When this thread started I wasn't in an Iron Maiden mood and I didn't play the remasters much, which were all I had. Iron Maiden on CD just doesn't do it for me. I've been intending to buy the vinyl again for ages, but I wanted the original UK vinyl albums as that's what I bought at the time and know the sound of. About three weeks ago Piece of Mind & Powerslave turned up in my local record shop so I bought them. I then thought 'sod it, I'm buying them all now while I'm in the mood to'. It's been an expensive month! So far I've bought: Iron Maiden Killers Number of the Beast Piece of Mind Powerslave Live After Death Somewhere In Time Seventh Son of a Seventh Son No Prayer For the Dying all UK first pressings in near perfect condition. Live After Death has the booklet & Powerslave has the textured sleeve. For the singles I have been mostly buying the 2014 reissues as most originals had flimsy paper covers which are hard to find in nice condition. The reissues have better quality card sleeves. I have: Running Free Sanctuary Women In Uniform (original 12") Twilight Zone Purgatory Run to the Hills Number of the Beast (original red vinyl) Flight of Icarus The Trooper Aces High 2 Minutes to Midnight I intend to get reissues of Fear of the Dark & the Bruce comeback era onwards as I don't like picture discs and the original Fear is rare. I will get the rest of the 80s singles on 12" as I see them. There's some decent B-sides on them. But these can wait as I've spent a lot. It's surprised me how little I played the CDs in over 15 years, yet having them on vinyl again has had me playing them every day and loving them. Maiden in the 80s is sublime.
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns I love this one. I was annoyed when it was on the original setlist for the TFF US leg then was dropped for overplayed Wrathchild on the second show. I wanted to hear it, since I didn’t get to see the tour for the album. The Pilgrim As someone already mentioned, the vocal melodies harken back to solo Bruce a bit. It’s a good song but not one I revisit all that often.
The Longest Day This one doesn’t do much for me, but Bruce is straight fire. One of his best performances.
I'm guessing that's why they sometimes sing lyrics about movies (Falling Down, Brave heart, Predator) and if the lyrics don't matter than why then hell even try. Lol
These Colours Don’t Run Not a bad song, Like that intro and little guitar sound thingy they have going on. I had to listen to it a few times and its kind of growing.
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns This song is not really doing it for me. I do think Nicko's drumming is really good. I like how he does that quick step beat and then goes right back to the song tempo. Really Cool! His drumming for me made the song feel shorter. I also like the "Out of the darkness" echo thingy Bruce has going on, it's very cool as well. The issues I have with this song is it feels like its going in to many directions and doesn't get to any in a satisfying way. I will give it a couple more listens just in case its a grower.
The Longest Day (Smith, Harris, Dickinson) I absolutely love the slow build of this song. Bruce's voice is fantastic, and all the guys just perfectly get more and more intense as it goes on. Bruce's lyrics are incredibly descriptive. It's odd, I love the verse section and the pre-chorus is fine, and while I like the chorus on its own, I don't think it works following that awesome buildup. I don't know what they should be doing, but it's never felt right the way it is. I like all the parts, just not together. Still, I don't let that disrupt my enjoyment of the song, because I absolutely love the verse buildup. It's incredibly effective and one of the singular best moments on the album. Bruce's "We will prevail!" is excellent. The riff for the musical bridge is excellent, as is the awesomely heavy 6/4 section that follows. Adrian wrote the music for this song so of course he unleashes this excellent solo and the cool harmony part. Another heavy riff follows then we reprise the harmony part. I love how Adrian has such a perfect sense of how Iron Maiden should sound. Dave gets a good solo and we head back and reprise everything from earlier in the song. My weird issues about the chorus aside, I freaking love this song and it's one of the songs from AMOLAD that I listen to a lot. Great stuff.
