GMD Poll: Iron Maiden Albums Ranked

[HamburgerBoy]

A life that's made to breathe destruction or defense
A mind that's vain corruption - bad or good intent
A wolf in a sheep's clothing or saintly or sinner
Or some that would believe a holy war winner

PURE BRILLIANCE

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

A life that's made to breathe destruction or defense
A mind that's vain corruption - bad or good intent
A wolf in a sheep's clothing or saintly or sinner
Or some that would believe a holy war winner

PURE BRILLIANCE

Eh, I'd never really critique the lyricism, particularly given some of the bands I like, but honestly the issue is the preposterous mundanity and repetitiousness of the choruses and overall compositions. Especially on that album and Dance of Death.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

If the lyrics weren't so limp-wristed with riffs to match, maybe it'd be OK.

 

[zerostatic]

1) Piece of Mind
2) Powerslave
3) Number of the Beast
4) Iron Maiden
5) Killers
6) Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
7) No Prayer for the Dying
8) The Book of Souls
9) Somewhere in Time
10) Brave New World
11) Fear of the Dark
12) A Matter of Life and Death
13) The Final Frontier
14) The X Factor
15) Dance of Death
16) Virtual XI

 

[The Ozzman]

Relistened to Piece of Mind. WAY better on the second half than I remember. The first five tracks contain some of Maiden's best work and it contains my favorite track (The Trooper)

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

Revelations still should have won the song survivor game.

 

[EspaDa]

Where Eagles Dare is the supreme metal song. Piece of Mind is an untouchable album, arguably Maiden's best.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

The Trooper is the best song on that album, with Where Eagles Dare not too far behind.

 

[CiG]

Final trio of songs for me.

 

[Elric of Melniboné]

1 - Killers
2 - Powerslave
3 - Piece of Mind
4 - Iron Maiden
5 - The Number of the Beast
6 - Somewhere in Time
7 - Brave New World
8 - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
9 - Fear of the Dark
10 - No Prayer for the Dying
11 - Virtual XI
12 - Dance of Death
13 - A Matter of Life and Death
14 - The Final Frontier
15 - The Book of Souls
16 - The X Factor

 

[Atomic Tide]

1) Piece of Mind
2) The Number of the Beast
3) Powerslave
4) Killers
5) Somewhere In Time
6) Iron Maiden
7) Brave New World
8) Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
9) A Matter of Life and Death
10) Dance of Death
11) Fear of the Dark
12) No Prayer for the Dying
13) The Book of Souls
14) The Final Frontier
15) The X Factor
16) Virtual XI

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

1 - Killers
2 - Powerslave
3 - Piece of Mind
4 - Iron Maiden
5 - The Number of the Beast
6 - Somewhere in Time
7 - Brave New World
8 - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
9 - Fear of the Dark
10 - No Prayer for the Dying
11 - Virtual XI
12 - Dance of Death
13 - A Matter of Life and Death
14 - The Final Frontier
15 - The Book of Souls
16 - The X Factor

Well look who decided to emerge from their smoky hillside cavern den.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Well look who decided to emerge from their smoky hillside cavern den.

He needed more material for his memoir, "Sailor on the Seas of Shite".

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Don't bother including me in this list, but I just went through their discography up to Seventh Son and Seventh Son is definitely their most unique and interesting release following really fucking closely by Powerslave, Piece of Time, Killers, and Somewhere in Time in whatever order you feel like putting them in. Number is of the Beast is cool but too overplayed for me to give a shit from much from it aside from "Children of the Damned"

Book of Souls has some decent songs on it but it doesn't need to be 2 fucking albums. I checked out the few Matter songs that I heard were good and they were fine, same with the Brave New World stuff. Just stick with the Live After Death album and you are set really...then put on Seventh Son.

/facts

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

He needed more material for his memoir, "Sailor on the Seas of Shite".

Well, Elric does lose a lot of battles...

 

[BootsOfLead]

This is an incredibly difficult challenge. Iron Maiden are my favourite band, and honestly I love each and every album in its own way. However, I think my ranking is as follows:


Brave New World
Somewhere in Time
The Number of the Beast
Dance of Death
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Piece of Mind
Iron Maiden
A Matter of Life and Death
Powerslave
The X Factor
Killers
Fear of the Dark
The Book Of Souls
The Final Frontier
Virtual XI
No Prayer for the Dying

But honestly the top 9 are pretty much equal. And even below that I still adore The X Factor (a hugely underrated album) and Killers. The most recent two albums I don't have the familiarity with that I have with the other albums - and they feel a little gentrified to me. Really Maiden's only noticeably weak album is NPFTD. Fear of the Dark would score lower, but its title track is one of the finest pieces of heavy metal ever written.

 

[Slammed]

I agree, not an easy choice. For me there are those that are good and those that are really good, with the exception of Virtual XI which for me only had one good song.

Somewhere in Time
Powerslave
Fear Of The Dark
Piece Of Mind
Book Of Souls
A Matter Of Life And Death
The Number Of The Beast
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
No Prayer For The Dying
Brave New World
The Final Frontier
Dance of Death
The X Factor
Virtual XI
Iron Maiden
Killers

BOS might rank a bit higher now than it will in a few months because it's been on constant rotation in the car for the past few months so it's been listened too. And the only reason IM and Killers rank so low is because I made the mistake of reading the Paul Dianno bio and it putme off him completely.

 

[H.P. Lovecraft]

How the fuck does reading a bio put you off two whole classic records? I can understand not liking the guy, but doing the records themselves such an ignominous service as ranking them that low? Under Dance of Derp and Virtual XI? Get real.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

How the fuck does reading a bio put you off two whole classic records? I can understand not liking the guy, but doing the records themselves such an ignominous service as ranking them that low? Under Dance of Derp and Virtual XI? Get real.

Oh, man. Someone better not show him all the times that Bruce Dickinson was an asshole. He'll let go of the band completely.

 

[Slammed]

How the fuck does reading a bio put you off two whole classic records? I can understand not liking the guy, but doing the records themselves such an ignominous service as ranking them that low? Under Dance of Derp and Virtual XI? Get real.

I'm not sure how anyone can suggest I am doing these albums a disservice by simply ranking them in MY preferred order. I don't like a lot of black metal does that mean I am doing them some kind of disservice by not listening to them? Is anyone else doing a disservice to a band or genres simply because they don't like a band or album?

Oh, man. Someone better not show him all the times that Bruce Dickinson was an asshole. He'll let go of the band completely.

Bruce may have acted like an arsehole a million times over but he never acted like a Paul Dianno. I don't like PD for many of the things he has done and his voice puts me off those albums.