What are you more excited about - New Maiden or Bruce? (Poll)

[Kalata]

With Bruce, that's where you're going to get the short, snappier songs that the '80s die-hards have been wishing Maiden would do again. Roy trims the fat off the arrangements (that was one criticism he had of BNW when it came out),

True. About BNW, I think maybe only 1 song could have been shorter, nothing more.

I'm also hoping for one last live album from Bruce, which I think there's a fair chance we'll get one. I'm sure he knows this is quite possibly his last solo tour (unless he does more when Maiden hangs it up), and he's got a good track record of documenting most of his tours with a live product of some sort (minus AoB tour and ToS, which had no tour). Hope it'll be a double album unlike Scream for Me Brazil, so we get whichever covers are in the set.

I would be surprised if he will release a live album, but there is a chance, why not.

 

[CA Bryers]

People tend to look at 1980-1988 for the creative peak in Maiden, but the material written by Steve, Janick, Dave, Blaze, Bruce and Adrian between 1994-1998 is just breathtaking. In the time span of 3 years we got The X Factor, Accident of Birth and The Chemical Wedding. I can't believe Iron Maiden/Bruce & Adrian sometimes played tiny clubs promoting that material. All cornerstones in heavy metal, absolute artistic excellence.

I'm incredibly thankful Bruce decided to leave Maiden when he did. Because of that, we got all those great albums, and I'd count the lesser-loved albums created during that span of time as things I'm thankful for (Skunkworks, BtP, and yes...even Virtual XI). It was a great time to be a fan of both bands, IMO, which is a shame the History of documentaries ended. They were just about to get into the most interesting phase of the band's career. I absolutely love that era.

And I got to see both bands in small Minneapolis clubs. Maiden's was in a club too small for even the walk-on Eddie, and Bruce, Adrian, and the others were on a stage three feet off the floor and they didn't have a ton of room to move. Both brilliant shows, though.

 

[Jer]

And I got to see both bands in small Minneapolis clubs. Maiden's was in a club too small for even the walk-on Eddie

I skipped the X Factour, but I saw Yngwie Malmsteen at the same venue (The Mirage) the year prior, and yeah, it was fairly small.

Bruce, Adrian, and the others were on a stage three feet off the floor and they didn't have a ton of room to move. Both brilliant shows, though.

The Cabooze! Terrible bar, great show. Every spot in the house had a great view.

 

[GhostofCain]

Bruce album and tour. At least with Bruce, we're pretty much guaranteed a good-sounding record. With Maiden, you're getting whatever sound Steve feels like, and Shirley goes ahead and does it. With Bruce, that's where you're going to get the short, snappier songs that the '80s die-hards have been wishing Maiden would do again. Roy trims the fat off the arrangements (that was one criticism he had of BNW when it came out), whereas Steve wants every note written on the record.

Sounds like I'm anti-Steve and all, but not the case. I love what Maiden have been doing, but I also know we're getting albums that sound good to a guy with admitted hearing damage. Even so, a new Maiden album would be a day one purchase as always, and one I'd be very excited about.

I'm also hoping for one last live album from Bruce, which I think there's a fair chance we'll get one. I'm sure he knows this is quite possibly his last solo tour (unless he does more when Maiden hangs it up), and he's got a good track record of documenting most of his tours with a live product of some sort (minus AoB tour and ToS, which had no tour). Hope it'll be a double album unlike Scream for Me Brazil, so we get whichever covers are in the set.

Hang on a minute! What is wrong with three minute intros??

 

[Iron Lurker]

Hang on a minute! What is wrong with three minute intros??

Not a got dam thing

 

[CA Bryers]

Not a got dam thing

Found the account Steve is secretly using! "Iron Lurker" indeed!

 

[Iron Lurker]

Found the account Steve is secretly using! "Iron Lurker" indeed!

Hey, the boss gotta keep tab on you mofos...

 

[MindlessPieces]

I'm incredibly thankful Bruce decided to leave Maiden when he did. Because of that, we got all those great albums, and I'd count the lesser-loved albums created during that span of time as things I'm thankful for (Skunkworks, BtP, and yes...even Virtual XI). It was a great time to be a fan of both bands, IMO, which is a shame the History of documentaries ended. They were just about to get into the most interesting phase of the band's career. I absolutely love that era.

And I got to see both bands in small Minneapolis clubs. Maiden's was in a club too small for even the walk-on Eddie, and Bruce, Adrian, and the others were on a stage three feet off the floor and they didn't have a ton of room to move. Both brilliant shows, though.

