Maiden studio album shoot-out, Part 4

TXF vs. TFF

  • The X Factor

    Votes: 19 45.2%
  • The Final Frontier

    Votes: 23 54.8%

  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .

Dick Brucinson

Dave Sustaine
So after we just learned BNW is superior to TNOTB, let's find out today about two often controversially debated albums...
I think this could be another quite exciting one:

Which album is the better one ---> THE X FACTOR or THE FINAL FRONTIER? B)

Now that we are having a few days of our game I must say that it is really interesting to read all the different explanations to all your votes, all your individual and personal stories what makes you preferring the one album to another one is a very cool read. :ok:

Again 24 hours time to vote, poll results again can't be viewed before having voted, once voted cast cannot be changed, poll will be closed after 24 hours for then the next comparison will start.

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Final Frontier - holy crap Isle of Avalon / Starblind / The Talisman / Man Who Would be King / When the Wild Wind Blows?
I just put that on and leave it on because it's such a great journey of different sounds and emotions.

As far as the Blaze era goes I've been listening a lot to Virtual XI lately but X Factor only has one song that I go back to periodically (Judgement of Heaven).
 
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The Talisman and WTWWB + Bruce vs The Sign of the Cross + Blaze (minus Adrian).... TFF wins for me.
 
As glorious as Starblind is the Final Frontier cannot compete with the perfect darkness of the X Factor. I listened through it just a couple of days ago and I was as transfixed as I was the first time I heard it
 
That's actually pretty tough. The X Factor is a fantastic, often underrated album. The Final Frontier - while not a top 3 reunion album - still represents my favourite incarnation of Maiden and has a lot of great stuff in it. I'm voting TFF but TXF is pretty close.
 
Neither of these are albums I revisit too often. Both feature some really strong material but are also let down by certain performances and weak production. However, the best song on The X Factor (Sign of the Cross) is better than the best song on The Final Frontier (When the Wild Wind Blows). The worst song on TFF (Mother of Mercy) is worse than the worst song on TXF... I'm not quite sure what that is. Comparing everything in between is a tough call so I'll go off those examples and vote The X Factor, though it's worth saying that live performances would probably tip the scales in The Final Frontier's favour.
 
However, the best song on The X Factor (Sign of the Cross) is better than the best song on The Final Frontier (When the Wild Wind Blows).

Very understandable to reduce both albums down to a single song - in either case, nothing else on the record comes close. Both LPs as a whole are a trudge.

Final Frontier shows a little actual experimentation though, whereas X Factor is just turgid to its marrow. Even Sign of The Cross is nothing compared to the later live takes. Edge of Darkness comes pretty close to self-parody.
 
Sign Of The Cross is good for the most part, but Maiden are out of tune in relation to the monk recording in the middle of the song.
 
The X Factor by a mile. It took me awhile to get into TXF when it first released, but I did very much get into it. I've been trying to do the same with The Final Frontier, and just can't do it. There are some good songs on their own no doubt, but as a whole...nope. The only times I ever listen to it front to back is when I'm giving it another chance.
 
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