1. Rainmaker - Although DOD is very spotty and has some serious fluff, it also houses both the pinnacle of Maiden's long song form (the title track) and the short one as well. This is what Maiden should be represented by on the radio - the bubbly, tasty intro riff giving a sense of urgence, the great flow... the chorus has a very repetitive (and kinda simplistic) melody, but it kinda works nonetheless (especially combined with that cool majestic "cracks" after-chorus)... Love it, love it, love it.
2. Judas Be My Guide - surprise, huh? Yeah, the most unjustly forgotten short track Maiden ever did. Davey's guitar is absolutely awesome here, the chorus is to die for, the lyrics are poetic and thought-through, yet not overdone (which can sometimes be a problem with metal bands in general) and it's just this torrent of energy, though atmospheric at its core that gives the FOTD album a somewhat needed jolt near the end among all those experiments. Shame it was never played live.
3. Purgatory - blazing guitarwork, absurdly catchy chorus, the almost chaotic sounding, yet systematic riff... Possibly the best song on the sophomore outing.
4. Be Quick Or Be Dead - almost thrash-like in nature, it's brutal and aggressive (though probably not the heaviest, at least subjectively I feel that BTATS takes that cake in that regard) and a perfect opener. One of the experiments gone absolutely right, it utilises Bruce's harsh vocals in a great way, it's very energetic and aggressive, yet it doesn't lose Maiden's knack for melody and memorability. Along with JBMG, The Fugitive, ATSS and the title track it's one of the tracks that push the FOTD album rather high on my personal list (probably not Top 5, but close).
5. Futureal - I definitely liked Blaze more in his "brooding" pose on TXF and I think that VXI is at times awkward attempt to mold him into your standard Maiden paradigm and Futureal should be the epitome of that... yet it somehow isn't. Hectic, feeling almost absurdly short and Blaze's voice here has this weird, hypnotic quality which he lacked on... Man on the Edge, for example. The chorus and the guitars are very well written.
6. Wrathchild - I actually do think it's one of the better songs from the Maiden early days, it's very catchy, has a tasty base, pleasantly aggressive chorus... so although it became a meme (and yeah, it doesn't deserve to be ever-present in the live setlist), I'm gonna give it its due.
7. Twilight Zone - by some mistake it didn't end up on the original Killers album (although it was better than half of the stuff there) and has been for the longest time one of my favourite unjustly overlooked tracks. Very melodic, almost haunting in places, very atypical of early (or, in fact, any Maiden), always loved this one.
8. The Fallen Angel - unlike The Mercenary (which the band seems to have an inexplicable preference for) which was played live all throughout the tour, this one was only played a handful of times and I can't understand why. As for the short songs on BNW (or, heck, the reunion albums in general bar certain exceptions), it is the most melodic, the most lively and consciously Maiden-like, prancing about with gusto, remaining in your head for the rest of the day. A hidden gem of the Cloud album.
9. Flight of Icarus - I was in the minority in that I never particularly liked the track (dunno, always felt kinda "constipated"), but I admit that I warmed up to it over time. Still not one of my favourites, but a very solid track nonetheless.
10. Run to the Hills - more a "honorable mention" of sorts, or what the song could have been, were it not so ridiculously overplayed. The intro->verse->chorus sequence is cool and the song is definitely going somewhere, but the chorus itself is kinda too straightforward and over time I've developed this allergy of sorts to it. Still thousand times better than Number of the Beast, though.
