“When the Wild Wind Blows” is the last song from Iron Maiden’s most recent album, “The Final Frontier”. Over the last few days, I have become increasingly obsessed with this song. Let’s digress….
I LOVE (x5706578165108746518945169856195194) Iron Maiden a lot. EASILY my favorite band - without hesitation - no doubt.
Aside: I have to admit, I have barely listened to the two Blaze Bayley era albums. His vocals turn me off so much, that I find them distracting. I need to give them some TLC though sometime, because I know there’s AWESOME music in there.
That being said, I think their 3 most recent albums (minus the Blaze Bayley albums) are their weakest, though they are probably (arguably?) their 3 most overall progressive as well. It’s not that I don’t like me some prog (because I so do), I just prefer the older, more traditional/power stuff more.
Anyway….
I randomly listened to “The Final Frontier” the other day, and “When the Wild Wind Blows” stood out to me like a bang. It was one of those moments, where you really “hear” a part of a song for the first time, and you’re like “yes, I understand”, and then you rock.
I have listened to the song a few more times over the last couple of days, and continue to enjoy a lot. I like that the song is kind of broken up into 3 acts.
Let’s Take a look!!
Act I, 0:00 - 3:35: A sort of soft ballad opener turn catchy rock song. Not my favorite Iron Maiden section ever, but it kind of sets up the next sections nicely.
Act II, 3:35 - 6:42: There’s a catchy section with vocals near the beginning, but generally speaking, the guitars/etc. are starting to doodle around a bit more. Lots of progressive-y sections, and soloing abound.
Act III, 6:42 - 11:01: The opening riffs slams into you like the brick wall. We get some vocals, less catchy maybe, but solid nonetheless (we’re not going for catchy-ness alone here!). The real winner comes at 8:35: we get a few second build-up and hwaza!, awesome solo! Reprise slow ballad, like the beginning and some wind blowing sound effects.
It’s like a movie or something.
In closing, I never meant to write this much. Even my “Let’s digress” comment, was mostly just for jokes. But hey, it is what it is.
Go Iron Maiden!
PS: If it ends up being the last song on the last Iron Maiden album, wow, great way to go out.
PPS: Let’s hope it’s not though.














