Iron Maiden studio album 17 rumours and speculations

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Whooten said:
No Prayer is easily in my top 16 favorite Iron Maiden albums.

To Perun's point about "back to roots"--this is exactly what Maiden were saying at the time. They were hugely inspired (intimidated) by Guns n Roses' success. They had no interest in speeding up further than they already did on the 7th Tour of a 7th Tour to compete with thrash, speed and death metal that had been gaining in popularity but were still leagues behind in stature and sales, so that wasn't an option.

The path they took was to try and compete with the likes of GnR, Poison, etc. A little more sleazy (Bring Your Daughter...) a little more tongue in cheek (Public Enema...)--at least in song titles. They likely thought they could blow these guys out of the water because of their skill as songwriters, playing chops and live show. It wasn't truly simplified (that would likely be impossible given the band's skill and compositional tendencies), but it was a purposeful return to the earlier, simpler times. The repetitive epics were gone, Bruce changed his singing style and Adrian freaking left the band, citing his disagreement with this "stripped down" approach.

Maybe that line was all just bollocks and Rod's way of justifying the greatly reduced size (cost) of the stage show, but it was clear at the time--from the album cover to the stage set to the shorter songs--that they were feeling nostalgic for the past when sales (of tickets and albums) kept increasing every year. At the time, I could see the merit in taking this approach. The problem was that it seemed forced, reactionary to the scene around them (rather than doing their own thing and leading the genre) and I didn't like any of the songs.

(I was writing this while Nuno's post came in--great minds think alike!)
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I know that this is what they said and were aiming for at the time. My point is that it's not what they ended up doing. NPFTD is a far more natural progression in terms of songwriting than people tend to think, and I have the feeling that it's the stripped-down image Maiden were sporting at the time rather than an actual appraisal of the music that leads to this view. And with that 'image', I also mean the sound and production of the album. It's simply not supported by the songwriting.
 
Whooten said:
Maybe that line was all just bollocks and Rod's way of justifying the greatly reduced size (cost) of the stage show
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The SSOASS stage set had been ridiculed by GNR. they wouldn't allow themselves be photographed sound checking when they opened for Maiden as they didn't want to be seen on a stage made of Icebergs. I suspect the idea that such stages were uncool was probably more to do with it than cost.
 
Perun said:
NPFTD is a far more natural progression in terms of songwriting than people tend to think, and I have the feeling that it's the stripped-down image Maiden were sporting at the time rather than an actual appraisal of the music that leads to this view. And with that 'image', I also mean the sound and production of the album.
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Yes, the chorus of “Fates Warning” is a rehash of the chorus of “The Clairvoyant”, and the instrumental section of “Mother Russia” borrows heavily from the internals of “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son”. In a number of respects NPFTD sounds like a cheap knockoff of their earlier sound with some annoying raspy vocals and a WTF chorus in “The Assassin”.

All of that said, I still think NPFTD is a solidly good album with a few great tracks on it. It’s just a noticeable step down in quality from what preceded it.
 
nuno_c said:
I think the move towards a more "street" sound on NPFTD was much more inspired by the Appetite For Destruction-era Guns N' Roses than by grunge. Grunge hit big at the end of 91/beginning of 92, and NPFTD was released in 1990. Even Bruce's raspier singing style was, in my opinion, a way of getting closer to Axl's style. The "street" thing was what most rock bands were trying to achieve at the time post-Guns.
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This is exactly what I have been thinking for a long time. This also goes partly for Tattooed millionaire and Fear of the dark (Wasting love is like their attempt to do Don’t cry)
 
I really think that they dont spent as much time as 80s or 90s in songwritting or working on songs. Maybe its obvius LOL. But now they have families,business,and enjoying life. And that is reflect on the albums, less complicated. i think its imposible for them to write another instrumental part like in seventh son ( the song). Now the music its a bit different, its really good music,but different,but sounds maiden and its maiden.
 
Run Silent Run Deep is a top 10 Maiden track for me.

No idea why it was never played live, nor why it doesn't live right alongside Aces, 2 Mins, Trooper, etc. in the pantheon of Really Good, Fast, Short, Classic Maiden Songs About War.
 
Zare said:
...forward with another grand concept and bigger production, requiring the band to go even wider in the shades of rock present on the album, spearheading the fresh subgenre of progressive metal who Maiden has always been associated with, or pick either of the shades (glam/thrash), and go with it.

