SIT: individual album judgement by yours truly

Somewhere in Time was never my favorite Maiden album. When I first dove inside Maiden's Ocean, I loved it of course but it was overshadowed by Powerslave, Beast & Piece of Mind. Gradually by the end of 90s it was at an all time low, as the beginning of decline for Maiden. Eventually I re-evaluated it and now it's a top tier album for me. Regarding the production, I used to think how the sound of the album fits with the title and theme.
Below my verdict taking into consideration the full Maiden catalogue:

Caught Somewhere in Time - 8
Wasted Years - 9
Sea of Madness - 5
Heaven Can Wait - 3
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - 6
Stranger in a Strange Land - 8
Deja Vu - 3
Alexander the Great - 9

Average: 6.38

This is a middle tier album and at no9 in Maiden's catalogue for me, based on individual song polls rankings. Since songs have been ranked against the entire catalogue, anything ≥ 4 is good.

I explain the methodology for my ratings here.
 
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Somewhere in Time (1986)

Caught Somewhere in Time - 8/10 >
Wasted Years - 10/10 >
Sea of Madness - 9/10 >
Heaven Can Wait - 9/10 >
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - 8/10 >
Stranger in a Strange Land - 9/10 >
Deja-Vu - 8/10 >
Alexander the Great - 10/10 >

Somewhere in Time takes a lot of the energy of Powerslave and funnels it into exciting new frontiers for the band. It’s a very consistent album and features a beautiful production and some of the band’s best guitarwork. That said, the songs here are overall a slight step down from the previous album, and Bruce doesn’t give quite as strong of a performance on it. But among ‘80s Maiden, it’s still one of the band’s tightest works.

Total: 89%
Weighted: 89%
 
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