Iron Maiden Battle... Classic Epics VS. Modern Era Epics!

On episode 359, we take what the polls from Gen Marutani, which ranked the top 7 Classic Era Epics and pit them up against the top 7 Modern Era Epics! What you get is an epic battle! Get it, epic, battle!? Well anyways, we do our best to choose as these are all top notch songs! Thank you Gen for the idea!  

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Hello, and welcome to Uncle Steve's Mega Maiden Zone. My name is Uncle Steve, and this week we are going to be having a battle of maiden epics. And to have that battle, first of all, on the line with me, all the way over in Perth, Australia, I have everybody's favorite, Kirsty Prince, on the line. How are you, Kirsty?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Hello, I'm very well, thank you. How are you?

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Doing alright, doing alright. Next up, I have everybody's least favorite, straight up I-35 in Kansas City. Well, you know, I mean, between the three of us at least. Well, no, that I would probably be the least favorite. My favorite. Okay, I'm the least favorite, so uh I already introduced the least favorite person, which is me, the second to the least favorite, the the witty one from Perth, Australia, originally, but up in Kansas City right now in the United States. I got Matt on the line. How are you, Matt?

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Oh, good evening. Great to be here. Uh looks like you spelt witty wrong again. I think you meant to say SH.

SPEAKER_04 1:57

Oh, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Not W.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

How are you doing, Matt? How are you doing? Oh, Peachy, Peachy. Peachy!

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Peachy. So nice to be back.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

Yeah, it is. It is. And it's really nice to have Kirsty back, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

It is. So we're all here.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

Yeah, absolutely. I I saw a picture of Mount Crushmore earlier, uh, the three of us uh with Bond Scott statue and uh didn't that take you back? Oh, yeah. I love that's a I love that.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Must have been a sunny day because there's not an eyeball between us.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Perhaps. I can't I don't remember that.

SPEAKER_04 2:33

Yeah, our eyes were as black as the dead of night, so Dave Ellis he stood there.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Where we stood.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Ah, plenty of people have stood there. Mm-hmm. He's the only one I know. Oh, I doubt that. Yeah, I don't doubt that there's plenty of people come through. My fear factory stood.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Yeah, my dad. My dad stood there. Oh, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Mr. Princess stood there. I mean, in the Shadow of Great.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Well, my mum went, who? Bon Jovi.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

Oh, okay. We let's let's not throw your mom under the bus here, okay?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Although she doesn't listen.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

True, true. We still shouldn't do it. Yeah, we still shouldn't do it. Kirsty can get away with it, you know. Because Kirsty's her favorite daughter. That lives in Australia, so.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Yes. I didn't didn't hear Kirsty um come back on that one. I think she's a green.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Well, because he added that lives in Australia. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

I thought you were just thinking, yeah, that which is understood. Need not be discussed.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

That sounds like David to me. It sounds like something David would say.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Anyway.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

Hello, David. I know you'll never hear that.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

It was his birthday.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

It was his birthday. Did you call him?

SPEAKER_02 3:42

I did call him. Look at that. Little bit. So I had a quick 10-minute chat. Everything's good.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

Excellent. Well, very good. Well, people might be thinking to themselves, wow, what a great topic. Classic maiden epics versus modern maiden epics. Who in the world would come up with such a great topic for a podcast? It's one with Clayout. This doesn't sound like a questions episode.

unknown 4:07

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

That's why I'm back.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

That's why Kirsty's back. But this would be the product of one Gen Marutani. He had uh he had said something about he was talking about the epics and me or Matt or Kirsty, somewhere in the mix of all that.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

I have a feeling it was me and Matt, but I I knew it didn't smell like one of our ideas.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

Yeah. Said, hey, Gen, why don't you send us a list of them and we'll do an episode? And when I woke up the next morning after the episode came out, I already had the email. Which was uh, golly, 25 days ago when I got that email from him, but we've been waiting for Kirsty to be here. So because we didn't want to just have I asked Kirsty, Matt, would you rather be on an episode where we record answers to questions? Or would you rather do again episode of the classic versus the modern? And here we are 25 days later.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

I I didn't realize we had 25 days notice on this one.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

I feel like you need three people to do a battle properly.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

Well, you knew it was here. You knew we had it, Matt. You just didn't.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

I just never said I just didn't know you 25 days ago that we had this.

SPEAKER_04 5:19

So I okay, so that I guess I guess we get to what are these songs? We'll get to pick our winners here, right? So skip along, skip along. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

So thank you to Gen for doing all the polls. Working out what goes with what.

SPEAKER_04 5:34

Yeah, let me let me read what he said here.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

And then all I had to do was just listen to Iron Maiden.

SPEAKER_04 5:39

Yeah, yeah. Oh, you listened. Oh, you didn't? I'm just going on muscle memory.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

So here's what he put all the work into this, and you're going on muscle memory.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

No, remember, Matt, we agreed that we're gonna both ride Kurt Kirsty's coattails, remember?

SPEAKER_02 5:54

Well to say that on here though.

SPEAKER_04 5:55

Oh shoot, sorry. So here's what Gen said. He said, You guys asked me to pick the top seven epics from the reunion era and the matches. But as you know, I'm highly biased and have some pretty strong opinions. Is do we know that, Matt?

SPEAKER_02 6:11

I wouldn't uh yeah, we do know that. We definitely know that. Most definitely.

SPEAKER_04 6:15

Yeah. He says, so I decided to let Maiden fans choose the songs and the matchups instead. I ran some polls to decide the best maiden epics last year, and here are the top seven classic maiden epics versus the seven modern maiden epics listed in the order of their rankings. So we've got seven classic era songs, epics, versus modern era epics. And we discussed this and we kind of figured uh Matt, what do they call it um in Northern Ireland? What do they call that order?

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Uh Council's Order.

SPEAKER_04 6:54

Council, there we go, that's what they call it.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Council's Order.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

That's right. So we're gonna use that as uh instead of starting with number one, the songs that were rated the highest, we're gonna start with number seven. So still a high seven, by the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Seven deadly songs.

SPEAKER_04 7:14

There we go. There we go. Seven ways to win. Well, there's three ways to three ways to win. Exactly. Well, we'll get them wrong, Matt. I'm sure one of us will get them right. So here we go. We'll get started right away. Here we go with number seven. And I don't really know how he chose I I don't know if there was I believe there had to have been a certain length of each song to get on this list. The shortest song in this list is seven minutes and two seconds. On the classic area.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Okay. It's almost a hit now. Now that's probably just become like short. That's a normal epic. That's a short minute.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

That's a short song by Maiden these days.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

So it's like nearly everything on Sunjutsu.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

Yeah, yeah. So, oh well, can you can you fill Matt in on what you just said? What that is.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Okay. Did you? Do you? Just remember the day will come when you have no more new music to listen to, and I do.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

You know what? I I forgot. I did I do remember you do know what that is because someone mailed you a copy all the way from the album.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Anyway, hey Gen, I really do appreciate all the work into this, and hopefully Steve will get us back on the show.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

You spent a lot of money from what I gathered.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

They didn't even need to do that because they already had a copy.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

Yeah, but they really wanted to hear it. That's how important it was to our friend over there.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

Some copies are more equal than others.

SPEAKER_04 8:51

Okay, fair. Okay, so here's a funny thing. On number seven, the classic era song is longer than the modern era song. It's only five seconds, but still, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:06

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 9:08

That's not going to be something I'll say very often on here. I don't think it's I don't think I'll be saying it again, actually. Oh, yeah, I will. So number seven, let's just get right into this instead of uh yammering on as your mother would say, Kirsty.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 9:24

Number seven, the classic era song is From Peace of Mind to Tame a Land. And from A Matter of Life and Death, we have The Reincarnation of Benjamin Brieg. And I know that um, and this is not the one I was talking about, Matthew, earlier, but I do know that one of these or both of these songs Matt regards very highly for different reasons. So I'm gonna let Matthew go first on this one.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Oh is this the one you were talking about?

SPEAKER_04 10:02

Nope. I just literally said this is not the one where Oh, okay, sorry, I was reading.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Oh, but I was reading the lyric. Already! Oh, okay. Yeah, a lyric, a lyric.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

Settled gridle. A lyric on Twitter, maybe?

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Uh no, no, it wasn't actually. Okay. It was to do with the first track you mentioned here, to Tame a Land. Oh, it's uh now, all us kids on Twitter and uh the tube and where the fire and all these other little things, we're all a fan of To Tame a Land, I'm sure. I would like to think that. But I am very much a fan of To Tame a Land. And when I saw this this little um competition here, I was very glad to see both of these tracks. So Tame A Land based off of the book Dune, of which I have been a fan of from when I was a child. So this has always held a special place uh in my heart. And I know some people don't like it, but I love this track. I think it's great. I think this is one of the I think this is the first time they use what we would refer to as like the Eastern Influence musically when it starts off. It just creates a real vibe. So if you're not familiar with Dune, basically a sand player. Dune, hence the word Dune. And I just think it just creates a sweeping sandy vibe at the start of this. And I know that people will say, uh, what's the quisette tatterak and the gom jabar and all this sort of thing? But you gotta get past this. If you don't know it, learn it. If you don't learn it, don't like it, just appreciate the melodies. If you can't appreciate the melodies, I don't know where you're gonna go here. But there's some awesome work from everyone on this. The guitar and this, Steve's bass is all over the place. Um I don't mind the lyrics at all, I have no issue with them. Some of Bruce's wails on this, uh, I think they're fantastic. But the flip side of this, the reincarnation of Benjamin Bree, this was a track that took me a while to appreciate. And I as much as I liked A Matter of Life and Death album, this is one of two tracks it took me a long time to get into, the other being A Different World. But it's funny because I listened to a podcast a few weeks ago when I wasn't on and I forget what it was called now. And they were talking about this album and whoever it was that was talking, because I forget what it was, specifically spoke about this track, and he had the same experience I did. On the album, it was just kind of ho-hum, you know, there's nothing special about it. But when he saw the tour and when he saw this being played, and I think he said he mentioned it was the same tour that I'd seen, so the 2010 uh Final Frontier tour. They played this track and it just came to life. It was like everything had made sense. So we get some Murray Magic. You know, he's got some beautiful guitar work there by him. That heavy chuggyness that they have about it. Yeah, it all comes together nicely, and I'm sure that Kirst will go on and no pressure on you now, but to describe this a whole lot better than I can. But I'm gonna come down to it just between these two tracks. Uh as much as I like to tame a land, I'm gonna have to go with To Tame A Land.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

That was disappointing, Builder. Not really.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

No, I have played wrong answers.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

No, I had a lot I had a lot of history and a lot of reasons and nuance to liking to tame a land. And it was never really not as far as these two go. I like reincarnation of Benjamin Briggs. But it it just plods along at its own pace, and To Tame Land is offers so much more. There's time changes in there. Like Steve's playing. He's up and down. He's great in this. Uh no, easy for me, this one. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 13:59

Uh why don't I go second? I guess. I hate to go second in front of Kirsty because you know, that way we leave.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Stop building me up. I can't describe anything as well as Matt can.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Oh, let's go all of our rebel out of the way so she can talk sense.