The Longest Day – The song builds nicely. Bruce sounds angry, intense and menacing. The drums are really cool in that section as well. Soaring and classic pre-chorus. Unique melody in the proper chorus that I think works well. “Blood and sand, we will prevail!!” I like how Bruce yells that with conviction. This song likely goes on longer than it should but still a solid track. 3.5 stars out of 5
Doh! I think I somehow forgot to add this on tuesday, but here it goes still if it's possible: Happy 9th Anniversary to the "Flight 666 - The Original soundtrack" live-album (documenting the bands first leg of 2008's "Somewhere Back In Time"-tour) which was originally released on may 22nd, 2009. I might post couple of these important dates, anniversaries or other important events but Im not gonna keep checking these daily. Once in a while if I remember some important one, I will post here it here if needed. Gonna catch up with the thread and add my little review of "The Longest Day" later today..
"The Longest Day", another epic war themed song and this time it's about the D-Day landing in the Normandy. This is somewhat feeling like a cousin to "Paschendale" or perhaps some distant symbolic sequel. Already from the intro it feels really like painting picture and setting certain tone into my mind as we're getting into the setting. I like the whole slow and moody intro, then building it a bit by bit, but not taking too giant leaps at all. I like it and it's done examplary well. This is even more powerful description of the war, the men there and while "Paschendale", was great epic war story, this one is actully a bit deeper look to the soldier there, I can so sense the feelings. Very cinematic lyrics. Here we're taken into the action, but never actually leave that person and the listener can so sense the surroundings and happenings, as we're so tied to the being there. I can so easily imagine the beach and the soldiers. The plenty of things happening and going here, I can so easily sense the whole atmosphere, the tension, the horrors, the desperation, the death present and all the different moods that the persons are the going while thinking of it all happening there. Surviving, hoping to be alive and all the madness of war embodied before their eyes. Horrible, terrible visions.. This is truly great song, Bruce's voice and interpretation is the true highlight of the song, he just adds the drama, the feelings and the tension it all here, this is one of his finest performances from the reunion-era. I like the lyrics, which are terrific and very cinematic. The instrumental-section that we get in the middle is great and there's the usual glorious twin harmony and also two great solos (from Adrian and Dave). Im not sure if was fully sold on this song when I heard it that day when the album was released, of course I liked it but as I witnessed the live-show (where Maiden played the whole album live) it really made instant click with me and I got hooked. Too bad no official live-album/dvd from the tour was ever released (maybe someday it will be?). Ever since that experience I've held this song really high on the reunion-era and it's absolutely amazing song. I love AMOLAD and this is among their finest albums ever. Everytime I listen to this, I have think of watching certain scenes from "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band Of Brothers". I will give this song the full ranks 5/5 that is surely deserves.
The Longest Day Big album-favorite of mine! Great chorus, great build-up and, at around 6.12, glorious vintage Maiden harmonies! When I heard that melody a few minutes ago, I first thought 'hey, what's recycled that from?!', just to realize shortly after that this is in fact not buried out of the past, but the 'original' - so memorable that I thought it had to be old stuff! But let's get back to the start: As I said before, the build-up is great and effective, perfect, so to say, same with that giant chorus. BTW, I don't think I'm ever able to hear it again without the backing vocals ('so long...') so clear in that Stockholm gig provided by Cheevyjames! Then there's that bridge... I don't want to say I have a problem with the bridge, but it's my first of two weaker spots in that song: As Cheevyjames pointed out, something could be better. I think that a faster-played motif here could raise the whole song AND let the chorus shine in an even more effective way. Furthermore, the bridge sounds quite similar to the chorus of "These Colors Don't Run" - concept album disease, eh? The instrumental part starts at around 4.40 in quite known territory, but executed in fabulous style, and leads into a grinding riff which again serves well to depict the horrors of D-Day - I love how Maiden can paint with their sounds! The solo at 5.24 is better than its rhythmic ground, and at at 5.39 we arrive at my favorite part of the album so far: First, we get a taster of the harmony I talked about before, a drummy bridge, and then that superb harmony, worked-out to full blossom in classic twin-guitar-style - gimme more of that! A few people talked about a mistake played by Nicko - can it be that it's here at 6.45? It definitely sounds strange, and it marks my second, weak spot in "The Longest Day". Maybe they did indeed finally edit the song here (a third verse?), but didn't do it that good, or it's the part where Nicko messed it up, I don't know. Alright, let's see what's coming next here!