If they did a world tour on NPFTD, FotD, X Factor, Virtual X only very few die hard fans would turn up.
It would ruin the band financially. While I love NPFTD I stuggle with the other three albums. I doubt I'd bother with that concert. And I do consider myself a die hard fan.

 

[Kalata]

I'm incredibly thankful Bruce decided to leave Maiden when he did. Because of that, we got all those great albums, and I'd count the lesser-loved albums created during that span of time as things I'm thankful for (Skunkworks, BtP, and yes...even Virtual XI). It was a great time to be a fan of both bands, IMO, which is a shame the History of documentaries ended. They were just about to get into the most interesting phase of the band's career. I absolutely love that era.

I didn't want Bruce to leave, but I agree with you. Everything worked out for the best. Great and interesting albums. Shame about the documentary indeed.

If they did a world tour on NPFTD, FotD, X Factor, Virtual X only very few die hard fans would turn up.
It would ruin the band financially. While I love NPFTD I stuggle with the other three albums. I doubt I'd bother with that concert. And I do consider myself a die hard fan.

They probably never did a 90's Hits tour because the albums from that era are considered their weakest/not one of their best and because Adrian have to play some solos of Janick. What they can do (/could have done) is to add 1-3 different songs from the 90's on every tour, but the classics and the Reunion stuff are the band's priority and always will be. The 2014 short tour should have been with songs from 90's, plus the classics ofc.

 

[CA Bryers]

If they did a world tour on NPFTD, FotD, X Factor, Virtual X only very few die hard fans would turn up.
It would ruin the band financially. While I love NPFTD I stuggle with the other three albums. I doubt I'd bother with that concert. And I do consider myself a die hard fan.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those weirdos who WANTS a '90s era tour. While I do love the era, I agree it would be a hard sell to get people to show up. I just want the documentary on the era, but leave those tours where they are. I am a weirdo when it comes to Fear of the Dark over the last few years, though. Every now and then I get the urge to slap that one on, and I love most of it. I accept Weekend Warrior, and that's probably about as good as it'll get for that one.

 

[The Red and the Black]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those weirdos who WANTS a '90s era tour. While I do love the era, I agree it would be a hard sell to get people to show up. I just want the documentary on the era, but leave those tours where they are. I am a weirdo when it comes to Fear of the Dark over the last few years, though. Every now and then I get the urge to slap that one on, and I love most of it. I accept Weekend Warrior, and that's probably about as good as it'll get for that one.

I’m even weirder. I love Fear of the Dark from beginning to end. It’s a top 3 Maiden album for me. Even have a FotD tattoo. I like how the album blended hard rock and metal to create a unique new Maiden sound.

 

[CA Bryers]

I’m even weirder. I love Fear of the Dark from beginning to end. It’s a top 3 Maiden album for me. Even have a FotD tattoo. I like how the album blended hard rock and metal to create a unique new Maiden sound.

It's an interesting album to really dig into. I know Bruce at the time cited it as "just another Maiden album," but they do a lot of new things here. The weird "lies and lies and lies" bit in "Fear is the Key" is very un-Maiden, "The Apparition" is pure storytelling in the vocals and the lyrics, while the music is pretty sparse compared to what they typically do. There's a lot of gang vocals throughout that was big at the time, so it's Maiden following the crowd here and there, and "The Fugitive" has a faaaar more powerful stomping rhythm that Maiden later tried to imitate while kicking into the heavier midsection of "Lost in a Lost World." And that's not even talking about the songs that get all the attention, i.e. the songs that got played live. "Be Quick or Be Dead" is faster and heavier and more manic than just about anything they'd ever done. "Wasting Love" is a powerhouse ballad, the first ballad-ish song since "Prodigal Son" in '81, and nobody needs to be told how great "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" and "Fear of the Dark" are.

And to keep it vaguely on-topic with Bruce, it's so weird he left with that attitude about this album. You'd think he'd sound bored here, or uninspired. Instead, his vocals are a big step up from NPFtD's. He does some interesting runs, mixes the gravelly with the clean, and sounds into it.

Oh, and though it's been said before, how "Judas Be My Guide" never got played live is downright criminal. To my ears, "Wasting Love" never quite sounded good live, so after a few shows, swapping it out for Judas should've been an easy call to make, but that's just me.