SPEAKER_04 14:14

Well, mine'll probably be a little less uh intense as yours was, but um Why don't you tell us about the lyrics, Steve?

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Oh, this will be this will be nice.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

I don't know what the Gom Jabbar is.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yeah, I'd much rather hear him talk about Puldiano, to be honest.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

You know, Dune Dune is a sand island, like a sand dune, if you will.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Like an island, is it?

SPEAKER_04 14:36

Well, you know, like it's a side.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

What sand is this island of yours?

SPEAKER_04 14:39

It's a planet. Oh, okay. Well, you know, it's like but there's sand on it. You know that the Oh my god. So basically, basically, um Have you ever heard this song?

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Sorry, Gen. See, Gen had good intentions. Here's what I really like. It sounds like a kid in class that the teachers just like.

SPEAKER_04 15:00

No, listen, because at the at the bottom, at the bottom here, I didn't read Gen's final thing, but he says, I hope you will all enjoy struggling. Well, I mean, I'm already struggling. You were on first one.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

He didn't want you to enjoy struggling struggling to decide the winners, that is.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

He sounds like the little kid in school who's been caught out doing something wrong and trying to make his way.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

Okay. I think musically to Tamaland is like really great. The the sound of the production on peace of mind, you know, there's that certain I know some people don't love it, but I really, really like if you hear a B side, you know when you hear it, because you go, oh, that's off a peace of mind B side, because it's there's that certain I don't know how to describe it, but it's just anybody that knows peace of mind knows that that vibe that's on there. And I really like it. I think musically this song is great. Uh lyrically, means nothing at all to me because I don't know what a gom jabar is.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Can I ask you then? Can you at least take into consideration this is not yeah, they've created the song, they've written the lyrics for the song, but really it's being taken from a story, so you've got to give it a bit of grace there for that.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

Well, no, no, no. I mean, I do I don't even know, but I don't care in a in a good way. I don't you know how I am, I don't even pay attention sometimes too.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

That's why I asked that question, because I know how you are.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

I I I don't know all the lyrics to that song. When I listen to it, I'm listening more for the music because I think there's just some fantastic long epic passages of music that happen in there, you know? That I really love. I I think it's a great song. Yeah, I do um, but as far like as far as the lyrics don't do anything for me in it. Like the the melodies are a bit how do you say it? They're they're they're good, but it's it's like these lyrics get handed to Bruce, and then he's gotta find a way to make the melodies work. You know what I mean? And it's not somehow does. It does, but it's you know, it's not overly joyful for me to listen to that. But I I'm it sounds bad. I'm not trying to make it sound bad. I feel like I'm I'm fighting against Matt trying to make me make it sound bad.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Because he keeps interrupting I know on purpose, because I think you're getting it wrong.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

How do you know? What I haven't voted yet.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

So far. Everything I've heard. Oh, good God, there's no hope for reincarnation then.

SPEAKER_04 17:24

Yeah, no. There's no that's like I'm building up a sand dune, you know. I didn't realize Dune was a planet. I've never seen the movies, I don't want to see the movies. I haven't the the storyline in the song makes me not doesn't give me any like, oh wow, that sounds really awesome. You know, this like if you hear the story of the trooper, you go, man, what what's that about? That sounds interesting. So um, but yeah, musically, I think To Tame a Land is is just a masterpiece music that's really good. Uh like you said, with the Eastern vibe in it and everything, too. Um Reincarnation of Benjamin Brie, like just the way the song starts, you know, like the real nice with the Murray Magic, as you mentioned, the little Dave, you know, little soloing things that are going on. And this song draws you in lyrically, immediately. You know, let me tell you about my life. He said, Okay, yeah, tell me about it. You know, as long as you don't live on Dune and you're telling me about the Gamja bars or something like that. Uh, I got the lyrics pulled up though. You know, let me tell you about my life, my dreams, let me tell you about the things that happen, always real to me. Let me tell you my hope, my need to reach the sky, let me take you on an awkward journey. This song always reminds me, I've said it before, of a Twilight Zone episode. Because there's the part where he talks about being able to kind of see. Why should these curses be laid upon me? You know, where you can kind of see, look at people, and kind of get the vibe of it. This something was good, something bad's gonna happen to this person. And it's always, and I love the episode of the Twilight Zone that's like that, that story, where the guy looks at their faces, and something on the Twilight Zone, it's a little cheesier, but you know, something their face turns kind of white or whatever it is. But lyrically, you know, this song is great when it it's got the nice soft part, the long build-up, you know, that that I always love in the maiden songs. I know some people that might have been on the waffle a couple weeks ago don't appreciate that. But um I love it when maiden's cooking the intros for me, Matthew. And uh, but man, when that riff kicks in, that bum, bum, bum, b, you know, that's ah, so good. So good. Um, but yeah, I think the song, you know, the lyrics here again. Why should these curses be laid up? I won't be forgiven till I can break free. What did I do to deserve all this guilt? Pay for the sins with the sale of my soul. Demons are trapped all inside of my head, my hopes are gone, reach for heaven from hell. I mean, these lyrics are intriguing, and they're very well written. I think this comes from the album where I feel like Steve did some of his absolute best uh lyrical writing as well. Uh, it's a no-brainer for me here. I like to tame a land a lot, but uh to me the reincarnation of Benjamin Briggs, an easy choice for me. What do you think, Kirsty?

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Um, I think they're they're quite well matched, aren't they? Because they both start with a bit of Murray magic.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

So, and on to Tame a Land. It's just really atmospheric. And his guitar tone on this, I mean you're right, I think with the guitar tones on the peace of mind. Just really ethereal. And you've got some wind sounds as well. Um the bass line absolutely dominates, it sounds incredible. It's really good that Eastern Riff. Um Bruce is listing names and events from the book gene. Yes, it's yes, it's a it might be a good book and it might be a good movie, but uh the way the lyrics are written, there's not much substance. It's kind of a list like Alexander the Great. Um, lyrics don't really matter to me unless they sound like really crass or they sound awkward. Um, and they do sound a little bit awkward, but there aren't even that many lyrics in this song. It's it's nearly all instrumental. And what Bruce does, he's absolutely wailing. When he does the time has come to lay down his crown, um besides the pre-true leader and men, that is an utterly incredible performance. And that build up to instrumental is great, the instrumental's got great solos, and Dave's especially got a bit of an Eastern feeling. Now, I was never massively into this song, but you know, we've talked about it a few times here on the podcast, and I've seen the movie now. And now I think it's brilliant. Um that makes this harder. Um like I said, Benjamin Brueg also starts with a Murray Magic. Now, the thing about this song is the first few times I played A Matter of Life and Death, I get to the End and look at the track list because I wasn't like looking at the album cover or anything, I was just playing it in my car. And I think I don't even remember that song. Like it just it just absolutely passed me by. I didn't even notice it. But you know now now I do. But and I think I really like Bruce Sings Really Gently at the beginning, and as a slow intra's go in Modern Maiden, it's a really nice one. It's not even that long. Probably didn't need it again at the end, but that's maiden these days. Um I absolutely love the riff in this song. I think it's one of their heavier riffs. Lyrically, it's a bit of a vague story, um, but it's an interesting one. But Bruce sounds great, he's really telling it. You really believe him. There's a bit of a nice gallop in the midsection, and a nice example of triple lead guitar harmonies.

SPEAKER_04 22:57

Matt, are you paying attention?

SPEAKER_00 22:59

So they've been looking for one. Incredible solo. When Bruce sings hell at the end, and you mentioned this line, Steve, he holds that note, and it sounds like an absolute boss. Oh, yeah. Um, I think it's it's more of a straight rocker than to Tame Meland. It's not got so many doesn't go in so many different directions. Um I think when I was listening, this is a very hard um thing to do because I like both the songs, but I listened to both of them back to back, and I don't know if I'm just picking the second one I listened to. Um because yeah, it was fresh in my mind when I chased. No, I'm I think I prefer the riffs in the reincarnation of Benjamin Brig at the time, so that's the one I'm picking.

SPEAKER_04 23:47

Oh wow. I wasn't expecting that.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

No, neither was I really.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

What do you think of that, Matt?

SPEAKER_02 23:56

I think it was uh explained very eloquently, unlike two other people on here. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 24:06

Alright, well, uh next up, Matthew.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Oh, just quickly. So do you both remember when the album was gonna come out?

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Oh, no, I was gonna mention that. No, I wasn't following Iron May Show. Yeah, I wasn't either kind of being from about Fear of the Dark to Book of Souls. Uh I wasn't like really paying a lot of attention.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

They had the website and all that stuff, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:32

They did, yeah, this whole little background. Because I thought, who is Benjamin Brig? I've never heard of that as a person before. And so they created this whole little um this little world that didn't really.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

I know Nico said the other day when they were when he was ranking all the songs that he still didn't know what it was all about. Of course he does.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

I could see that. He probably still doesn't know what Tatame a Land's all about either. That was 45 years ago. Oh, that's funny. Okay, well, uh that brings us to number six, Matthew.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

That's what comes the four seven. Mm-hmm. So six seven. Are you creating a vibe here? Attention?

SPEAKER_00 25:27

He's just so kicking because I said six seven.

SPEAKER_04 25:29

So number six is uh Matthew's uh bathroom break slash t-shirt buying song.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Hey, let's go get a shirt now.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

Exactly. Fear of the dark. Okay. Versus another song. The last song, actually. Golly, it's the Oh wow. I just noticed I just thought about that. The only other song from A Matter of Life and Death on the top seven.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

But there's like yeah. I mean, there's quite a few, but I thought there was one from each album, and I didn't realize there was two from Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Yeah. Well, I just realized the legacy's not one of 'em. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Uh uh You can't trust people to vote properly.

SPEAKER_04 26:21

I know, because I would rate the legacy above both of those, so. But they're both great software.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

I might almost do the same.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Yeah. So number six on here is for the greater good of God from the modern era. And uh well. Kirsty, why don't you go first on this one?

