Why A Matter Of Life and Death is Iron Maidens best album

And just because many people are completely objective, they tend to see AMOLAD as one of Maiden's best works ever.
 
I'm sure that many people here are the Iron Maiden fans that they say they are, but it's still worth reminding the high level of standards that the band set in the 1980s. When a band with such a remarkable discography releases a rather lackluster album, I'd think it'd be foolish to act as if it's one of their "best" releases to date.

Of course, everyone has an opinion, and don't assume that I'm trying to change anyone. Just stating that more people should try to be more objective in their album reviews and such.
Why? Nothing is objective here. You're pretty much saying that your opinion is the correct one and we should consider it when reviewing the album. Fuck that. AMOLAD is awesome and not even close to lackluster.
 
An objective music review would consist of nothing more than a tracklist. Any statement about the music is opinion.

Objective would seem to suggest there is some set of universal standards to be applied. If you know some that actually work meaningfully with music, do tell.

Always remember: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture".
 
Why? Nothing is objective here. You're pretty much saying that your opinion is the correct one and we should consider it when reviewing the album. Fuck that. AMOLAD is awesome and not even close to lackluster.
Calm down. You can say whatever you'd like about any Iron Maiden album, but I was just trying to offer my two cents on this. Your last sentence demonstrates the problem that I was trying to discuss.

I even admit that the older Iron Maiden albums have their flaws, but they sounded more inspired and less gimmicky to me. Apart from a few songs, A Matter of Life and Death sounds like yet another rehashed album that the band put out since their reunion with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith.
An objective music review would consist of nothing more than a tracklist. Any statement about the music is opinion.

Objective would seem to suggest there is some set of universal standards to be applied. If you know some that actually work meaningfully with music, do tell.

Always remember: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture".
All opinions are obviously subjective, but I'm talking more about approaching an album on the basis of the band's direction, and how well they achieved that. I don't think Iron Maiden's last three albums are that great, but they surely are better than anything released between No Prayer for the Dying and Virtual XI.
 
A Matter of Life and Death sounds like yet another rehashed album that the band put out since their reunion with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith.

By that logic, Piece Of Mind, Killers and Seventh Son are all rehashes.
 
By that logic, Piece Of Mind, Killers and Seventh Son are all rehashes.
Except those albums are more than just "rehashes". The band was still very inspired when they wrote them, and you didn't have these really long songs with only one or two riffs. I'll admit that Piece of Mind isn't my favorite of their first seven albums, but even that one has given me more enjoyment than most Iron Maiden albums released after Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
 
Calm down. You can say whatever you'd like about any Iron Maiden album, but I was just trying to offer my two cents on this. Your last sentence demonstrates the problem that I was trying to discuss.

I even admit that the older Iron Maiden albums have their flaws, but they sounded more inspired and less gimmicky to me. Apart from a few songs, A Matter of Life and Death sounds like yet another rehashed album that the band put out since their reunion with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith.
There's no problem though. You're assuming that nobody here considers the rest of the discography when ranking AMOLAD and that's just not true.
 
There's no problem though. You're assuming that nobody here considers the rest of the discography when ranking AMOLAD and that's just not true.
Originally, I was actually talking more about the thread creator, because the way the thread was titled came off as if it were some irrefutable "fact".

Anyway, my point is that a useful review contains both subjectivity and objectivity. An objective statement is saying that an album has a lot of blast beats, a riff that sounds a lot like it was inspired by another song or genre, or vocals that don't exactly hit the high octaves that much. A subjective statement is saying that the aforementioned are good or bad.
 
I even admit that the older Iron Maiden albums have their flaws, but they sounded more inspired and less gimmicky to me.

See, I'm all for a good opinion argument, but if a dark album about a lot of powerful war themes is gimmicky, I think we also have to consider the early albums about stalking people, hookers, and the devil gimmicky. Not to mention fighting monsters on stage.

Apart from a few songs, A Matter of Life and Death sounds like yet another rehashed album that the band put out since their reunion with Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith.

Of all the reunion albums, hell, of all the 90's or reunion albums, AMOLAD is no doubt the least rehashed. It sounds like the band trying something different while retaining their sound. Everything from the song length to the structure to the audio mix feels different. I'm not saying it all works or it's all perfect, or even that AMOLAD is my favorite reunion album, but it's certainly the most unique thing Maiden has done in a long time. Hence why a lot of fans had problems with the tour, because many people weren't fully on board with the direction of the album.

Except those albums are more than just "rehashes". The band was still very inspired when they wrote them, and you didn't have these really long songs with only one or two riffs.

No matter what opinion you may have, you cannot in any way tell us which songs the band was more inspired to write. That's just something you could never possibly know. For all you know, the most popular 80's-era song was written as a joke with zero inspiration and the least popular AMOLAD song burned with inspiration from conception to completion. Considering the high esteem in which you hold the nature of subjectivity, I'm shocked you claim to know the secrets of the band's inspiration as though they are objective facts.
 
Of all the reunion albums, hell, of all the 90's or reunion albums, AMOLAD is no doubt the least rehashed. It sounds like the band trying something different while retaining their sound. Everything from the song length to the structure to the audio mix feels different. I'm not saying it all works or it's all perfect, or even that AMOLAD is my favorite reunion album, but it's certainly the most unique thing Maiden has done in a long time. Hence why a lot of fans had problems with the tour, because many people weren't fully on board with the direction of the album.
This is an honest post that doesn't simply resort to blind fanboyism. Most of Iron Maiden's albums are at least good, but I don't act like everything they did has been gold. I think it's a decent album -- not great -- and that I think it gets more praise than it should. Another factor is that it's almost eighty minutes long, so I feel like it dragged on too long for its own good. That's all.
No matter what opinion you may have, you cannot in any way tell us which songs the band was more inspired to write. That's just something you could never possibly know. For all you know, the most popular 80's-era song was written as a joke with zero inspiration and the least popular AMOLAD song burned with inspiration from conception to completion. Considering the high esteem in which you hold the nature of subjectivity, I'm shocked you claim to know the secrets of the band's inspiration as though they are objective facts.
I don't claim to know everything about the band, and never have. I judge music as I hear it, and I find that most of the recent Iron Maiden albums have had several bland or uninspired songs. I'm specifically talking more about overlong songs with just two riffs repeating themselves. I don't have to be an expert to call out a dud. In no way does this mean I'm trying to change anyone's views, but merely publicizing my own.
 
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In no way does this mean I'm trying to change anyone's views, but merely publicizing my own.

Suggesting people "need to be more objective" because you don't agree with their sentiments towards a given album doesn't really support this statement.
 
Suggesting people "need to be more objective" because you don't agree with their sentiments towards a given album doesn't really support this statement.
Wrong. I recommended that people should TRY to be more objective in their reviews. I'm not saying we're perfect, but it's generally a good idea to approach ANY album with a mindset that's as neutral as possible. If you want to make those on the opposing side listen to you, you'll want to avoid as many biased claims as possible.
 
Just got back from holiday and haven't read that previous ten pages, so shoot me if someone's made this point already, BUT...

To me, with all it's epics, quiet in/outros, etc, AMOLAD sounds most like the album that the six guys, at their stages in life, all wanted to make at that time. It is utterly cohesive. It sounds like everyone is pushing in exactly the same direction, and that they're all saying "fuck it, we're making the album WE want to make". Every one of the six is at their most creative. There is no compromise on that album. In a way, it is their most selfish album. And that is why, IMO, it is so fucking incredible.
 
To be fair, every opener since Futureal has been that pretty much.

Except Sat15, but then they copped out and attached TFF to it.
 
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