 

[The Red and the Black]

It's an interesting album to really dig into. I know Bruce at the time cited it as "just another Maiden album," but they do a lot of new things here. The weird "lies and lies and lies" bit in "Fear is the Key" is very un-Maiden, "The Apparition" is pure storytelling in the vocals and the lyrics, while the music is pretty sparse compared to what they typically do. There's a lot of gang vocals throughout that was big at the time, so it's Maiden following the crowd here and there, and "The Fugitive" has a faaaar more powerful stomping rhythm that Maiden later tried to imitate while kicking into the heavier midsection of "Lost in a Lost World." And that's not even talking about the songs that get all the attention, i.e. the songs that got played live. "Be Quick or Be Dead" is faster and heavier and more manic than just about anything they'd ever done. "Wasting Love" is a powerhouse ballad, the first ballad-ish song since "Prodigal Son" in '81, and nobody needs to be told how great "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" and "Fear of the Dark" are.

And to keep it vaguely on-topic with Bruce, it's so weird he left with that attitude about this album. You'd think he'd sound bored here, or uninspired. Instead, his vocals are a big step up from NPFtD's. He does some interesting runs, mixes the gravelly with the clean, and sounds into it.

Oh, and though it's been said before, how "Judas Be My Guide" never got played live is downright criminal. To my ears, "Wasting Love" never quite sounded good live, so after a few shows, swapping it out for Judas should've been an easy call to make, but that's just me.

Judas Be My Guide and Childhood's End for me are 2 hidden Maiden classics that never got played live. Great, unique sounding songs in the Maiden catalogue.

Good to hear from someone who appreciates the uniqueness of Fear of the Dark! That album gets slagged off by fans too much, in my opinion. I even like how they sound live on the A Real Live Dead One album. That version of the band had a rawness and viciousness about its sound. At this point in 1993 I was on board with 90s Maiden after being kind of ambivalent toward No Prayer for the Dying.

I fell away from Maiden, though, with the Blaze albums. (Just don't like his voice with Maiden, sorry.) By the end of the 90s the Bruce/Roy Z/Adrian band was smoking Maiden.

 

[Iron Lurker]

Oh, and though it's been said before, how "Judas Be My Guide" never got played live is downright criminal. To my ears, "Wasting Love" never quite sounded good live, so after a few shows, swapping it out for Judas should've been an easy call to make, but that's just me.

I agree. Wished they played Judas. I still say no matter how much they deny it FOTD was an attempt to appeal to American audiences more. I feel Wasting Love supports my theory. Plus there's several what I would call "radio friendly" songs on it.

 

[Iron Lurker]

I fell away from Maiden, though, with the Blaze albums. (Just don't like his voice with Maiden, sorry.) By the end of the 90s the Bruce/Roy Z/Adrian band was smoking Maiden.

Give me AoB and TCW over XF and XVI any day of the week...(not a Blaze fan either - good guy, though)

 

[CA Bryers]

I agree. Wished they played Judas. I still say no matter how much they deny it FOTD was an attempt to appeal to American audiences more. I feel Wasting Love supports my theory. Plus there's several what I would call "radio friendly" songs on it.

Yeah, I think they felt their hold on the US slipping, which is probably why they went super-conservative in booking the US on the X Factour. Steve even said at the time he wasn't sure there was an audience for them in the States anymore.

Give me AoB and TCW over XF and XVI any day of the week...(not a Blaze fan either - good guy, though)

I do love TXF and VXI, but I'm not stupid (well, that's not true...not completely stupid, let's say). Accident of Birth and The Chemical Wedding left Maiden's two albums choking on their dust.

 

[MindlessPieces]

And to keep it vaguely on-topic with Bruce, it's so weird he left with that attitude about this album. You'd think he'd sound bored here, or uninspired. Instead, his vocals are a big step up from NPFtD's. He does some interesting runs, mixes the gravelly with the clean, and sounds into it.

I think Bruce's voice sounds sublime in NPFTD. People keep complaining about his raspy tones in that album, but mostly he doesn't do rasp, it's only a few times, mostly he is soaring operatic in that album. I like his raspy tones too, so it doesn't bug me at all.

But when I heard FOTD for the first time, I was really shocked about how thin and strained his voice sounded in that album. It was really off putting for me at the time. I wondered if it was a consequence of him touring on NPFTD and singing some raspy stuff night after night.

