But where does Eddie fit in?
March 5, 2021 6:41 PM   Subscribe

Enter Sandman is actually an Iron Maiden song. We have the proof! It's them, in the flesh, performing the song as originally written and recorded. It's not actually just a Finnish guy reimagining the song as if it were done by Iron Maiden.
posted by NoMich (24 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
I dont like Iron Maiden, never really liked Enter Sandman, but I have all kinds of time for everything about it. First good smile I had today. Thank you for posting.
posted by nevercalm at 7:06 PM on March 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


(not shitting on it, it hit me so perfectly. So well done, funny, just normal joy that's kind of in short supply)
posted by nevercalm at 7:07 PM on March 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


I love everything Iron Maiden has ever done, and I like Metallica from Justice For All and earlier. This was great.
posted by COD at 7:33 PM on March 5, 2021 [5 favorites]


Silitysrauta ylös! [this is as close as Google Translate lets me get to "Up the irons!"]

This is amazing.

I love everything Iron Maiden has ever done, and I like Metallica from Justice For All and earlier.

My people.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 7:53 PM on March 5, 2021 [9 favorites]


For my money, Enter Sandman in the Style of David Bowie is my current favorite Enter Sandman cover.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 8:20 PM on March 5, 2021 [23 favorites]


I love everything Iron Maiden has ever done, and I like Metallica from Justice For All and earlier.

My people.


Same, though as I've gotten older, the Black Album has regrown on me. Load and Reload are still dead to me.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 8:21 PM on March 5, 2021 [2 favorites]


Peekaboo!

Ha! Well done indeed.

Funny enough, earlier today I was watching a video of drummer Larnell Lewis playing Enter Sandman after hearing it for the first time. Quite delightful.
posted by gwint at 8:40 PM on March 5, 2021 [15 favorites]


Gwint, OMG! Now I want to see a reaction video of Lars Ulrich and that Larnell Lewis vid....
posted by notsnot at 9:00 PM on March 5, 2021


Gwint, OMG! Now I want to see a reaction video of Lars Ulrich and that Larnell Lewis vid....

Lars: Uuuuh...what's a downbeat? High hat? Fill? Whatever. I just play drums, maaan. Duuude, someone usually fixes it in post anyway. I just follow James' rhythm playing and try to hang on. And I'm rich as fuck. It's worked, right?

Interviewer: But you're part of the rhythm section. Shouldn't you be keeping the time? And working with the bassist? Bob Rock said one of the biggest problems producing you on The Black Album was...

Lars: Duuude, I just play drums, maaan. You should see how I fucked up the bass mixdown on "...And Justice," maaan. Newstead was pissed. Ha ha ha!

Interviewer: But if you look at how Nicko McBrain and Steve Harris lock in together...

Lars: Duuude. Ha ha ha.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:14 PM on March 5, 2021 [6 favorites]


Holy shit the Larnell Lewis thing is something I need to actively walk away from bc that'll just be a day of my life. So good.
posted by nevercalm at 9:42 PM on March 5, 2021 [4 favorites]


Now I want to see a reaction video of Lars Ulrich and that Larnell Lewis vid

My reaction was “he played it once and it was better than every time Lars, bless his heart, has ever played it and ever will.”
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 11:43 PM on March 5, 2021 [7 favorites]


Silitysrauta ylös

This is delightful as it specifically means the type of iron used for ironing clothes. I had the mental image of listening to this while ironing and occasionally lifting the iron in the air.

I like this a lot but especially impressed with the vocals.
posted by slimepuppy at 1:52 AM on March 6, 2021 [7 favorites]


I remember hearing this on the bonus disc that came with the 1995 Castle reissue of the Maiden Finland live album, which was recorded in 1991 on the No Prayer on the Road tour. It was one of those very rare occasions when Maiden's setlist included something out of the blue; I don't think this song appeared anywhere other than that bonus disc, which is long out of print. I'm stoked this has been unearthed and made available to everyone!
posted by heteronym at 9:24 AM on March 6, 2021 [4 favorites]


I just follow James' rhythm playing and try to hang on. And I'm rich as fuck. It's worked, right?

Lewis is obviously a much better drummer than Ulrich, but seeing him walk through the parts I think Lars gets some credit for the different ways he builds and releases tension in that song.
posted by atoxyl at 10:01 AM on March 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


I'm also a ...Justice and earlier Metallica fan from an early age, and dig Iron Maiden fine. And I found this video fun. I'm also a musician, which is slightly relevant to the following.

did anyone else get like...weirdly anxious and unsettled listening to this version? I believe the reason is that the overall tonal feel of this version is like, an octave higher than Metallica's version. Enter Sandman mostly sticks to its key center, but the parts that play with it e.g. "sleep with one eye open" really seems to require a solid sense of "coming home" to the key to resolve. In this version it kinda feels like the tonal center of the home key never really thunks into place and resolves. Might be just me.
posted by lazaruslong at 10:36 AM on March 6, 2021


The first time I listened to it I thought the riffs weren’t really that Iron Maiden-ish, but I was a bit more generously inclined on the second go.
posted by atoxyl at 11:57 AM on March 6, 2021


I loved it but they needed to drop a Maiden "gallop" into mix
posted by Ber at 12:16 PM on March 6, 2021 [1 favorite]


I have no dog in this fight, let alone frozen iguana...
posted by y2karl at 1:08 PM on March 6, 2021


The vocalist can't do it, but I suspect Bruce would have sung it an octave higher, a la Maiden's cover of Cross Eyed Mary.

I can't link but similarly impressive is Rainbow In The Dark if Bruce Dickinson did the vocals. That vocalist sounds alarmingly like Bruce.
posted by wittgenstein at 2:15 PM on March 6, 2021


I’m a fan of the original artists’ smooth jazz live version, myself.
posted by Ranucci at 8:14 PM on March 6, 2021


OK, I have to ask this. In the video, it sounded like he was using a double-bass pedal on the drum part, and Nicko McBrain has famously dismissed such tools an un-drummerly. Should this be re-recorded to enhance its authenticity?
posted by wintermind at 8:26 PM on March 6, 2021


Hallowed be this thing that should not be!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 8:22 PM on March 7, 2021


Lewis is obviously a much better drummer than Ulrich, but seeing him walk through the parts I think Lars gets some credit for the different ways he builds and releases tension in that song.

I agree with this, and the Iron Maiden version had almost no tension, no space, no build. That's basically all Enter Sandman is.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:45 AM on March 8, 2021


OK, I have to ask this. In the video, it sounded like he was using a double-bass pedal on the drum part, and Nicko McBrain has famously dismissed such tools an un-drummerly. Should this be re-recorded to enhance its authenticity?

No gallop, drums way too busy, too much double bass and chugging, guitars way too busy, guitar harmonies aren't in your face.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 1:59 PM on March 9, 2021


« Older Can you beat 1024 bytes of JavaScript?   |   Zebra mussels? In my moss balls? Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments