IRON MAIDEN ALBUMS SURVIVOR: POWERSLAVE WINS

[Mosh]

I don't think it's so much that TBOS went backwards as much as there wasn't really much more they could do with the stuff on the past few albums. Despite still having the longer songs I thought TBOS was a bit more stripped down for the most part and better ready for the live stage.

 

[MindlessPieces]

I don't think it's so much that TBOS went backwards as much as there wasn't really much more they could do with the stuff on the past few albums.

Yes, well perhaps they could have a go at thrash or power metal, less the double bass.
Something a bit quicker and heavier like Brighter than a thousand Suns, or Be Quick or Be Dead stuff. Perhaps inspired by Helloween's Keeper of the Seven Keys (song), or Metallica's Master of Puppets (song) or Megadeths (Tornado of Souls), Sepultura's Arise (song)

Or maybe even go symphonic like Nightwish's I want my tears back, or Within Temptation's Angel or Fire and Ice.

Or perhaps they invent some completely new style.

Obviously they could completely alienate their current fan base, but I think they are so talented that they can perfect whatever they try. They'd probably be more influenced by 60's and 70s bands than anything in th elast 20 years.

I guess I'm less interested in Maiden just doing more of the same. Not that I have grown tired of what they have done, but more that I want to see what else they are capable of.

 

[CriedWhenBrucieLeft]

Are you a second account?

 

[MindlessPieces]

Are you a second account?

Is that directed at me? What is meant by second account?

 

[Perun]

Cried, stop trolling.

 

[Forostar]

I don't think that any Maiden work is prog per se, but you don't need to have odd times for your music to be progressive. How many odd time signatures does Dark Side Of The Moon have? I can think of just one.
And I like both AMOLAD and TBOS

Pink Floyd's most commercial sounding record. Least proggy. A huge success because of that. Not very popular among prog fans.

 

[Spambot]

@JudasMyGuide @Niall Kielt I understand your point of view for calling AMOLAD "proggy" but by the same criteria there are a lot of other songs/album that you can call proggy. If it's the long, moody and weird that defines Maiden progressiveness then (to me) The Final Frontier is way more progressive, yet I've never heard anyone calling TFF progressive.

I don't think that any Maiden work is prog per se, but you don't need to have odd times for your music to be progressive. How many odd time signatures does Dark Side Of The Moon have?

ETA - I also see it as one of their LESS proggy albums precisely because of this - too consistent. Prog is a genre of contrasts.

I agree with both of your statements. Yes, you don't need odd times for music to be progressive (althought Dark Side isn't Floyd's best example for progressiveness) but the album needs to be more diverse which in my opinion AMOLAD isn't.

@MindlessPieces Finally, another TFF appreciator on this forum!

 

[JudasMyGuide]

@JudasMyGuide @Niall Kielt I understand your point of view for calling AMOLAD "proggy" but by the same criteria there are a lot of other songs/album that you can call proggy. If it's the long, moody and weird that defines Maiden progressiveness then (to me) The Final Frontier is way more progressive, yet I've never heard anyone calling TFF progressive.

I have always insisted that the second half of TFF (from Avalon on) is very proggy by Maiden standards. Especially Avalon.

@MindlessPieces Finally, another TFF appreciator on this forum!

Dude! TFF used to be my No 2 and even now it's probably in the top 5. I love Talisman, Avalon, Wild Wind, Starblind, Coming Home dearly and like the rest very much (except for Satellite, which is just meh). I've even began to reappreciate TMWWBK.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

I might respect Wilson as a musician and an audiophile (his remasters are allegedly awesome), but just as with his fellow progger Robert Fripp ... oh, well, let's not go there.

Yes, sometimes the names of the genres don't make sense (say, how do you do a metal that "glams"? Does "acid jazz" donate a hydrogen cation to anyone?). Doesn't make them any less real.

I would myself stay away from the "progressive x prog" discussion, though, because I can smell another MaidenFans Medal of Stupendous Boredom in the air.

 

[Dr. Eddies Wingman]

Does "acid jazz" donate a hydrogen cation to anyone?).

