Are you pleased with Maiden's direction?

Well, if you did read most of the reviews, you must have noticed that The Final Frontier is been said to have Maiden heading to a new direction.
 
I haven't read much reviews yet (on purpose), but I will keep it in mind. Smith said that he changed his writing style in the BBC interview, and it was also said that Maiden became/sounded/whatever more proggy.

That means something to me, and I can hear it.
 
it's funny, I hear a lot of people comparing this album to AMOLAD, which to me sounds nothing like TFF.

In my opinion, it's pretty clear that BNW-AMOLAD is distinct from TFF, but maybe people are just talking about song and album length.
 
Cap Maronis said:
it's funny, I hear a lot of people comparing this album to AMOLAD, which to me sounds nothing like TFF.

In my opinion, it's pretty clear that BNW-AMOLAD is distinct from TFF, but maybe people are just talking about song and album length.
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I agree. This is much better than AMOLAD. I love the interplay between the three guitarists.
 
Forostar said:
I haven't read much reviews yet (on purpose), but I will keep it in mind. Smith said that he changed his writing style in the BBC interview, and it was also said that Maiden became/sounded/whatever more proggy.

That means something to me, and I can hear it.
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Yeah, man. You just nailed it perfectly about what I mentioned about the reviews description of The Final Frontier. Read some and you'll see why I mentioned 'new direction'.
 
It depends on the quality of these rockers. In the last decade, Maiden only wrote one or two short rockers per album, which doesn't give me much confidence that they could do more, suddenly.

But let them surprise us, if they ever might want to do this.
 
I find strange some people saying they need short rockers when there's lots of 'em on NPFTD and FOTD and the short rockers like Invaders, Gangland, Sun And Steel get quite bashed; maybe it's time appreciate them all more. TXF b-sides are quite like that way and are just as good as any song from the album or any other short rockers from Maiden's catalogue.
 
I would like their next album to feature more short faster-paced songs. Or even something on the BNW level, like 5-7 minute fast songs. The problem for me with AMOLAD is that some songs seemed to slow down too much after a while, and the chorus's were VERY repetitive. I would have to say it is my least favorite Maiden album, and that is including TXF and VXI. The Pilgrim, however, is one of my favorite Maiden tracks. I was pleasantly surprised with TFF. At first, I thought with all those long songs, that there would be a lot of slowdowns, but there's not. They have a good drive to them. And it is my 2nd favorite album since Powerslave (BNW is first). Gone are the repetitive chorus's. I'm sorry, but how many times do I have to hear "For the Greater Good of God" or "How long on this longest day, 'til we finally make it through". The songs on TFF have great melodies, and don't have much repetition, of which can make a song sound "cheese-like", for lack of a better term. I am VERY pleased, to say the least, with TFF. What a gem! But for their next album, I wouldn't complain if they did some more 4-5 minute songs. TFF could be the quintessential Maiden album. I don't see how they can top this. It wouldn't surprise me if they did, though. But it would take a LOT to top TFF. And for their next (and maybe last?) album, it would be nice to kind of go back to their roots on more of the songs. Maybe something along the lines of the Powerslave album in terms of song length selection. But I'm going to digest TFF for a longgggg time. Amazing work!
 
Old school Maiden was 70% 'rockers' and 30% 'epics'.  New school Maiden is the complete opposite.  As much as I like the new stuff, I think they've lost some ability to churn out a real scorching quick headbanging tune a la Moonchild or Aces High.  If they could rekindle that ability then they would be even more impressive in my eyes (though they are still awesome in their current state).
 
I kinda like how they don't see the need to retread old ground too much. Brave New World has tons of great rockers, and two of them are classics (The Wicker Man, Ghost of the Navigator). Maiden has always done what they want to do, and the more prog sound of the newer stuff, the longer, more detailed epics, I think it sounds great.

But I've always loved Maiden for the epics. Always.
 
LooseCannon said:
I kinda like how they don't see the need to retread old ground too much. Brave New World has tons of great rockers, and two of them are classics (The Wicker Man, Ghost of the Navigator). Maiden has always done what they want to do, and the more prog sound of the newer stuff, the longer, more detailed epics, I think it sounds great.

