"Back in the Village" (worst Bruce vocal ever, IMO)
You think? I've never worked out what the lyrics were about, but it's one of my very favourite 'Maiden songs
I like the guitar parts, but it's one of those archetypal "galloping" Maiden songs - even though it is (was) their trademark sound, I've always preferred the more melodic stuff.
But mostly it's the vocal melody, especially on the chorus - it makes my ears bleed, I really hate it. :x
As for the epics, some of them tend to sound as if Steve was so fascinated by the subject matter that he wrote lots and lots
and lots of words, then Bruce really struggles to cram them all into the melody so the words sort of stumble over each other (a bit like some Manic Street Preachers songs, where there's all that arty-farty philosophical stuff - again, too many words to fit the melody!). It sounds really awkward - and that certainly applies to "... Mariner", and "Alexander", I think. I prefer the more recent mini-epics, where there's more music and less words, like "Paschendale" and "Blood Brothers" (I do like the big instrumental section of "... Mariner").
