Have you ever fundamentally changed your opinion on any Maiden album over a span of years?

Dick Brucinson

Dick Brucinson

The TRUE Dick Brucinson
Have you ever changed your opinion on any Maiden album during a longer period? This change of feeling might mark a personal upgrade as well as a downgrade of some particular album. If this was the case for you: Please share your point.
For me: No Prayer For The Dying. I coudn't really appreciate it when it came out, I was 15 years old, almost 16, back in the day and missed out the previous tour, which was SSOASS, because I was simply too young making my parents letting me go. So I saw them the first time in 1990. I had a feeling seeing and hearing a band that wasn't almost recognizable as Iron Maiden the way I believed to be familiar with them, and a lot of things were missing. H was missing, an impressive stage setup was missing and different other components that Maiden used to make Maiden for me.
Now I see it differently, NPFTD has become my fave Maiden album, for years yet. I think it has to do with its unique vibe to it which they never revisted again yet (and probably never ever will). Also I remember Janick got on my nerves on the album and how I wasn't ready to understand him as the brilliant songwriter he is.
 
My biggest change of opinion has been for the final frontier. I never hated it when it came out but I tried my best at the time to enjoy it but just found it over long and quite plodding. Just something about it never clicked.

These days I absolutely love it. Starblind, the talisman and where the wild wind blows are top tier Maiden for me. But the album as a whole has clicked for me now and I love it.

My only gripe still remains satellite 15. That should have been a 1min max intro to the title track. As it is now it’s a total waste of time and I’ve removed it from my iTunes copy of the album as it’s crap and just frustrates me it goes on so long.

Another album, NPFTD is a strange one for me. I have to up relationship with this album. It was the current album out when I first seriously got into Maiden and I loved it back in the day. A few years later after being a fan for a while and having a better understanding of the whole catalogue I lost interest in the album.

It has some decent songs but up until that album every one before had standout 10/10 songs and NPFTD didn’t. There was no aces high, 2 minutes to midnight, the trooper, number of the beast or run to the hills etc. it was just a collection of decent songs all around 7/10 for me but nothing spectacular.

Every time I go back to listen to NPFTD I do enjoy it and always think I should like it more than I do. It didn’t help that fear of the dark, the first new release I purchased it’ll did have some 10/10 songs, afraid to shoot strangers and FOTD title track. Plus I enjoyed FOTD way more as an overall album and still do. That album is top 5 maiden for me.
 
Yes, at first I hated No Prayer...

.. Oh wait, I still do. Sorry, nah, no radical changes over the years. The closest is it took me a while to appreciate The X Factor, although it's still a lower tier album for me.
 
For a long time I couldn’t totally get into A Matter of Life and Death. I liked a couple songs (Different World, The Pilgrim, Benjamin Breeg, The Legacy), but still felt that the album as a whole was overlong and depressing. I really disliked These Colours and felt the other songs were too similar sounding. I rated it as my least favorite reunion era album for a long time.

Nowadays I understand why so many people adore this album. Each song is special in its own way, and they all fit together perfectly. I think seeing For the Greater Good of God live helped lift this album higher for me. I wish I could’ve seen them play the album in 2006, damn!
 
SIT, actually.

It was at that part of the 80s where mainstream music and popular culture suddenly felt too brassy and ostentatious
and I always felt SIT slotted in there, sounding very busy, ambitious and cluttered in places.

That changed for me, although probably as much because of the current tour as the passage of time. The SIT material was amazing live.
 
BludBrutha said:
I used to think the also-rans on DOD were pretty unremarkable but now think they’re all great and if they were on any of the more recent albums they’d be amongst the best songs.

New Frontier
Age of Innocence
Gates of Tomorrow
Face in the Sand
Click to expand...
I agree and would add that over time, I've come to believe the first 3 reunion albums are better than the more recent 3

BNW, DOD and AMOLAD all have more spark and energy. Probably because the band was only aged 42 --> mid 50s in that time as one factor

No shame in ageing and tastes changing of course, but I feel from TFF onwards (as the band approached their 60s) there's more plodding in the tempos and songwriting. Short/faster songs now sound forced (eg. Death or Glory, very mediocre to my ears).

I still love TFF (2nd half mainly), most of BOS and SJ. But the runtimes are bloated and I find BOS in particular drop in my rankings in the decade (almost!) since it came out.
 
A bunch of albums have climbed up or fallen a few steps in my estimation over the years.

Used to like BNW much more than DOD; nowadays DOD is in my top 5 while I see BNW as a great album that doesn't reach DOD's heights (and isn't good enough to make my top 5).

TNOTB and Powerslave in particular have fallen quite a bit in my rankings over the years. Funnily enough SIT had started relatively high, fell hard and has risen a bit again.

Other than that it's a bit difficult to gauge, since even albums I'm not a big fan of have fantastic songs (Purgatory on Killers, Starblind on TFF, Hallowed on TNOTB for example), while albums I love might have a couple of stinkers (The Apparition on FOTD, Paschendale on DOD, Speed Of Light on TBOS). The only perfect album is Virtual XI obviously, there doesn't exist a single ounce of legitimate criticism for my beloved :D :P obviously joking, chill ^^
 
This is a tough one. I like all of Maiden’s albums. I would say Senjutsu. I wasn’t a major fan when I first heard it but I enjoy it now.

I remember falling asleep the first time I heard The Final Frontier and The Book of Souls. I like the albums now!
 
I used to overrated The X Factor probably in retaliation to the hatred for it.

I still think it's good but it's so flawed and I can see why people hate it.

It has some terrific songs that I think are great- Sign of the Cross, Lord of the Flies, Man on the Edge. I named the first three, which is basically where the album peaks.

There's still other good songs to enjoy in the album but I can understand people getting turned off. Why?

The production is absolutely godawful. I actually don't mind it that much on Flies and MOTE but on Sign of the cross and the other songs the guitar are so damn weak, I feel I can only hear Nicko, Steve and Blaze and barely any rhythym guitar. At least VXI had some brightness to its guitar sound.

(Nearly) every song seems to be in E, with a slow intro and outro. Not only is this key not great for Blaze (should have detuned for the entire album) but it means multiple songs in a row start with the same slow chord pattern. Fortunes and Truth both start with pretty much the same slow E G D B C D E, and they're placed next to each other on the album.



Blaze gets exposed by the lack of backing vocals, he's out there on his own, slightly out of key at times (they should have done a heavier record all in D tuning tbh). I still really like him on a lot of the songs, but knowing how great he would sound in the 2000s, I now know Harris didn't use him right.

They should have put Justice of the Peace or Judgment Day on there. It's too many slow songs in a row.

Some of the songs are just kind of dreary.


Other songs I like though-

Blood on the world's hands, Edge of Darkness, Judgment of Heaven
 
No big changes, but now I like No prayer for the dying about just as much as the other 80’s albums, so it is a part of their classic albums line I think. And as I said in a similar thread, I didn’t like Dance of death much, but over time I found out it’s much more varied and fun.
 
BludBrutha said:
I used to think the also-rans on DOD were pretty unremarkable but now think they’re all great and if they were on any of the more recent albums they’d be amongst the best songs.

New Frontier
Age of Innocence
Gates of Tomorrow
Face in the Sand
Click to expand...
DOD album as a whole is underrated. It has a specific feel to the songwriting that no other album has. Early 2000's vibe (Age Of Innocence is a perfect example). Face In The Sand is a gem, New Frontier is underrated (maybe some fans don't like the chorus, but it's a classic Adrian/Bruce rocker), Gates Of Tomorrow is a typical catchy tune with Maiden's harmonies upfront (like in the 80's; I would only remove the cool intro because it's too similar to a 90's song and 3 other songs on the album have such long and melodic intros).
AncientMariner_Essex said:
My biggest change of opinion has been for the final frontier. I never hated it when it came out but I tried my best at the time to enjoy it but just found it over long and quite plodding. Just something about it never clicked. These days I absolutely love it. Starblind, the talisman and where the wild wind blows are top tier Maiden for me. But the album as a whole has clicked for me now and I love it. My only gripe still remains satellite 15. That should have been a 1min max intro to the title track. As it is now it’s a total waste of time and I’ve removed it from my iTunes copy of the album as it’s crap and just frustrates me it goes on so long.
Click to expand...
I think my gripe with TFF is the song positions, the longer material (which for me they managed to handle better with the previous or even the next albums) and the short and experimental solos. The album is full of quality ideas.
AncientMariner_Essex said:
Another album, NPFTD is a strange one for me. I have to up relationship with this album. It was the current album out when I first seriously got into Maiden and I loved it back in the day. A few years later after being a fan for a while and having a better understanding of the whole catalogue I lost interest in the album.
It has some decent songs but up until that album every one before had standout 10/10 songs and NPFTD didn’t. There was no aces high, 2 minutes to midnight, the trooper, number of the beast or run to the hills etc. it was just a collection of decent songs all around 7/10 for me but nothing spectacular.
Click to expand...
Well said about NPFTD.
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
BNW, DOD and AMOLAD all have more spark and energy. Probably because the band was only aged 42 --> mid 50s in that time as one factor
No shame in ageing and tastes changing of course, but I feel from TFF onwards (as the band approached their 60s) there's more plodding in the tempos and songwriting. Short/faster songs now sound forced (eg. Death or Glory, very mediocre to my ears).
Click to expand...
I think that's a stylistic choice (see Nicko's playing in SK's Solar Fire). And I don't think the short/faster songs now sound forced. Far from it. But I do think Maiden should put more than 2 short and faster songs on the albums since 2006.
naranja said:
I used to overrated The X Factor probably in retaliation to the hatred for it.
I still think it's good but it's so flawed and I can see why people hate it.
It has some terrific songs that I think are great- Sign of the Cross, Lord of the Flies, Man on the Edge. I named the first three, which is basically where the album peaks. There's still other good songs to enjoy in the album but I can understand people getting turned off. Why?

