Poll: The strongest 90s Maiden album

What's the strongest 90s album?

  • Total voters
    60
2 of these albums are in my personal Maiden top five: X-Factor and FOTD!
Of those two, FOTD slightly wins, because the production is better and Bruce IS the better vocalist (although I like Blaze a lot).

So FOTD is their best 90s album.

VXI is their weakest 90s output, but not their weakest overall. It is in their lower middle tier. By the time it was released, it was their worst, but they did worse albums after that. At least in terms of songwriting.
If we only consider production and performance, then yes, XVI is probably their worst.

NPFTD is suffering from the lack of real great bangers. Holy Smoked and the title track are hits, Mother Russia also, but the rest just never crosses that special line of real greatness. Many songs are alright, but that final push between good and great just does not happen.
In total, it has 3 songs that manage to cross that line. XVI only has two songs that do this, plus the performance is worse.
 
I've got a huge soft spot for the blaze albums and they have their best 90s song on them by far I think, apart from FOTD and ATSS.

However they are so flawed I am not sure if I can say they are the best.

The FOTD album is so full of filler but it's nice enough to listen to.

I might actually say NPFTD is their best 90s album. All the songs still blend into one for me but I really enjoy them going by. They are all quite short and enjoyable enough, and don't have huge flaws in production and songwriting like Virtual XI does with TAATG and DLTTEOAS.
 
The X Factor their by far best 90s album, serious? :wtf:
I mean, tastes differ of course, but... I personally can't see any Maiden album without Bruce being better than even the poorest one with Bruce (whatever album that might be in your choice). The Blaze albums don't even come close to any of the Bruce albums IMHO. And even the best songwriting in the world plus a maximum sympathy bonus for Blaze won't change anything here. For me at least.
 
Dick Brucinson said:
The X Factor their by far best 90s album, serious? :wtf:
I mean, tastes differ of course, but... I personally can't see any Maiden album without Bruce being better than even the poorest one with Bruce (whatever album that might be in your choice). The Blaze albums don't even come close to any of the Bruce albums IMHO. And even the best songwriting in the world plus a maximum sympathy bonus for Blaze won't change anything here. For me at least.
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It's not sympathy. It's that TXF has probably the best collection of songs of any of these albums, sadly hindered by the production
 
Dick Brucinson said:
The X Factor their by far best 90s album, serious? :wtf:
I mean, tastes differ of course, but... I personally can't see any Maiden album without Bruce being better than even the poorest one with Bruce (whatever album that might be in your choice). The Blaze albums don't even come close to any of the Bruce albums IMHO. And even the best songwriting in the world plus a maximum sympathy bonus for Blaze won't change anything here. For me at least.
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Well, my favourite albums are Killers, Somewhere in Time, The X Factor, A Matter of Life and Death all at number one.
 
OutwardFeller said:
Well, my favourite albums are Killers, Somewhere in Time, The X Factor, A Matter of Life and Death all at number one.
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With TXF I can only imagine what could have been with not terrible production. It's a shame as I really like the songs for the most part (although there's too many songs with slow brooding intros).
 
  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.
 
X Factor. Would be Fear Of The Dark, if they trimmed the fat a bit. Drop 4 weakest tracks (Fear Is The Key, Chains Of Misery, Weekend Warrior and The Apparition) and you have a solid album.
 
Fear of the Dark is the best for me. Its got a special place in my heart because it was the first Maiden album I listened to. It’s in my Top 5 of Maiden albums, it’s very experimental and has some really good songs, which are very underrated, for example Chidhood’s End and Judas Be My Guide, followed by other great tracks which are the highlights of the record: Fear, Be Quick, Afraid, Wasting and From Here to Eternity, followed by very unusual songs: Fear is the Key, The Fugitive and Chains of Misery, and finally, the most 2 un-Maiden songs of the record: The Apparition and Weekend Warrior, the album would be better if you drop those two.

Other thing, this album is the best era of Dave’s solos for me, some of them very melodic (for example chains of misery) and others that keep his classic legato style (for example FOTD). He also came up with a great song: Judas Be My Guide. His work on that album was amazing. Janick was at its best during NPFTD for me but his contributions from FOTD are still very great even though I think Dave was better on FOTD.

Production wise, it was better than NPFTD, a more complex production, and since Martin stopped producing for Maiden after FOTD, the production of the 2 Blaze albums wasn’t that good enough, and also, those two albums are not that good for me, they are the 2 lowest ones on my ranking list. Other aspect that makes it the strongest from the 90s.

Overall, this album was very experimental, the production was good, the songs are very nice, and it’s got a very unique feel for me, that’s why I love it and it’s for me the best 90s album.
 
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The X Factor, for sure. Sign of the Cross is a masterpiece, Man on the Edge is one of their best short-rockers, Lord of the Flies and The Edge of Darkness are great ones and, in general, all the songs have something special, such as beautiful melodies and good lyrics. It's an album that I easily hear in its entirety, without skipping any track, something that I can't say about the three other albums of this pool.
 
Siddharth said:
Judas Be My Guide is actually a very unique number compared to the rest of the songs and hints toward a Somewhere In Time Time/Seventh Son feel. nd the songwriting department shines.
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Siddharth said:
The Apparition somewhere falls flat in this regard but still got a decent rhythm and great lyrics, to be honest.
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I feel the same about these two tracks. Judas… feels like such a classic sounding maiden song. Apparition is a song led by the lyrics, unusual for maiden, its instrumental backing is not the highlight. The words have a very good meaning and spirit (:)
 
I can't believe that X-Factor is leading here with 15 votes more than FOTD. I think FOTD is generally regarded as the better Maiden album and The X Factor is regarded as the bottom of the Maiden discography along with Virtual XI and No Prayer. It's really surprising for me that many people on this board dig this album.
 
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