IRON MAIDEN ALBUM RANKING: TOP THREE REVEALED
- Thread starter Mosh
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Vaenyr
Ancient Mariner
As seen in the post I've ranked POM quite low. It's not a bad album and I prefer it to all that came before (as well as TFF), but what came after was on average better.
Still Life is my favorite song on the record, followed closely by Die With Your Boots On and Quest For Fire. The latter has some dodgy vocal lines in the verses (something many early 80's songs with Bruce have in common) that sound utterly unmusical and are only in there to show that Bruce could hit those notes. Its best part is without a doubt the instrumental section which is absolutely stellar and particularly the solos sound phenomenal.
Revelations and The Trooper are classics. Flight Of Icarus is great but has no definitive version (studio version is too slow, live doesn't have the vocal harmonies of the chorus).
Lastly we come to the three bad songs. Where Eagles Dare has some nice ideas, but the instrumental sections is faaaaar tooooo looooong for no reason. The verses have a good riff but don't quite work with vocals. Sun And Steel is one of the worst songs in the entire catalogue with barely any redeeming features. To Tame A Land might be the most boring epic in the catalogue, so the ending of the album might be the weakest in the discography due to these two songs.
Still Life is my favorite song on the record, followed closely by Die With Your Boots On and Quest For Fire. The latter has some dodgy vocal lines in the verses (something many early 80's songs with Bruce have in common) that sound utterly unmusical and are only in there to show that Bruce could hit those notes. Its best part is without a doubt the instrumental section which is absolutely stellar and particularly the solos sound phenomenal.
Revelations and The Trooper are classics. Flight Of Icarus is great but has no definitive version (studio version is too slow, live doesn't have the vocal harmonies of the chorus).
Lastly we come to the three bad songs. Where Eagles Dare has some nice ideas, but the instrumental sections is faaaaar tooooo looooong for no reason. The verses have a good riff but don't quite work with vocals. Sun And Steel is one of the worst songs in the entire catalogue with barely any redeeming features. To Tame A Land might be the most boring epic in the catalogue, so the ending of the album might be the weakest in the discography due to these two songs.
Hm, I think it's the other way around. The fantasy lyrics at least give them something to work with musically and results in a more evocative song compared to the book report plus guitars affair that is Alexander the Great. More tongue twisters in To Tame a Land for sure, but a better marriage of music and lyrics overall.
You're right, Alex is a really cool instrumental sandwiched between one of Maiden's most mediocre tracks. To Tame a Land is a romp from start to finish.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
POM is a classic album without a doubt. It shouldn't be this low in my ranking, but I happen to like the songs in the rest of the albums better. Top 5 finish is normal. As a whole piece, it's a very strong album. Great performances from all band members, especially Bruce. Steve is on fire, Nicko is showing his versatility, Dave has a solo on every song(!) and he and Adrian started making solos that fit the songs instead of just having a solo, I will always admire that. The songwriting is on a great level, every song is polished to the smallest detail. The instrumental sections, melodies and riffs are just great.
The production is a bit rough, but I like the sound of the guitars.
The album produced several classics for the band. Basically the first 5 songs - Trooper and Revelations are timeless classics. Steve and Bruce really shined here. Flight Of Icarus is one of the best metal singles with its amazing chorus. Where Eagles Dare puts the drummer up front and makes for a great show opener. For a band like Maiden, such song is expected. Die With Your Boots On was a live favorite back in the day and the band thought that would be the standout song from the album.
Still Life on the other hand is also a gem. It gives a needed boost to Side two. Really strong instrumental section.
It also has its own unique and great epic - just listen to those melodies, solos, high vocals, bass playing and the vibe that To Tame A Land creates (it's not better than Alexander though). One of the first Maiden songs to be more with instrumental parts.
Most fans don't like Quest For Fire and Sun And Steel, but the classic instrumental section of the former and the galloping rhythm and catchy chorus are better than 2 songs from the previous album and 1 song from the next album. These 2 albums have ''better'' classic songs for some fans. That's it.
