Are you pleased with Maiden's direction?

chaosapiant

chaosapiant

Ancient Marinade
I'm just curious as to what people think of the overall direction Maiden has been taking their last few albums.  Do you wish they'd make shorter songs and more punchy records again, or do you think Maiden are really hitting their stride with the more progressive compositions and lengthier songs.  I'm a little mixed personally.  When I listen to AMOLAD or Final Frontier, I think "wow," best Maiden albums ever!  Then when I go back to Powerslave I think "wow, they need to do that again before they call it quits."  I'd never be so bold as to say what direction Maiden should take, as i'm really just happy taking the ride with them.  And no matter what they do, they are constantly showing their contemporaries "how it's done."  How do you feel?
 
As long as they make good albums, I don't care.
The only thing I know for sure is that to make short killer songs you need to work harder that Maiden work in the last 20 years.
To write initially more songs than required, rehearse more, reject more.
Under present situation (two members live in States) and age, I don't see how they can write a killer album with shorter songs.
But then, I couldn't see how is possible to top AMOLAD, so I may be wrong  ;)
 
I am generally pleased since i always prefered their longer songs even in the eighties albums, it was what made Maiden unique at that time compared to the rest of the metal scene.
It is quite obvious that ever since the cd became the dominant format  Harris feels obligated to fill each Maiden cd with as much music as possible. The first album that this became apparent was FOTD and that was one of the , many, problems of that album. Ever since the reunion, though, with the quality that Smith brought back to the band ,both with his playing and writing contributions, i believe that this direction actually works. They should cut some of the intros but i can't say that they bother me.
To be honest i wouldn't like an album like "powerslave" cause it would sound way too forced and much inferior to the original anyway since IM abandoned this hardcore heavy metal style with SIT and never really returned to it and that was 25 years ago.

Just give me more AMOLAD and TFF and i'll be more than happy. :shred:
 
Yeah, very pleased.  I like the variety that a long career provides - over the years Maiden have produced a broad spectrum of metal and I love it all.  Really glad that they're exploring new territory rather than rehashing the styles of previous albums - keeps it fresh and interesting.  If I want shorter, harder metal tracks, I can go back to stuff like Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave.  Those albums haven't gone anywhere - they've just been joined by some awesome new stuff as well.
 
Well as they said in an interview, the next album will be shorter and faster. And I think that makes sense, because they've more or less perfected their current style with TFF, so the obvious move now would be to close this era while on top of it.
 
Yes, absolutely. My taste in music has matured, and Maiden have put out albums that suit where I am with my taste.

If I could change anything about this era at all, would be a stronger single on AMOLAD, which would have shut all of the haters up forever. Not that I don't like Breeg or Different World, but they both lacked the punch that say The Wicker Man or Rainmaker had.
 
I'd love to see them do something closer to their roots with the next album.  AMOLAD and TFF were great, but I'm ready for something different.
 
Suicidehummer said:
Well as they said in an interview, the next album will be shorter and faster. And I think that makes sense, because they've more or less perfected their current style with TFF, so the obvious move now would be to close this era while on top of it.
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Read more carefully, SH :

mozzle said:
People! Lets not get ahead of ourselves! First off, Chaosapiant Suicidehummer, the band did not say they were thinking about doing an album with shorter songs. Adrian said that. He also said, Maiden are better at long songs and they're great to play live. You know what. I'll just write out What Adrian said.

This is Adrian’s response to the statement of this being the longest studio album. That the songs are long, and often progressive.
I wrote it down basically verbatim.

Yeah we did get into the progressive thing a bit. I’ve changed my writing style a bit, when I approach Maiden. I think that’s our forte. I think we do that best. Rather then the straight ahead stuff. So I have been more concentrating on that.

Jan chips in with a couple as well which are epic. Steve obviously will always come up with an epic. Davy brought in two songs and they were turned into one song, which is now an epic. So there are lots of long songs.

