Battle of the Iron Maiden tracks

[BigMcLargehuge]

I'm having the kind of morning where all I want to do is sit and listen to Iron Maiden at ludicrous volume in my iPod. And as I sit here swinging my head around like a doofus and air guitaring like a moron, I am unable to determine which song rocks harder on the album The Number of the Beast.

Iron Maiden, unlike virtually every other heavy metal act of their time were extremely literate in both literature and history and worked that into their music. The Number of the Beast, for example, parallels Nathaniel Hawthorn's "Young Goodman Brown" in many places while "Hallowed be thy Name" calls to mind any number of classic lit pieces where the protagonist meets his end at the gallows of the state and in doing so, questions the very nature of life and belief. Other tracks like the aptly named "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" are based on Coleridge's poem of the same name, while "The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner" is based on the film of the same name, and "The Prisoner" is based on the enigmatic TV show. Historical songs include "Alexander the Great" and "The Trooper" the first chronicles the Greek emperor's conquests and famous battles the later follows an infantryman into Russia during Napoleon's disasterous march on Moscow. But these are mere example, and while they all rock hard, pale a bit in power to the breakout tracks on Number of the Beast.

So which one rocks harder? Number of the beast or Hallowed be thy Name?

Hallowed be thy Name

I'm waiting in my cold cell when the bell begins to chime
Reflecting on my past life and it doesn't have much time
Cos at 5 o'clock they take me to the Gallows Pole
The sands of time for me are running low

When the priest comes to read me the last rites
I take a look through the bars at the last sights
Of a world that has gone very wrong for me

Can it be there's some sort of error
Hard to stop the surmounting terror
Is it really the end not some crazy dream

Somebody please tell me that I'm dreaming
It's not easy to stop from screaming
But words escape me when I try to speak

Tears they flow but why am I crying
After all I am not afraid of dying
Don't I believe that there never is an end

As the guards march me out to the courtyard
Somebody cries from a cell "God be with you"
If there's a God then why has he let me die?

As I walk all my life drifts before me
And though the end is near I'm not sorry
Catch my soul cos it's willing to fly away

Mark my words please believe my soul lives on
Please don't worry now that I have gone
I've gone beyond to see the truth

When you know that your time is close at hand
maybe then you'll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion.

The Number of the Beast

"Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the beast with wrath,
because he knows the time is short...
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast
for it is a human number, its number is Six hundred and sixty six."
*Revelations ch. XIII v.18*

I left alone my mind was blank
I needed time to get the memories from my mind

What did I see can I believe that what I saw
that night was real and not just fantasy

Just what I saw in my old dreams were they
reflections of my warped mind staring back at me

Cos in my dreams it's always there
the evil face that twists my mind
and brings me to despair

The night was black was no use holding back
Cos I just had to see was someone watching me
In the mist dark figures move and twist
was all this for real or some kind of hell
666 the Number of the Beast
Hell and fire was spawned to be released

Torches blazed and sacred chants were raised
as they start to cry hands held to the sky
In the night the fires are burning bright
the ritual has begun, Satan's work is done
666 the Number of the Beast
Sacrifice is going on tonight

This can't go on I must inform the law
Can this still be real or some crazy dream
but I feel drawn towards the evil chanting hordes
seem to mesmerise ...can't avoid their eyes
666 the Number of the Beast
666 the one for you and me

I'm coming back I will return
And I'll possess your body and I'll make you burn
I have the fire I have the force
I have the power to make my evil take its course.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Maiden had very intelligent and good music - I am a big fan!

Number of the Beast is sort of the classic standard rock-on tune - but I also love Hallowed be Thy Name. I especially love both on the live album. Along with the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. "water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink".

They are what metal bands SHOULD have been. But sadly, very few of them were - they were more concerned with their hair.

[mikeytherat]

16. "Invaders"

mikey_the_rat

[eyepaddle]

28. Hey! Isn't the line "Water, water everywhere, nor

any drop to drink?" :evilgrin:

[kick-ass-bob]

2. My favorite metal band of all time.

I can't think of a single Maiden track that I did not like.

I love the "Piece of Mind" album - 'Where Eagles Dare' especially.

As for the two above, Number of the Beast provides more of a harder, more immediate "rock" while Hallowed draws out the "rock-edness" for longer.

For intensity purposes, I go with Number of the Beast.

[asthmaticeog]

3. Such a close call it's almost unfair.

But I went with "Hallowed."

[NaturalHigh]

4. Until you posted this poll...

I had forgotten that Menudo ever existed.

[matcom]

5. Hallowed Be Thy Name

hands down

[RetroLounge]

6. Murders In The Rue Morgue

Paul D'Anno stuff blows away that pussy Bruce Dickingson...