I think the main error with NPFTD isn't stylistic, what I outlined above isn't my view of the album but my impression of the things around the album that could affect the way it was done. The main error is ill development of the songs and bad studio work. Janick brought a lot of energy in and it wasn't really captured well. The drums sound like 80s cardboard drums which quickly became haram for the 90s soundscape.
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I'm glad that Maiden kept their style and not changed it drastically.

Janick's energy can be heard in his solos. Agree about the sound of the drums. The production of the whole album is not that good.

In the end, the album contains good-to great short songs (*''Mother Russia'' is an epic). The album could have been different with 2-3 more songs from Adrian (not in the style of ''Hooks In You'' though) and with more time for writing songs...
Perun said:
5. Sound and production:
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Some songs from the album benefits from the sound/production imo - the title track and ''The Assassin'', for example.
srfc said:
The main throw back to the likes of Killers is the cutting down on the running time of the songs.
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Good point. It's curious why they returned (for this album) to short songs only (without epics), especially after the long epic songs from the previous albums.

Cutting down the running time of the songs, stripped production (although synths can be heard in at least two songs), stripped stage design for the tour... they indeed wanted to return to the early days of the band.
srfc said:
The SSOASS stage set had been ridiculed by GNR. they wouldn't allow themselves be photographed sound checking when they opened for Maiden as they didn't want to be seen on a stage made of Icebergs. I suspect the idea that such stages were uncool was probably more to do with it than cost.
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Times are changing, but the stage design for the ''Seventh Son'' tour was great.
GNR can only dream for this kind of stage design.
Jer said:
All of that said, I still think NPFTD is a solidly good album with a few great tracks on it. It’s just a noticeable step down in quality from what preceded it.
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^ This.
 
I think “Hooks in You” gets an undeserved bad rap. The lyrics are dumb, yeah, but it’s a fun song and not too much different from SiT, just with added AOR influence and a lesser production job.
 
Diesel 11 said:
I think “Hooks in You” gets an undeserved bad rap. The lyrics are dumb, yeah, but it’s a fun song and not too much different from SiT, just with added AOR influence and a lesser production job.
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To me it's the other way around. I love the lyrics, but the song itself is pretty naff.
 
Perun said:
The Assassin takes a few cues from the Di'anno era in the intro and song structure, but if you listen to the instrumental section, you can hear a lot of SSOASS on there as well.
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Now I know why that's my favourite track from that album.
Great post btw :ok:
 
I think the chorus is actually pretty decent musically and the vocal melody is catchy it's just the words are so stupid it's beyond belief. If they were saying anything even just ok then I think this song wouldn't have anything like the reputation it does.
 
MindRuler said:
Before @Perun takes his rifle out and turns into an assassin tailgunning us all, let's get back on topic. :lol:
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What’s back on topic? “I think they will release a three hour concept album about Jonah being abducted by aliens and forced to worship the elder gods in a ritual that comes every few years and you could be next.” “I hope you’re wrong!!!”
 
MindRuler said:
Speculations, rumours, personal thoughts and visions about the 17th album of the band we all worship and love?
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I'm going for an outside chance shot: Maiden will say that the pandemic has given them a lot of time to develop new material. Steve has written a bunch of songs, Bruce and H have a bunch more, Janick brought in four really good ideas, and Dave collaborated on two more. So they call time on the format of recent albums. Instead of a 70 or 80 minute single CD album, or a double CD album, they announce:

- Album 17 (released 2021)
- Album 18 (released 2022)

...each one clocking in at around 50 minutes and each one a self-standing themed album.

You heard it here first o_O
 
I think Dave has played a lot of golf, Steve a lot of football and Adrian has done a lot of fishing, a book and an album.

They have made one Maiden album. At the most. :p :D
 
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
I'm going for an outside chance shot: Maiden will say that the pandemic has given them a lot of time to develop new material. Steve has written a bunch of songs, Bruce and H have a bunch more, Janick brought in four really good ideas, and Dave collaborated on two more. So they call time on the format of recent albums. Instead of a 70 or 80 minute single CD album, or a double CD album, they announce:

- Album 17 (released 2021)
- Album 18 (released 2022)

...each one clocking in at around 50 minutes and each one a self-standing themed album.

You heard it here first o_O
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They are too lazy to do that
 
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