recommended newer albums for an old Maiden fan??

[vomit]

This may sound stupid to alot of you, but i sort of had a "fall out" with Maiden around No Prayer for the Dying........I basically left em behind and moved on........Now i was (like so many) a self professed Maiden Maniac, but that album left me sorely disapointed, so i bailed on the band that I loved...then of course Adrian bailed and then Bruce bailed.......I love the new line up and was fortunate to see the North American tour opener in Charlotte, it was the greatest show i have ever seen period and i had seen Maiden twice before in the 80's..........i would like some input on where to start with the newer stuff with the new and refreshing line up........I love the Wicker Man, but the rest of that album has not really grown on me to great yet.........suggestions please!!

Start with BNW.....go on to AMOLAD & DoD. FF is optional in my opinion. AMOLAD & BNW are just as good as there 80s stuff (to me). All are good, some better than others.

 

[CriedWhenBrucieLeft]

rocket_man, like you I had quite a bit of catch-up to do a few years back. AMoLaD was just out, but I hadn't heard anything from DoD or BNW; I wasn't very familiar with VXI, & I had hazy memories of XF. Everything pre-1995 I knew like the back of my hand. So, I just bought it all & gave them all a thorough listening to, as albums i.e. not jumping around too much, or shuffling tracks.

Personally, I think (despite it maybe not, for some, having the magic of earlier material) AMoLaD is, musically, an amazing album. It's very consistent. DoD, not so much; but decent --lovely/interesting sound to it. BNW I'm not so sure about. You'll probably appreciate tracks on it more if you listen to RiR, where quite a few are there live. They're very good live.

Reflecting on them (post-1999 albums), I just think Maiden have had to adjust slightly to using three guitarists --& trying to find the mix where you actually hear them all, distinctly, on the studio albums. DoD certainly, for me, fails in this repect. The sound is just so big & warm; I just don't hear a lot of subtle intricate three-guitar work. But, you'll be impressed. They've all got some really fantastic stuff on them. Still feel AMoLaD & TFF stand out, although BNW seems popular.