Recently I did an Iron Maiden marathon while working and some significant changes regarding my personal rank. Just to recall my ranking several months ago:
17 - Fear Of The Dark
16 - Virtual XI
15 - Brave New World
14 - No Prayer For The Dying
13 - The Book Of Souls
12 - Senjutsu
11 - The Final Frontier
10 - Dance Of Death
9 - Iron Maiden
8 - The Number Of The Beast
7 - The X Factor
6 - A Matter Of Life And Death
5 - Killers
4 - Piece Of Mind
3 - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
2 - Powerslave
1 - Somewhere In Time.
Now, there were no changes when it came to the bottom 2 and top 5 albums. I still think that 1/3 of Fear Of The Dark is utter crap and 3 out of the 8 remaining tracks are filler material. When it comes to Virtual XI three songs are a complete drag in my book and when a record is just 8 tracks long that's a problem. On top of this only three songs come to me as great tunes (Futureal, The Clansman and The Educated Fool). I still consider my top 5 to be without any doubt my favorites and am still convinced regarding the order I rank such albums. Funny enough The Final Frontier and Dance Of Death also maintain their positions. Both feature a handful of absurdly great songs. Another similarity is both are almost rid of fillers and stinkers (the only exception being Age Of Innocence). To sum things up, and although not considering them top tier Maiden, I think both records are immensely easy to listen to from start to finish.
So, what changed? Well... When I was listening to the last two albums, I came across a trait I always disliked immensely. And to my surprise (or maybe not) my irritation when the vocal lines are mimicked note by note by a one string guitar lead increased drastically. I mean, when it's a calm, acoustic part it's bearable. A good example is the song Brave New World. When this effect is used in the clean first verses it sounds decent. But somehow when it's placed with (and upon) distorted guitars it just sounds limp. I really love Maiden but hate it when they go down this road! So many great songs that could be ANTHEMS are IMO held back on my ranking courtesy of this tendency latter Maiden albums seem to incorporate increasingly! The Red And The Black and Stratego come immediately to mind. Believe me when I say that, even featuring the trait in question, I still love both songs because I truly consider them to be excellent tunes. But I simply can't ignore those pesky leads and that's what makes them fall from the "almost perfect" tier to "merely" excellent. Another recurring trait that somewhat bothers me in most recent releases (yet not nearly as much as the previous one) is melody/ riff recycling. That being said both Senjutsu and especially The Book Of Souls aged bad IMO.
It's true Senjutsu features even more of the aforementioned aspects I dislike. Yet the structure upon which the majority of its songs are built is really, really good. Apart from Darkest Hour (I consider to be boring) and the lackluster keyboard sound, every song has something that truly excites me. Some more, some less... but there's always something that rings with me. On the other hand, The Book Of Souls features several tracks that did little to nothing for me during this rerun (namely Speed Of Light, Shadows Of The Valley and The Man Of Sorrows). And, despite recognizing Empire Of The Clouds' unquestionable quality and immense body of work, rock operas in general aren't just not my cup of tea. With that in mind Senjutsu held on to number 12 while the book of Souls took a tumble to number 15. It was surpassed even by Brave New World. While going back to that record I felt I dislike even more the songs I once disliked (like Dream Of Mirrors), am a bit more tolerant with fillers like The Nomad (I refuse to credit the best part - the middle one - to any other band than Becket) or The Mercenary, while I kind of forgot how cool some tracks here sound (The Fallen Angel was a pleasant re-listening, even though the chorus could be much better). Overall, I had a slightly more enthusiastic feel while diving once again into Maiden's first post reunion album.
As for the other changes, there's nothing wrong with the albums that fell one position as far as I'm concerned. I still enjoy listening to them like I did when I used to give them more spins. A Matter Of Life And Death is a monster of an album, period! Zero fillers, excellent tunes, a dark feel to it and really diverse, contrasting melody with heaviness in a gracious and powerful fashion. However (and speaking of darkness) when I gave The X Factor a close listen (I must admit it's been a while since I did so) I remembered immediately why I love this album so much. Its ambiance, dire flavor yet pompous and heavy riffs and melodies submerged me completely. And man... Besides a couple of sections on The Unbeliever everything sounds great. So, there was a swap of positions here. When it comes to The Number Of The Beast the hiatus spent didn't pay many dividends. I still think it is a hell of an album but still felt saturated while listening to some songs (especially The Prisoner... love the intro but after that it's a good song with a chorus that aged badly IMO). While I still enjoy it, 22 Acacia Avenue didn't endure the most graceful of aging's. I still dislike Gangland and all other tunes sound the same: excellent yet overplayed in my head. I even managed to play Hallowed Be Thy Name's full 7 minutes and it's plain to see why this is arguably one of Maiden's more liked tunes. But I don't know... I got the same feeling: the intro is amazing; the first melody is also excellent and when the "When the priest comes to read me the last rites" I just don't know why but I seem to lose interest, only to regain it when the tempo speeds up and then this thing is indeed superb until its last note. On the other hand, I had a ball listening to the debut album. Yup, I'm also 100% saturated with Running Free and the title track (and even Remember Tomorrow sounded a bit sluggish this time) but everything else is pure adrenaline. Then there's the hazy landscapes of Strange World and the masterpiece Phantom Of The Opera (love every bit but when the song goes silent after the first solo and Steve's bass kicks in I still get shivers down my spine).
That being said this is how my rank is now organized:
17 - Fear Of The Dark
16 - Virtual XI
15 - The Book Of Souls
14 - Brave New World
13 - No Prayer For The Dying
12 - Senjutsu
11 - The Final Frontier
10 - Dance Of Death
9 - The Number Of The Beast
8 - Iron Maiden
7 - A Matter Of Life And Death
6 - The X Factor
5 - Killers
4 - Piece Of Mind
3 - Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
2 - Powerslave
1 - Somewhere In Time.
PS: Bear in mind that this is from a pure personal taste stand point (obviously). So, it's worth what it's worth. Nonetheless it's my rank and as far as I'm concerned, it's utterly valid... at least for myself.
who are recapturing their glory 