SPEAKER_00 26:45

All right. Well, we all know all about Fear of the Dark, don't we? Don't know how many times that's come up. Um, and it's an issue because it's been massively overplayed. To the point where you might not mind missing it, a little bit of it to go and buy a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Who would do such a thing? Who would do such a thing? Oh, never mind.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

So, but you know what? It's got so many dynamics. It's got the slow, quiet, atmospheric intro, faster verses that switch to halftime chorus, it slows down for the instrumental, really nice sing along choruses, and sing along guitar melodies. But all sometimes when IrMaiden songs are split up into lots of sections and time changes, it's not as it doesn't flow seamlessly together, but on this it does. It all fits together nicely. It's got a good flow. Um for the greater good of God. Sometimes in my head, this is overly long and repetitive, but I I'll break it down. Uh I actually love the bass intro, which is really effective. It's beautiful. Um, another slow intro. Uh lyrically, I think this song is a lot deeper than Fear of the Dark.

SPEAKER_03 28:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Um it's pretty deep. I and I love the way that the song gets heavier and Bruce goes up an optic during the intro. Um the Please Tell Me Now What Love Is section is beautiful. And it happens so many times, it could almost be the chorus.

SPEAKER_04 28:21

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

But I think I think the chorus is when Bruce sings for the greater good of God eight times without any variation between. Um but he only actually does that twice, and it's an epic instrumental to break them up, so it's actually not a problem for me. Um the use of strings, well, it's actually keyboards, but they sound like strings on this, adds to the epicness, it's really nice orchestration. Lots of sections to this. A really heavy riff under Adrian's solo. It only stays there for a couple of bars, but it's awesome and it really holds my interest. And I was quite surprised in the end that I ended up going with for the greater good of God.

SPEAKER_04 29:03

Wow. Wow, okay. Well, uh, Matthew. Should I even bother with you on this one?

SPEAKER_02 29:11

I've got to go for a bathroom. Are we back to talking about it?

SPEAKER_04 29:17

You gotta go buy a shirt real quick while we if I could.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Hey Doobie, let's go. So no, I've because I've talked about this, and so you mentioned Kirst that this is it is overplayed, and maybe that's well, it's not that it may be, it's it just straight out is the reason for my fatigue on this track. But if I go back to when this came out, I think that this was actually my favourite track on the album.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Now the irony. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Look, it's not surprising. There's not that many good ones to choose from. That's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_02 29:50

This track was doing a lot of heavy lifting on the album. Um still is. Yeah, if I take a step back, yeah, the track is good, I just don't want to hear it anymore. Um it's you can't compare these two tracks lyrically. You know, one's just complete fiction, the other is just yeah, the the subject matter, just the search for within or the search for answers, why? Yeah. You can't you can't compare musically. Uh they're both good musically. But I I could struggle on this, but I'm not going to. For the greater god of God, there's just so many layers to that. Like, I do like the lyrics for this. One's a sense of fiction or storytelling or superstition. Uh, are you scared of what's fluttering on the wall and behind your shadows and all that? You can pray and give you um cause to think what's in the dark. Because everyone has a everyone as a child had a fear of the dark, fear of the unknown. But it just seems like a storytelling. But that's fine. But for the greater good, hmm. Some of the lines in here, they just resonate. So a good song or good lyrics will just they'll be timeless. And that's what I think about this track. Uh oh, of course I just skimmed past wherever it was. Uh when they wrote this, so this is 20 years ago, and they talk about the stupidity of man, and basically the same mistakes that we that we make over and over again. Still wars, there was wars 20 years ago, there's wars today, there'll be wars 20 more years from now. But the stories are timeless, and it's someone fighting in a foreign land, as they said. Um, and tell me why. That's the big question, why? And I just find it it's very deep. But yeah, musically, I just think this offers a whole lot more as well. There's some great melodies in this. Um, I'm just gonna keep it short and sweet. For the greater good of God, it's just it's too good. There's just so much more to it.

SPEAKER_04 31:42

Yeah. Uh the only way that Fear of the Dark really wins here is by being a live song. Catchiness with that big uh the sing-alongs, and like Kirsty mentioned, people singing along with the guitar harmonies, which I know Matt, you're not usually there when those happen, but man, I I absolutely love when they play Fear of the Dark when I'm at a show. Because it's like it's just a fun and the whole crowd's into it. Um it's a great sing-along, you know, it's it's it's an amazing track. And you know, and lyrically, yeah, the lyrics are uh well, like well, I think you said it in a good way, Matt. They're they're about something that we've all dealt with at one point in our life, you know, being kind of like scared of, you know. And and there's a that's musically, I don't I don't know if there's as much of a comparison musically, although the great solos and everything, I think the layers of of for the greater good of God, I mean you get, I don't, I don't know exactly, I'm guessing around a two-minute intro, that would be my guess, you know, of of of of Bruce, you know, when he's when he starts in with the uh are you a man of peace, a man of holy war, and all that, you know, and then like what Kirstie said about how you know when the drum kicks, when the drums kick in and Nikko, well, first of all, Nico's doing that with one foot, you know, it's like first off, that is super impressive. And uh, and like she mentioned how his voice goes up in octave, you know, and it just it's like the intensity ramps up really quickly. You know, there's so many cool lines the way he says it, you know, he says, but I don't know, but I don't know, and then please tell me now what life is. And I know that's I know it is a repetitive song. I think I I want to say that Bruno McDonald has told us that.

SPEAKER_02 33:39

But don't you think it's done really well?

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Oh, absolutely. I actually thought it was a lot less repetitive when I listened to it. Just in my head, because everyone talks about as well how many times he says for the greater good of God.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

And then that bit is only two little bits of a nine-minute song or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 33:57

Yeah. I love it. It I don't care how repetitive it is, it doesn't really bother me. I mean, even go to a song like No More Lies. I mean, that it's repetitive, but I it doesn't bother me. I mean, it's it's the way it's the inflections and the different ways that, you know, they can just little ways to change things up. And but yeah, I think a a big factor is lyrics, you know. And musically, I think it's better. Lyrically, it's just this album, the whole album really, you know, is just like I said, some of Steve's best lyric writing he's ever done. Just very insightful and thoughtful and and you know, and about more or less the human condition and why do we do these things and why are these things like you said, Matt, 20 years ago there was wars like this. Twenty years from now there'll be wars like this. There's wars like this right now. And why? Tell me why. Because we don't learn. Yeah, yeah. You know, I I I was listening to the song uh earlier today. I was listening to War Pigs by Black Sabbath, and I was with my wife, and I was just kind of telling her, like, this is what it's about. It's about people that want to create wars and they don't care about the lives, you know. It's just about you know. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, yeah, I was listening to a song by Pink Floyd uh this week about the same thing, just a you know, a few hundred ordinary men, you know. Just who cares if it's just a few hundred ordinary men, you know, other than the few hundred ordinary parents, you know, that get the call or get the scribe or whatever they get in the mail. But yeah, I think these lyrics are way too strong for me. The song is way too strong. It's obviously it's one of my favorite Iron Maiden albums. I mean, it's just an incredible song. So yeah, I I can't even I can't argue fear of the dark, even though I love hearing it live. I don't dislike it. I don't like like some people here.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

I don't go buy t-shirts and use the bathroom and you know, and try to find reasons to uh Hey, if the child needs to go to the bathroom, he needs to go to the bathroom. And if he doesn't need to go to the bathroom, he needs to go to the bathroom. Just in case.

SPEAKER_04 36:12

You gotta go just in case, yeah. So, okay, well, yeah, so that's three for the greater good of God votes. Okay, so this is going uh so far. We got two votes for the modern era, but I have a feeling that's gonna change very soon. Because number five, Kirsty. Yes, we have a song from Somewhere in Time, which is a fan favorite. It's also a song that was played live recently on a tour for the first time ever, right? And it's uh Alexander the Great, which is one second shorter than the song that comes from the album Dance of Death.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

That's interesting.

SPEAKER_04 37:09

Yeah. Why? Yeah. Yeah, well, one of them Nico can dance to, and the uh but yeah, we have the title track from Dance of Death. And uh well I guess I think you guys have gone first on this one so far, both of y'all.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

I guess it would be my came from uh favorite albums, at least at one point or another for both of you, didn't it? Been Summer in Time.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Somewhere in Time, yes. But it was the first studio album. I think is it the first studio album that all of us got?

unknown 37:52

No.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Matt got Seventh Sun first.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Well, that was my first new release. I'd I'd bought some other ones before that.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Well, it was my first new release. I'd already bought Summer in Time.

SPEAKER_04 38:04

Yeah, it was definitely Somewhere in Time was my first album. So for me, I always loved I'll go first, actually. Let me say it that way first. I always loved Alexander the Great. I always thought it was just such an incredible song. And then you get a little older, and you know how people accuse us of building up, say, the Blazer or whatever, but you get older and you you start reading things more where people are are saying things like, Oh, it looks like he wrote the lyrics right out of the encyclopedia, you know?

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Like he just BCSE history project, more like.

SPEAKER_04 38:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is and and then you look at it and you kind of go, yeah, they are they are kind of the lyrics aren't really that great, but musically, it's a fantastic song, lots of great dual leads. It it's what can we say about Alexander the Great that hasn't been said over the years, all the clamoring for it to be played live. People love, love, loved it, other than, you know, maybe someone like Bruno McDonald again, who despises it with his every fiber of his being. Um, but I I think Alexander the Great is a really good song. Um again, the musically, guitar solos, dual leads, drumming. It's just, you know, the even the little intro, you know, My Son Asked for Thyself Another Kingdom, all that good stuff. You know, the last little drum intro and all that good stuff. And it's really cool that we got to hear that finally. That's the only song that's ever happened with, right? Where they brought it into the live set decades later, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:55

Which was, you know, it was really cool. You know, but in my mind, I remember thinking, eh, there's other songs I'd rather hear, you know, than this. But it was still cool. Um, I do love the song. I've always loved it, but with time, I think I'm on the same train as Matthew and Fear of the Dark, where it's like I'm burned out on the song a bit. I maybe I've bought into the hype a little bit of the encyclopedia lyrics, and and uh maybe maybe Bruno McDonald has had an effect on me as well. He's pretty vocal, so. Um Dance of Death, you know, it starts off with the really, really cool intro, the really kind of dark, you know. The storyline, it's a cool storyline, you know, about a guy out in the wilderness and he encounters the dead and they try to capture him, steal him away, you know, all that good stuff. Um it's got one of people's least favorite musical sections in any Iron Maiden song ever, right? Would it be unfair to say that? You know, of course, Nico's favorite dancing tune, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 41:16

So Spinal Tapish.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

Yeah. Oh, very much, yeah. Yeah. Um, but I've always I didn't I'll say this. I I liked the song Dance to Death, but what won me over not was wasn't seeing it live because I've never seen it performed live, but when I heard it on Death on the Road, you know, you get that dun dun dun, and when the band all kicked in, da da da I was like, whoa. Amplifies it.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Well, you should see it live.