The album is a great follow-up to TNOTB and certainly shines brightly in Maiden's discography. One of Steve and Bruce's favorite Maiden albums.
Spambot
Meme Lord
I think "To Tame a Land" perfectly summarizes Piece of Mind. It starts great, it has variety, but towards the end, it wanders off and loses its momentum. It lacks climax, both the song and the album.
POM covered more ground than the previous three albums, it was definitely a step-up, but to me, it still has those "new band searching for itself" problems, (although less obvious than the previous three). Powerslave, for example, ends with an climax (ROTAM) and an iconic title track (missing from POM). More important, although both of the albums dip in quality in the middle, I look at the POM ones as "silly" instead of "fun" (like Powerslave). It's like they had this checkbox what a metal album in 80s should have and I always wondered how it was possible that they came up with "Quest for Fire" and "Sun and Steel" at the same time as "Where Eagles Dare" and "The Trooper".
To me, it still seems as if the band was unsure of its direction and was hesitant to take itself more seriously.
POM covered more ground than the previous three albums, it was definitely a step-up, but to me, it still has those "new band searching for itself" problems, (although less obvious than the previous three). Powerslave, for example, ends with an climax (ROTAM) and an iconic title track (missing from POM). More important, although both of the albums dip in quality in the middle, I look at the POM ones as "silly" instead of "fun" (like Powerslave). It's like they had this checkbox what a metal album in 80s should have and I always wondered how it was possible that they came up with "Quest for Fire" and "Sun and Steel" at the same time as "Where Eagles Dare" and "The Trooper".
To me, it still seems as if the band was unsure of its direction and was hesitant to take itself more seriously.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
True. Probably a 6-8 minutes song. But I think an album like VXI needs a title track, not POM or the other 2 (because of the vibe and because of the solid songs and theme). Not that I wouldn't want to. For POM it could have been Trooper or Still Life. There are several classics. To Tame A Land makes up for this in a way, being the 9th song too. I also think the album has its climax with it, although I admit it could have had a vocal bridge before the outro.
Maybe because there should have been more variety in the writing credits? For example, more Smith/Harris, Murray/Harris or Smith/Dickinson/Harris songs. You can say the same about the previous album, but you can't write only strong songs for one album (that's rare; not for Maiden imo), especially if we compare them to some of the classics. And Maiden hadn't started writing (more) longer songs for their albums yet.
I think (and probably Steve too) that they started their ''Maiden direction'' with this album.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
You really think having an epic about playing football in virtual reality would have been a good thing…?
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
I had in mind more as an album - and the original title which was Virtual Insanity. Of course, a title track for AMOLAD (''The Legacy'' too; or for POM) would be more curious and epic. You know, fans to associate the Blaze era with a title song. I think POM is one of the best album titles of all time.You really think having an epic about playing football in virtual reality would have been a good thing…?
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Vaenyr
Ancient Mariner
Wasn't AMOLAD supposed to be titled The Legacy (which would give us three reunion albums titled after Gers/Harris epics) but they changed their minds?
I just now realized that Virtual XI is literally like Steve's FIFA 2023 team.
1:
2:
3:
4:
5: BRAVE NEW WORLD
6: PIECE OF MIND
7: SENJUTSU (TIE)
7: THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST (TIE)
8: THE BOOK OF SOULS
9: DANCE OF DEATH
10: THE FINAL FRONTIER
11: IRON MAIDEN
12: THE X FACTOR
13: KILLERS
14: FEAR OF THE DARK
15: VIRTUAL XI
16: NO PRAYER FOR THE DYING
Highest Score: 17 (@Cosmiceddie @MrKnickerbocker @Kalata @Spambot)
Lowest score: 7 (@DJMayes)
While Brave New World is having a bit of a surge over in the Iron Maiden survivor (right now it's looking like it could very well land in the top 3), #5 is a pretty impressive showing and maybe a bit closer to where most of the fanbase is at. The average score is significantly higher than Piece of Mind (a difference of 47 points!). In fact, the top 5 are all very close with a range of only 23 points.
