Iron Maiden Album Art Showdown

4 En Vivo! +2
3 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.] +3

3 "The Evil That Men Do"
1 Beast over Hammersmith +1
1 Video Pieces +1
0 "Lord of the Flies"
 
6 "The Evil That Men Do" +3
5 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.] +2

4 En Vivo!
1 Beast over Hammersmith
1 Video Pieces
1 "Lord of the Flies" +1
 
9 "The Evil That Men Do" +3
7 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.] +2
5 En Vivo! +1

1 Beast over Hammersmith
1 Video Pieces
1 "Lord of the Flies"

All of the 1988 arts are captivating and noticeable (one main color too). Out Of The Silent Planet alt cover (should have been the real cover), I always liked the classic Eddie on it. The colors work great and although there is CGI, it pairs well with Wicker Man from the early 2000s. En Vivo looks cool (the colors help, the visual of TFF Eddie plays a big role too), but it's just the same idea as Rock In Rio. Not a fan of that aspect.

I would have voted for Lord Of The Flies, if it wasn't for the two big flies. It's similar to TXF album alt cover, and I think the idea is nice and interesting, but it works better there though. Beast Over Hammersmith is with a weird choice for an overall look, Eddie should have been enlarged.
 
I've also always liked the En Vivo! cover. It's the same concept as Rock in Rio, although makes a little less sense but has great execution.
I think it fits for both album arts, but cloud Eddie is perfect. They really should have made a noticeable sci-fi artwork for the live album from TFF tour. Not in comics style like the singles, but full-on fantasy. They same can be said for Live Chapter.
 
Considering the theme of Lord Of The Flies, the single cover should have been epic (more fitting than Man On The Edge). They made 3 different covers for Virus just a year later after all.

The art approach for (especially) FOTD and TXF albums was odd. And for the former they even had additional album arts from other artists to do a great back cover. Plus, Derek did the 1993 live albums covers. It seems they wanted a ''one style/world'' for TXF singles, like they did with TFF. It's not like the artists were without ideas or experience (Grant and Syme). They wanted to distant themselves from the previous art style, like the music?
 
12 "The Evil That Men Do" +3
7 En Vivo! +2

7 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.]
2 Beast over Hammersmith +1
1 Video Pieces
1 "Lord of the Flies"
 
15 "The Evil That Men Do" +3
9 En Vivo! +2

7 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.]
2 Beast over Hammersmith
2 "Lord of the Flies" +1
1 Video Pieces

TETMD is the easy winner here. En Vivo revisits the RiR concept and does it in a much better way, imo.
Video Pieces is boring, OOTSP incredibly ugly, and BoH is kinda neat, but not enough for the third spot.

For whatever reason I've always liked LOTF's cover a lot. The giant flies are kinda goofy, but the overall vibe is just so '90s.
 
21 "The Evil That Men Do" +3
11 En Vivo!
8 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.] +1
5 Beast over Hammersmith +2

2 "Lord of the Flies"
1 Video Pieces

Could have voted for Video Pieces. Great band photo but is giving a strong 'Unleashed In The East' vibes and no Eddie in it.
 
Man, this is the most interesting round yet. Everyone is voting for something different and it’s the first round where all 6 covers have received points!
 
Maiden sure has had a lot of strange artwork over the years. En Vivo is great, the rest is meh. 2 points to Lord of the Flies despite the poor graphic design because that cover looks like the opening menu of an old video game and I have a soft spot for that kind of aesthetic. Takes me back to a better time, if you will. The Evil That Men Do is Derek Riggs, sure, but that cover is no less messy. It’s a bunch of little stuff thrown together and the old classic Eddie is the only part keeping it together.

22 "The Evil That Men Do" +1
14 En Vivo! +3

8 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.]
5 Beast over Hammersmith
4 "Lord of the Flies" +2
1 Video Pieces
 
25 "The Evil That Men Do" +3
16 En Vivo! +2

8 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.]
5 Beast over Hammersmith
5 "Lord of the Flies" +1
1 Video Pieces
 
It looks like the top 2 are secure, but that wildcard #3 could very quickly change with another voter or three. This is one of the reasons I was excited for this game; as much as we can usually agree on what's an S tier Maiden cover verses an F, some people get something different out of these covers than others do. I did not expect "Lord of the Flies" to actually have a fighting chance as to me it's a silly B-version of the TXF alt cover, but now I'm curious to see if it'll manage to beat out the two currently ahead of it!
 
31"The Evil That Men Do" +3
17 En Vivo! +1
9 Beast over Hammersmith +2

8 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.]
4 "Lord of the Flies"
1 Video Pieces

Oh my, so much dross on show again. Evil is the only one I really wanted to vote for. I used to have a big poster of this one in my room. It mesmerised young me. Side note, just found out that a guy in my work with has a collection of 96 Maiden wall posters. Craaaaaazy.

Beast is alright but as already noted, there's a better version of it elsewhere.

Flies is one of my least favourite of alllll time, a real low effort affair. Silent Planet Eddie is gimpy as fuck
 
Flies is one of my least favourite of alllll time, a real low effort affair.
That's as may be, but you can't go and subtract points from it! :p

The corrected tally:

31"The Evil That Men Do" +3
17 En Vivo! +1
9 Beast over Hammersmith +2

8 "Out of the Silent Planet" [alt.]
6 "Lord of the Flies"
1 Video Pieces
 
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