SPEAKER_04 41:45

I wish, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:46

With Bruce well, no, on the video. With Bruce is spinning around to that bit.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:57

But it's like Bruce. But it's like a wall of sound, yeah, yeah, he's definitely it's like a wall of sound when it all kicks in, and I was just and it really changed the way I felt about that song. And I really love the story. I did an episode years ago, I think, maybe Kirsty's here, she'll know. Where I think we we read Iron Maiden lyrics and told him a scary story. Yeah, yeah. And and one of my choices was Dance to Death because I was like, it's a great story. And I like, I really enjoy, ooh, gosh. I didn't pick anything before we did this, so I wanted to I like to come into these things fresh, but sometimes it shows my naivety.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Fresh mean I'm prepared. Exactly. We're calling that fresh now. Okay. We're calling it fresh now. Shut up.

SPEAKER_04 42:47

Uh so uh how to vote here. Uh, you know what? I'm gonna vote like this. If I had a choice right now, if I was gonna pick one of these songs to listen to right now. Well, that's the task. I would go with Dance of Death. I'm going with Dance to Death. Dance to Death for me. Um What about you, uh Matthew?

SPEAKER_02 43:13

I was gonna ask, so what makes what is it that makes you want to listen to that? What part of it? Or is it just the thing in its entirety?

SPEAKER_04 43:20

Yeah, yeah, I just I like the song. I like the, you know, I like the intro. I like the I like the weird part in the middle where the you know, and like the wall of sound coming in. I just I like the story of the song. Um maybe it's partially because I had Somewhere in Time in 1986. That's when it came out, right? 86, yeah. I'm old here. Uh, but you know, and I've heard Somewhere in Time since 1986, and I probably listened to it so many times. So I wouldn't call there's probably a, you know, there there would be more of a burnout factor for me. There compared to hearing Dance to Death. So I didn't know I had to explain my vote to you.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

You didn't have to explain, I just had a question. That was all.

SPEAKER_04 44:12

Okay, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Unlike you. Oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

You want to go next, guest? I just said your name.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

You are going next.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:21

Unlike you, I don't have a burnout factor on this track because I never listened to it often enough for one reason or another. Yeah. Being dancers, death that we're talking about.

SPEAKER_04 44:31

Oh, well, okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:33

So I guess if I was hearing this, I was hearing the live version from Death on the Road. Okay. Because I wasn't listening to the album. I think I'd given that a few listens, as I've mentioned before, and just kind of put it back on the shelf. So I don't mind dance and death at all. Yeah, that little da da da da da da da da da da. I didn't care for that. I thought it was a bit hokey. But I do understand exactly what you're talking about. Where they kind of step it up a notch, and yes, the band comes in and it it gives it a grander feel about it. And when you said wall of sound, I thought, oh, that's a really good way to put it. Because it just does. It's just like a sheer force the way it comes in. The storytelling and all that, yeah, Bruce, there's nothing wrong with the song itself, really. I just found that one little part hokey. And it's not really it's not fair to say that to it because it's all done really well. But I know that I'm not on my own thinking about that either.

SPEAKER_03 45:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:28

Um but for me, well, the the part I like about this song, what draws me to this, and this is why I asked you the question. What is it that draws you to want to hear this track? If I was picking it to listen to, I would say that midsection with the solo. I love that midsection of this instrumentally. And especially Yannick, his last solo in it is really, really good. So yeah, I don't mind the track. I'm not gonna dismiss it. Now, if I'm talking to Alexander the Great, it was never a favourite track. I think that this is one where I I always considered it the epic. Now, I don't know what the time difference is between this and Summer in Time as far as the length. I think they're pretty close.

SPEAKER_04 46:11

Yeah, I always considered it that way. What was the end of the album?

SPEAKER_02 46:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 46:14

And it felt like they that was where they put the epic.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

It did, because unlike Summer in Time, where it's pretty much what's that intro has started, you're after the races on that track. This one, so we talk about Eastern Flavors. Well, this was the next time that it happened. And so it has an intro about it. Uh not just the spoken intro, but the the guitar that wispiness has like a sandiness to it, uh, much in the way that Satan Land does. And I like the track. Uh did I care? I didn't care about the lyrics in as much as it reads like bullet points. I had no problem with that at all. It wasn't until because you know, I was a teen when it came out. I I probably had it a year or so later. And it was just made. So I was like, oh, I'd sing along with all this, had no issue at all. But it was never like, oh, this is awesome, this track. It was just a track at the end of the album. So when this came out, when they decided they were gonna play it a couple of years back, I I remember I wasn't really I think I had hesitations about it. I wasn't too interested. But much like Benjamin Brie, man, they sold me on this track. When they did this live, I was so impressed. Yeah. Oh, Bruce was a monster on this where he would hold some of the notes in this. So that's the way I think about this track now. I don't think about what I saw or what I used to hear on the studio, I think about the performance that I saw. Uh and it would surprise me because I would have thought that there's that there was more depth in Dance of Death. But coming away from this now, I'm gonna go with Alexander the Great. There's just too many nice guitar parts throughout this. It's more I don't know, not experimental, but but they just there's more range to it. Dance of Death to me feels like a production. And Alexander the Great seems like okay, lyrically, I'm not gonna say good storytelling, but it feels like a story's being told to me. Between the lyrics that are being spat out. But but the music to me, I really like the music in this now, especially now that I've seen it live. I just got a whole new appreciation for it. But uh Alexander for me. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

Yeah, so as I said, Summer in Time, it was the first studio album I bought. So I've I have known it a long time, but I haven't got tired of Alexander the Great yet. It starts with some wind, a quote, and a beautiful Dave Mowie intro, and oh my god, I love it. And that marching drum beat as well. So like Matt said, it does kind of tell a story, even though the lyrics I mean the lyrics, you learn something. I wouldn't have known that he died of fever in Babylon, maybe. Um so, and the lower guitar under the basses, it's got this really deep buzzy tone that I really like. The guitar synths sound great. Um it's a really nice normal chorus that you can sing along to. It's almost like a normal song, but then we get this crazy instrumental lovely guitar melodies, complicated drum pattern under it. And then there's a gong, and then you get that amazing combination of Adrian's melodic solo, the interesting rhythms, and Steve's clacking to bass, and then Dave's solo, which is one of the best solos ever. Um, really enjoyed seeing it live. And yeah, Bruce really holds that note really well. Now I absolutely love dance to death as well. Um that nice intro. It's kind of a waltz, it's a story. I I really like the theatricality and the use of the strings that gives it a fuller sound and really adds to that. I like the dancing, and there's a lot of imagery there. Um yeah, and I absolutely love the solos. Uh the bit where the song changes for the up for the Adrian solo is my favorite part of the song. Um and I have pretty much chosen between the two songs in advance of coming on here, except for this one, which I struggled a little bit with, but I am gonna go with Alexander the Great for this one.

SPEAKER_04 50:30

Alright, alright. Well, then that brings us to number five, right? Okay, you know I get messed up on the numbers, guys, so you gotta calm down. No, that was number five. Good job, Matt. Way to confirm my wrongness, man.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

I'm not gonna say I was doing anything when I was just uh Oh dear.

SPEAKER_04 50:56

Golly, that's twice in about 30 minutes, Kirsty. He's already been at least when I'm going to doing that, Matthew. I'm not getting caught.

SPEAKER_02 51:03

You know what? I've learned now just to be honest about it.

SPEAKER_04 51:06

Yeah. That way we can all laugh at you. We're like that Carrie movie. You ever seen Carrie?

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Yeah. We'll find out in a minute.

SPEAKER_04 51:16

All right, number four is uh not well, it's not the longest song anywhere on here, but it's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son versus the Klansman. And uh let's see here. Uh Kirsty, how about you go first on that one?

SPEAKER_00 51:36

Mm-hmm. So, seventh son. And we've got some keyboard on this album for the first time, although we've already had guitar synths. And the chorus that I use on that is so atmospheric. Uh Bruce sounds absolutely majestic on this song. Um I think maybe some minus points for saying seventh son of a seventh son eight times in the chorus. But he does like bury it up a little bit on the melody, and again, like for the great of God, good of God, it actually only happens twice. The ol's are great, especially the super long one he does.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

Um but I'm really here for the instrumental and starting from the quiet bit that's really eerie, um, but it eventually leads up to one of the all-time best sections of music, any music, with the last few minutes of soloing, so the last three minutes, uh the album. And this is the last album with the partnership of Adrian and Dave. And they absolutely peaked on this. And yeah, just absolutely love it. Now the Clansman. That's got a really nice intro. That was sampled in the song I tried by Brandy. Fun fact Brandy. Yeah. Matt, who's Brandy?

SPEAKER_04 53:00

Uh thank you. Go ahead, Kirsty.

SPEAKER_00 53:04

Look, it's a really pretty guitar melody. Um, I think the verses are great. Um, it's really telling a story. Uh the best thing about this is you can sing freedom really loudly along to it. And it's one of the ones because I was complaining that um Blaze didn't get enough vocal harmonies. Well, particularly on the X Factor, it gets more on um Virtual 11. So it's nice vocal harmonies on the chorus, really nice instrumental. Um I really enjoy the Cleansman, but it's very hard for anything to beat the last three minutes of Seventh Sun. So seventh son of a seventh son for me.