The Longest Day: Definitely my favorite song on the album. Great bass intro and then, like Brighter than a Thousand Suns, a slower catchy groove that the band can then build upon as the song progresses. Bruce sings with feeling and tells a great tale of the storming of Normandy Beach that makes you feel like you are there with the soldiers, waiting to head to possible death. Again with the pre chorus and then chorus, but both are catchy. Maiden are one of the only bands that I listen to that consistently sings war songs, not my typical topic i seek out, but boy do they do it well and keep it exciting. I love the way the speed picks up at 4:35 as we head into some great riffs and then a scorching solo by H, followed by some great harmonies then ratatat drumming/riffing and another great solo, this time by Dave, winding up a great two minute instrumental section. One last chorus and we close with that slow opening groove. On this album, the slower opening and closing sections really work in my opinion. This is a pretty great song, not just in relation to the other songs on this album but in relation to their overall catalogue. To paraphrase Sammy, I can only give it 5 out of 5, as it deserves!
Holy crap, yet another fantastic song in "The Longest Day"! That whole intro with the buzzy guitar tone makes me tingle a bit, the vocal drives and drives, building tension as the drums come in...how can a genre band three decades into their career actually be better than they ever were before, especially after so many years of scraping the bottom of the barrel? Has any other band of this type ever done that? I LOVE when the second verse comes in and we get the buzz guitar again alongside the venomous vocals and the propulsive bass. The "Valhalla waits" line, screw it, that whole verse is great. And lyrically, look, I think songs about war are a cheap metal band copout but the words on this album (and for "Montesgur" and "Paschendale") are much better than the juvenile war lyrics of their past; they're generally worthwhile and sometimes genuinely moving. I absolutely listen to this album way more than any other from Maiden, including the 80s albums (the debut excepted), and going through it again now I am more than ever certain it's the best thing they ever did. And the best song is still yet to come.
It is truly masterpiece and great album, I would rank it among their finest achievements. This is it big time and it doesn't have any shame if talked in the same sentence as the 80's albums. No skipping needed when listening to the album and each song on the album is great. When it was released my absolute favorite was "For The Greater Good Of Good" but now thinking the whole album has great flow, I need all those songs. Even the last songs are crown-jewels here, so maybe I have some fan-glasses on here. Hopefully thanks to this thread, some people will finally (hopefully) understand that there are newer albums worth checking for if you haven't explored them yet. Maiden really nailed it on this one and their contemporaries should have taken notice.
As you know from this thread I am probably the most critical here when it comes to what almost everyone considers their peak 80s output, but I was shocked by AMOLAD when it came out and it has not diminished in my estimation one bit in the dozen years since. I've even been listening to the next song over the past few days and I don't dislike it nearly as much as I used to. "For The Greater Good Of Good" is my third-favorite Dickinson song. Number two is, amazingly, on The Final Frontier.
Out Of the Shadows: We come to Out Of the Shadows, written by Bruce and Steve, and a ballad. We start with a repeating beat, that honestly could be shaven to about three or four bars, but once the actual song kicks in, I hear some Prodigal Son in this, and I mean that positively, and Bruce sounds a lot like Di’Anno on the verses while still very much himself, he is amazing on this song. Great playing as well from the guitarists as well, very tasty from Dave as well as a stunning solo from Adrian at 2:32. Best song on the album, I said it, awesome song.
