IRON MAIDEN ALBUM SURVIVOR 2023: Results -> Somewhere In Time wins!

Powerslave
On one hand, it's one of their best bookended album with the two first tracks and the last two tracks. On the other hand, there's nothing mindblowing about what's between that.

A Matter of Life and Death
Their least anthemic album

The Book of Souls
I think it's got the worst sound of the albums on this list
 
Abas said:
Powerslave
On one hand, it's one of their best bookended album with the two first tracks and the last two tracks. On the other hand, there's nothing mindblowing about what's between that.
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Maybe not mindblowing, but the music of Flash Of The Blade and Duellists is classic metal stuff.
Abas said:
A Matter of Life and Death
Their least anthemic album
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Wow. Almost all songs are anthemic for me.
Abas said:
The Book of Souls
I think it's got the worst sound of the albums on this list
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What about the quality of the material? As for the sound, it's probably true, but I like the old school vibe of the production. Maybe a little muddy, but far from bad.
 
Kalata said:
You're probably not a fan of the overall vibe of the album? Hope I'm not wrong because there isn't a single weak song on it.
I think the serious mood of the album, the darker tone, the impactful lyrics, intros and melodies really made it special. It's everything for it. The heavier riffs too. Maiden have only a few other albums like it - TXF and SJ, two special albums too.

Maiden were on a creative peak in 2006. I mean: the short songs are much better and have more characteristics than the short songs on the previous album. Legacy is a unique piece to end the album, Suns and Greater God are classic Maiden epics, Benjamin is one of the few riff-based songs in their discography, Colours, Lord and Longest Day are classic Maiden anthems with their parts, and we have a very good ballad-y song with a soaring chorus. Also, apart from maybe a song or two, I don't think the album has a problem with the repetition.
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I listened to the album in full whilst walking home today so that I could give a more detailed response to this. In short, our appraisals of the album are so different it is like we are listening to entirely different albums.
My issue with AMOLAD is not that there are songs I think are objectively poor, but there are very few songs which are good enough to make the album worth listening to over another Maiden album.

These Colours Don't Run and The Pilgrim are both entirely forgettable songs to me. The only time I ever listen to either is in a full album listen, because neither have any single part I particularly want to listen to.

Different World is a decent, but not great, short song. I am very surprised to read you comparing this to the short songs on the previous album, because this is not as good as Wildest Dreams, and does not come at all close to Rainmaker.

Out of the Shadows is a ballad, which means I have a soft spot for it, but I also think it's the bands weakest reunion ballad and shares the same listening space for me as songs like Blood Brothers, Coming Home, and Tears of a Clown - all of which I think are substantially better.

The Longest Day and The Legacy are songs which I find very disjointed - they have some very good parts, but also some parts which I am less enamoured by. I think the chorus to The Longest Day is much worse than the rest of the song, for example, and whilst the second half of The Legacy is great I don't really care for the first half.

Brighter Than A Thousand Suns and The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg are, as you said, relatively unique in the discography and I quite like both. I just don't listen to either a lot because when I am in the mood for a heavy Maiden song, I usually go for The Book Of Souls instead.

For The Greater Good of God and Lord of Light are my two favourite songs on the album, and the ones I will turn the album on for.
Basically, there aren't any songs I hate on the album, but there aren't any particularly amazing ones either. The best song from AMOLAD would be maybe the fifth best song on TNOTB. I voted it as #13 in my personal ranking (14 to 17 were VXI, Killers, NPFTD and TXF in that order) so I'm voting it as the ones below it have already been eliminated.
 
Diesel 11 said:
You voted for The Book of Souls.
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I know I voted for the worst reunion album and:
300px-I%27ll_Fuckin_Do_It_Again.jpg

But I also have to admit this: Your Bruce Dickinson as Doc Emmet Brown avatar is way better than my Bruce Dickinson as Doc Emmet Brown avatar. Which means I'll have to change mine soon.
 
DJMayes said:
I listened to the album in full whilst walking home today so that I could give a more detailed response to this. In short, our appraisals of the album are so different it is like we are listening to entirely different albums.
My issue with AMOLAD is not that there are songs I think are objectively poor, but there are very few songs which are good enough to make the album worth listening to over another Maiden album.

These Colours Don't Run and The Pilgrim are both entirely forgettable songs to me. The only time I ever listen to either is in a full album listen, because neither have any single part I particularly want to listen to.

Different World is a decent, but not great, short song. I am very surprised to read you comparing this to the short songs on the previous album, because this is not as good as Wildest Dreams, and does not come at all close to Rainmaker.