SPEAKER_04 53:44

Oh, shocker. Well, I'll go second on this one. Um yeah, I think you said it well. As soon as soon as you turn on Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, when it starts, you know that uh brrrr. Ah, it's I mean, that's almost all I need to hear. Is the fact that, you know, I got to see this on the tour that they're doing right now. I got to see this in uh Manchester, and I got to see this in Dublin, England. And um I mean, the entire tour they are doing right now. How do I say this nicely? It's completely worth it. It's completely worth it. That goes without saying it. It's completely worth it. This whole tour is worth it because they're playing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son the Song Live. Like, it's incredible to hear that. All these years later, right? They did the tour back in like 13, 12, and 13. And um, you know, of course they played it then. And to to have that thrown back in the set list, I think was very, very unexpected. And the song is it's so epic. I was getting into not getting into it. Um what would we call what would we call the conversation I've been having with Lord Andrew recently, comparing Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and how it's a uh story album to The Wall. Argument album. Ah. Yeah, yeah. Just argumentation. I've been arguing with him a little bit about it. Debating. Literally Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, the song. It's pretty much the entire story wrapped up in that one song, you know, and it's great. It's it's it's fantastic. There's so many, like the you mentioned that musical section toward uh the end, and I know I know that one of us is gonna even say more about it here momentarily. Um yeah, that's just it's an amazing song. Lyrically, it's awesome, the melodies are awesome, the guitar solos are awesome, just the the big jam section they have, the the uh like two or three minutes of it. I know a guy that one time told me that he thought that was the best three minutes of Iron Maiden music they ever released. And to disagree with that, uh I guarantee it it's it's up there. It's definitely up there. You can argue for that, you know. But comparing that to the Klansman, um, I like the Klansman. I I like the freedom sing along. When I hear that song live, I remember that the first time I heard it live, and I thought, oh, this is great, man. It was so much fun to be screaming out freedom just over and over. And and but it's I think it's a it's a song where Steve was just pushing too far to make it longer. I feel like there's one too many verses, two sets of verses, and another, there's too many, there's too many freedoms in it, unfortunately, for me. Um I do like the song a lot. I think it's a great story, obviously, you know, of uh the Scottish, right?

SPEAKER_02 57:08

Are you asking or you telling it?

SPEAKER_04 57:10

I'm trying to I just want confirmation because I don't want to say it. If I say it wrong, I want I want to be corrected. I I was just in my mind, I was going, wait a minute, is it Scottish or Irish? But then I thought, no, it's not Irish, so it's gotta be Scottish. I've never seen the movie, you know, that it was based on. Oh no, actually, I watched it.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

I think I've been based on Steve.

SPEAKER_04 57:31

Braveheart. I watched it when I went to Australia a few years ago. There was a guy sitting next to me watching it, and I watched the entire movie just watching his screen. I didn't listen to any of it, I just watched it on screen. So I have kind of seen it. I've seen the deaf version, so um what? A deaf person wouldn't hear it, would they? It's not an imagine if they're deaf, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 57:55

They probably they probably watch it with subtitles. They would just sit and stare at the screen.

SPEAKER_02 57:59

I think the subtitles wouldn't see it.

SPEAKER_04 58:02

I wasn't trying to be mean until both of y'all go, oh. So, no, but I just I just I watched it and did and kind of, you know, you can keep up with what's going on without having to maybe there were subtitles on it. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_02 58:14

I really wanted to say Blissy's hot, but I won't.

SPEAKER_04 58:16

It was a long flight, so um I I won't make this a long one either. I'm definitely uh going with Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. I mean, there's just to me, there's no comparison. You shouldn't Klansmen should not be nine minutes long. I think you I don't know how much you could cut off of that, but I think you could probably cut at least a minute or two off. Uh Seventh Son of a Seventh Son could go longer.

SPEAKER_00 58:38

You know, it'd be could go over ten minutes, but I I think the fact that it doesn't is what makes it so great. You know, packing so much into a shorter time.

SPEAKER_04 58:49

50 pounds of crap in a 25-pound bag. There you go. That's what I say. 50 pounds of great of gold in a 25-pound bag. Um now, I guess uh I'm gonna take a I'm gonna go for a bathroom break real quick because uh we're about to get it.

SPEAKER_02 59:06

Make it a number one then. I'm not gonna be too long.

SPEAKER_04 59:08

Oh, okay. Well, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 59:09

No. So Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. So this was the first time that I had bought a newly released album. So I had had other albums, but this was basically my entry, my real entry point, I would say. Like I had some things, but this is where it all really started. Uh you both put it pretty well. The start of this song is just so grandiose, the beginning to this. I love the start of this track.

SPEAKER_01 59:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:37

And it just doesn't kind of let up. Like I know some people say, oh, it's repetitive. Their chorus is repetitive. But like you said, Kirst, it's not really that many times. And his vocal inflection does differ to at least break it up. But it doesn't matter. It's just to me, it feels really gothicky, and I'm probably wrong, but it just presents itself like to me. They're good tracks, paint pictures for me, and this one really does. But the second half of this musical eargasm is what it gives me. I've said before, yes, this is almost three minutes of perfect music. And I'm like you said, Kirst, I'm glad it doesn't go any longer. Because wouldn't you leave them wanting more? Bruce and the pudding. And both are Dave's solos, both are Adrian's. Adrians are outstanding in this. I love it. I love the ending of this. And what's funny about this track for me, when I first bought the album, once they got part of the way through it, through the vocal area and all, before that little breakdown where it all mellows out, that's when I used to skip to the next track. And it wasn't until I had had the Made in England VHS version um and saw it. I thought, God, this is magic, the second half of this, just so much going on to it. It's beautiful. Then The Klansman. And I never ever had an issue with this track. I kind of liked it when it came out on uh Virtual 11. No issues with the length or anything like that. Yeah, I I knew it was to do what was that movie we're talking about? Prepar.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:11

Which I'd seen. So I could liken it to that. And I I liked it. Where I found that this did fall apart though, is when I'd seen this live, and I felt the same way as you, Steve. I was like, man, it just overstays its welcome. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, and we've talked about another track uh that kind of does the same sort of thing. Die with your boots on, and no pun intended, but it does stick around just a little too long, as much as I like it. It's just a little bit too much in there. Planned's the same. Yeah. Um yeah, I like the chorus in this. I think Blaze sounds really, really good. It just goes on a little bit too long. Um but there was never gonna be a doubt as to what I was gonna pick here. These two tracks, they're both good, but one is beyond good. And seventh son of a seventh son, untouchable out of these two. And it's just such such a huge epic track, and I'm really glad that they've put this back in to the the latest set. Because when I look at that set list and I see some of the the epic or what we would call epics in there, it surprises me that this came back. Um, again, already being that it was only 10, 12, 13 years ago when they did it last time. And I was stoked. I saw this five different times and loved every moment of every track that they did this last time. Looking forward to it. But seventh sun, the seventh sun.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:39

Yeah, yeah, I think that was that that was probably the easiest one that we'd have. So yeah. Uh the next one we have is um Phantom of the Opera. So the one uh the one Paul Diano era, which I don't there's really it's probably the only epic from those two albums, isn't it? Well, I think we would consider epics, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Uh, but it's paired, it's it's up against the first song. Well, I guess it I don't know. Did it was there a single released before X Factor, or did the X Factor album come out first?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:23

Like Future Real or um, no, no, uh Future Real.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:26

No, it would have been Man on the End.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:28

Yeah, because I wonder because I wasn't I I don't remember I I wasn't a singles person, so I don't remember like I remember the first time I heard Blaze sing was you know, like four minutes or whatever in when he really got to sing, you know, on uh sign of the cross. So um the first song that anyone got from Blaze, I would say, if they're album people. And arguably, well, I would probably declare it this way, the best track Paul Dionno ever sang in his entire life. Phantom of the opera, so ooh. I'm gonna go first. It wouldn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:17

Isn't he isn't he dead? Didn't Paul die? Oh, I don't do that. Okay, never mind. I can't remember. It didn't mean anything, so if he did, so um. Matt, you got 99 cents I can borrow so I can watch that uh Anvil documentary?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:34

You can dig yourself out of your own hole here. Thank you very much. I need to help.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:39

Obviously.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:40

Try and come back from that one now.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:43

So Phantom of the Opera. This is from, well, I'm gonna say this is from obviously their first album, but for for me, this is from Live After Death. And Live After Death is the very first I ever, well, no, it wouldn't be the first I ever heard of Iron Maiden. I had heard some of peace of mind on the crappy cassette that the guy let me borrow. But the first full album I had was Live After Death, even though it's live. And the song that really stood out of everything, like I liked a lot of it, but the song that stood out the most to me was Phantom of the Opera, because it was so different. It seemed like, even though they had all these other epics and things going on, Phantom of the Opera stood out in a way that nothing else really did for me. I loved just maybe the stops and the starts, you know, there's quite a few of them in there. Love I love the song. I love the story in the song, you know, about the Phantom of the Opera, I guess. Uh Kirsty, you would know this. Is the story of Phantom of the Opera in the song true to what the play is about or whatever?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:58

Um, I mean, yes, it's It's um taken from that story. But I didn't know if it's not the phantom of the opera really um tells you the story, but Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:10

Yes. It's not embellished in such a way that it's not true. Okay, okay. But anyway, sorry. I do like that. I like the story of the song. I think it's pretty cool, you know. You're the devil, you know. I like that. Um musically, it's great. It's just a fantastic, you know, musical section. The part when they go in where it's like you know, and it bum bad that whole big long musical section right there is just fantastic until it kicks back in and goes, you know, back up to warp speed again and ends the song with You Haunt Me, You Taunt Me, You Torture Me Back at Your Lair. Love it, love, love that song.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:45

Why does he then say torture me back at your lair again for a second time on the song though?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:51

I I think it was an accident that made it on the recording, and uh I didn't even know that existed.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:58

I was gonna say it's actually on the original albums.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:01

I think so, yeah, because I never had I had a CD where it's um Transylvania starts with it.

unknown 1:07:07

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:08

Because they cut it in the wrong place.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:10

Oh wow, okay. I just know that I we did an episode and I can't remember exactly what episode this one would have been, Kirsty. Maybe it was the same episode The Halloween where uh George Whitnall was dead Phantom of the Opera, and he sang and he and he did the torture me back at your lair part twice at the end, and I was like and I just thought, what what's he doing that for? That's kind of weird. And then I uh one of um one of the people Matt likes to say hi to when I mention his name, Alan Bell. He mailed me a copy uh of a picture disc a few years back, I said five years ago now, of the first album. And when I played that, because I was like, I this is what I this is what I thought, Kirsty. I thought, you know what? This guy sent me an Iron Maiden album overseas from a foreign country. The the least I could do is listen to it. Wouldn't you think, Kirsty, that if someone mailed you an Iron Maiden album from a foreign country that you don't live in, you know, it's spent spent a lot of money that you would, you know, owe them to listen to it? It's fair, right? Good comment, Kirst. Love your work.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:28

I think uh yeah, I think they probably the album's freely given and it's yours to do what you want with it.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:35

No, thanks a lot. Um anyway, moving on from that comment. When I listen to it.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:42

Oh, we're back on Gen's episode now, are we?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:48