But I've always loved Maiden for the epics. Always.
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I take that back--you're right.  Ghost of the Navigator and The Wickerman hit pretty hard and are really good tunes...maybe it was just the drawn out stuff on AMOLOD that left a bad taste in my mouth.  Perhaps TFF will prove me wrong?
 
Look, there's only 2 rockers on TFF. The Final Frontier and The Alchemist. I really like both of them. The sound of AMOLAD, the darker proggy sound, is pretty much gone. No song is like that. Except for WTWWB, which is shades of VXI.
 
Jeffmetal said:
I find strange some people saying they need short rockers when there's lots of 'em on NPFTD and FOTD and the short rockers like Invaders, Gangland, Sun And Steel get quite bashed; maybe it's time appreciate them all more. TXF b-sides are quite like that way and are just as good as any song from the album or any other short rockers from Maiden's catalogue.
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That is so true! Maiden have so many fantastic hard rockers from the past! Like Loosy sad it - why should the band retread old ground when they can advance their musical style and continue evolving like the know to do better than any other metal band today, especially comparing to the contemporaries!

brad1981 said:
I would like their next album to feature more short faster-paced songs. Or even something on the BNW level, like 5-7 minute fast songs. The problem for me with AMOLAD is that some songs seemed to slow down too much after a while, and the chorus's were VERY repetitive. I would have to say it is my least favorite Maiden album, and that is including TXF and VXI. The Pilgrim, however, is one of my favorite Maiden tracks. I was pleasantly surprised with TFF. At first, I thought with all those long songs, that there would be a lot of slowdowns, but there's not. They have a good drive to them. And it is my 2nd favorite album since Powerslave (BNW is first). Gone are the repetitive chorus's. I'm sorry, but how many times do I have to hear "For the Greater Good of God" or "How long on this longest day, 'til we finally make it through". The songs on TFF have great melodies, and don't have much repetition, of which can make a song sound "cheese-like", for lack of a better term. I am VERY pleased, to say the least, with TFF. What a gem! But for their next album, I wouldn't complain if they did some more 4-5 minute songs. TFF could be the quintessential Maiden album. I don't see how they can top this. It wouldn't surprise me if they did, though. But it would take a LOT to top TFF. And for their next (and maybe last?) album, it would be nice to kind of go back to their roots on more of the songs. Maybe something along the lines of the Powerslave album in terms of song length selection. But I'm going to digest TFF for a longgggg time. Amazing work!
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I am not telling you off, but I disagree with most of what you say about TXF, AMOLAD and TFF, man. First of all, let's just say - I don't reckon that TXF is a terrible album by consensus, especially on this forum. I believe you might want to pay it a few more listens to really appreciate this powerhouse of an album!

Secondly, AMOLAD may have some repetition through it's choruses, but so did Man on the Edge, which is a great rocker from the nineties, and so did many beautiful epic songs and gut-busting fast rocker numbers on BNW and DOD. What's the difference? Perhaps AMOLAD's musical style and themes are not to your taste but that's a completely different story.

Lastly, perhaps TFF is the quintessential Iron Maiden album - I don't know, I still didn't listen to it (waiting for the album to arrive) - but people have been saying for the past 4 years that there's no chance Maiden will ever be able to top AMOLAD. Seems to me they were wrong?
 
At the end of the day Aces High and The Trooper have already been written. I think Maiden just sit down and write and whatever comes out is what we get. If they sat down and forced themselves  to write a short sharp rocker I think they'd be sacrificing their instincts for "direction" and we would lose quality IMO.
 
chaosapiant said:
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?
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Ha I thought I was the only fickle one. I listen to AMOLAD and I think "wow, best Maiden album ever!" then I play POM and I think "wow, best Maiden albums ever!" Then BNW and PS and now TFF...

Really enjoying this album and was afraid with El Dorado and TFF songs that they were gonna be too hard to follow and then they put Mother Of Mercy in at number three! Its a fantastic song, its a great theme its a lovely direction and I don't care that the songs are 5 to 10 mins long! Would you cut anything out of them to make them the short sharp rockers you miss from other albums? I think not...it is folly.  B)
 
snake plissken said:
At the end of the day Aces High and The Trooper have already been written.
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Exactly. So we should just move on and appreciate whatever Iron Maiden are releasing because we know they're not playing around but actually putting a lot of hard work into it!
 
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