The chemical engineer approves!

 

[Spambot]

I have always insisted that the second half of TFF (from Avalon on) is very proggy by Maiden standards. Especially Avalon. Dude! TFF used to be my No 2 and even now it's probably in the top 5. I love Talisman, Avalon, Wild Wind, Starblind, Coming Home dearly and like the rest very much (except for Satellite, which is just meh). I've even began to reappreciate TMWWBK.

Yep, Avalon and Satellite 15 definitely, Starblind somewhat and some other songs partly. Although TMWWBK is in my opinion only "weak" song on the album, The Final Frontier is up there with Brave New World for me - their best in reunion era. Good to see there are more people who have high regards about TFF, I somehow got the wrong picture looking at the this survivor.

 

[mckindog]

TFF is solidly among my favourites.

 

[Mosh]

I think most people would consider TFF proggy. I definitely agree it's proggier than AMOLAD, but that doesn't really make it better or worse than any other album. Whether or not something is proggy/progressive/whatever you want to call it doesn't really speak to the quality at all.

Steven Wilson is a snob. For as much as he bashes other bands for being relying too much on prog cliches, he isn't much better in that regard. His recent albums have checked all the boxes of what you'd expect from a throwback prog album.

That being said, there is definitely a difference between prog as a genre with its own sound/cliches and prog as more of a musical aesthetic. I think Maiden fall more in the latter category. That's why the whole "there's not enough tempo and meter changes to call it prog" thing keeps coming up when discussing Maiden.

Long songs also doesn't equal progressive. I think Starblind and IOA are much more proggy than The Book Of Souls, The Red and the Black, and even Empire of the Clouds.

 

[Collin]

Long songs also doesn't equal progressive.

Exactly! Just look at The Fugitive. Short and progressive!

Spoiler

I have a problem..

 

[CriedWhenBrucieLeft]

What's your problem?

 

[Zare]

Pink Floyd's most commercial sounding record. Least proggy. A huge success because of that. Not very popular among prog fans.

I used DSoTM because it has one odd time signature, 7/4 in Money.
You even make my point better - Animals have no odd time signatures.

 

[Mosh]

Pink Floyd rarely used odd time signatures in general. Most of their music is very simple from a compositional point.

 

[Forostar]

I used DSoTM because it has one odd time signature, 7/4 in Money.
You even make my point better - Animals have no odd time signatures.

But it has more going on. Epic long songs with some tempo changes. The drums change also within the same tempo (going half time or stopping even some times). Also change of atmosphere within one song.

DSOTM is very even throughout. Money is the exception indeed. And the sounds in Time.

 

[JudasMyGuide]

Personally, I prefer progressive bands to, say, pop acts for the most part. But I find it rather annoying if people put PROG as a defined style on a pedestal, as if it's the holy grail of music, as if there's a direct correlation between progginess and quality, as if describing a band's song as 'the proggiest they've ever been' is the ultimate justification for calling it a 'masterwork'.
The same thing happens in jazz, guys like Marsalis seeing themselves as jazz popes and denying the contribution of people like Anthony Braxton by simply saying that their music's "not jazz". Well, who cares if it's fucking jazz or not?
THAT'S the real snobbery in my opinion.

I kind of agree. But, with Maiden, I really like when they try to be "proggy" in their own way. I like Maiden songs that take you places. That includes Powerslave (the song) too. That's probably where my preference for "prog" shows. The majesty and the "epicity" (I know that's not a word). Without any prejudice, even before I became a prog fan, my favourites off the albums were Phantom for the debut, Hallowed for Number, Revelations and Tame for Piece, the title cut and Rime for Powerslave etc. I was, like twelve or so and was no snob. I just thought those tracks were awesome. After reunion, when they decided to capture that feeling more and more throughout the albums, I was out of my mind. That's the only reason why those tracks and possibly even the albums are so dear to me. Not because I'm a prog snob (though I am), but because I've been loving this approach for as long as I love metal itself. 'Nuff said.

 

[Whooten]

AMOLAD in top 3 is crazy.

I guess everybody has a different way to view the world, indeed!