Poll: The strongest 90s Maiden album

What's the strongest 90s album?

  • Total voters
    60
naranja said:
Filler of the Dark, that's why.
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OK, I won't deny that FOTD has a significant amount of filler but I still fail to see how The X Factor is better. The best X Factor track (Sign of the cross) just cannot touch the mighty title track FOTD and Afraid to shoot strangers is much better than all the other tracks on The X Factor. On the strength of these two songs alone, FOTD is a superior album, plus it has some other good tunes as Judas be my guide, Be quick or be dead, Wasting love and Childhoods End.
 
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WildRanger said:
OK, I won't deny that FOTD has a significant amount of filler but I still fail to see how The X Factor is better. The best X Factor track (Sign of the cross) just cannot touch the mighty title track FOTD and Afraid to shoot strangers is much better than all the other tracks on The X Factor. On the strength of these two songs alone, FOTD is a superior album, plus it has some other good tunes as Judas be my guide, Be quick or be dead, Wasting love and Childhoods End.
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I really really like Sign of the cross, lord of the flies, man on the edge, fortunes of War, edge of darkness, judgment of Heaven and a few others.
 
Azas said:
  1. Be Quick or Be Dead
  2. From Here to Eternity
  3. Afraid to Shoot Strangers
  4. Childhood's End
  5. Judas Be My Guide
  6. Fear of the Dark
I absolutely love these Fear of the Dark tracks. Honestly, the rest of the album feels like filler to me—songs that drag it down rather than elevate it.
As for The X Factor, here are the standouts I really enjoy:
  1. Sign of the Cross
  2. Lord of the Flies
  3. Man on the Edge
  4. Fortunes of War
  5. The Aftermath
  6. Judgement of Heaven
  7. Blood on the World's Hands
  8. The Edge of Darkness
This is a really tough choice. Fear of the Dark has more recognizable "hits," but it's weighed down by filler. On the other hand, The X Factor is more consistent overall, though hampered by weaker production.

I truly love The X Factor, but in the end, I’m going with Fear of the Dark—mainly because of Bruce on vocals and the hidden gem Childhood’s End.
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It's curious how similar our takes are when it comes to each album's standouts. Even more curious is how a couple of discordances in taste make each of our votes vote tilt in the opposite direction.

A ) Fear Of The Dark: To be fair, the tracks I like from FOTD are five of the six songs you mentioned. The only exception is FHTE (apart from its intro and the solos, I really dislike it). On the other hand, Childhood's End is such a simple tune yet so enjoyable (and MO underrated). Where our opinions diverge though is, while to you the remaining tracks are filler, to me the only tracks that I consider to be filler are The Fugitive and Chains Of Misery (listenable but boring). The rest of the songs IMO are way below filler quality (FHTE included) ... I simply can't stand a couple of them.

B ) The X Factor: Once again, the majority of the X Factor songs you mentioned are my favorite ones from the album (only one missing is Look For The Truth). The only difference once again is not only I don't consider the remaining tracks filler... I think they're really good songs (far from prime cut material but still good), thus making The X Factor an album without fillers in my book. But more importantly I put Sign Of The Cross and Man On The Edge on a higher echelon that any of FOTD's tunes (especially SOTC... monster tune!). Yeah... blaze is not Bruce but still IMO the music here overall is much better.

Still, when it comes to standouts from each record it's almost a 100% match.
 
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Magnus said:
Where's the traditional and obligatory "Adrian Smith" option?
Oh wait
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My pachyderm friend... I'm curious to know:

If you were forced at gun point to pick one of these albums, which would be your decision?

... And I don't want an answer like "Screw it.. pull the trigger!" :D
 
If I was to order all songs from these four albums in a Tier list regarding my preferences, it would be something along these lines:

Tier S (masterpieces)
  • Sign Of The Cross
  • Man On The Edge
Tier A (excellent)
  • Tailgunner
  • Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter
  • Be Quick Or Be Dead
  • Afraid To Shoot Strangers
  • Fortunes Of War
  • Lord Of The Flies
  • Look For The Truth
  • The Edge Of Darkness
  • Futureal
  • The Clansman
Tier B (great)
  • Holy Smoke
  • Fates Warning
  • Run Silent Run Deep
  • Fear Of the Dark
  • Judgement Of Heaven
  • Blood On The World's Hands
  • The Aftermath
  • The Educated Fool
Tier C (good)
  • No Prayer For The Dying
  • Public Enema Number One
  • Mother Russia
  • Childhood's End
  • Judas Be My Guide
  • 2 AM
  • The Unbeliever
  • Lightning Strikes Twice
  • Como Estais Amigos
Tier D (listenable fillers)
  • The Assassin
  • The Fugitive
  • Chains Of Misery
Tier E (meh!)
  • Hooks In You
  • The Apparition
  • Weekend Warrior
  • When Two Worlds Collide
  • Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger
Tier F (Why?)
  • Wasting Love
  • From Here To Eternity
  • The Angel And The Gambler

Tier Z (Burn it! Burn it with fire!)
  • Fear is the key
 
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karljant said:
If I was to order all songs from these four albums in a Tier list regarding my preferences, it would be something along these lines:

Tier S (masterpieces)
  • Sign Of The Cross
  • Man On The Edge
Tier A (excellent)
  • Tailgunner
  • Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter
  • Be Quick Or Be Dead
  • Afraid To Shoot Strangers
  • Fortunes Of War
  • Lord Of The Flies
  • Look For The Truth
  • The Edge Of Darkness
  • Futureal
  • The Clansman
Tier B (great)
  • Holy Smoke
  • Fates Warning
  • Run Silent Run Deep
  • Fear Of the Dark
  • Judgement Of Heaven
  • Blood On The World's Hands
  • The Aftermath
  • The Educated Fool
Tier C (good)
  • No Prayer For The Dying
  • Public Enema Number One
  • Mother Russia
  • Childhood's End
  • Judas Be My Guide
  • 2 AM
  • The Unbeliever
  • Lightning Strikes Twice
  • Como Estais Amigos
Tier D (listenable fillers)
  • The Assassin
  • The Fugitive
  • Chains Of Misery
Tier E (meh!)
  • Hooks In You
  • The Apparition
  • Weekend Warrior
  • When Two Worlds Collide
  • Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger
Tier F (Why?)
  • Wasting Love
  • From Here To Eternity
  • The Angel And The Gambler

Tier Z (Burn it! Burn it with fire!)
  • Fear is the key
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Man on the edge two tiers above Fear of the dark? That's controversial as hell.
 
My ultimate definitive 90s Maiden album:

Side A

Be Quick Or Be Dead
Fates Warning
Judgement Of Heaven
Fear Of The Dark
The Clansman

Side B

Man On The Edge
The Aftermath
Chains Of Misery
Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger
Judas Be My Guide
Sign Of The Cross
 
Fear of the Dark is an enjoyable album for sure, and just so nostalgic.

But X Factor is an interesting album, in all its imperfections, what it says about Steve's inner world. His sense of musical inventiveness. And how he wanted to develop Maiden's sound. So I picked X Factor with FOTD a close second place.
 
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