
Blood Brothers This one isn’t a favorite but it’s ok. It’s pretty fun to sing along with live. The verses almost seem Blaze era-ish. Bruce even sings it a little bit of a lower register.
The Mercenary: And now we meet The Mercenary, written by Janick and Steve, and the lyrics were allegedly inspired by the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Predator. Lyrcially, the song deals with a bounty hunter, not too removed from The Assassin. The song starts with a driving rhythm, with Nicko's hard hitting drums pounding as the guitarists interplay. Not too long before Bruce comes in, and the staccato he uses gives me kind of a Prowler feel. Of course, Prowler is way better, but I think they pull it off well. The song is structured rather well, alternating between up and mid tempo very organically, and Steve holds back and lets the others do their thing. Of course we have to mention the solos by Dave and Adrian at 3:02 and 3:20. On one hand, it seems kind of odd that on a Janick tune, he has no solos. On the other hand, he's a pretty affable guy by all accounts, so I can see him going "you know what, my style doesn't work for this." Dave of course rips it up while Adrian provides the cool down from Dave's firey solo, and once again, it is so good to hear these two bounce off each other. It's like a right and left hand, both need the other to serve the greater whole. I also dig that brief part where it's just Bruce and Nicko, and Nicko in general is really good on this song, providing a strong groove and feel to the song. Overall, I really dig this song, it's a good faster, straightforward Maiden tune. And that's all it needs to be.
I concur with everything. This song is very good. It can’t possibly be about The Predator. Oh god, please tell me that’s wrong. How could someone be inspired to write a song based on The Predator? That would be dumber than Braveheart or Falling Down, which is saying a lot. Was this song one of the holdovers from Virtually XI? I can hear Blaze doing this one.
The Mercenary – Similar theme to “The Assassin” but a stronger song I think. Nothing ground breaking here musically and a bit generic lyrically. In fact, the verses sound a lot like “Prowler” – I’m sure I won’t be the only one that points that out. Despite its deficiencies, this song feels energized. It really jumps out and smacks you in the face. “The Mercenary” doesn’t stack up to the songs before it but a respectable song. 3 stars out of 5. Note: My apologies for this basically being a repeat of Musicman1998's review, but I wrote this a couple weeks ago. We just came to similar conclusions.
Catching up... Blood Brothers Here's where the repetitiveness kicks in. A plodding beat and chorus - the solos just echo the verses. Kudos to Bruce for doing his best, but...no. The Mercenary I hate to sound repetitive, but that repetitive chorus just grates. Nice energy, though, and I really like the solos.
The Mercenary: I haven't heard that song for a few years until right now, and I'm certain I had a much higher opinion of it in the past than I have today! I said before that, after "Brave New World", I would have appreciated something faster than "Blood Brothers" way more - well, here it is, and I think that's the reason I rated it higher then. Now, I think of it as the first real low on the album. Quite repetitive, and yes, it screams the vocal monotony of the Bayley-era all the way through. Bah. I guess I never thought of it as bad as today. Still, I really like the guitar riff right after the chorus/between the repetion of the chorus, and the best part of the song is that Nicko/Bruce trick - nice! Albeit I can see a similarity to the verses' riff to Prowler, I don't think it's a rewrite or something intended like that. It's just near a motif IM already used, not a copy. And just in case it really is a leftover from the Blaze-days , it gets a "filler!" mark on top, as being only brought in out of necessity. Unneccessary.
Brave New World is just not as good as I remember it to be. It has some great highs (The Wicker Man, Ghost Of The Navigator, Out Of The Silent Planet, The Thin Line Between Love And Hate), but it's also repetitive and boring at times. I vastly prefer Dance Of Death as an overall album. I guess I'm getting ahead of the game a little here, but oh well.
I fall into I LOVE THIS record camp for Brave New World. I saw them on this tour with openers Queensryche and Halford (Rob's solo band). I've always felt the record was very good. Is it my fav, no. It is my favorite of reunited lineup with either Powerslave or Killers being my all time favorite.
The Mercenary Theres a common factor that links all of the reunion albums and that is that each one contains a song that seems out of place. The Mercenary is a really good song but after the likes of Navigator and Brave New World, Mercenary seems tacked on. Its got to be one of the V11 leftovers. Again, I like this one and never skip it but somethings not right. Maybe if it was the lead track? I like the singing on the verses and the staccato effect Bruce employs as Musicman1998 points out. The band must of thought highly of it as well as it was played live on tour. Catchy chorus. 2.5/5
The Mercenary - Yes, the chorus is repetitive, but discounting that, the song uses the classic Iron Maiden formula (fast verse riff, sustained chord chorus, solo + little harmonized guitar instrumental) to great effect, without sounding cliche.