Maybe if we do another album, I’m already thinking maybe we should do an album with short rockers, but I don’t know. I’m starting to think the band really excels at Fear of the Dark, and Hallowed and those other long songs. On stage they are always great to play. 
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I like Maiden's epics, they are so much better at them, altough it would be pretty nice to have an album that contains some true rockers (let's say 2 or 3) in the vein of Wicker Man, Rainmaker and  rest would be epics :D But rockers were/are more of a 80's theme than maiden nowadays. And if I have to choose between rocker or epic I would pick epic :rocker:
 
I absolutely love the direction Maiden has taken. Sure, if they do decide to do an album of mostly shorter songs, I'll be satisfied as long as it's quality material.
 
There's a maturity about these last 2 albums that I find irresistible. There's an integrity about this band right now that other bands just don't have. I think Adrian Smith is every bit as important to Maiden as Steve Harris at this point. He's a pleasure to listen to.
 
I've thought about this a lot since Monday afternoon (when I downloaded TFF. Tuesday can't come soon enough cause I want the case and lyrics in my hands!). I listened to the new album and then went through the 80's stuff. There is a huge difference, and at first it's kinda like, "wow, I wish they would do this again." But when I put TFF back on I'm glad we have this album. It's wonderful music. Is it as hard-hitting or as "metal" as their classics from the 80's? Not even close. It is, however, much better written. Listen to the melodies. Every song off the new album has catchy, beautiful melodies.

To me it's simple. Iron Maiden aren't kids anymore. These are grown adults... wouldn't it seem a bit immature if they were writing songs like Number of the Beast in their mid-fifties?

I think the main issue is the general sound on the new albums. I have no doubt that if this were 1990 and Maiden released The Final Frontier with production and sound similar to Somewhere In Time or Seventh Son instead of No Prayer, there would be almost universal praise claiming it another "classic" album; eight in a row. The biggest difference between the 80's albums and now is that most of the songs had an awesome riff to start that served as a hook. That's rarely seen in 21st century Maiden. And that, in my opinion, is what sets the new stuff apart from the old (aside from production). The meandering songs have always been there. Phantom of the Opera, Genghis Khan, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Revelations, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Alexander the Great, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Would anyone (especially 80's only Maiden fans) doubt the greatness of those songs? Are they straight-ahead short rockers?

What we have is people that refuse to accept change. That's fine and I get it. Our brains evolved to latch onto the familiar and reject different approaches because different can mean danger. We do what works. Fortunately, we're not living in caves anymore wondering where our next meal will come from. Many of us have learned to accept change and even embrace it. We understand that change can be positive. Change oftentimes equals progress; and that's what Maiden has given us.

This isn't the 1980's and never will be. People need to learn to appreciate good music when they hear it. If given a chance, this album (and other post-reunion albums) will grow on you. Will it ever evoke the headbanging of Aces High? Probably not. But then again, has anyone ever headbanged to Bach or Beethoven?
 
snake plissken said:
There's a maturity about these last 2 albums that I find irresistible. There's an integrity about this band right now that other bands just don't have. I think Adrian Smith is every bit as important to Maiden as Steve Harris at this point. He's a pleasure to listen to.
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I think it was proven, by what Maiden released during his absence, that Smith has always been almost as important as Harris.
 
I am immensely pleased with the way the guitars interact with each other. Listen to Isle of Avalon with headphones and notice the subtle interplay of all the guys. That's progress. And I like the more complicated songs such as this one. There's this touch of Rush which I really like.
 
After the dread that was the 90s, for the most part, I'm downright tickled.  I thought that by '97 we'd really seen the end of a great band.  If you'd have given me a crystal ball and 20 second samples of the four albums to follow Virtual XI, I wouldn't have believed it.
 
This 'new direction' chat never meant shit to me. All Maiden albums got 'new directions', liking it or not is personal taste.
 
See, the way I see it is that I am not necessarily a heavy metal fan; I am an Iron Maiden fan. Which means that it doesn't really mean what they do, I will follow it. It would have to be really, really weird for me to absolutely hate it. Some stuff I like a lot less than others, but it's all worthy of at least some listens and discussion, if only to make sure I'm not a fan.
 
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