Track title: “The Man of Sorrows”
Album: The Book of Souls
Year: 2015
Written by: Dave Murray/Steve Harris
Subject: ****ed if I know
Type: Kind of mid-paced
Length: 6:28
Familiar? Not really
Rating: 4/10
Ah, so randomness brings us back to the same album as last time. There's something really odd about this track. On Bruce Dickinson's 1997 solo album, Accident of Birth there's a song he penned called “Man of Sorrows”. This one only differs in the use of the definite article at the start, but it is a different song. It's written without any input from him, as you can see, and yet, you have to wonder why he didn't say, when Dave and Steve were coming up with a title, “Uh, guys? I have a song called “Man of Sorrows” on one of my albums. Given that mostly or only Maiden fans are going to have heard that, don't you think you should come up with another name for this track?” Maybe he did. Maybe they waved him down and told him to shut up and get back to writing “Empire of the Clouds”. But it's weird, Or at least, I find it weird. Maybe nobody else does.
It kind of reminds me of “Strange World” from the debut when it starts. Not completely, but it just gives me that feeling, with the slow jangly guitar. It soon punches in as Nicko's drums set the pace, and it seems like it's going to be what I term a slow cruncher, but then it gains a little speed as the twin guitars kick in, however I couldn't really call this a typical Maiden rocker. At least, not yet: there are six-plus minutes of it. Nice little solo there as it comes near a close; not the sort of thing we've been used to with Maiden, but still nice to hear. Sort of an odd little ending though.
FYI, here's Bruce's “Man of Sorrows”, just in case you're interested and want to compare the two.
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
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