At this point, I think you can place Brave New World side by side with The Number of the Beast in terms of importance for the band. The difference is that while Number has been overshadowed by later albums, Brave New World's significance has grown over time. The first inkling of the album's longevity came on The Final Frontier tour (the 2010 leg). Maiden has never been a band to really acknowledge anniversaries, but it really did seem like they were celebrating the 10th anniversary of Brave New World by performing four tracks (not to mention the opening 1-2 punch of The Wicker Man and Ghost of the Navigator). Even by drawing heavily from the most recent three albums, it was hard to ignore the fact that everything the band had done since 2000 was building off the success of that first reunion album. It's like it gave the band a reason to continue into the 21st century. And since then, the album has been as well represented in the setlist as any other album. Since that 2010 tour, there have only been two tours that omitted Brave New World songs: Maiden England in 2012, and The Future Past in 2023. It has appeared both on tours for new albums (TFF 2011 and TBOS 2016) and nostalgia tours (Legacy of the Beast). It is the go to album when the band pulls from the reunion era and several of the songs can probably be considered "classics." With all that in mind, it is natural for the album to continue climbing in the album ranks on Maidenfans. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up winning one of these games someday.
As I said before, Brave New World is pretty much the 21st century version of The Number of the Beast. For me, it is also similar in the way that it establishes the new lineup/sound, but the band has refined and improved upon what they have done since then. IMO it is more appropriate for AMOLAD to outlast Brave New World as it improves upon the album in almost every way. Songs like Dream of Mirrors, Blood Brothers, and The Thin Line Between Love and Hate set templates that are more fully realized in songs like Dance of Death, Hell On Earth, and others. I just get more excitement out of some of the later reunion era material, but I can't deny that Brave New World is an immense piece of work and a top tier Maiden album. I would concede that the production never got better after Brave New World, although I do really like AMOLAD's raw sound.
2:
3:
4:
5: BRAVE NEW WORLD
6: PIECE OF MIND
7: SENJUTSU (TIE)
7: THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST (TIE)
8: THE BOOK OF SOULS
9: DANCE OF DEATH
10: THE FINAL FRONTIER
11: IRON MAIDEN
12: THE X FACTOR
13: KILLERS
14: FEAR OF THE DARK
15: VIRTUAL XI
16: NO PRAYER FOR THE DYING
Highest Score: 17 (@Cosmiceddie @MrKnickerbocker @Kalata @Spambot)
Lowest score: 7 (@DJMayes)
While Brave New World is having a bit of a surge over in the Iron Maiden survivor (right now it's looking like it could very well land in the top 3), #5 is a pretty impressive showing and maybe a bit closer to where most of the fanbase is at. The average score is significantly higher than Piece of Mind (a difference of 47 points!). In fact, the top 5 are all very close with a range of only 23 points.
At this point, I think you can place Brave New World side by side with The Number of the Beast in terms of importance for the band. The difference is that while Number has been overshadowed by later albums, Brave New World's significance has grown over time. The first inkling of the album's longevity came on The Final Frontier tour (the 2010 leg). Maiden has never been a band to really acknowledge anniversaries, but it really did seem like they were celebrating the 10th anniversary of Brave New World by performing four tracks (not to mention the opening 1-2 punch of The Wicker Man and Ghost of the Navigator). Even by drawing heavily from the most recent three albums, it was hard to ignore the fact that everything the band had done since 2000 was building off the success of that first reunion album. It's like it gave the band a reason to continue into the 21st century. And since then, the album has been as well represented in the setlist as any other album. Since that 2010 tour, there have only been two tours that omitted Brave New World songs: Maiden England in 2012, and The Future Past in 2023. It has appeared both on tours for new albums (TFF 2011 and TBOS 2016) and nostalgia tours (Legacy of the Beast). It is the go to album when the band pulls from the reunion era and several of the songs can probably be considered "classics." With all that in mind, it is natural for the album to continue climbing in the album ranks on Maidenfans. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up winning one of these games someday.