You like to make you like to make your own amusement. I like to I like to poke to poke you, the bear, anytime you're gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:55

Don't be poking me with anything. Bear or not.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:01

See, Kirsty, I'm trying to be professional here. And the word trying is doing like and um ballad junior over here just can't control himself.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:11

Try a bit harder.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:12

Matthew.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:13

No, don't try any harder.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:16

So uh what were we talking about?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:19

You talked about the phantom of the up property. Okay. And then I guess you're gonna talk about sign of the cross.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:24

Sign of the cross, you know, it takes a while to kick in. It takes a while, you know, you get you get Blaze coming in singing really nice and low, and then it finally kicks in, and you know, you hear Blaze sing for the first time, and the story of the song. I'm gonna ask it a well a question. Is this song based on a book or anything? I believe that it is. I've written it in. Okay, yeah, I do remember the the the name of the rose, I think is what it's like.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:52

Name of the rose. That's it. I knew I was wrong.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:54

I knew well, you were more right than I was. I couldn't even remember. Uh, but yeah, uh I I think that this song is fantastic. It's got a lot, a lot of great musical sections. The sign the the the chorus when Blaze sings in it, when Bruce sings it, it's very grand and big, you know, and the way they hold it, the sign of the cross and all that. You know, now Bruce, when I heard him singing on Rock and Rio, you know, when he when he when he goes up a fire in the sky, you go higher, it's just like, holy crap. I mean, love it's it's it's very well done. There's a lot of great musical sections to it. Now, I don't know if I'm thinking about it, and I'm worn out on these quiet sections of songs that take too long, but uh that's how I'm feeling right now about the sign of the cross, even though I absolutely love it. So my vote is going to go to Phantom of the Opera. Uh Matthew.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:58

Very good. Okay, Phantom of the Opera and Sign of the Cross. So two songs uh that I like a lot. One of them has been my favorite at some point in the past, and much like you, Stavrossi, would have been when I heard it on live after death. And you're right, there really was something different about that with this track than all the other tracks. And I it's funny, I can't even really pinpoint what it is. It just has a different feel about it.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:27

Uh, there's a lot of different things going on within it, but it kind of showcases everything that they were going to be capable of. This one track on their first album. There's aggression in some of the um some of the riffs, just the melodies and there's harmonies, the solos and this are captivating. Paul's great in this, but one of my favorite things to come out of this was I was gonna say Diano, uh, Dennis. Dennis's solo. Dennis's solo with this. I love it. But yeah, you were talking about that little did-da-da-d-d. We're in that midsection, man. That was that made it for me. I'd never heard anything like that before. Sure. Uh, the first time hearing this, and yeah, the live after death version is the definitive version for me to listen to on this, but oh Dave's playing in the middle, there's that bluesy, that beautiful feel to it, that first solo, and then Steve changes up the structure of the song, guitar melodies kick in, the solos, it's just so much. Oh, I've love this track. Uh, it's almost a blueprint of what Maiden will do perfectly in things to come. Oh, yeah. A sign of the cross. I like this track a lot, like I said. But do I need three minutes of Gregorian chance to sing along with at the start of the track? Not necessarily. I think they could have used it for sure, but I don't think it needed to be so long. Though it does create a vibe. But man, when the song kicks in properly, that first line, standing alone in the wind and rain, it just paints such a picture for me. It there's an atmosphere once they've got this song down and started properly. Love it. Lots of great melodies, and I think Blaze, Blaze sounds great in this. And I think there's probably not too many people that would knock Blaze on this track. They might do on others, but man, I think this is a pretty hard track to say that you don't like. Uh, that little breakdown, I think you were referring to that that's in the middle of this. I don't mind it. Like it's it's creating a tension, like a little bit of a march, but then after that, it just bursts.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:42

It's just yeah, yeah, it does explode into that.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:45

Yeah, because it creates that contrast. So for me, I just think it really, really works.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:50

Um maybe I'm just tired.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:52

No, but I understand where you're coming from on that, but because sometimes I I do feel the same way, and there's other tracks, um, but it's happened plenty. It's like I don't need this. But it just creates such a contrast, it's like a burst of colour coming out of it with the guitar melodies then going into those solos. And the solos, there's a freneticism about it that I really, really like. It just captures you, you get swept up in it. Um but I would think that if they didn't have those chants at the beginning, even as much as I've liked uh fandom in the past, it would have made this a closer a closer choice. But there's just a little bit too much prancing around at the start for me to to pick it. As much as I like it, I'm gonna go fandom. And I kind of feel bad that everything's leaning towards classic hero maiden, because I don't really find myself to be like that. But man, brave is the man who picks sign of the cross over Phantom of the Opera.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:54

Yeah. Well, what if it's a woman though?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:00

Well, what if it is?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:04

I'll do a maiden whoa at the front.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:08

Alright, so Phantom of the Opera's got this absolutely iconic opening riff. And imagine this coming from the first album. Yeah. Um so many time changes, uh, it just flows so well, absolutely gorgeous solos, and a lot happens in what feels like a short time, but it's also got the speed and aggression that we're not seeing on any of the rest of the epics, really. So it's a bit different in that respect. Um, but it's just like um an all-time classic for me, of course, because it's like one of the first Iron Maiden songs that I've heard. Yeah, and the sign of the cross, it's it's amazing. It's like 11 minutes. But it didn't really feel like it for me. It was really bold of them to start the album and the new singer with Gregorian chant. Um but I think you know that's they've just really gone through it. A lot of their later songs start with the atmospheric intro, but this is interesting. Very atmospheric. Um really nice chorus on Sign of the Cross. The song's really got time to breathe. Um it's a five-minute interval. So and again, you've got your monks building it up, and it just builds up and builds up, and then there's a dramatic soundtrack feel to this section. And and then there's that slower kind of disjointed section with a really nice guitar melody, but the drums are playing an odd rhythm. And then there's a driving straight ahead section, and there's all these different sections, uh, the solos, they're like really crazy rather than melodic. I guess I missed Adrian a little bit here, but yeah, there's so much going on in that five minutes, and then bang, there's just one more little quick little melody before a chorus, and we're done. So it seems to go faster than it is because 11 minutes is a long time to listen to something without getting bored in some cases. So and I think again would really, really like me to pick sign of the cross. But I'm sorry, I'm gonna pick Phantom of the Opera.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:19

You won't get to find out, Matthew. But today. Yeah, not today. So the next one, Matthew.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:34

Is this the one you were talking about?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:36

Yes, it is.

unknown 1:17:40

Well.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:43

So this is the number two ranked claxic era and modern era uh epics, as done by Poles by Gen. Number two ranked epic of all time, classic era, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, at one point, the longest song ever. Now it would be a normal length song on a new album. But Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner versus uh Kirsty, the second song from Dance of Death. So, like uh nothing on here from Book of Souls. Interesting enough. Passion Dale, Matthew. Passion, Passion Dale, Matthew.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:30

Some people have a passion for the Dale.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:32

That's true, yeah. And um what the world wants to know, Matthew. Does it? Is how the very small world that we live in.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:43

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:44

That we operate in.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:45

In my simulation.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:46

Yeah. Let me rephrase it. Gen wants to know, Matthew.

unknown 1:18:51

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:53

What do you think about this selection?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:00

Um, you know what? I think um I think if you've ever heard me talk about one of these tracks, actually, probably both. You probably already know. That's what I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:09

That's what I'm saying. This was when I saw this, I thought, ooh, man, it's gonna struggle.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:13

You reckon?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:14

Okay. Sounds like you need to have it struggle. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:18

Oh, okay. So rhyme. So for me, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner has an intro that lasts for about five minutes in this track, and then goes into that little lull, and I get to hear the creaking of the ship's floorboards. Uh, but you know, I don't mind the first half, but for me, there's not a lot going on in the first half of this track.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:43

Oh, this is one of those bathroom songs or shirt songs, right? The first Iron Maiden concert you ever went to, you went and bought a shirt. You went and bought every shirt during this song, didn't you?

SPEAKER_02 1:19:52

This was the first show that I'd seen, and this is the moment that I took. Because I was worried about not getting shirts that I wanted. Yeah. Because if you recall, I heard all the I remember the story.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:02

Everybody can hear that on your Iron Maiden story back in. Yeah, it was in 2021.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:08

Tumultuous time getting there. Yeah. So I didn't want to miss out on my shirt. So when this track started, because I didn't know what they were going to play, I was like, oh, awesome. I've got a good eight minutes or so to run and get some to run, to run and get some merch.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:21

So went to the merch stand, bought a swag, and then came back to when the song starts proper. So yeah, I mean, I don't mind the first half of the song, it's okay. Uh, I'm probably not gonna skip it if I'm listening to the album. If I'm listening to a live after death album, different story, I'm skipping all the way through to when the second half of this track starts, because that's when I think everything is done in earnest. And I love the second half of this track. But I think there's a lot of reverence for this track because so back in the day, yes, it was a 13-minute song. That was a big thing unto itself. Yeah, they did the whole, you know, it's a poem by Samuel Taylor or Coleridge. I didn't even know who that was until I'd heard of Maiden. That's a good thing though, because then I'm learning something while listening to some metal, listening to Maiden. Um, but yeah, I'd never heard about him at school and never heard about him ever again unless he was mentioned in the same sentence as his track. So it just seemed to me that it was a bit of a crutch that we could showcase to the non-metal speaking or listening world that metal could be intelligent, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:29