The production is absolutely godawful. I actually don't mind it that much on Flies and MOTE but on Sign of the cross and the other songs the guitar are so damn weak, I feel I can only hear Nicko, Steve and Blaze and barely any rhythym guitar. At least VXI had some brightness to its guitar sound.
(Nearly) every song seems to be in E, with a slow intro and outro. Not only is this key not great for Blaze (should have detuned for the entire album) but it means multiple songs in a row start with the same slow chord pattern. Fortunes and Truth both start with pretty much the same slow E G D B C D E, and they're placed next to each other on the album.
Blaze gets exposed by the lack of backing vocals, he's out there on his own, slightly out of key at times (they should have done a heavier record all in D tuning tbh). I still really like him on a lot of the songs, but knowing how great he would sound in the 2000s, I now know Harris didn't use him right.
They should have put Justice of the Peace or Judgment Day on there. It's too many slow songs in a row.
Some of the songs are just kind of dreary.
Other songs I like though- Blood on the world's hands, Edge of Darkness, Judgment of Heaven
Click to expand...
Like it or not, I think TXF album is perfect with the chosen songs. The dark atmosphere is brilliantly represented - and if there's an album that should have most of the songs with long intros (and/or with slow tempos), this is it. Lots of gems/memorable ideas in the whole record for me. The production is also fitting, although with a hevier and more modern/powerful one it would have been even better. Backing vocals? Without Adrian?
 
Kalata said:
Backing vocals? Without Adrian?
Click to expand...
Doesn't have to be Adrian. See most songs on BNW featuring a gajillion harmonies from Bruce but not vocals by Adrian. The Educated Fool or Virus are some of the songs from the Blaze era that prominently feature vocal harmonies. The songs on TXF unfortunately don't go for that, leaving some inconsistent and shaky performances by Blaze front and center, exposed.
 
Vaenyr said:
Doesn't have to be Adrian. See most songs on BNW featuring a gajillion harmonies from Bruce but not vocals by Adrian. The Educated Fool or Virus are some of the songs from the Blaze era that prominently feature vocal harmonies. The songs on TXF unfortunately don't go for that, leaving some inconsistent and shaky performances by Blaze front and center, exposed.
Click to expand...
Vocal harmonies, oh yeah. Would they fit the vibe of the songs? I guess for some. Maybe it was an intentional decision like the lack of guitar harmonies on ablum.
 
Kalata said:
I think that's a stylistic choice (see Nicko's playing in SK's Solar Fire). And I don't think the short/faster songs now sound forced. Far from it. But I do think Maiden should put more than 2 short and faster songs on the albums since 2006.
Click to expand...
So you think ageing has no impact on the composition of heavy metal music?

You may be interested in some of the other factors at play for men who compose fast and adrenaline pumping music as they age (see here)

I wouldn't attribute it all to stylistic choice; music is art, it is composed by living, breathing, ageing people. We have had a quarter of a century of this Maiden lineup, a great deal has changed between the band being on average 42 to being 68

I also notice the impact of ageing and writing short/fast heavy metal songs on the last Sabbath/Dio album, Heaven and Hell's Devil You Know. Listen back, hear how comfortable they are with slower plodding, with epics, and how 'Eating the Cannibals' feels almost forced in because they realised they needed a fast/short song.

The only point I make is what comes naturally over the ageing process as a way of expressing oneself artistically.
 
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
So you think ageing has no impact on the composition of heavy metal music?
I wouldn't attribute it all to stylistic choice; music is art, it is composed by living, breathing, ageing people. We have had a quarter of a century of this Maiden lineup, a great deal has changed between the band being on average 42 to being 68
The only point I make is what comes naturally over the ageing process as a way of expressing oneself artistically.
Click to expand...
Of course, all of this is true, but one also shouldn't expect fast/faster songs from Maiden when their material since 2006 is dominant with long songs. They've never been pure fast, that's not power metal.
 
Kalata said:
Of course, all of this is true, but one also shouldn't expect fast/faster songs from Maiden when their material since 2006 is dominant with long songs. They've never been pure fast, that's not power metal.
Click to expand...
Too true, but I can definitely feel the pacing drop off naturally. Especially recently. I don't think tracks like Senjutsu or most of Parchment or a great deal of Empire of the Clouds would have been written in the first decade of the reunion era. It is a matter of taste, but I don't think they sound 'majestic', I think they too often sound plodding.

To my ears, this shines quite a critical spotlight on tracks like Death or Glory or Speed of Light or Days of Future Past (the latter pair which I like, the former I don't), which I think Bruce and H are specifically composing to balance out the recent albums.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top