As I said before, Brave New World is pretty much the 21st century version of The Number of the Beast. For me, it is also similar in the way that it establishes the new lineup/sound, but the band has refined and improved upon what they have done since then. IMO it is more appropriate for AMOLAD to outlast Brave New World as it improves upon the album in almost every way. Songs like Dream of Mirrors, Blood Brothers, and The Thin Line Between Love and Hate set templates that are more fully realized in songs like Dance of Death, Hell On Earth, and others. I just get more excitement out of some of the later reunion era material, but I can't deny that Brave New World is an immense piece of work and a top tier Maiden album. I would concede that the production never got better after Brave New World, although I do really like AMOLAD's raw sound.
Jer
A window to the west, a blazing star above
Brave New World is probably still a few spots too high on this list, but it’s much closer to a sane result than what we’re seeing over in the Survivor.
I’d take the TNOTB comparison one step further and say that BNW has the same issue as Bruce’s Maiden debut in that about half the album features truly classic tracks, while the other half is noticeably lesser than that, and there’s a block of fandom that just can’t take the rose-colored glasses off and look at the album without nostalgia smoothing out all the rough edges for them.
Good riddance.
I’d take the TNOTB comparison one step further and say that BNW has the same issue as Bruce’s Maiden debut in that about half the album features truly classic tracks, while the other half is noticeably lesser than that, and there’s a block of fandom that just can’t take the rose-colored glasses off and look at the album without nostalgia smoothing out all the rough edges for them.
Good riddance.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Brave New World is the most important album in the bands career.
Sure, the reunion was gonna be good no matter what, but can you imagine if Dance of Death or The Final Frontier was the reunion statement? Dead in the water, mates.
Even at its weakest, BNW is melodic, dark, catchy, and infinitely memorable. It’s the album they needed to release as a reunited band. Also: it sounds perfect (something that can’t be said of any other reunion album).
It deserves to be number 1 or 2.
Sure, the reunion was gonna be good no matter what, but can you imagine if Dance of Death or The Final Frontier was the reunion statement? Dead in the water, mates.
Even at its weakest, BNW is melodic, dark, catchy, and infinitely memorable. It’s the album they needed to release as a reunited band. Also: it sounds perfect (something that can’t be said of any other reunion album).
It deserves to be number 1 or 2.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
BNW is my favorite Maiden album and always will be. A true classic! Not because of its importance (ofc it's one of the most important albums in the band's career; others are TNOB, Powerslave), but because every song can be your favorite and the album combines catchy, melodic (vocals and music), very memorable (choruses, solos, melodies) and energetic parts perfectly. Just what the Reunion era needed for a start. Also, a perfect balance between shorter and longer songs. Top 3 Maiden album. Near the top for sure. It's like TNOTB for another century (Nicko thinks that's TBOS). Maiden at the peak of their powers, just like in 1988. Rock In Rio live album also played its role. The best live concert for me.
The production is perfect too. Clear, powerful, riffy, heavy and with a spark of rawness.
It's no surprise that it's the Reunion album that has the most features in the setlists after its release. I expect more songs to return in the future. The band acknowledges its importance and greatness. One of Bruce's favorite albums, iirc. I really wanted to have a documentary about it.
The repetition works for the album and for the overall strong songwriting. All the songs are great live too.
Several of the songs are classics and others are gems. The first 4 songs are some of the best (Side A) of any album. Wicker Man is a classic anthem and a great Maiden opener, Ghost Of The Navigator combines heaviness and 2 different melodic choruses perfectly (love songs with 2 choruses), the title track is one of the band's most anthemic title tracks (along with Fear) and Blood Brothers was a unique calm song at the time and again very anthemic and catchy.
The epics - Thin Line showed the direction of the band's career and is one of the most progressive songs in their discography. Unique vocals, instrumental section and amount of solos. Dream Of Mirrors is the type of song they wanted to write since 1995: long, more acoustic oriented, big chorus, galloping part and very groovy (like the whole album). And The Nomad is an improved VXI epic. Long instrumental section, more than 2 solos, soaring chorus, different riffs and the good old ''ancient vibe''.