But for me, the song really is just about the second half. So where Nico comes in with the drumming and then it's just escalating. Bruce wails, and then after that, it leads into some fantastic music, but it just took a bit to get there. Like, I love Adrian's solo coming out of this. Bruce's wail is unreal. Dave, oh, he's so beautiful. He's solo, but there's just an aggressiveness there, but then we get what we our trademark maiden with those harmonies after that, and eventually it's gonna go back into Bruce, finishing off the song. But I don't think we needed a 13-minute track out of this, unless it was just you had to flush out the sorry, not flush out, that's probably not the best choice of word, to develop the story itself. And I've never read the story, so I don't really know. Yeah, but there's a lot going on. The lyrics are still good, the melodies are good. Uh there's just too much in the first half of this track for me. I think a lot of the heavy lifting here is the fact that it's a 13-minute song, and I understand there's a lot of people that don't have my opinion, and that's fine. But then we get to Passion Dale, and I'll tell you, I was glad when I saw that it was going up against rhyme. Because then I thought this at least takes a little bit of the pressure off of the fact of what I'm gonna choose, and I think it's already pretty well known from the way I've just described the last track. Because there are many that are gonna just pick rhyme because it's part of the classic era, but I would hope that they would still have a lot of respect for this track, Passhendale. So I think that there's something almost childlike or fairy talish to the intro of this musically. You've got to exclude the lyrics here because the lyrics straight away are putting you into a pretty, pretty bleak um description. Uh but this is just gonna give way to this thunderous beginning. So once the band starts in proper, it just there's an intensity that just for the most part doesn't let up. Uh the intro just to me, it just feels like a transition. The way it flows, it's chaotic. And I think that that is very appropriate for the subject matter that they're they're talking about and singing about until the chorus. And then amongst all the chaos, the chorus comes along, and there's a bit of a almost a steadiness, and it feels like you know, if you're reminiscing back about whatever's happening in your day, however bad it is, good, bad, the other. When you kind of think off, think off a fart or something, and everything in the foreground is kind of put back a little, and it's almost dreamlike. And I think it's kind of like that, but then boom, that chaos is back, and they do that so well here in this. Uh yeah, it's when he was saying, Into jaws of death we go, and he hangs on that note, and it's like you're just thrust back into the harsh reality of the soundings and the ensuing chaos that accompanies it. Yeah, and I've said before that the lyrics to me, this is what reads like poetry. So you can have your Samuel Taylor collerage, that's all good. But this is made in with their poetry, and I just think I've said before that the lyrics are so tragic, but tragically beautiful. So one of the lines, and I'm not gonna pick out a lot of lines because usually you'll tell it better than I do, Steve. Because you like to go on uh oh go on, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:59

Ad nauseum. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:01

No, but but something like cruelty has a human heart, and every man does play his part. Terror of the men we kill, the human heart is hungry still. That just that captures so much in just very few words, and it's just oh, so so to the point, but it's poignant, it's it's almost overwhelming. And when I try to to relate to you know the person in part of this, where oh, there's moments in my life, well, I'll think about this, just this track, just thinking about it, and it just moves me. But there's a line here, and uh you know, I stand my ground for the very last time, gun as ready as I stand in line, nervous wait for the whistle to blow, rush of blood, and over we go. And Bruce wails on the word go, and it puts a lump in my throat, even talking about it now, it's like oh, I can feel in my diaphragm, it just and it chokes me up. Um the the lyrics, they just paint the bleakest of pictures, and the imagery is so close, it it hurts to read about this.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:16

Well, knowing that it's something real, and it's based on something real, and even as bleak as it all is, it it probably doesn't even touch how real, you know, what the intensity really was, but it's a great representation of it.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:34

It's so ugly what they're what they're talking about, but it's done so beautifully. Tragic is the only word I keep coming back to the word tragic because that's what it is. But I just think that the music perfectly captures the chaos of the setting. You know, it's bombastic, it's aggressive, it's unsettling. And I think it's one of the I think it's one of Maiden's greatest tracks. And man, talking about it, thinking about it, just gives me a lump in my throat. And I don't think that there's many tracks that would have the emotional effect on me that this one does. And so I was so happy to see this go against Ryan, because this is like chalk and cheese for me. Nothing, almost nothing, can touch this track. It's a big Passion Dale.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:23

Oh follow that, Kirsty.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:28

I don't know if I love hearing Matt talk about Passionale. Oh god. Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. And it's straight into it, no long acoustic intro.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:45

It's the old days.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:46

Galloping verses. Yeah, it's um so this is telling a story. Um it's it's a very fast paced song and until they're one after one by the Stardog and Moon section. And which is when for me it starts to get really amazing. Um when he sings there, calls the mariner section. There's the most incredible bass line. I absolutely love the creepy quiet section. Um I just think it's so effective. It doesn't go too long for me. Um the sound effects, the creaky bits of the boat. I think when I first got into Live After Death, that was my absolute favourite bit. Um I'm not even waiting to get to the payoff that Matt talks about. This is all part of it. Um the section when he prays sounds really hopeful. And then when in Downing Falls comes the rain, oh my god, it's absolutely incredible. Better live, but always great. Bruce cackling, thunderclaps, two great guitar harmonies, bass lines, just amazing. Back to the gallop and a verse, it loses a bit of momentum if I had to pick anything apart here, maybe after all that excitement. But that could be just the number of times I've listened to it. Um It's just a great song. Um Passion Dale. Now this intro sets a scene with quiet and loud moments and pauses mimicking battle. Um and the verses, they're all about the lyrics, just describing how horrific the situation is. And again, like between the lyrics, there's these pauses and then some heavy guitars and orchestration. So just like the pause, the quiets, the louds, it builds a lot of tension until over they go. And there's a whistle, and then there's a silence just before Dave and Adrian's solos. And their solos are really mournful as well. And then it just builds and builds and builds like when blood's falling like the rain, there's a crescendo before Yannick's solos. And so, you know, it does really paint a lot of pictures. I think the vocal harmonies and orchestration are really great. Um, whereas in rhyme, you've just got the five members of the band. Um it's it's an incredibly moving, epic song. A lot more mature. Up against um what I have told you before in the past, Steve, when I first did my Iron Maiden story was my favourite song, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Wow, yeah. So I was it was quite a lot harder for me, but I'm going to go with Passionale.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:25

And who wrote Passionale Kirsty, by the way? Steve Harris and Steve Harris, yeah. And Adrian Smith Matthew. So, well, I definitely agree on rhyme as far as I mean, what a great song. And when as a I don't know, 13, 14-year-old kid hearing it for the first time, it it was something that was kind of from whoever I heard, it was something that was talked about. Like, holy crap, this band did a song that's almost 14 minutes long. I mean, who else does that other than, you know, going back to the 70s and hearing about bands doing stuff like that? Who does it in heavy metal? And it was very impressive. Like Kirsty said, it just kicks right in, you know, within the first, I don't know what, less than 10 seconds, Bruce is already singing. There's no big long beautiful intro like they do now on so many of their epics, and uh it kicks in and it is pretty great when it kicks in, you know, that ba-da-da-da-da. You know, it's so cool. Um the the quiet section, uh as I said for Sign of the Cross, uh, just thinking about listening to it, I like it, you know, like like you said, you know, the one by one by the start I can moon to quit going to sign all that stuff. It's like it's cool. But the like I almost want to go like, and I never would fast forward through that, but it'd almost be like I'd want to go, let me fast forward to do do do do do do do, you know, get the bass line kicking in, and and then but like you said, when he when he screams, you know, then down and falls comes the rain, and it's the music goes over the board, and then just the killer guitar solos and all that, and it's just it's pretty majestic right there, you know. It's pretty, it's pretty, it's a great, it's a great build to get to that, you know, and then we get all the way to the end of the song, and you know, and then the drummer yells out Mother Effer and ruins it at the end and all, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:39

That didn't ruin it for me. Because doesn't that happen at the end of Revelations?

SPEAKER_02 1:32:46

Before Fly of Icarus, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:48

Was it wait? Oh, okay. It was it was Revelation. Okay, okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, I can. Oh, that's right, because he's like, uh you. And then stupid Nico can't keep his damn mouth shut. Like, just to just to let the prettiness of all that hear the you know, Nico the attention whore. Golly. That's a it is funny though when you hear it. I remember thinking, who in the crowd yelled so loud that got on the tape?

SPEAKER_00 1:33:16

Yeah, I used to think that. I didn't realize it was yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:19

Of course, I think Matt said he thought they were screaming at a girl's name or something, right, Matt?

SPEAKER_02 1:33:23

Uh no, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:24

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:25

Hannah, Hannah Smith. So you're referring to the case. Yeah, that's what it was.

SPEAKER_04 1:33:29

That's what it was. That's what it was. Um Yeah, yeah. Next song, Passion Dale. It starts pretty um I don't know, I don't know if I want to say eerily or ominously, but I think both of those words kind of would fit, you know, with that. As Matt said, you start, the lyrics come in, and immediately it's just oh well. Years ago, uh Talking Maiden referenced a podcast that they had listened to about Passhondale, like a war, one of these, one of these podcasts that that like Andrew would listen to. And I remember I went and listened to it, it was like, I don't know, I can't remember how many episodes it was, five, six episodes, and each one was like three or four hours long. And it it the the amount of detail, it was so graphic. And you you there's a line in here, uh I just read it a second ago, where he basically I can't I don't want to look for it, but it's basically where he's saying, like 18-year-old drowning in mud. Something like that. And and you read the story of that, and there's people stuck down there. There's I I remember there was a story in there of a guy that was looking up at a guy and he begging him to kill him because he was drowning in mud, and he would rather just get shot in the head than I'm I think I would that you'd rather go that way too, because there was no way, no getting out of it. And but yeah, you you look at these lyrics. I mean, just the opening line in a foreign field he lay, lonely soldier, unknown grave, on his dying word, he prays, Tell the world of passion, Joe. These lyrics, um there's a line that you said in there, Matt, about the waiting for the whistle to blow.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:31

And right before that, uh, he says, I stand my ground for the very last time. And I I I just you know, I was just kind of skimming the lyrics here a minute ago just because I was like, you know, like you said, I'm gonna talk about lyrics. So and I've and I read that, and I've never really even thought of of how telling that line is. Like a man thinking that. This is the last time I'm ever gonna You have to be conscious of it. Yeah, yeah, just uh because once you go over that, I mean that's what they talked about on the dock was once you go over that hill, it was almost like it was like they were trying to get so many people to go over the hill.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:08

Way of numbers.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:10

Yeah, that maybe one or two could get through and eventually two or three could get through, and then eventually they could build up enough like like like that Pink Floyd song says, you know, just hundreds of ordinary men.

SPEAKER_02 1:36:21

It's like throw enough at the wall, and some of it sticks in the end, and it's kind of like that, just keep throwing and throwing.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:26

And if we can get enough of them, if we can if we can spare 200 and get 50 in there, you know. I mean, that's what their lives are worth in this game of That's what Clint Kennon Fodder is. Yeah, yeah. Um But I was reading this lyric at the end. Um, as we charge the enemy lines, a burst of fire and we go down, I choke a cry, but no one hears. Feel the blood go down my throat. It's you know the the the the chorus, the home far away, far away from the war, a chance to live again. But then the next one's more bleak. But the war, no chance to live again.

