Recent content by Slartibartfarst42

I can't say I'm that familiar with the early albums involving Janick. NPFTD and FOTD are my least favourite Maiden albums and I haven't listened to them in years now. I did like X-Factor and there was some good material on VXI too but nothing stood out as having Adrian's magic. I think it's...

I started listening to the band in 1980 when I heard the first Iron Maiden album. I was 15 at the time and clearly that was the first album I ever bought. The next was Killers and that was when I first saw the band live. My third album was The Number of the Beast, so my first three albums were...

Iron Maiden: Strange World Killers: The Ides of March The Number Of The Beast: Gangland Piece Of Mind: Quest For Fire (Probably the worst song of them all) Powerslave: Losfer Words Somewhere In Time: Alexander the Great Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son: Can I Play with Madness No Prayer For The...

Perspective is everything. I liked AMOLAD when it came out, but I've always thought that BNW and DOD are better and that view has never changed. It's certainly better than TFF and TBOS. Until Senjutsu came along, I'd have said that DOD was the best reunion album but even that couldn't challenge...

I can't believe I'm even thinking this, but I think there is a strong case that Senjutsu is the best album Maiden have ever released. I started following the band in 1980 so I've been there for every album as it was released and this alone makes it tough for me because I have a strong emotional...

I hear you on that, it's not great at all. On my own ranking I have: 17. NPFTD 16. FOTD 15. VXI 14. TBOS 13. TFF On some days I might place VXI a bit higher as in many respects it's better than TBOS but the endless repetition means I just can't listen to much on that album.

You're absolutely right and this is very much on my mind. There's also the fact that I was so disappointed in the last two albums that my surprise that this one is so good is making overestimate its real value. It's amazing how differently people see albums. For me, the only albums worse than...

I would agree that the other option would be to rewrite the songs to better cater to Bruce's voice, or possibly just tune down so that he wasn't having to push his voice as much. That would help to a degree, but even with that adjustment, it's just not a great Maiden album.

Having been disappointed in the previous two albums, I was wary about this album before it's release. Having followed Iron Maiden for 41 years, I didn't want my favourite band to end with a whimper. My first encounter with this album was 'The Writing on the Wall' and my primary hope was that...

This may be a controversial opinion, but I really didn't like The Book of Souls. It wasn't that it was an awful album by any means, not like NPFTD, which was a really awful album, it's more that it left me deflated and disappointed. The main reason I don't like this album wasn't even the band's...

After the three previous albums all being impressive in some way, I was looking forward to The Final Frontier with great anticipation, and with good reason. In this album we can see the continuing trend away from Maiden's traditional gallop and towards more Prog-based songs. While I love the...

AMOLAD always leaves me a little confused about my feelings towards it, even after all these years. There is nothing at all to dislike here, not even the album cover, which is far from their best but a big improvement on the previous album. All of the songs are strong, there's plenty variety...

BNW was a fantastic return to form for Iron Maiden, and Dance of Death is arguably even better. Other than the disappointing album cover, it's hard to find fault with this offering from 2003. Unusually, every member of the band was involved with the song writing, and I think that helps to give...

I got an award for Norway :) I love doing the crinkly bits around fjords.

After some time away from the band, Bruce was refreshed and ready to return. Maiden had experienced some lean years, so Bruce's returned also seemed like the best way to rekindle the magic. All of this is understandable, but it wouldn't necessarily bring success as all they would be doing was...