Out of the Shadows is a ballad, which means I have a soft spot for it, but I also think it's the bands weakest reunion ballad and shares the same listening space for me as songs like Blood Brothers, Coming Home, and Tears of a Clown - all of which I think are substantially better.

The Longest Day and The Legacy are songs which I find very disjointed - they have some very good parts, but also some parts which I am less enamoured by. I think the chorus to The Longest Day is much worse than the rest of the song, for example, and whilst the second half of The Legacy is great I don't really care for the first half.

Brighter Than A Thousand Suns and The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg are, as you said, relatively unique in the discography and I quite like both. I just don't listen to either a lot because when I am in the mood for a heavy Maiden song, I usually go for The Book Of Souls instead.

For The Greater Good of God and Lord of Light are my two favourite songs on the album, and the ones I will turn the album on for.
Basically, there aren't any songs I hate on the album, but there aren't any particularly amazing ones either. The best song from AMOLAD would be maybe the fifth best song on TNOTB. I voted it as #13 in my personal ranking (14 to 17 were VXI, Killers, NPFTD and TXF in that order) so I'm voting it as the ones below it have already been eliminated.
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Wow. It's really like we're listening to entirely different albums. You just like the other Reunion albums more. Colours and Pilgrim certainly have some very memorable parts. About the short songs, I didn't had in mind Rainmaker, but Different World is miles better than Wildest Dreams imo. I agree about Longest Day's chorus; not bad though. Legacy is a specific song. It wasn't one of my favorites at first.

For me, almost every song on the album can be called amazing, more or less. Songs like Greater God and Suns can rival some of the 80's classics.
 
MindRuler said:
Highs: Title track, Children, Prisoner and Hallowed and yup that´s it. :)
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Run To The Hills shouldn't be underestimated. One of the band's best singles and most memorable songs. Every part is great.

The music of 22 Acacia Avenue is also very strong. Even more. Classic stuff for a reason.
 
Kalata said:
Wow. It's really like we're listening to entirely different albums. You just like the other Reunion albums more. Colours and Pilgrim certainly have some very memorable parts. About the short songs, I didn't had in mind Rainmaker, but Different World is miles better than Wildest Dreams imo. I agree about Longest Day's chorus; not bad though. Legacy is a specific song. It wasn't one of my favorites at first.

For me, almost every song on the album can be called amazing, more or less. Songs like Greater God and Suns can rival some of the 80's classics.
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Every single Bruce 80s album (and every reunion album other than maybe BNW) has at least three songs I like more than my favourite song from AMOLAD. The album doesn't have a big hit for me which is why I don't rate it very highly.
 
Kalata said:
What about the quality of the material? As for the sound, it's probably true, but I like the old school vibe of the production. Maybe a little muddy, but far from bad.
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The material is fine. The Red and the Black is an all-timer for me.
 
DJMayes said:
Every single Bruce 80s album (and every reunion album other than maybe BNW) has at least three songs I like more than my favourite song from AMOLAD. The album doesn't have a big hit for me which is why I don't rate it very highly.
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Fair enough. About the big hit, Suns and Greater God (without a doubt) - but when you compare it to the other Reunion albums, there is something like that, but that says more about the overall strong material on the album than anything else. Or maybe it's because the band doesn't often play songs from the album live and we didn't get a live release for it.
Abas said:
The Red and the Black is an all-timer for me.
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That's great to hear.
 
Kalata said:
Fair enough. About the big hit, Suns and Greater God (without a doubt) - but when you compare it to the other Reunion albums, there is something like that, but that says more about the overall strong material on the album than anything else. Or maybe it's because the band doesn't often play songs from the album live and we didn't get a live release for it.
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When I compare AMOLAD to the other reunion albums it's a similar story - I prefer my favourite songs from each of them to my favourite songs from AMOLAD. It's nothing to do with live play either - I don't listen to live albums that much and a lot of my absolute favourites (Shadows of the Valley, for example) have never been played live. I just don't think AMOLAD is anything special.
 
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Top 17
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09. The Book Of Souls
10. The Final Frontier
11. Dance Of Death
12. Iron Maiden
13. The X Factor
14. Fear Of The Dark
15. Killers
16. No Prayer For The Dying
17. Virtual XI
 
While I think TFF ended up too high, this feels about right for TBOS. It's an album with higher highs than TFF and Senjutsu, but more frequent lows than TFF and lower lows than Senjutsu.
 
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