Maiden albums you can’t get into?

KidInTheDark666 said:
I love all their newer albums but I fail to understand how BNW could be the weakest of them.
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I don't. I don't despise it but some passages seem really done on the run and derivative. It's a strange album with confuse songs alongside great ones (The Wicker Man, Blood Brothers, TTLBLAH) and some really enjoyable ones (Nomad and OOTSP). But I can surely listen to it and enjoy it since a) everything in it is 100% Maiden blueprint (TBH the only album that majorly isn't so is Fear Of The Dark) and b) unlike Virtual XI that also is 100% Maiden blueprint, at least half of it isn't a slow and boring yawn . That being said BNW is my 3rd least favorite Maiden album but I can still listen to it. The same works for Virtual XI when I'm in the right mood and even Fear Of The Dark provided that I skip at least 3 songs that I consider their worst ever.
 
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karljant said:
everything in it is 100% Maiden blueprint (TBH the only album that majorly isn't so is Fear Of The Dark)
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Reading that flashed me back to reading about Bruce's take on that era when explaining his departure. He thought they were going in to do something new and fresh after getting the fun, easy album that was NPFTD out of their systems, "and what did we do? We did just another Maiden album."

...or something pretty close to that statement, which helped convince him he had to leave.
 
I don't know which album featured songs like From Here To Eternity, Wasting Love, Weekend Warrior, Chains Of Misery or Fear Is The Key (and to a certain extent Afraid To Shoot Stranger's first half). It is my assumption that Bruce stated that because he wanted to go even further from what IM used to do (as we saw in Balls To Picasso) and do his stuff rather than being constricted by the remainder of the band's members approval. Nevertheless half of Fear Of The Dark is (unfortunately so) far from being "just another Maiden album".
 
Kalata said:
None. I love to listen every album from Maiden.

Every album has something special.
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Yup... to a certain extent It's the same here. None of their albums is a total letdown. Even my two least favorites (Fear Of The Dark and Virtual XI) feature at least 3 great songs each (Be Quick Or Be Dead, Afraid To Shoot Strangers, Fear Of The Dark, Futureal, The Clansman, The Educated Fool) and some enjoyable tunes (Childhood's End, Judas Be My Guide, Lightning Strikes Twice and Como Estais Amigos?).
 
For me definitely Somewhere in Time. Being a child of the 80's it was just weird when it first came out. LOL I was also never really able to get into the Blaze years either although I do like a few of the songs from that era.
 
I have a few albums I just can't get into.

Final Frontier. I don't know man, it's such a drag? Very homogenous-sounding to my ears. Not nearly as enticing and diverse as Book of Souls or AMOLAD.

Virtual IX and X-Factor. Few great songs but I just don't like Blaze. Weird because I really used to like these two when I was younger. But now? They sound dated and uninspired to me.

Fear of the Dark, No Prayer for the Dying: I find the lack of Adrian to really hinder Iron Maiden. I love Yannick's work in conjunction with the rest especially Adrian. I can't say what it is, perhaps it's too campy? Too happy? With the exception of a few great songs, these albums don't do it for me.

And now for the worst contender of 'what album gets zero play time' I feel worst about?

Yeah. Somewhere in Time. I don't like this album, but I love Stranger in a Strange Land. The guitars sound too processed, the melodies feel to me like they were picked off of the cutting room floor of Powerslave or demo's for 7th Son and the songs drag on and on (not strange for Iron Maiden, to be honest).
 
Worst Iron Maiden albums for me......
The worst Dance of Death. .......and next would be Virtual XI...........and next No Prayer for the dying,i like it,but not a great album. But Dance of death for me is the worst by far.
 
Tailgunner77 said:
I can't say dislike.But Dance of Death was the most dissapointing record to me...I expected the same awesome record that Brave New World meant to me.
Fear of the dark was the same feeling as Brave new world. The expectation. What would could come after NPFTD??. Be quick or be dead was a great single f### heavy and raw. Wicker man!!.The resurrection!!. 20 years ago...wow
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that was exactly my feelings. After an amazing album BNW. Dont know what happened there,luck of magic,ideas,strange choruses....worst Iron Maiden album.
 
Orpheo said:
Final Frontier. I don't know man, it's such a drag? Very homogenous-sounding to my ears. Not nearly as enticing and diverse as Book of Souls or AMOLAD.
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I always considered AMOLAD to be the most homogeneous of those three. Luckily, it's uniformly good.

TFF has a superb 3-epic streak (Isle Of Avalon, Starblind, The Talisman) and WTWWB is one of their most emotional songs.
 
Final Frontier has that 4 minute intro that's just too long for my taste. And maybe, just maybe, I can't get behind that album because its release coincided with a period of my life that I do not look back upon with undiluted joy :)
 
RueMorgue said:
In the case of Somewhere In Time, part of it has been how different it sounds, with all the guitar synths etc.
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I know what you mean regarding the sound of Somewhere in Time. I think the songs are good, but the sound of that album is real bad.
I do like the album though despite the sound problem.

The two albums I struggle with are X Factor and Virtual XI.
X Factor annoys me with the contrast in soft and loud parts and I hate the drum sound.
Virtual XI is pretty poor all around.
 
MindlessPieces said:
I know what you mean regarding the sound of Somewhere in Time. I think the songs are good, but the sound of that album is real bad.
I do like the album though despite the sound problem.
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I am always surprised how very few people mention this. I have the same opinion - songs are simply great, but if the guitars and overall production sounded like SSoaSS or Powerslave, that would be heaven. Not to be a poser, but the softness and smoothness bothers me in the "metal album." If that makes sense.


Anyway. The only album I can't get into too well is Killers. I love me some 2-3 songs from it, but rest is ehh...
 
mtmccox said:
I am always surprised how very few people mention this. I have the same opinion - songs are simply great, but if the guitars and overall production sounded like SSoaSS or Powerslave, that would be heaven. Not to be a poser, but the softness and smoothness bothers me in the "metal album." If that makes sense.
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I rate it second weakest of the 80's for this reason and also, let's not kid ourselves while the songs are musically good, Deja-Vu, TLOTLDR, SOM and Alexander are all rubbish lyrically and, bar SOM, vocally.
 
I could never get into Virtual XI. Apart from a couple of good songs (Futureal and The Clansman, although the latter is quite overrated), there is nothing really worth listening to in that album. The sound of a band hitting rock bottom.
 
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