Controversial opinions on metal

[Panzer Meyer]

Cold Lake is a lot better than its reputation. Even the lyrics aren't as gay as you'd think they would be (which, in fairness, would be very, very gay).

Cold Lake is every bit as shitty as its reputation suggests: it just doesn't seem to be nearly the letdown of lore when you play it back to back with Into the Pandemonium, which is only slightly less terrible.

 

[CF87]

Cherry Orchards!

 

[HamburgerBoy]

That first song sounds like USPM which should be a good thing if the songwriting wasn't shit. I mean, wtf is up with that main riff? Why did they feel a need to tack on that bit to make it not 4/4? There's no flow there and it suffers the same retardation that many bands wrote early in their career but outgrew. Show No Mercy suffered from similar but at least they were writing extremity-pushing thrash. That song is both regressive and ridiculous, and Warrior's vocals don't belong in what sounds like a slowed down Iron Maiden song. Shitty I don't give a shit about the change of style with regards to any band, but it was at best a respectable attempt at the impossible, at worst incredibly uninspired. If any demo band from 1988 tried the same... well, they'd have the same fanbase of about three people who like shit probably for the sake of it.

Juices Like Wine is decent though. But just decent. "Fucking rocks" is still massively overstating its value. Considering that you hate Iron Maiden for Bruce Dickinson's vocals, I'll assume that you don't listen to traditional metal and therefore Celtic Frost's craptastic excursion into it excites you like a guy might cum when listening to Atheist's Samba Briza or something similar.

 

[waif]

Into The Pandemonium is a strange but wonderful album. Obviously it's very different from the more straightforward they explored on Morbid Tales/Emperor's Return/To Mega Therion or the stuff they did later on Monotheist and the Triptikon album, but it's cool stuff. Fisher's clean vocals are obviously rather questionable, but I felt that they worked within the context of the songs.

 

[Onder]

Cold Lake > its reputation. (Meaning it's not terrible, just pretty bad. I don't think I will ever have a need to listen to that again anyway so it doesn't really matter.)
Into The Pandaloonium < its reputation. I mean, the change of quality wasn't GREAT GREAT SHITTY, as many imply. The band started sucking with ITP and then just confirmed it.

 

[Umodian]

I enjoy ITP, Vanity/Nemesis and their compilation "Parched with Thirst"... And I think Cold Lake isn't that bad. (Still bad)
But also much rather they went that route than keep pumping out more MT/ER/TMT material. I don't feel like I need MORE in that vein.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Powerslave is the weakest of the "big 5" Iron Maiden albums. The final two tracks are amazing, but tracks 3-6 are probably the weakest songs of the entire era. I'm always shocked when people say this is their best album.

 

[skeptik]

It's better than Piece of Mind at least. "Powerslave" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" are the two best Iron Maiden songs with Bruce.

 

[Krow]

Goatwhore > Behemoth
Goatwhore > Belphegor

Maybe controversial, maybe not.

 

[Bitencourt29]

Powerslave is the weakest of the "big 5" Iron Maiden albums. The final two tracks are amazing, but tracks 3-6 are probably the weakest songs of the entire era. I'm always shocked when people say this is their best album.

It's one of their best albums indeed, imo. Love the whole album, artwork, guitar work, vocals, the whole deal.

Goatwhore > Behemoth
Goatwhore > Belphegor

Maybe controversial, maybe not.

I agree. Couple last Goatwhore albums and the new one are damn great.

 

[Thralldom]

I feel like the first two albums are by far the best because Paul had a really cool sound. Songs like "Strange World" and "Phantom of the Opera" are so much cooler than anything with Dickinson. I do like the first five albums with him to varying degrees anyway, but he isn't as cool.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Into the Pandemonium is just really inconsistent. Lots of bad ideas, but Babylon Fell and Rex Irae experiment in the right direction and are some of their best songs.

I will never understand how people shit on the middle tracks of Powerslave as if they are that much worse. I mean, how is 2 Minutes to Midnight a worse song than Flash of the Blade? The latter is pretty much as close as they ever got to actual power metal; the vocal layering in the chorus really works and the guitar harmony section is incredible.

And wot is with this "big 5" thing? I hope you mean the first five.

 

[waif]

My favorite Maiden album is Brave New World, easily.
The first album is great, but I felt Killers was comparatively weak. Haven't spent all that much time with it. The Golden Years material - Number of the Beast through Somewhere In Time - is all great stuff, but as albums they're slightly overrated. They're all laden with filler that, while not terrible, definitely harms the album as a whole. My personal favorite from that period is Somewhere In Time, but they're all essential albums full of absolutely classic songs.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I think the classic Iron Maiden albums get accused of being filler ridden a bit too often. Prior to Somewhere in Time the filler was still at least decent. As if every other major metal band doesn't have widely praised albums with blatantly weaker songs. And Brave New World is chock full of filler. Not in the sense of throw away tracks (which would be preferable), but in that there are tons of inane choruses and overlong introduction sections and crap. It would be a great album if at least 10 minutes shorter, however. Their quality control went to shit with Virtual XI and they never recovered.

 

[Panzer Meyer]

Maiden is a singles band. Always has been, always will be. They write great songs, but their albums are of indifferent quality on the whole. Filler just comes with the territory.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't think there is one Iron Maiden album where the singles are the best songs. Or, in most cases, even among the better half.

 

[Panzer Meyer]

I don't think there is one Iron Maiden album where the singles are the best songs. Or, in most cases, even among the better half.

That's a matter of what labels choose to release. My point is simply that Maiden is a band that put a lot of effort into crafting a handful of really great songs, but not much effort into creating unitary and coherent albums. Hence the filler.

 

[Thralldom]

How could someone pick Brave New World as their favorite Iron Maiden album? It would only make sense if they never heard any of the 1980s albums.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I will never understand how people shit on the middle tracks of Powerslave as if they are that much worse. I mean, how is 2 Minutes to Midnight a worse song than Flash of the Blade? The latter is pretty much as close as they ever got to actual power metal; the vocal layering in the chorus really works and the guitar harmony section is incredible.

And wot is with this "big 5" thing? I hope you mean the first five.

Honestly, I don't think Aces High or Two Minutes to Midnight are great songs either. Good? Yes. But far from the pinnacle of Iron Maiden's recordings.

I think Powerslave is a transition album, from the more straight forward NotB/PoM to the more progressive Sit/SSoSS. At times the transition is awkward. At times it is amazing.

"The big five" is Number of the Beast- Seventh Son..., obviously. The first two albums have their charm, but are a bit too scattered and have unimpressive vocals.

 

[The Ozzman]

How could someone pick Brave New World as their favorite Iron Maiden album? It would only make sense if they never heard any of the 1980s albums.

It's in my Top 4 favorites

It's better than Piece of Mind at least. "Powerslave" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" are the two best Iron Maiden songs with Bruce.

Piece of Mind has the best Maiden track ever IMO