Anybody else here who rates NPFTD his/her fave Maiden album? (or among the personal faves at least)

Dick Brucinson

Dick Brucinson

The TRUE Dick Brucinson
Just curious. It's definitely my favourite Maiden album out of all. Funny enough, when it came out, I used to dislike the album and the whole concept around NPFTD, the stripped down stage design and all that. It was the first tour I saw them live, followed by any other tour after that for me.
I think the album is just as homogeneous as SSOASS, and I love all its darkness and aggression. And I'm always surprised that after all my fave Maiden album is one that does not have Adrian playing on it.

Your thoughts about it? I thought it be a good time to debate it since it was released 34 years ago these days.
 
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No definitely not my favourite but I always enjoy it and used to put it on a lot.

Average track length is about four and a half minutes and it flies by. Wish they'd do that now.
 
Not my favourite but certainly not my least favourite either. There are Maiden albums I rank lower than NPFTD. :cheers:
A list of those albums in the spoiler.
Iron Maiden, Killers, Fear Of The Dark, Dance Of Death and The Book Of Souls
 
Favorite? No, but I like it more than a bunch of the 80s albums. It's very consistent overall (though Tailgunner sucks aggressively), but it also doesn't have any incredible highs like other albums. The title track, Public Enema Number One and Fates Warning are bangers.
 
It’s an album I wish I got before I read the options of it online. I like it but I can’t help have the negativity in the back of my mind.
 
It’s not a favorite of mine, but it surely is a good one and a fresh album after Somewhere in time and Seventh son of a seventh son. I used to rank it lower, but it has grown a lot the last ten years for me.
 
While there's a couple of tracks I like, and one that I really love, there's only one album I rate lower than No Prayer for the Dying.
 
Dick Brucinson said:
Just curious. It's definitely my favourite Maiden album out of all. Funny enough, when it came out, I used to dislike the album and the whole concept around NPFTD, the stripped down stage design and all that. It was the first tour I saw them live, followed by any other tour after that for me.
I think the album is just as homogeneous as SSOASS, and I love all its darkness and aggression. And I'm always surprised that after all my fave Maiden album is one that does not have Adrian playing on it.

Your thoughts about it? I thought it be a good time to debate it since it was released 34 years ago these days.
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No Prayer for the Dying was the first ever Maiden I heard and also the first one I bought back in 1991. It brings good memories but nostalgia does not prevent me from seeing it as a rather weak effort. Let's say that getting tape recordings of The Number of the Beast and Live After Death from a classmate is what turned me into a fan, not No Prayer for the Dying.
 
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Abas said:
While there's a couple of tracks I like, and one that I really love, there's only one album I rate lower than No Prayer for the Dying.
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That accurately describes my point of view as well.
The other album being Fear of the Dark in my case.
 
I love this album. It's simple. It has a few weak songs but I like its raw sound. I have good memories with it and what's important - it's my first album that I bought with my own money while working weekends.
 
Meliegree said:
I love this album. It's simple. It has a few weak songs but I like its raw sound. I have good memories with it and what's important - it's my first album that I bought with my own money while working weekends.
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I started listening to Maiden just after No Prayer for the Dying was released. So for me there is also a bit of an emotional attachment to the album. It's definitely not the best album (or close to the best) and it does lack great songs. But in the end I always enjoy listening to the album. And I like the fact that they did not try to make long songs from the ideas they had for the album. Which I think is a problem with many albums since Virtual XI.
 
LosBastardos said:
I started listening to Maiden just after No Prayer for the Dying was released. So for me there is also a bit of an emotional attachment to the album. It's definitely not the best album (or close to the best) and it does lack great songs. But in the end I always enjoy listening to the album. And I like the fact that they did not try to make long songs from the ideas they had for the album. Which I think is a problem with many albums since Virtual XI.
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Imagine The Assassin with a long pointless intro and a long pointless outro!!

The stuff of nightmares.

No Prayer for the Dying might be a mediocre album for a band like Maiden, but at least is not long!
 
GhostofCain said:
Imagine The Assassin with a long pointless intro and a long pointless outro!!

The stuff of nightmares.

No Prayer for the Dying might be a mediocre album for a band like Maiden, but at least is not long!
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I like how punchy the album is. They could do with some more of this in later albums.

It’s annoying because they can still write great short rockers like Alchemist, Stratego and Death or Glory.
 
Ascendingthethrone said:
I like how punchy the album is. They could do with some more of this in later albums.

It’s annoying because they can still write great short rockers like Alchemist, Stratego and Death or Glory.
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The thing is... Longer songs would be fine as long as the lenght of a song wasn't for its own sake. A pointless long intro doesn't make a shorter song a better song. I had no problem with longer songs built up on quality of songwriting (examples: Mariner, CSIT, HBTN), not so much on quantity of notes/riffs/patterns (FTGGOG, Celts and many more).
 
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Having been slowly getting into Rock bands as a 13 year old, I bought a couple of the “First 10 Years” re-released singles when they came out in 1990. I can’t remember why, whether I’d heard one of them somewhere or simply because of the 12” artwork-laden covered. I loved what I heard so started collecting the rest of that re-release.

I then bought a couple of the older Maiden albums but the first ‘new’ release I had to get was NPFTD later that year. Therefore I played it a lot and have a big soft spot for it. However I wouldn’t be putting it in any lists of my top Maiden albums.
 
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Dick Brucinson said:
The thing is... Longer songs would be fine as long as the lenght of a song wasn't for its own sake. A ponitless long intro doesn't make a shorter song a better song. I had no problem with longer songs built up on quality of songwriting (examples: Mariner, CSIT, HBTN), not so much on quantity of notes/riffs/patterns (FTGGOG, Celts and many more).
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I’ve always thought Run Silent, Run Deep is a good example of a slow intro because it sets the mood perfectly. There are some songs that just don’t need one or they are too long. I love Hell on Earth, but the intro is padded.
 
Ascendingthethrone said:
I’ve always thought Run Silent, Run Deep is a good example of a slow intro because it sets the mood perfectly. There are some songs that just don’t need one or they are too long. I love Hell on Earth, but the intro is padded.
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Similar point, but different direction: I wrote my review for Fates Warning recently and realized that the intro for that song is completely unnecessary. It adds nothing to the song; it actually detracts from the whole. Still a great song, but felt a bit like "yeah, Harris/Murray song, of course we need a slow intro with a lead guitar over it".
 
Vaenyr said:
Similar point, but different direction: I wrote my review for Fates Warning recently and realized that the intro for that song is completely unnecessary. It adds nothing to the song; it actually detracts from the whole. Still a great song, but felt a bit like "yeah, Harris/Murray song, of course we need a slow intro with a lead guitar over it".
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Really?? That Murray solo in the beginning of the song is one of my highlight moments of their greatest album. So, do you think the same about Deja Vu? Same formula.
 
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