SPEAKER_02 1:37:13

It's the real it's like the dream and the or the memory and the reality.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:16

Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, uh this this the song Iron Maiden War songs lyrically tend to just be incredibly well done. Because they don't they don't take it, they don't just write a a dumb song about war. They take it very seriously. It's almost like they want to make sure that they give it the respect that it's due. And here, I'll I don't want to go too long here. But one thing I was thinking about this song when I was like, what am what can I say differently than what you guys have already said? Um, you know, you get the intro, you know, the dunun and you know, and when it kicks in, it's like all hell breaks loose. You know, like it's so intense. Um yes, okay. Um it's so intense, right? It's it's it's it it's almost like they're on the side of okay. What's the line I just read, Matt? You know, my last um stand my ground for the very last time. Now it's my time to go ba-da-da-da-da-pa- You know, it's like all hell breaks loose all of a sudden. So um it's uh the intensity of that is just uh It never gives up. Yeah, and and and and Maiden does their all with these songs. They they Adrian came in with some of the best music. Well, well, I mean, look, there's uh there's a I mean I there's a hundred hundred and fifty great songs by Iron Maiden with great music, right? Correctly? I'm right there, right? And this is one this is just another example, but I mean, and I've always kind of said this song could fit in very well on the album that followed on A Matter of Life and Death. It would have been a perfect You could have slotted it in and it would have been perfect.

SPEAKER_02 1:39:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:37

And um because of that, I I almost, and I think we've discussed this before. Tell me if you agree. I feel like this song, Adrian, you know, Adrian had you know has has admittedly said, I want to write an epic. I want to see that he challenged himself. I want to see if I can write an epic. He comes with the epic. Steve, I'm assuming Steve does the lyrics. And uh I my best guess is that Steve and Adrian worked on that, and Steve probably thought, we could do a whole album like this. And I think that that song probably was a big influence on the next album. But uh yeah. Uh but yeah, for me, it's um I mean I I I always like it's nothing against um Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. But Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner is a great song. Uh this song, God, they're both epic songs, to be honest with you. I I just prefer Passion Dale. So I I I would listen to either one of them. So um, but that should bring us, Matthew, down to our number one. And I I let Kirsty go second on this one because I wanted her to go first on number one, because you know, that way we can kind of just go, yeah, she's right, and then move on, right? Coat tail coattails.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:18

I don't know. I don't know if I have too much to say. Um, so the songs are hallowed be thy name and Hell on Earth, which is the very last epic. Yes. From the last album Senjutsu.

SPEAKER_03 1:41:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:32

And we have described previously when when we've talked about oh, what would be an Iron Maiden song you would use to show what Iron Maiden is, often um Hallowed Be Thy Names come up.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:47

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:47

Because it's telling a story and the music tells a story really well. Um and it just starts off just that very first note and the gong and everything, and you just you're just like so invested immediately.

SPEAKER_03 1:42:02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:03

Um and it it's just you know, the guy's scared and then he's accepting, um and the music kind of tells that story, and you've got everything. You've got the tempo, it's quite fast, it's quite heavy, but you've got like your jaw guitar harmonies, you've got your gallop, you've got fantastic solos. Um it's just got every single thing, it just ends, it's even got that Iron Maiden ending as well. Short thing. Um absolutely beautiful, perfect song. Very theatrical again, one of those theatre of the mind songs that Bruce discusses. Um couple of borrowed lyrics that I'm sure Steve will bang on about. Yeah, uh Hell on Earth. This is a very long song. It's eleven minutes, and you're three minutes before Bruce even starts singing. This is how we've like learned to take our time and just see where the song takes you, kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:43:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:10

Um it's really good. I I really like that acoustic beginning. I can see us all waving our arms in the in the concert, like grasses blowing in the wind.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:21

I think I made you do it, didn't I?

SPEAKER_04 1:43:24

I'm quite sure, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:26

Yeah. Because I think it's really nice for the band to look out and see that. Um Yeah, this is this is all sort of quite good because it kind of goes back to the classic era because you've got your gallops, you got a sing along chorus and everything, and it's it's just kind of what we've kind of had been missing from Iron Maiden. And I think everyone was really delighted when it came about.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:52

But yeah, then there's the one section, the section that made it the absolute standout for me. Very sort of quiet bit. Um the dancing on the graves bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:08

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:10

And then when he sh when he when it builds up and he sings looking anger, and that edge on his voice when he sings anger is just such a moment.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:22

Um My husband bought a speaker the other day and I put this on just to test it. I thought, oh, what do I want to listen to? Um, absolutely love this song.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:31

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:33

I think the two, if you would say, Yes, Hallowed Be Thy Name is what Iron Maiden's all about, but if you wanted to say, What are they doing now? this would be quite a good example.

SPEAKER_04 1:44:43

What are they all about? Yes, exactly. Both of them, yeah. What were they about then and what were they about now? Yeah. Or what are they about now?

SPEAKER_00 1:44:51

Oh, you know, and when I first saw Hell on Earth, I thought, yeah, that's gonna win, and then I I saw it was up against Hallowed Be Thy Name, and I was like, oh, okay. Like uh you're like, ah, Hell on Earth. It it actually can't win for me. Um, Hallowed Be Thy Name is just one of those absolute classic Iron Maiden songs that I couldn't really go past.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:13

Yeah, it's um yeah, it it's very unfortunate for Hallowed right now. I mean for sorry, for Hell on Earth because of Hallowed. Um and uh so um Yeah, okay, all fairness, let's let's go through these here. Um so Hallowed Be Thy Name is one of those songs where when I was introducing my children to Iron Maiden, uh that was the song I went with. I was like, what what can I do? What can I talk about? What can I tell them? What can I show them? What can I play for them? And and and you know, I I've told the story many a time where we were going on a hike and I was playing the song in the vehicle, and as I was playing the song, I was talking to them about the lyrics and the story, and and this is probably before I had fully dug into all of the newer material as well. It was in the in-between. Like I was back into Maiden, but I hadn't, you know, dug into the albums properly. And which as you do when you do a podcast, you know. And um Hallowed is a perfect song. I mean, it other than stolen lyrics, maybe, you know, that would that that could be a way to actually vote for Hell on Earth. Stolen lyrics. Let me ask you, Kirsty, before I how do you how much do you feel that influenced this song, these l those lyrics that they took from the uh Beckett song? Uh you didn't mention it.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:21

I didn't mention it really, but uh I don't know. I don't it it kind of disappointed me a little bit. Um maybe you know, something's gonna have nudged him towards it. I don't know if it's those lyrics or something else, and those lyrics just kind of fit.

SPEAKER_03 1:47:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:42

But I mean, I'm in terms of the music, the music's not been ripped off.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:49

Right, yeah. Yeah, we're not talking about nomad.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:51

So it's it's less of a deal for me in this case than in the nomad case. Just as long as everyone got credited, that's fine. But yeah, it was like it's a little bit disappointing, but also they're really great lyrics. I don't blame him for ripping them off. They absolutely they fit this so perfectly. I don't think of anything that could have gone better there.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:16

True. Yeah, I because I I didn't even I wasn't even calculating the lyrics into it until I started talking, and I went, oh, there is that. But yeah, the song, the story, the lyrics that it tells it, like I said, it tells about a scared man, you know, who's getting put to death, and and and you know, and he he doesn't believe in an afterlife, but then he wonders, is there an afterlife, you know? And if there is this, what what will happen to me? And and it's uh it's a it's it's a really it's just a cool story. It's cool the way it's told. Um, it's very well done musically, and it's one of those songs where we have the benefit of Clive Burr doing the drum fills instead of Nico, and he nails those drum fills perfectly. Just he goes all snare on those drum fills, which I think is it's just perfect. It's more simple, it's it's just it sounds fantastic. You know, the the epic at the end, the hell it'd be where he's just how it be thy name over and over. You gotta feel like anybody listening to that album and thinking that Paul it was Paul or nothing, how could you listen to that and not say, Okay, this guy's amazing, you know. But yeah, the song that starts out, like you said, with the bell and just leads in, and it's it's it's kind of a kind of a mellowish intro, you know, but once it gets going, and then bam, when they stop and Bruce starts wailing, like it kicks into another gear, you know, it takes that music up a notch too. Um yeah, fantastic song. Hell on Earth, three minute intro, just just Lovely, lovely intro. Uh finally, you know, finally kicks in. Uh it's awesome. Lots of guitars. Um the the the part toward the end of the song that I'll go all the way back there down there. Uh Love and Anger, Life in Danger, Lost in Anger, Life in Danger, the way Bruce sings that. I remember in Perth, Sarah and I were up in the balcony watching this at the end. And I remember, you know, I don't know how much everybody was into it, but I remember when he sang that line, I, because we were in, we were in seats, it really wasn't a spot to stand. And I I just rose to my feet that first love and anger. I mean, I was just like fist in the air. I was it was incredible, and Bruce delivered it so well, same as he did in Melbourne, you know, of course. And um I thought that was the that was the highlight of the show for me. Every all three shows I got to see, that was the best moment of all three shows for Maiden. Um I would agree. Yes. Um, I would have taken that over. I would have they could have played that twice instead of playing Alexander the Great for me, you know. But you know, it was cool to hear Alexander as well. But man, Hell on Earth is incredible. And I gotta say, if it was up against I think any other song on this list, ooh, that's a tough one, too, there. If it was against Seventh Sun or Phantom, the only one that would have beat it might have been Seventh Sun. I think I would have, I think I might, well, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:48

Phantom is pretty it would have beaten Alexander the Great, though. We'll just leave it at that.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:52

Well, it would have beat Tatame a Land, Fear of the Dark, Alexander, and probably for me, Rhyme. So. But against Hallowed, yeah. Hallowed is the quintessential Iron Maiden song, you know, outside of the Trooper. It's this, it's the one that's going to be at the top of one time, I guess I could say it like this, before Hell on Earth ever came out. I remember years ago, somebody asked me, what's the greatest, what's your favorite song of all time? And I was like, what do you mean? Like by a band, or no, just of all time. I'm like, you are cruel. That is not a question you should ask someone like me. But you know, I just kind of went, you know what? Let me let me just let me try to narrow it down really fast. And I narrowed it down in a few minutes. I said, you know what? Hallowed Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden. So I can't do anything else but vote for Hallowed Be Thy Name.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:53

It's I love Hell on Earth, and I hate this was a tiebreaker, but because we'd had three classics and three modens up until now.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:04

Yeah. Yeah. But it's, you know, all of these songs are are for me, they're all good songs. It's like Matt said. Um but with that, Kirsty, I think we've accomplished what Gen set out for us to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:53:23

Thank you again.

SPEAKER_04 1:53:24

Yes, thank you again so much. It was a great idea, and we appreciate you uh having done those polls and actually having the people's voice get heard and and uh doing all this. So with that, Kirsty, I guess we should tell everybody Cheers.