RL

[no name no slogan]

10. Seconded

I like Bruce, but "Murders" whips the llama's ass

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. Other: Transylvania -nt

[Common Sense Party]

8. Of those 2, "Number of the Beast."

"Run to the Hills" or "Flight of Icarus" are good, too, but I can't remember which album they were on.

(I'd also throw in "The Lady Wore Black," "Take Hold of the Flame," and "Queen of the Reich" by Queensryche, as long as we're in this genre.)

[HuskerDU]

9. In the days of actual records, 'Live After Death' was one that

I literally wore out. What a great band!

Love Bruce as a singer, and the twin guitars played off each other perfectly on 'Live.' 'The Trooper' is probably my fav song with 'Piece of Mind' as my fav studio album. Nearly wore that one out too.

Again, great, great band!

[The Donkey]

11. I voted "other"

Because I've always thought the hardest rocking Maiden song was . . . .

[Initech]

12. Other: It's insanely hard to pick between those two tracks!

And I'm a HUGE Iron Maiden fan. I own most of their albums (save for the Bruce Bailey ones and a couple of the live albums) and I've seen them 3 times in concert.

Some of my other favorite Maiden tunes - "Fear Of The Dark", "Brave New World", "Journeyman", "Infinite Dreams", "The Evil That Men Do", "Caught Somewhere In Time", and "The Trooper".

[pointblank]

19. Ahhhhh

Infinite dreams i’can’t deny them
Infinity is hard to comprehend
I couldn’t hear those screams
Even in my wildest dreams

Suffocation waking in a sweat
Scared to fall asleep again
Incase the dream begins again
Someone chasing I cannot move
Standing rigid a nightmare’s statue
What a dream when will it end
And will I trancend?

Restless sleep the minds in turmoil
One nightmare ends another fertile
Getting me so scared to sleep
But scared to wake now, in to deep

Even though it’s reached new heights
I rather like the restless nights
It makes me wonder it makes me think
There’s more to this I’m on the brink
It’s not the fear of what’s beyond
It’s just that I might not respond
I have an interest almost craving
But would I like to get too far in?

It can’t be all coincedence
Too many things are evident
You tell me you’re an unbeliever
Spirtualist? well me I’m neither
But wouln’t you like to know the thruth
Of what’s out there to have the proof
And find out just which side you’re on
Where would you end, in heaven or in hell

Help me help me to find my true
Self without seeing the future
Save me save me from myself
Even within my dreams

There’s got to be just more to it than this
Or tell me why do we exist
I’d like to think that when I die
I’d get a chance some other time
And to return and live again
Reincarnate play the game
Again and again and again



Lovin it!!! :headbang:

[Initech]

21. Good tune! Just got finished listening to "Dance Of Death"

:headbang:

[pointblank]

22. I have heard a few tracks from DOD

but I havent gotten it yet. The tracks I heard were decent, but not as good compared even to the Wicker Man album IMO

Is it worth it you think? Did it grow on you?

[Initech]

24. Yeah, it took a while.

Dance Of Death isnt nearly as good as Brave New World, but it's certainly better than the Blaze Bailey albums (X Factor and Virtual IX).

[pointblank]

25. Yep, Blaze sucked

compared to Bruce. Maiden isnt Maiden without Bruce, IMO.

[Initech]

26. Blaze was horrible, but Paul could have kicked Blaze's ass any day.

I still agree that Maiden isnt anything without Bruce, though!

[kwassa]

13. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida!

In-a-gadda-da-vida, honey,
Don’t you know that I love you?
In-a-gadda-da-vida, baby,
Don’t you know that I’ll always be true?

Oh, won’t you come with me
And take my hand?

Oh, won’t you come with me
And walk this land?

Please take my hand!

(butterfly, maiden, whatever!)

[tigereye]

15. snort!

[William Bloode]

14. Been a fan for many years.

On the single alblum Hallowed would do it for me. but my favorite tracks are Killers, and Run to the Hills.

[pointblank]

17. HUGE MAIDEN FAN HERE

I like Number of the Beast over Hallowed be thy Name...tough call though.

On your poll I chose other, simply because I love Powerslave...even thought the lyrics arent their deepest.

[Servotron]

18. Don't those guys worship Satan?

:hide:

[jandrok]

20. No. They worship Santa.

Common misconception, though.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

23. Well now I think the tracks on Powerslave rock harder but given the two

I have to say Number of the Beast. But I think Children of the Damned is the best track on Number of the Beast. That's just MHO.

[eyepaddle]

27. Hallowed be thy Name

Number of the Beast is a little quicker to the punch--but Hallowed be thy Name is pretty much what Iron Maiden is all about.

Stranger in a Strrange Land is my all time favorite Maiden tune. Alexander the Great is way up there too.