The Batlord

Alright I'm gonna do this track by track just to spite you.


1. Invaders - Awesome opener. I wouldn't say it's one of their top songs, but it's still an awesome song that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of Maiden's career.

2. Children of the Damned - Why some bands decide to open with a belter and then follow it with a ballad I have no idea. It's a metal album. And not an "avant-garde" metal album either. It's just a straight up metal album. It needs to set the tone for such an album with more than one headbanger. It doesn't help that it's a rather dull song either.

3. The Prisoner - More like it. Again, not one of their best songs, but it's enjoyable. Still, on any other Maiden album this would be within shouting distance of filler.

4. 22 Acacia Avenue - Why this is such a famous song I will never know. After you get over the lyrics you're left with a dull song.

5. The Number of the Beast - Love this song. Brilliant atmosphere, brilliant build up, and a "brilliant" music video.

6. Run to the Hills - One of those songs that's just quintessentially Maiden in all ways possibly to be quintessentially Maiden.

7. Gangland - Filler. Not bad filler, but I wouldn't have missed it.

8. Hallowed By Thy Name - One of the best songs any band has ever done.


So, as far as I'm concerned we're left with three actual, honest-to-god classic songs ("The Number of the Beast", "Run to the Hills", and "Hallowed By Thy Name") a couple songs that show Maiden's progression and their potential without being the finished product ("The Prisoner" and "Gangland"), and two moderately crap songs ("Children of the Damned" and "22 Acacia Avenue"). And then of course there's "Invaders" which is, again, awesome, but not quite classic.

Bam. Your move.

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Trollheart

OK then, my move is pawn --- they're the little knobbly ones down the front, right? ---

Spot on. Great opener, sets the scene, gets you rockin' right away.

What? How many bands do this? I know few albums that even use ballads near the beginning, which makes it a little unique in and of itself. Also, it's not a ballad: don't you hear it kicking up in the last few minutes? And it ends on a big "Woh! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!" with killer guitar and a big scream from Brucey. Hardly "Strange world" now is it? Maiden don't really do ballads, and this is not what I would call a ballad.



Love this song. Powerful, iconic, fast and heavy with such interesting subject matter. Never filler, in any world or galaxy.

See above. The boogie guitar near the end makes this song, but I love the way it chugs along and while it may not be the greatest Maiden song ever written, let's not forget that it's originally an Adrian Smith song, adapted for Maiden when he joined.

Nothing to add here. Agree 100 percent.
Or here. Weakest track on the album and closest it comes to filler.

Not in any way an overstatement or hype. Simply one of the very best metal songs ever recorded and probably among the top ten best closers on any album. Has true classic written all over it even the first time you hear it.
Basically we don't disagree that much. I just think the tracks you see as potential filler are not, and CotD is not a ballad.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018