rate all 17 Maiden albums best to worst

I am going to politely restate the fact that if you work in a organisation with a boss who sets the rules, you do tend to follow them to keep your job. When it comes to Janick's songwriting, he is following the constraints set down by Steve (similar constraints that led to Bruce leaving in 1993 due to being unable to bring in different musical inspiration). Janick is subject to the same constraints, and to accuse him of recycling ideas without taking this into account is churlish, to say the least.
 
Since a Mod has already made two comments about cease and desist I think you should really just let this go…just saying.
 
Iron Lurker said:
To be fair the debate had nothing to do with the topic of the thread
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That in itself is debatable. The thread is about the quality of all 17 Maiden albums.

So if on nine of these albums (FOTD - SJ), one regular songwriter has repeatedly 'recycled' and 'self plagiarised' in their songwriting, surely this affects the quality of well over half of Maiden's recorded work?

Recall Gers' credits (5 x FOTD / 7x TXF / 1x VXI / 3x BNW / 3x DOD / 2x AMOLAD / 2x FF / 2x BOS / 2x SJ). That's 27 songs Gers has co-written for Maiden since 1992. If he's a "weak link" in songwriting terms, that's a problem for the quality of nine of the seventeen albums...

...the relative quality of which, after all, is the subject of this thread.
 
chaosapiant said:
Super fucking glad to see Final Frontier in someone's list! A classic and, imo, the most underrated reunion album.
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Not sure about classic, but definitely underrated.
I think being released after AMOLAD didn't help, if it came out after Dance of Death I think people would go bonkers over it.
 
Spambot said:
I think being released after AMOLAD didn't help, if it came out after Dance of Death I think people would go bonkers over it.
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It kind of was for me. The Final Frontier was the first album Maiden released since I became a fan in 2009, I'd already heard Brave New World and Dance of Death at that point but hadn't quite dug into A Matter of Life and Death so I didn't have that context/comparison. I didn't even finish TFF on my first listen, I think I made it to The Talisman and just lost interest, the only thing that stuck with me was Starblind (and El Dorado, though I'd obviously heard that before). It wasn't until I listened to En Vivo! that I revisited The Final Frontier with a new perspective.
 
speaking about TFF: I unfortunately never had a chance to go into the album like I did with every other Maiden album. I became a Maiden fan in 1986, and whenever a new Maiden album came out I celebrated it in some way. but the day TFF was released was the day my best mate committed suicide. I ordered him a CD copy as well a few days before it happened, and when I came to see him having the CD with me he was found dead a few hours earlier. so I guess I'll never be able to have a "normal access" to the album, it's just "the sad album".
 
1) Powerslave - 10/10
2) Somewhere in time - 10/10
3) Seventh son of a seventh son - 10/10
4) Piece of mind - 9/10
5) Number of the beast - 9/10
6) Iron Maiden - 9/10
7) Brave new world - 8/10
8) Killers - 8/10
9) A dance of death - 7/10
10) A matter of life and death - 7/10
11) The book of souls - 6/10
12) Fear of the dark - 6/10
13) Senjutsu - 5/10
14) The final frontier - 5/10
15) No prayer for the dying - 4/10
16) The X factor - 3/10
17) Virtual XI - 2/10
 
GhostofCain said:
Today it would look like this. Top 5 have not changed in the last 15 years; bottom 4 are unlikely to change either.

1 The Number of the Beast
2 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3 Piece of Mind
4 Powerslave
5 A Matter of Life and Death
6 Iron Maiden
7 Brave New World
8 Somewhere in Time
9 The Book of Souls
10 Senjutsu
11 Dance of Death
12 The Final Frontier
13 Killers
14 Fear Of The Dark
15 The X Factor
16 No Prayer for the Dying
17 Virtual XI
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14. Fear of the dark i thought you have good taste
 
GhostofCain said:
Today it would look like this. Top 5 have not changed in the last 15 years; bottom 4 are unlikely to change either.

