rate all 17 Maiden albums best to worst

1. Somewhere In Time
2. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3. Senjutsu
4. Powerslave
5. The X Factor
6. A Matter Of Life And Death
7. Piece Of Mind
8. No Prayer For The Dying
9. Brave New World
10. Virtual XI
11. The Number Of The Beast
12. The Final Frontier
13. Killers
14. Iron Maiden
15. Dance Of Death
16. Fear Of The Dark
17. The Book Of Souls
 
1. Killers
Iron Maiden
Piece of Mind
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2. The Number Of The Beast
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3. Powerslave
No Prayer For The Dying
Somewhere In Time
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4. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
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5. Fear Of The Dark
The X Factor
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6. Senjutsu
The Final Frontier
The Book Of Souls
A Matter Of Life And Death
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7. Dance Of Death
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8. Brave New World
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9990. Virtual XI
 
What do you dislike about TBOS? And what makes SJ a much better album for you?
Senjutsu has much more memorable songs.
We have the 3 Harris epics DOTC, Pankrement and HOE; The incredible short rocker Stratego; the fantastic Writing On The Wall. I like every song on the album!

The Book Of Souls has a great opener, Death Or Glory, The Red And The Black and the titletrack.
But that's about it for me. If it was an EP it would be among their best but it´s unfortunately a double album.
 
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Ιt's true that BoS is more bloated than SJ. SJ has 2 of my favourite reunion songs ( HoE and Stratego). BoS has some of the few songs I don't even remember they exist.
 
10. Virtual XI

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Obviously this changes with the seasons and moods, here's my current ranking. Senjutsu has plummeted unfortunately, TFF and DOD have gone up after I recently bought the remastered CDs.

1. Somewhere In Time
2. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3. A Matter Of Life And Death
4. Powerslave
5. Brave New World
6. Piece Of Mind
7. Dance Of Death
8. The Number Of The Beast
9. The Final Frontier
10. The Book Of Souls
11. The X Factor
12. Iron Maiden
13. Senjutsu
14. Killers
15. Fear Of The Dark
16. Virtual XI
17. No Prayer For The Dying
 
Obviously this changes with the seasons and moods, here's my current ranking. Senjutsu has plummeted unfortunately, TFF and DOD have gone up after I recently bought the remastered CDs.

1. Somewhere In Time
2. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3. A Matter Of Life And Death
4. Powerslave
5. Brave New World
6. Piece Of Mind
7. Dance Of Death
8. The Number Of The Beast
9. The Final Frontier
10. The Book Of Souls
11. The X Factor
12. Iron Maiden
13. Senjutsu
14. Killers
15. Fear Of The Dark
16. Virtual XI
17. No Prayer For The Dying
Is there a particular reason why Senjutsu has dropped?
 
Is there a particular reason why Senjutsu has dropped?
I like the album and I love HOE and WOW. Stratego, DFP and Time Machine also perfectly enjoyable. I also like the production, generally.

However, four years later, the rest hasn't grown on me as much as I'd have hoped (as it usually does with Maiden albums).

The title track plus the other three Harris epics are all enjoyable, but just haven't grown with me since I first heard them. That alone is close to an hour of the runtime. I feel the reunion template for Maiden songs has been so stretched that the impact is falling away. Probably the bottom ranked reunion album for me now, partly because it comes after the previous five, not because I think its awful of anything like that. Prob 8/10 for me.
 
I like the album and I love HOE and WOW. Stratego, DFP and Time Machine also perfectly enjoyable. I also like the production, generally.

However, four years later, the rest hasn't grown on me as much as I'd have hoped (as it usually does with Maiden albums).

The title track plus the other three Harris epics are all enjoyable, but just haven't grown with me since I first heard them. That alone is close to an hour of the runtime. I feel the reunion template for Maiden songs has been so stretched that the impact is falling away. Probably the bottom ranked reunion album for me now, partly because it comes after the previous five, not because I think its awful of anything like that. Prob 8/10 for me.
Since reunion the have slow down the speed. You can find some old galloping parts but its now complety different but still maiden.
 
I like the album and I love HOE and WOW. Stratego, DFP and Time Machine also perfectly enjoyable. I also like the production, generally.

However, four years later, the rest hasn't grown on me as much as I'd have hoped (as it usually does with Maiden albums).

