Best Iron Maiden 'guitar' album?

Iron Maiden. Unlike many of you I like its garage sound.
Killers. H & Davey finally together again.
And yes, SIT and SSOASS obviously.
Did I just list my four favourite Maiden albums yet again?
 
This is a difficult question:
Best instrumental section for me is the title track Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. I think Dave and H have played the best solos of their career on this track.

Second best for me would be the instrumental section on Alexander the great

3rd would be Duelists on the Powerslave album

Overall (although very very hard to choose between these 3 albums)
1. SSOASS
2. SIT
3. Powerslave

Janick's best work is in Fear of the Dark. Dave would be SOASS. H is amazing in all the albums.
 
I agree 100% that the solos in the back-half of Seventh Son are just mind blowing. When the drums and lead guitar kick in after the mystic shit, it just hits you out of nowhere and is so fast and vicious.
 
If I could only pick one, it could be Powerslave, because it really was an interesting step up into a great direction. But I also hold Fear of the Dark high in regard for its innovation and variation. Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son are absolutely top notch for the melodies and the playing. The X-Factor, often attacked for its production and songwriting, has without a doubt very nice lead work (and some neat riffing), and it's the only studio album on which you hear all solos on the left and right channel.

Iron Maiden: Great riffs, lead work and clean nuanced playing (e.g. Charlotte the Harlot, Remember Tomorrow, Strange World) .

Killers: an album full of exciting riffs and great lead melodies and solos. Prodigal Son is an absolute highlight of the discography in this department. As is Genghis Khan's "Hallowed Be Thy Name" section. Purgatory has menacing guitar work as well.

Piece of Mind: full sounding rhythm guitars, lovely lead guitar work and production. Adrian does some great melodic stuff.

Powerslave: first album with more detailed and varied guitar work, rhythm guitar wise. Different things happen on the left and right side, e.g. Adrian's long chords and Dave's fast riffing in The Duellists or Rime.

Somewhere in Time: a continuation of what happened on Powerslave, the solos are produced and played very well, and Adrian plays his best stuff. Very catchy guitar melodies on this album.

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son: so many good guitar melodies and riffs. What a feast.

Fear of the Dark: Dave plays some of his finest solos. In top form. He does astounging solos in the title track and Judas Be My Guide among many others. Some of his solos are more worked out, well prepared. Weekend Warrior is a very good example of this.
Very good lead guitar production as well. The album brings acoustic guitars. Maiden tries out new things, interesting variation.

The X-factor and Virtual XI: Janick plays some of his best guitar solos (e.g. The Unbeliever, The Clansman). Blood on the World's Hands is an evil riff feast, pretty unique stuff. \m/

Brave New World, A Matter of Life and Death and The Final Frontier: love the different colours the three amigoes have brought in e.g. Brave New World (title track), Dream of Mirrors, Lord of Light and Isle of Avalon. Ghost of the Navigator has a superb Janick Gers solo. His in The Pilgrim is up there as well.

The Book of Souls: lovely lead work (The Book of Souls, The Man of Sorrows, Tears of a Clown)
 
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As a mediocre guitarist of 30 years...

1. Brave New World (for the textures and amazing tones)
2. Seventh Son (so many great riffs)
3. Powerslave (Aces High is ACES - no better intro riff to any album ever!)
4. DoD
5. AMOLAD (hate the production but, damn, so many killer, steely riffs!)

Honorable mention for Best Maiden Riff:
1. WASTED YEARS !!!!! (one of my Top 3 riffs evah)
 
R@inmaker said:
As a mediocre guitarist of 30 years...

1. Brave New World (for the textures and amazing tones)
2. Seventh Son (so many great riffs)
3. Powerslave (Aces High is ACES - no better intro riff to any album ever!)
4. DoD
5. AMOLAD (hate the production but, damn, so many killer, steely riffs!)

Honorable mention for Best Maiden Riff:
1. WASTED YEARS !!!!! (one of my Top 3 riffs evah)
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Huh, I didn't expect anyone else to single out DoD. Nice!
 
MindlessPieces said:
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.
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Never thought I will encounter someone with the same opinion in the wild.
I don't find SiT horrible, but the sound is a weakness. I wish SiT songs were played with Powerslave sound. That would be absolute heaven.
 
I dunno, a big part of Somewhere in Time’s aesthetic is based around that guitar sound. You swap the tone with Powerslave’s and you just end up with Powerslave 2.
 
^ i hate the overly-wet / reverbed sound on SIT tracks like Sea of Madness, Heaven Can Wait and Caught Somewhere. All those songs kick ass but the poor distortion tone doesn't work well with chordal strummed riffts. songs like Wasted Years sound killer bc of the single string/note structure and the production. SIT is a great album that suffers from some production elements and of course the dorky synth guitar which i'm sure EVERYBODY who's ever used it wishes they hadn't lol
 
R@inmaker said:
^ i hate the overly-wet / reverbed sound on SIT tracks like Sea of Madness, Heaven Can Wait and Caught Somewhere. All those songs kick ass but the poor distortion tone doesn't work well with chordal strummed riffts. songs like Wasted Years sound killer bc of the single string/note structure and the production. SIT is a great album that suffers from some production elements and of course the dorky synth guitar which i'm sure EVERYBODY who's ever used it wishes they hadn't lol
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Couldn't disagree more
 
R@inmaker said:
All those songs kick ass but the poor distortion tone doesn't work well with chordal strummed riffts.
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Highly disagreed, the distortion is there and the dynamics are there too. All the small things Smith does in CSiT chorus are loud, audible, and piercing though the mix, unlike his similar licks on the Trooper chorus for example.

R@inmaker said:
songs like Wasted Years sound killer bc of the single string/note structure and the production.
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Only the intro riff is 'single string', the entire song is based on powerchords, which are played open on chorus. If there was anything wrong with the things you claim it would be audible right there. CSiT is way more based on single notes.

R@inmaker said:
the dorky synth guitar
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Only thing that's dorky is that argument, since synths are seldom on the album, and have no role in song structures or the sound.
 
^ we're talking subjective arguments, guys. all of what i said is MY opinion. the only song i said was single string intro is WY. i never said CSiT was a single open string intro. of course the verses and choruses are power chords...as are 90% of metal guitar compositions. glad you guys dig those sounds !
 
Dance of Death will forever be the best Iron Maiden album from a guitar perspective. Best tone, applies to all three players, as well as some amazing solos and harmonies and melodies. Janick's tone as he's following the lead vocals on songs like "Gates of Tomorrow" is so good.

Brave New World is undoubtedly number two.

The X Factor is my number three because of how clear the guitars are. Great playing and a great sound in the mix. Definitely not overpowering, just really cool for a metal band to be a able to hear all those nuances.

Can't stand guitar tone on: Piece of Mind. What the hell is this sound. Just unpleasant and weird. Solos sound like they were played with volume on guitars mistakenly left halfway up.
 
I don't get the love for the PoM guitar tone. Way too much middle.

It makes the guitars sound hollow and weak. I've thought this for decades! I always found it weird how they could go from the full sounding Killers and NOTB to the POM sound as if it was an improvement. Really odd.
 
Belshazzar said:
I don't get the love for the PoM guitar tone. Way too much middle.

It makes the guitars sound hollow and weak. I've thought this for decades! I always found it weird how they could go from the full sounding Killers and NOTB to the POM sound as if it was an improvement. Really odd.
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Too much middle? It's like there's only middle. Palm muted riffs? There's no 'chug' whatsoever. Horrible tone.
 
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