The Mercenary Another good solid song. Listened to it a few times and it's grown on me. I'm not sure it fits tempo wise with the song before it as it feels like a rocker and not an epic. The live version @MusicMatt is great but its like its definitely a Blaze era carry over.
The Mercenary As stated in the album intro, this song was written for Virtual XI, but didn't make the cut for some reason. I'm glad they didn't waste this song on that album, even if it would've improved it. The verse is a bit choppy, but I really like the heaviness of it. Bruce's singing is good on the pre-chorus and chorus, though the lyrics to the chorus are unimaginative. Gotta repeat them for extra emphasis Like y'all said, it's basically The Assassin Pt 2. Dave's solo is a million notes of nothing, but Adrian's is pretty decent. The production is so muddy on this song, just no definition to what we're hearing. The chorus just repeats too much in this song. After going through it, it feels like a VXI song although a bit better because it's pretty heavy in places. It's disappointing that they could only come up with 7 new songs and had to use some from the previous album. The song doesn't outright suck, but it's only ok. I've never been that positive on the song, I always thought it "ok", but when I found out it was from the VXI period it made sense.
The Mercenary Sorry but to me this is terrible. Sure, superficially it's not the worst song they ever did but it's lack of any reason to exist makes it no more listenable to me than "Weekend Warrior." Another "The Haberdasher" or "The Actuary" or whatever job title song about a war-related "profession" that largely exists in the fantasies of little boys and, of course, action movies. Musically there is nothing new on offer here. I can't imagine for what purpose I would ever listen to it again. On another note, Brave New World sounds a bit better than its successors but still, what's up with the drums? It's like banging on cardboard boxes.
The Mercenary Might have been written for Virtual XI but its elevated by having a half decent singer. Having played it yesterday...its actually better than I remember. Nothing special but not filler.... 3/5
Ok, so Janick brought some of the riffs from the White Spirit days to the song "The Mercenary". This is something I think I never knew before. Might have seen somewhere but can't exactly recall.
BNW may have some dull sections but Dance of Death has parts that are just downright embarrassing, compositionally.
"The Mercenary", this is actually good song, classic upbeat rocker. It's got energy and groove. Always liked it no matter what people have said of it through the years and it ain't the worst on the album for me. Maybe it was left out of V11 for good reason, maybe it didn't work then the way it was meant to or something (we don't know), I think it was good not to waste or forgot it totally but luckily it was included here instead. I always think of the openers on couple albums ("Wildest Dreams" on Dance Of Death & "Different World" on The Matter Of Life And Death) when Im listening to this one, it could have been opening song aswell. Maybe this song had somewhat difficult spot on the album, I can agree as this is sort of song not belonging as the previous songs were more progressive and lenghty songs and the one after this one is also lenghty one. Feels like this is just some little rocker song placed between the more complicated and more emotionally charged pieces, but it serves as nice change of pace and feeling. I like the driving feel and rhythm of the song as it starts and I like the arrengement, alternating between mid and up tempo. I think Maiden really needs these kind of more straight to the point, straightforward burst and energetic rockers. Especially if most of their songs nowadays tend too easily stray to epic-lenghts. I think this uses the formula of the past, that we've surely used to, but also it has that more modern edge to it and also they've not guilty of trying to rehash the past ideas. A classic Maiden rocker done with fresh mind and attitude. The solos are ok (weird not having Janick contribute solo on his own song?), Dave's more hasty fast piece consisting of many notes, but Adrian's solo brings it down a bit more and then after that the whole 3 players gather round for some nice unison, after that we get that nice little part, where it's just Bruce and Nicko is nice treat and trick really as it works and then the whole band comes crashing back to the final chorus. Good performance from Bruce here though the whole song. I don't mind the repeating here in the song, it's not the first time to happen but I can agree and understand anybody who concerns it a big problem in Maiden's newer catalogue. I try to view and comment each song on the album and give it fair rank and review. I've only thought each album as it's totally own thing and keeping them separated, so I won't be doing any comparison to the other songs from the past albums. This song gets the deserved rank 4/5 from me.