The title track plus the other three Harris epics are all enjoyable, but just haven't grown with me since I first heard them. That alone is close to an hour of the runtime. I feel the reunion template for Maiden songs has been so stretched that the impact is falling away. Probably the bottom ranked reunion album for me now, partly because it comes after the previous five, not because I think its awful of anything like that. Prob 8/10 for me.
Reunion songs tend to be stretched and bloated, for sure, but imo BoS has more stretched songs and more skip songs too. Maybe the reason is that it has more songs in general. I agree that the Harris epics in SJ (except HoE) are a bit meh, but the same can be said for TFF and BOS songs (except BoS itself).
At least SJ has 2-3 shorter really enjoyable songs. That can't be said for BoS (Speed of Light is their worst single imo, Death or Glory is alright, but the rest are pretty forgettable). Maybe my issue with BoS is partly Bruce's vocals. He's better in SJ.
I'm not trying to change your mind, I really understand your reasoning, but I think it's an issue of the last 3 releases, not only SJ.
SJ dropped in my ranking too, but not below the other 2, yet. We'll see in the future.
 
Reunion songs tend to be stretched and bloated, for sure, but imo BoS has more stretched songs and more skip songs too. Maybe the reason is that it has more songs in general. I agree that the Harris epics in SJ (except HoE) are a bit meh, but the same can be said for TFF and BOS songs (except BoS itself).
At least SJ has 2-3 shorter really enjoyable songs. That can't be said for BoS (Speed of Light is their worst single imo, Death or Glory is alright, but the rest are pretty forgettable). Maybe my issue with BoS is partly Bruce's vocals. He's better in SJ.
I'm not trying to change your mind, I really understand your reasoning, but I think it's an issue of the last 3 releases, not only SJ.
SJ dropped in my ranking too, but not below the other 2, yet. We'll see in the future.
Yes book of souls has a few highs. Not a bad record but could be a 6/10. The long songs are unnecesary extended like the empire of the clouds. But book of souls the song has vety good choruses and riffs. Clasic epic maiden
 
Reunion songs tend to be stretched and bloated, for sure, but imo BoS has more stretched songs and more skip songs too. Maybe the reason is that it has more songs in general. I agree that the Harris epics in SJ (except HoE) are a bit meh, but the same can be said for TFF and BOS songs (except BoS itself).
At least SJ has 2-3 shorter really enjoyable songs. That can't be said for BoS (Speed of Light is their worst single imo, Death or Glory is alright, but the rest are pretty forgettable). Maybe my issue with BoS is partly Bruce's vocals. He's better in SJ.
I'm not trying to change your mind, I really understand your reasoning, but I think it's an issue of the last 3 releases, not only SJ.
SJ dropped in my ranking too, but not below the other 2, yet. We'll see in the future.
I agree there are issues on the last 3 albums that are common.

I also agree Bruce sings better on SJ than BOS, probably for very obvious reasons regarding his awful illness.

It just comes down to this …
I happen to prefer the longer songs on TFF, the second half of the album is sublime. It has also grown on me over the last 15 years.

I love Red and Black and BOS title track. Empire I don’t like very much, but since it’s at the end of the album I can just forget about it.

More of SJ could still grow on me. I agree it has great shorter songs, and a lovely cover, but so far it ranks below the TFF and BOS (but not far behind).
 
I agree there are issues on the last 3 albums that are common.

I also agree Bruce sings better on SJ than BOS, probably for very obvious reasons regarding his awful illness.

It just comes down to this …
I happen to prefer the longer songs on TFF, the second half of the album is sublime. It has also grown on me over the last 15 years.

I love Red and Black and BOS title track. Empire I don’t like very much, but since it’s at the end of the album I can just forget about it.

More of SJ could still grow on me. I agree it has great shorter songs, and a lovely cover, but so far it ranks below the TFF and BOS (but not far behind).
I really like sj. I like most of the album unless the parchement and darkest hour that for me are the weak songs. I know many of you love parchement. I was happy to see them making that album. BOS for me was like they were a bit reapiting themselves.
 
I like the album and I love HOE and WOW. Stratego, DFP and Time Machine also perfectly enjoyable. I also like the production, generally.

However, four years later, the rest hasn't grown on me as much as I'd have hoped (as it usually does with Maiden albums).

The title track plus the other three Harris epics are all enjoyable, but just haven't grown with me since I first heard them. That alone is close to an hour of the runtime. I feel the reunion template for Maiden songs has been so stretched that the impact is falling away. Probably the bottom ranked reunion album for me now, partly because it comes after the previous five, not because I think its awful of anything like that. Prob 8/10 for me.
I go back and forth with Senjutsu. There are some days I think it is a great album and others where I just don’t get it. I still love Stratego, The Writing on the Wall, The Parchment and Hell on Earth. They are incredible tracks. The rest are hit and miss.

Much like The Book of Souls, Senjutsu could be trimmed and made into a killer single album. However, I would say the Book of Souls has more bloating.
 
I go back and forth with Senjutsu. There are some days I think it is a great album and others where I just don’t get it. I still love Stratego, The Writing on the Wall, The Parchment and Hell on Earth. They are incredible tracks. The rest are hit and miss.

Much like The Book of Souls, Senjutsu could be trimmed and made into a killer single album. However, I would say the Book of Souls has more bloating.
Nah way better tracks on BOS imo
 
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