Ranking 80s Maiden albums having Bruce on vocals

Siddharth

Siddharth

Long Distance Trooper
As the title says... My ranking would be:

5. Piece Of Mind - A great album but the band appears a bit confused on what to make of their previous album's huge success. The Trooper is the definite highlight and among my personal favourites as well. Where Eagles Dare has great musicianship (specially the mid breakdown part), Bruce's vocals on Flight Of The Icarus is awesome and the chorus on Sun And Steel is just soaring. To Tame A Land has an engaging intro and is overall epic.

4. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son - Great concept, great musicianship. The synth parts add a great dynamic in the songs and its really cohesive overall.

3. The Number Of The Beast - To be honest, a weird collection of songs but the best songs on the record happen to be among the band's very best and my favourites as well! Hallowed Be Thy Name, The Number Of The Beast, The Prisoner just top notch! Bruce has a fine balance between grit and

2. Powerslave - Rock solid record. Each song is high energy, not to mention all the members are at the top of their game. My favourites - Aces High, Flash Of The Blade, Powerslave 2 Minutes To Midnight.

1. Somewhere In Time - My favourite album by my favourite band! I've said it before, I will say it again, the guitar tone in the album feels like a warm blanket in a chilly winter. Full fledged epic songs, The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, Alexander The Great to the anthemic Wasted Years!
 
1.SIT (no fillers)
2.SSOASS (same, but with one weaker song)
3.Powerslave (some of the material and music are timeless)
4.POM (very solid, but some are not my favorites)
5.TNOTB (only because of two songs... even only one)

The last 3 could swap places.
 
1. Piece of Mind
2. 7th Son
3. Powerslave
4. Beast
5. SiT

All of these are crackin albums. SiT has always been my least favourite of these 5. It's quite a distinctive album, the songs, the guitar tone and it doesn't always gel with me. That said, there are some all time glorious moments on here, like the instrumental section towards the end of the opener, the solo and overall vibe of Stranger, Alexander. Tip top.

It feels harsh havin Beast near the bottom. It probably suffers from Hills and Beast being overplayed and more on the 'happy' side of things and Hallowed being quite a bit weaker than it's live counterpart, in my opinion (the slow bit is too fast and the fast bit is too slow on the album). I honestly love Invaders, despite the manky chorus. Prime NWOBHM. And Gangland is also class, to these ears. Ferocious.

I could easily swap POM and 7th Son as my favourite Maiden album overall, depends on my mood.
 
I don't know anymore

It used to be Beast, then Powerslave. Then both. These days I am most likely to listen to Seventh Son. Also Somewhere in Time started to grow on me in the time leading up to Future Past. It's not the favourite, and the weakest of the lot. In any case this five album stretch is the best by any band ever.

1. The Number of the Beast
2. Powerslave
3. Seventh Son
4. Piece of Mind
5. Somewhere in Time
 
1. Powerslave - just sheer energy and drive. Engines roaring, the Maiden machine galloping and cruising. Flawless production, with guitars and drums dominating the whole sound. The riffing is upfront and straight to the point.

2. Piece of Mind - I really like this kind of production too. The album sequencing feels a bit odd and uneven, but still - this is Iron Maiden already fully formed and firing on all cylinders.

3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - although many fans consider this a masterpiece, for me this is where things start to drift into a kind of twilight. Hard to explain. I can already hear hints of No Prayer for the Dying in places… Still, “Moonchild,” “Infinite Dreams,” “The Evil That Men Do,” “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” and “Only the Good Die Young” are all great.

4. Somewhere in Time - this album and Seventh Son mark, for me, a big shift in their songwriting approach. The production is stellar and suits the music, but overall I really miss the riff-driven, guitar-forward style. I’m no music expert, so I can’t fully articulate it, but compared to Powerslave, the guitars feel less upfront - or at least played differently. That strong sense of dominant riffing just isn’t there in the same way.

5. The Number of the Beast - packed with absolute classics, but I do feel the production sounds a bit dated and slightly underdeveloped.
 
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