But now I just think it was a consequence of him growing older and his voice just naturally changing somewhat. He sounded pretty terrific in BNW and DOD.
The problems I have with FOTD is that there are too many bad songs on that album. Fear is the Key, the apparation, the fugative, chains of misery, they are all pretty boring to me, drag on for far too long and go nowhere. FOTD was my fav song from that album when it first came out, I kept trying to get my friends to hear it because I thought it was Soooooo good. I also liked Afraid to shoot strangers. Wasting love was fine. not as good as the Diano ballads, and nowhere near as good as most Judas Priest ballads, but fine none the less.

 

[CA Bryers]

I think Bruce's voice sounds sublime in NPFTD. People keep complaining about his raspy tones in that album, but mostly he doesn't do rasp, it's only a few times, mostly he is soaring operatic in that album. I like his raspy tones too, so it doesn't bug me at all.

But when I heard FOTD for the first time, I was really shocked about how thin and strained his voice sounded in that album. It was really off putting for me at the time. I wondered if it was a consequence of him touring on NPFTD and singing some raspy stuff night after night.

But now I just think it was a consequence of him growing older and his voice just naturally changing somewhat. He sounded pretty terrific in BNW and DOD.
The problems I have with FOTD is that there are too many bad songs on that album. Fear is the Key, the apparation, the fugative, chains of misery, they are all pretty boring to me, drag on for far too long and go nowhere. FOTD was my fav song from that album when it first came out, I kept trying to get my friends to hear it because I thought it was Soooooo good. I also liked Afraid to shoot strangers. Wasting love was fine. not as good as the Diano ballads, and nowhere near as good as most Judas Priest ballads, but fine none the less.

I agree that there's definitely a batch of songs on FotD that didn't connect all the way, some of them are even among I praised in an earlier post. As for Bruce's voice on this versus NPFtD, I just find it a little more adventurous. I certainly didn't mind the rasp on No Prayer, and found his voice to be good, just nothing extraordinary...sort of like the album itself, which I like quite a bit.

I have an odd theory about No Prayer and its tour. Probably far off base, but here it is: On the Seventh Son tour, there were instances when GN'R opened for them, and notably, I think it was Slash in particular who didn't want to play on Maiden's iceberg stage because he thought it was stupid and ridiculous. So, maybe a little embarrassed about how perhaps Spinal Tap-ish the Seventh Son tour got, we got the "stripped down" tour of No Prayer, and Bruce is suddenly using a lot more rasp in his voice like Axl (though those two notoriously butted heads a few times), and the song topics on No Prayer are a LOT more grounded in reality than from the previous album. Like, 1000% more.

Ludicrous theory, I know, and I don't entirely believe it myself. But, it's fun to think about.

 

[MindlessPieces]

I have an odd theory about No Prayer and its tour. Probably far off base, but here it is: On the Seventh Son tour, there were instances when GN'R opened for them, and notably, I think it was Slash in particular who didn't want to play on Maiden's iceberg stage because he thought it was stupid and ridiculous. So, maybe a little embarrassed about how perhaps Spinal Tap-ish the Seventh Son tour got, we got the "stripped down" tour of No Prayer, and Bruce is suddenly using a lot more rasp in his voice like Axl (though those two notoriously butted heads a few times), and the song topics on No Prayer are a LOT more grounded in reality than from the previous album. Like, 1000% more.

Ludicrous theory, I know, and I don't entirely believe it myself. But, it's fun to think about.

One would hope that Iron Maiden weren't trying to be more like GNR, or worried what GNR thinks about them.

Financially though, IM have always struggled to get appreciation from the lucrative USA market like what they get pretty much elsewhere. USA is really quite a different beast and there is a strong patriotism thing going on there. USA bands will always rank very highly. e.g. GNR, Metallica, Ozzy, Five Finger Death Punch etc.

I often watch reaction videos and I can see many USA folk struggling to get into IM.
Some of it is also to do with Bruce's vocal style. Lost in Vegas for example (who put on a well polished show) have really been struggling with Iron Maiden. They tend to like music with strong grooves rather than strong melodies, but also one of the presenters, I can't remember his name, was saying he didn't like Bruce's clean and operatic vocal style. It's not just him, I've heard this before. It seems many people just like a bit of gruff, they like Lemmy, Hetfield, Dianno, hell, even Max Cavelera and Tom Araya, but can't stand Bruce.

It doesn't make sense to me. To not like someone because they can sing well, and have a great range and a smooth voice but instead prefer limited singers because they sound "cooler". Anyway, Bruce tried gruff, did pretty well at it, and the bulk of IM fans hate that album because of it.

 

[Blood On The World´s Hand]

Maiden is always number 1 priority and solo efforts are just a bonus.