As for the rest of the songs - Fallen Angel is the second single-oriented song that every album needs. It succeeds just like Wicker Man and is the first Reunion song with 3 solos! Out Of The Silent Planet is the expected and mandatory (I would say) song with a big emphasis on Maiden's trademark melodies and very catchy and melodic chorus. One of my all time favorite songs of the band!
Granted, The Mercenary could have been replaced with a more interesting song, but it's a catchy and memorable short song that could have been released in the mid-80's, but with less repetition. Two ''choruses'', yet again.
BNW is the best Reunion album of any band and Maiden were on the top of the world again. The 3-guitar attack helped greatly with this. Big and fantastic decision by Steve. Maiden deserve their repeated success because of their albums, songs and tours.
Shmoolikipod
Stranger to the Light
Honestly, I can't see AMOLAD doing the job quite as well either. When it comes to the long epics, it eats Nomad, Dream of Mirrors and Thin Line without salt, but what's gonna be sung at RiR? Different World and Out of the Shadows...?
BNW has a density of catchy songs that the other reunion albums don't. Even though the repetitiveness is the biggest criticism I see of BNW, and it applies to pretty much to every song on it, it was a good thing because now everyone has their handful of personal classics from it to rival the 80's stuff.
For instance I'm not big on The Mercenary, and Wicker Man is bottom tier Maiden for me, but I absolutely love OOTSP, Ghost of the Navigator and The Fallen Angel.
Vaenyr
Ancient Mariner
Brave New World has always been one of my favorite albums and that shouldn't be a surprise given my thoughts about Virtual XI. I've said it before and I'll say it again: No duo of albums, except for the debut and Killers, is as close to each other in terms of songwriting as BNW and VXI. They are two sides of the same coin. Even that shouldn't be that surprising, given that a good chunk of BNW came from the VXI era. Steve's songwriting, particularly his epics, saw a shift during the 90's, thanks to the immense success of FOTD (the song) which fundamentally changed how he approaches epics. BNW is also guilty of being very generous with repeating the choruses over and over again.
In that sense BNW did everything right and improved upon the shortcomings of VXI. It has a stellar production and is one of the best sounding Maiden albums. It features great performances by each member, not simply content with the first half-decent take. There's an attention to detail in many songs and I'm particularly fond of the metric ton of vocal harmonies spread out over the album.
Over the years it fell a bit in my rankings and sits just outside of my top 5 nowadays. It took a while, but I realized at some point, that though I hate Paschendale DOD is on average an album I enjoy much more than BNW, which has a much weaker second half.
The Wicker Man is a modern classic and there isn't much to talk about here. In general, the first four tracks are classics for different reasons and I adore them to this day. I'm also a big fan of The Mercenary, especially the live version with the more varied vocals (same reason why I prefer the DOTR version No More Lies to the studio version). Funnily enough it features two choruses and both of them get repeated a bunch.
Dream Of Mirrors is one of the greatest Maiden songs ever written. It sits firmly in my top 10. Its pace is immaculate, beautifully building up, becoming more intense as the song goes on until it explodes in a fierce gallop (Nicko's footwork is insane). The "whoah" part is pure Maiden magic and one of my favorite moments in the entire discography, especially in the Rock In Rio version.
From here on it gets a bit rocky. The Fallen Angel is a good song, though a step down from the previous 6 songs. The chorus is great, despite being repeated a bit too much. The main riff and verse aren't particularly exciting, which is probably the reason why it's lower in my rankings.
The Nomad used to be a song I adored, mostly because of the middle section. The first half is decent but not my favorite. It's okay at setting the stage but doesn't manage to go beyond that. Then we have multiple minutes of phenomenal melodies, an epic atmosphere and great arrangement choices. Too bad that the best part of the song is plagiarized. Not only that, they stole from a song from which the HBTN lines were stolen. Gotta commend the audacity I suppose. The music is still beautiful but in my eyes this songs is a glorified cover, so not only can't I rank it high, my desire to listen to it has dropped dramatically as well.