1 The Number of the Beast
2 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3 Piece of Mind
4 Powerslave
5 A Matter of Life and Death
6 Iron Maiden
7 Brave New World
8 Somewhere in Time
9 The Book of Souls
10 Senjutsu
11 Dance of Death
12 The Final Frontier
13 Killers
14 Fear Of The Dark
15 The X Factor
16 No Prayer for the Dying
17 Virtual XI
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As of today, this would be my ranking:

1 The Number of the Beast
2 Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3 Piece of Mind
4 Powerslave
5 A Matter of Life and Death
6 Iron Maiden
7 Brave New World
8 Somewhere in Time
9 The Book of Souls
10 Dance of Death
11 The Final Frontier
12 Senjutsu
13 Killers
14 Fear Of The Dark
15 The X Factor
16 No Prayer for the Dying
17 Virtual XI
 
My ranking at present:

1. Somewhere In Time
2. Powerslave
3. The Number Of The Beast
4. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
5. A Matter Of Life And Death
6. Brave New World
7. Piece Of Mind
8. Dance Of Death
9. Iron Maiden
10. Killers
11. Fear Of The Dark
12. The Book Of Souls
13. The X Factor
14. Senjutsu
15. Virtual XI
16. No Prayer For The Dying
17. The Final Frontier

For me, the 80s albums with Bruce and the first three reunion albums are ESSENTIAL MAIDEN. My top 10 remains intact. The X Factor has improved its rank. I just find Virtual XI more interesting as compared No Prayer For The Dying, despite its flaws. Not to mention, even I'm surprised to have The Final Frontier at last! I mean, I can't nitpick any shortcomings but I just feel like I don't revisit much of its songs and overall I find it a bit tough to get into its sound. Probably I need to give it some time...
 
I've never been good at making Top "X" lists but here goes...

This is how I feel atm. I've recently found a newer appreciation for Fear of the Dark.

1.The Number Of The Beast
2. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
3. Somewhere In Time
4. Powerslave
5. Piece Of Mind
6. Killers
7. Senjutsu
8. Iron Maiden
9. Brave New World
10. A Matter Of Life And Death
11. The Book Of Souls
12. Fear Of The Dark
13. Dance Of Death
14. The Final Frontier
15. The X Factor
16. No Prayer For The Dying
17. Virtual XI
 
1. Somewhere In Time
2. Piece of Mind
3. Senjutsu
4. The Final Frontier
5. Dance of Death
6. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
7. Powerslave
8. The Book of Souls
9. Number of the Beast
10. Killers
11. Iron Maiden
12. Virtual XI
13. Brave New World
14. A Matter of Life and Death
15. The X Factor
16. No Prayer for the Dying
17. Fear of the Dark
 
1. Somewhere in Time
2. Piece of Mind
3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
4. Powerslave
5. Brave New World
6. A Matter of Life and Death
7. Iron Maiden
8. The Number of the Beast
9. Killers
10. Senjutsu
11. Dance of Death
12. Fear of the Dark
13. The Book of Souls
14. The Final Frontier
15. The X Factor
16. No Prayer for the Dying
17. Virtual XI

The first 3 are always my top 3, then places 4-8 are significantly better than then next ones. Places 9-11 are great albums. Then the last 6 are a lot worse than the rest. I just listen to FOTD, TBOS and TFF more. I barely touch the last 3.
 
1.Seventh son of a seventh son
2.Powerslave
3.Number of the beast
4.Somewhere in time
5.Piece of mind
6.Brave new world
7. A matter of life and death
8. X factor
9. Senjutsu
10.iron maiden
11.Fear of the dark
12.book of souls
13.killers
14.Final frontier
15.virtual Xi
16.no prayer for the dying
17.Dance of death
 
1 Seventh Son
2 Piece of Mind
3 Number of the Beast
4 A matter of life and death
5 Powerslave
6 Somewhere in Time
7 The Book of Souls
8 Killers
9 No Prayer for the Dying
10 Brave New World
11 Iron Maiden
12 Senjutsu
13 The X Factor
14 Fear of the Dark
15 Dance of Death
16The Final Frontier
17 Virtual XI

I got into Maiden by collecting the First Ten Years singles as a 14 year old. Therefore No Prayer was my first ‘new’ album release. I played it to death and has a huge nostalgia pull, hence why I’ve always rated it higher than most.
 
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My most recent list:


01. Brave New World - 9.8
02. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - 9.7
03. A Matter of Life and Death - 9.5
04. Powerslave - 9.0
05. Piece of Mind - 8.5
06. The Book of Souls - 8.4
07. Somewhere in Time - 8.3
08. The Final Frontier - 7.8
09. The Number of the Beast - 7.5
10. Senjutsu - 7.3
11. Fear of the Dark - 7.2
12. Dance of Death - 7.0
13. Iron Maiden - 6.8
14. No Prayer for the Dying - 6.5
15. Virtual XI - 6.3
16. The X Factor - 5.8
17. Killers - 5.5
 
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