Out of the Shadows (Dickinson, Harris) I wonder why the credit is listed with Bruce's name first? That usually denotes the primary music writer. Maybe it was just a typo? All lyrics and vocal melodies sound like Bruce, so maybe it is. The intro is fine, we've heard similar things before. The slow part (verse) also reminds me of something, but I can't quite figure it out. Sounds like standard Maiden. I say that, but in truth it sounds really good and genuine. Love Adrian's little burst of mini-solo before the vocals and throughout the verses/choruses. The chorus features Bruce sounding great, but it's not that exciting. OK, I figured it out, the majority of this song sounds like Wasting Love. Really good solo by Adrian, nice and melodic. The change at 3:30 is different and Steve does some nice bass runs. The transition back is kind of clumsy. Sounds like Davey gets the ending guitar fill, that's nice to hear. Bruce's final vocal line doesn't sound like it really finishes the story. I enjoy this song, but it's pretty formulaic and I don't love it. I truth I actually forget it exists until I hear it. Out of the Shadows works well in context of the whole album, it's a nice change of pace between the tense Longest Day and more epic-sounding Breeg. It's a good song, but one I don't ever single out to listen to.
Out Of The Shadows Wow, things happen... until it was mentioned that this was a ballad, I didn't have it in memory as one! As the chorus is quite memorable, I remembered it in an instant - but boy, was I surprised that it's really a mostly acoustic song! Maybe because it's buried in the depths of a war-themed album, IDK... And IMHO, it sounds much more like "Son Of A Gun" than "Wasting Love". What shall I think of it? Well, apart from the catchy chorus which I really like, there's nothing wrong with the song. I really think of it more as a Bruce Dickinson-solo-number than a Maiden-number. While it's not that great or attention-grabbing, THIS, to me, is a classic album track: a song that wouldn't do much taken out of its context, but is still much more than a mere filler. I guess the boys had their fun with it, and it's a sign that they don't take themselves too serious. So, as a breath of fresh air on a really dark album, I like it exactly as what it is. On top, it's definitely better than real filler stuff like "Face In the Sand" or "Age Of Innocence". Nice'n cool.
Out of the Shadows A song about being born huh? For me this is the first bump in the road for this album. I find the verses boring, although I do like the lyrics. The chorus is alright but too "Fear of the Dark era" for me. Its not a skipper track but its also never gonna make a greatest hits comp either. I do really like what's going on with the guitars at the 3:30 mark. 2/5
Out of the Shadows I like this. Just something a little different from the formula the band seemed to have become comfortable with. Not anything I'd rave about but not one to skip either. 3/5
Out of the Shadows I like how it starts out loud, and then gets moody. A good build up. Good call @Musicman1998 on the Paul Di'Anno-esque vocals in the verses. The rest of the vocals are pure Bruce, and he kills it. This song has a nice, epic feel to it. Then we come to the 3:30 mark and there's an awkward bridge and solo. The song comes back and finishes strong, though. A solid Maiden track, anchored by Bruce.
Out of the Shadows: Musicman mentioned Prodigal Son, and i don’t disagree, but to my ears i always hear a bit Children of the Damned. And like that song, i see this one as a bit of an underrated sleeper. Like CotD, this one kind of hides away, overshadowed (no pun intended) by the other standouts on their respective albums. I mean, I am not going to put CotD ahead of Hallowed, Prisoner, Run or the title track on NotB, but that does not make it any less of a damn fine song. For another band, it might well be the greatest song of their career, which just speaks volumes about how frickin’ great Maiden is. Same here. Out if the Shadows would be world class by almost any other band, here it just isn’t going to take front and center on AMOLAD when it has to compete with Longest Day and Brighter than a Thousand Suns among other reunion era Maiden classics. Taken alone though, which this thread forces you to do, what’s not to like? Great acoustics, awesome soloing by Adrian, Bruce alternately crooning and belting it out, awesome drumming by Nicko, it has it all. Sure, they’ve done it before, but so what. Half the people on this thread are bitching that all the reunion albums are comprised of songs that are too long, too repetitive, effectively not 80s enough, and here they throw us a bone, so I say thanks and thumbs up. Actually, although it’s not a barn burner, and is really arguably a ballad of sorts, I submit that this song might have been a better choice for the lead off single from the album. I love it.