OOTSP on the other hand is one of the best songs on the album and on the level of the first 6. The verses are crushing, the chorus features some lovely harmonies, there are intense gallops throughout the song and its filled to the brim with amazing melodies.
BNW unfortunately fails to stick the landing. The first half of TTLBLAH is fantastic. It opens with a surprisingly dark riff, before going through verses and two versions of choruses, all of which feature amazing vocal harmonies. Bruce's high C#s throughout the song are amazing. My issue with the song is the second half. It's not even bad, but it has a very unique style, one I have to be in ther right mood to appreciate and listen to. Most of the time I only listen to the first half and then skip the rest. A bit of a shame considering how promising the beginning of the song was.
In that sense BNW did everything right and improved upon the shortcomings of VXI. It has a stellar production and is one of the best sounding Maiden albums. It features great performances by each member, not simply content with the first half-decent take. There's an attention to detail in many songs and I'm particularly fond of the metric ton of vocal harmonies spread out over the album.
Over the years it fell a bit in my rankings and sits just outside of my top 5 nowadays. It took a while, but I realized at some point, that though I hate Paschendale DOD is on average an album I enjoy much more than BNW, which has a much weaker second half.
The Wicker Man is a modern classic and there isn't much to talk about here. In general, the first four tracks are classics for different reasons and I adore them to this day. I'm also a big fan of The Mercenary, especially the live version with the more varied vocals (same reason why I prefer the DOTR version No More Lies to the studio version). Funnily enough it features two choruses and both of them get repeated a bunch.
Dream Of Mirrors is one of the greatest Maiden songs ever written. It sits firmly in my top 10. Its pace is immaculate, beautifully building up, becoming more intense as the song goes on until it explodes in a fierce gallop (Nicko's footwork is insane). The "whoah" part is pure Maiden magic and one of my favorite moments in the entire discography, especially in the Rock In Rio version.
From here on it gets a bit rocky. The Fallen Angel is a good song, though a step down from the previous 6 songs. The chorus is great, despite being repeated a bit too much. The main riff and verse aren't particularly exciting, which is probably the reason why it's lower in my rankings.
The Nomad used to be a song I adored, mostly because of the middle section. The first half is decent but not my favorite. It's okay at setting the stage but doesn't manage to go beyond that. Then we have multiple minutes of phenomenal melodies, an epic atmosphere and great arrangement choices. Too bad that the best part of the song is plagiarized. Not only that, they stole from a song from which the HBTN lines were stolen. Gotta commend the audacity I suppose. The music is still beautiful but in my eyes this songs is a glorified cover, so not only can't I rank it high, my desire to listen to it has dropped dramatically as well.
OOTSP on the other hand is one of the best songs on the album and on the level of the first 6. The verses are crushing, the chorus features some lovely harmonies, there are intense gallops throughout the song and its filled to the brim with amazing melodies.
BNW unfortunately fails to stick the landing. The first half of TTLBLAH is fantastic. It opens with a surprisingly dark riff, before going through verses and two versions of choruses, all of which feature amazing vocal harmonies. Bruce's high C#s throughout the song are amazing. My issue with the song is the second half. It's not even bad, but it has a very unique style, one I have to be in ther right mood to appreciate and listen to. Most of the time I only listen to the first half and then skip the rest. A bit of a shame considering how promising the beginning of the song was.
DJMayes
Ancient Mariner
I'm not being deliberately contrarian...
Anyway, BNW has some amazing songs. Blood Brothers is one of my favourites from the band full stop, The Wicker Man is also excellent (though I personally prefer The Fallen Angel), and I've got a lot of time for Ghost of the Navigator. Most of the rest of the tracks fall into the "good, not great" category for me, with two key exceptions: The Mercenary is pretty boring, and The Nomad is the worst song the band have ever released. The only part of the song which I don't find annoying to listen to is the bit they took from Beckett - which is further compounded by the runtime of the song.
So yeah, to me this is a middling album that gets put on a pedestal because of the history surrounding it, rather than the quality of the songs contained within. It's also kind of frustrating to see people throw this near the top and throw VXI towards the bottom when to me they feel very, very similar.