The Dance Of Death discussion thread.

phlogiston said:
I've never really worked out what compression sounds like, so I can't comment there. The vocals do sound a little buried, but my biggest complaint is the guitar sound.

Fair enough. From my time working with PA's, (I part owned one, and did stage sound) over-compressed to me means the vox is over produced, and has the very highs and lows removed, or 'flattened'.....the timbre of the voice ends up sounding very 'processed' as it were........again, I refer to 'Masterplan' or Jorn's 'Worldchanger' for excellent production and enhancement of a voice..........
By enhancement, I don't mean making it sound like something it's not - I mean making it sound like all of us are used to hearing it on CD.......i.e. not 'dry'.........but with some reverb, a bit of echo, and some graphic enhancement of the weaker frequencies in the particular voice. I hear none of this on DoD. Bruce, at least to me, sounds thin and strained - now maybe his voice was strained.......but the end product shouldn't sound like that.
I feel I could have done a better job of producing his voice, and I reckon I personally know at least 3 other guys who also could have.

That is why I'm so dissapointed, cos Maiden with Bruce IS Maiden.......I don't own any Di'anno or Blaze Maiden.
And he does have a powerful voice, there's no excuse for it being buried in the mix like it is.

**Whinge mode off**
 
IMO the vocals are a bit too low in the mix on some songs. Can't remember which ones offhand.

What I DO know is that the intro to the title track is really quite embarrassing. No wonder I've only been able to listen to it a handful of times.
 
Spiff said:
IMO the vocals are a bit too low in the mix on some songs. Can't remember which ones offhand.

What I DO know is that the intro to the title track is really quite embarrassing. No wonder I've only been able to listen to it a handful of times.

Do you mean the music, or the way Bruce delivers the lyrics? Or both?

I think the title track is a great song, but when he sings some of the words at the start, the timing is all f'd up, to my ears anyhow...I think a word or two should have taken out from a few lines throughout the album....

Great album though, overall.:D
 
Prissy - both.

When Blaze was in the band he had great timing, especially on songs he wrote. He reminds me of Rush in that regard - Neil Peart's lyrics suit the music's rhythm perfectly.
 
Spiff said:
Prissy - both.

When Blaze was in the band he had great timing, especially on songs he wrote. He reminds me of Rush in that regard - Neil Peart's lyrics suit the music's rhythm perfectly.
Yeah, Blaze is exactly like Neil Peart and Rush............Not!!!!

I felt the best timing Blaze showed was when he left the building, after being given the arse, he didn't let the door hit him on the way out!!!!! :lol:

(I hope you guys know I'm fucking with ya here, I guess we don't know each other well enough yet......)
 
Ok, I've listened to the album a few times, I think I've given it a fair go. I'm so dissapointed it's not funny. I've got a real sense of the Emperor's New Clothes with this (the same feeling I get everytime someone mentions The Darkness :guh: ) - if you read some of the reviews of this album you would think that Steve Harris just engineered the second coming, rather than a decidedly average album. Recycling bits of your old songs is shameful, but to recycle bits of your songs from your last friggin' album...??? Come on man, that's just lazy.

Anyway, I've got great albums to remember them by, and a farewell show to see them at (to be honest if it wasn't for the fact that a few friends from work are going too then I would flog the tickets) but after that I'm not really interested in their next projects. They won't give a shit, but it makes me sad. :(
 
If you're happy to have an album where they rehash past riffs, recycle the same ideas they've been using since 1992, and putting in soulless performances (IMO), then fair fucks to ya :)

Me, I've been waiting for this album to redeem Maiden in my eyes from being a money-hungry, just-put-an-album-out-cos-that's-what-bands-do band. DoD has completely failed to do that.

I will, however, say that there ARE some awesome moments on the album. But Harris is mainly responsible for either covering these up with fucking woeful lyrics, or tacking on intros or bridges that he's been using for the last 3 or 4 albums.

I really, really want to love this album. But I can't.