Iron Maiden-11.Sign Of The Cross(Hamilton,Canada 1998)

Iron Maiden - Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, June 28, 1998, during the '' Virtual XI World Tour'' 1998.

Sign Of The Cross (Harris)

Blaze Bayley:Vocals
Steve Harris:Bass
Janick Gers:Guitar
Dave Murray:Guitar
Nicko McBrain:Drums

[Lyrics]

Eleven saintly shrouded men, silhouettes stand against the sky
One in front with a cross held high, come to wash my sins away

Standing alone in the wind and rain
Feeling the fear that is growing
Sensing the change in the tide again
Brought by the storm that is brewing
Feel the anxiety hold off the fear
Some of the doubt in the things you believe
Now that your faith will be put to the test
Nothing to do but await what is coming

Why then is God still protecting me
Even when I don't deserve it
Though I am blessed with an inner strength
Some they would call it a penance
Why am I meant to face this alone
Asking the question time and again
Praying to God won't keep me alive
Inside my head feel the fear start to rise

They'll be saying their prayers when the moment comes
There'll be penance to pay when it's judgement day
And the guilty'll bleed when that moment comes
They'll be coming to claim take your soul away

The sign of the cross, the name of the rose
A fire in the sky, the sign of the cross

They'll be coming to bring the eternal flame
They'll be bringing us all immortality
Holding communion so the world be blessed
My creator, my God'll lay my soul to rest

The sign of the cross, the name of the rose
A fire in the sky, the sign of the cross

The sign of the cross, the name of the rose
A fire in the sky, the sign of the cross
The name of the rose, the sign of the cross

Lost the love of heaven above, chose the lust of the earth below
Eleven saintly shrouded men came to wash my sins away
...............................
'Sign Of The Cross' is a song from Iron Maiden's album '''The X Factor'',released in 1995.

'Sign Of The Cross' is a genuine Harris epic, over 11 minutes in length. It begins with a low and ominous-sounding Gregorian chant, and slowly builds a dark and brooding mood before suddenly bursting into the fast and powerful verses and chorus. The middle of the song is dominated by a long instrumental which has a great deal in common with the early masterpiece 'Phantom Of The Opera'. The instrumental passes through the song's entire stylistic range, from the soft Gregorian chant up through an exquisitely Maiden-sounding riff melody to the climactic guitar solos. This song cannot be described as anything other than a masterpiece.

The lyrics of the Gregorian-sounding chant seem to be "Æternus halleluiah", or "Praise The Eternal", and the chant itself provides an excellent atmospheric start to this dark song. The "eleven saintly shrouded men" have also been subject to some polemic. Who are those men? Their number is also not clear. Is the "one in front with a cross held high" a twelfth man or is he part of the group of eleven? Some have claimed that those were the Apostles, whose number was twelve, minus Judas Iscariot who had killed himself, leaving therefore only eleven. Whoever they are, and what they actually represent, they make an interesting tie with some of the lyrics of an early Genesis song, 'Supper's Ready' on the Foxtrot album (1972), which has also a lot of religious imagery in the lyrics and is, like 'Sign Of The Cross', a very long song with multiple sections:

'The X Factor' is the tenth studio album by Iron Maiden, released in 1995. It is the band's first album to include Blaze Bayley, formerly of Wolfsbane, as vocalist, replacing Bruce Dickinson who left the band following their previous tour to pursue a solo career.

The album title came about in the early part of the recording. According to producer Nigel Green:

"We all felt that the way things were progressing - the songs, Blaze's new involvement, the sound, the commitment - the new album really would have that extra quality, that bit of magic, that X Factor. This became the working title for the album and we liked it, so we kept it. It is also very apt as this is our tenth studio album and "X" can bring up many images."

Supporting the album was the X Factour tour. Much like the tour for their following album, Virtual XI, it was cut short after Blaze suffered a violent allergic reaction to certain elements used on the stages where the band performed.

This is the second album (Piece of Mind being the first) that did not have a title track on it, as well as the first album to not feature the album title in any of the song lyrics.