Trollheart

When Two Worlds Collide (6:13)

Written, according to Harris, mostly by Blaze Bayley in an attempt to try to sort out his feelings on taking over from Bruce Dickinson, this is only the second of three the soon-to-be-former singer writes on the album, and only one of two that has three authors, Dave joining Steve to help the burning one out. It has a kind of dramatic opening, which I feel is somewhat keyboard-led, another faux-ballad start, which to be fair to him showcases Bayley’s vocal abilities, which are not inconsiderable. It soon sparks into life and trundles along nicely, but there’s something - I don’t know - basic, about it. Some nice guitar work for sure. The lyric is somewhat prophetic in respect to him - “When two worlds collide/ Who will survive?” Not you, mate, that’s for sure.

The galloping drumbeat set up by Nicko McBrain really gives the song a sense of urgency, even panic, and though Bruce wouldn’t announce his intention to return for another year, I have to wonder if Bayley realised he was living on borrowed time, that he was just filling in until the master stepped back into the studio and back onstage? Ah, look! More “whoa-oh-oh!”s. Cute.

The Educated Fool (6:46)

Harris takes control now almost to the end of the album, writing this and the penultimate track solo, and again we’re looking at the longer side of his writing, with this nearly seven minutes and the next one over eight. I have no issue with long songs - you’re talking to a proghead after all! - but I do have a problem with songs that are long just for the sake of being long. As I said to an annoying degree above, “The Angel and the Gambler” is a prime example, but it’s not the only one, though I can’t in fairness point to an example from the pre-Blaze era. Maybe that’s because I know and love all those songs so well, but I don’t think so. Certain songs I consider somewhat throwaway exist in this era - “Gangland” off The Number of the Beast, “Quest for Fire” from Piece of Mind and maybe even either “The Duellist” or “Flash of the Blade” on Powerslave - did they really have to have two songs about fencing? But none of them are long songs, certainly not epics. When Maiden did epics - and it was quite occasionally, back before these albums - they did them right. Who could find fault with “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, “To Tame a Land” or even “Hallowed Be Thy Name”? All right, that’s hardly an epic, but it’s as long, longer in fact than this one.

Is this anything like as good? You seen any flying pigs recently? It utilises that kind of “Fear of the Dark”/ “Afraid to Shoot Strangers” slow acoustic-sounding riff but has some interesting phrasing to be fair and I would say it’s possibly the only longer song on this album on which the length is actually justified. It seems to progress through a number of movements, and so in ways again it’s looking forward to Maiden’s partial reinvention as a progressive metal band, pretty much starting with the next album and, um, progressing from there. Good fluid solo from Dave or maybe Janick, never sure and it ends as it began, which is another trademark of this band.

Don’t Look to the Eyes of a Stranger (8:11)

Discounting the previous album, I don’t think you could ever look at a Maiden record and see a song eight minutes long and yet not the longest track, but here it’s not even the second longest. An interesting premise, the old stranger danger idea, though Harris should know, as most/all parents do, that sadly it’s not the strangers you have to beware of when considering your child’s safety, but those who are well known to you, those you trust. It’s too often the case that an abduction of or attack on a child is perpetrated by a family member, friend or acquaintance. Be that as it may - well actually, maybe that’s what he’s saying here: DON’T look to the eyes of a stranger, look to those you know? As I say, be that as it may, it's a somewhat brave theme to tackle.

Wow. It really has an odd, almost carnival-like opening, so much so that for a moment I thought I’d clicked on the wrong album! That is weird. I don’t remember that, but then this is only about the third time I’ve listened to this album so not that surprising really. A sort of sotto voce vocal from Bayley as the guitar riffs build in a kind of almost pizzicato way. Okay no: he’s definitely talking about being wary of strangers. The song pumps into life now, with a sort of not quite but almost nod back to 1981’s “Killers”, a sense of being pursued and stalked. I must admit, I find this very stilted and hard to follow the melody on; there’s just something, well, off about it. Being a Harris song, it’s not at all surprising that we get an expressive bass solo in the first third of the song, with keyboards leaking in too and the vocal taking it to a big crescendo as the choppy guitar adds its muscle.

I feel at this point this could be half as long as it is, and not lose much. There’s a lot of repetition again. I repeat, there’s a lot of repetition again. It sort of looks back to “The Angel and the Gambler” in its overuse of the chorus, such as it is, though here at least the lads get to cut loose with some decent solos and Nicko has a bash at it too, though much shorter in his case. Yeah, definitely stretched way beyond breaking point.

Como Estais Amigos (5:26)

The closing track is the only one on which Steve Harris has no input (he probably had to approve the song but he is not involved in the songwriting) and the only one on which Janick Gers gets a songwriting credit. He shares this with Blaze Bayley, so whether written as such or not, this turns out to be Bayley’s final song both in terms of writing and singing. After this he would depart the band to make way for the return of Dickinson. The song is apparently based on the Falklands War, in perhaps the same way as “Afraid to Shoot Strangers” is set in the Gulf War. It has a nice ringing guitar opening which does kind of put you in mind of Mexican folk songs, and the keyboards play a pretty prominent role in the song, but just as you thought “they wouldn’t, would they?” the track shows its teeth and it’s certainly not Iron Maiden’s third ever ballad of their career to date.

It’s definitely less energetic and frenetic than any of the other songs on the album, but it punches and thrashes too, and while it’s maybe not the ideal closer, it could I suppose in ways be said to be a farewell from Bayley to the Maiden fans, with its main line “No more tears/ If we live to a hundred years/ Amigos, no more tears.” Kind of touching in a way I guess. But it is a downbeat way to end an album that started on high-octane energy and with surely the intention of banishing the memory of The X Factor. This kind of, almost, recalls those darker days and makes you wonder where exactly Maiden might have gone had their vocal god not come back?



Like I say, this is the third time I’ve heard this album. When I first heard it, I was very disappointed. I gave it another chance some years later in my journal, in the section I titled “Last Chance Saloon”, and was equally unimpressed. This third time, I may have gained a slightly better appreciation for what it is, but I’m still leaving it down the bottom of my list of favourite Maiden albums. I suppose the only thing you can say about it is that the boys did seem to learn a little from past mistakes, tried to resurrect the glory days, mostly failed, and had to, to paraphrase one of the song titles, look to the eyes of a friend to manage their comeback.

You can also give it this: it’s not the X Factor. Perhaps, in the final analysis, that is its saving grace. It’s not much, but it’s something.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018