You could call me somewhat of a Maiden newb I suppose. I only got into them about a year and a half ago (and since then grown out of a lot of their stuff), but I just find most of their older stuff a lot more boring, and Bruce's voice on much of their older material is somewhat annoying (for example Powerslave). I still like it, I just don't think it's so good. Stuff like BNW is great though. A lot of really good songs, both musically and vocally. BNW, Out of the Silent Planet, Ghost of the Navigator, they're all great songs... And AMOLAD is awesome too, almost every single song in that album is good. The melodies I'd say are mostly what makes their newer stuff better.