Best Iron Maiden 'guitar' album?

Powerslave, and anyone who thinks otherwise really is in Bizarro World.

The X Factor is probably my second choice though, because I love all the melodies on their.
 
Ding dong you are wrong now you must repeat the song
Ding dong you are wrong now you must repeat the song
Ding dong you are wrong now you must repeat the song
Ding dong you are wrong now you must repeat the song
Ding dong you are wrong now you must repeat the song
Ding dong you are wrong now you must repeat the song
Ding dong you are wrong now you must repeat the song
Ding dong you are wrong now you must repeat the song

~Steve “Arry Berry Larry” Harrison
 
Brave New World - great clean guitars in Ghost of the Navigator, Brave New World, Blood Brothers and The Thin Line Between Love and Hate utilizing all 3 guitar players. But also lots of good riffs, harmonies and solos on this album overall.
 
SiT and PoM.

I would like to see opinion from the guitarists on board. Personally I think Powerslave is in the bottom tier of the 1980s. ROTAM is a great epic but quite boring to play on guitar and quite easy to play on guitar. Out of the 13 minutes 10 are basic E minor chug. Somewhere in Time is full of guitar texturing, riffs, spot on bends, shrieking harmonics and generally for a guitarist that wants to learn albums by the book it is a notch or two up from the general Powerslave level
 
IMO it’s a three way tie between Somewhere In Time, Seventh Son, and The Final Frontier. Those are also my personal favorites to play on guitar.

Somewhere In Time: Of course this stands out for the guitar sound, but the playing also took a step up here. They’re tapping more, taking advantage of the melodic and sonic range of the instrument, and the guitar solos are more creatively placed. There are also a ton of great twin leads.

Seventh Son: On a technical level, I would say this is Murray’s peak as a player. He tends to “blend” with whoever the other guitar player is. After this he took more influence from Janick and then kinda stuck to a more basic bluesy sound. On Seventh Son, he is taking influence from Adrian and his playing is more melodic and exciting. Adrian of course sounds great. I consider this album an extension of Somewhere In Time in terms of playing.

The Final Frontier: IMO, the first time since the reunion that the guitar playing is at the levels heard in the late 80s. AMOLAD comes close but it’s not quite there. Once again they’re exploring different sounds and the guitar solo as more than just a break between vocal parts. The incredible thing is that every guitarist has several moments that could easily stand for the best in their respective careers. For Adrian it’s Isle of Avalon, El Dorado, Starblind, and Coming Home. For Dave it’s Coming Home, Man Who Would Be King, and The Final Frontier. For Janick it’s Talisman, Alchemist, and Wild Wind. I’ll go even further and say every single guitar solo on the album is excellent. And the way they play off each other on El Dorado is the culmination of the past 10 years of adjusting to the three guitar approach. There’s also a lot of great riffing and layering of parts.
 
Zare said:
I would like to see opinion from the guitarists on board. Personally I think Powerslave is in the bottom tier of the 1980s.
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I agree, I'm really not getting the hype over Powerslave. Great playing but the tone is far too dry for my liking, it's never been a sound that I would like to play with. I've also never been that into PoM's sound, I think it's very woolly sounding. I think I've mentioned before that I used to think the solo in "Revelations" was all Dave because the tones were so similar.

Mosh said:
Seventh Son: On a technical level, I would say this is Murray’s peak as a player.
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I agree, massively. I really think Dave outshines Adrian on this album, probably for the first time since Killers. I remember reading an interview with Dave and Adrian talking about the recording of this album, Dave said that he actually sat and composed his solos before recording them, whereas Adrian did not.
 
It’s piece. It just is. But powerslave, somewhere in time are very honorable mentions....
 
I think the most difficult and innovative album from this perspective is SiT. However, TFF has my favorite guitar sound.
 
I think it's interesting looking at Dave and H's work in the 80's. The evolution:

Killers
Dave: Vintage Dave, lots of legato, a lot of Robin Trower influence.
H: Very basic solos, but very melodic.

TNOTB
Dave: Less Trower-like, still a lot of legato, but nothing new.
H: New technical things such as tapping (COTD), solos still basic, but melodic.

POM
Dave: Even less trower influence, more dive bombs, but still his signature fluid style.
H: A few new things, but nothing major. His guitar tone on this record seems like he has the tone rolled off a bit when soloing. His solos ot a bit faster.

Powerslave:
Dave: Even more divebombs. Some great melodic solos (Powerslave). His solos on this record seem more structured (IMO) on this record than on previous ones.
H: Introduction of the whammy bar with his Ibanez Roadstar is probably the biggest change here.

SIT:
Dave: Even more divebombs, less distortion and a lot of chorus, but his playing still seems like his typical playing. The solos still seem quite structured compared to earlier albums.
H: Basically a new improved version. Lots of whammy bar, lots of tapping, introduction of different kind of accenting, introduction of a lot of harmonic minor soloing.

SSOASS:
Dave: Took a leaf from H's book. Everything H did from Powerslave to SIT he did from sit to SSOASS.
H: Natural progression from SIT, maybe a bit more reserved in all aspects.

So biggest leaps: H: Powerslave to SIT and Dave SIT to SSOASS.


I might add that another big leap for H happened in the mid 90 with Psycho Motel and Accident Of Birth/TCW. Notable tracks: Rage (first time I heard H playing slide), Western Shore (H sounding like a mixture of Davey and Hendrix's manic depression), Omega (just beautiful and a few slow sweeps), Road to Hell (that thing he does at the beginning of the solo reappeared in Wicker Man), The Last Chain (Introduction of H service pack 3, aka modern H. Exposed to Ty Tabor, Jerry Cantrell and Roy Z.), Jerusalem (even more added semi tones to his playing) and Darkside Of Aquarius (semi tones, again).
 
Edington said:
I agree, I'm really not getting the hype over Powerslave. Great playing but the tone is far too dry for my liking, it's never been a sound that I would like to play with.
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When I play guitar I very rarely use effects other than distortion, sometimes I use delay.
But other than that, what you get is "me". So I prefer "dry", my words for it would be "raw" and "real".

Not a fan at all of the over produced and synth sound of SIT. Horrible in my opinion.
Powerslave is great, especially the Powerslave solo, Overall the songs and guitaring is great.
But also Peace of Mind and Final frontier.
I really love playing the Infinite Dreams solo too, Can I play with madness is short and simple (too simple), Evil that men do (again too simple).

I haven't tried to play most of the solos that Maiden have done, so can't really make claims on most of them.
 
Seventh Son, PSlave, and Dance of Death. There has never been a Maiden album before or since DoD that sounds as heavy, thick, and crunchy, and I love it!
 
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