GMD Poll: Iron Maiden Albums Ranked

[Krow]

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


That's what I've got

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Yeah I don't get the Led Zep comparison either. By coincidence one of my RYM friends just compared the second half of Revelations to AC/DC... like wot?

People that don't love Piece of Mind are just broken inside, I think.

 

[Dak]

I can't tell if this is an insult because you dislike the movie

I like the movie.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

48 hour warning for any revisions or submissions.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

A:
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
2. Iron Maiden
3. Number of the Beast

A-:
4. Piece of Mind

B+:
5. Powerslave
6. Somewhere in Time
7. Brave New World

B:
8. A Matter of Life and Death
9. Book of Souls

B-:
10. No Prayer for the Dying

C+:
11. Fear of the Dark
12. The Final Frontier
13. Dance of Death

C:
14. Killers

D:
15. X Factor
16. Virtual IX

 

[Talos of Atmora]

You mean to tell me that you actually believe that Killers is worse than Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death and The Final Frontier? As much as I really disagree with the idea of Number of the Beast and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son being among their best, that's probably even more ridiculous.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

You mean to tell me that you actually believe that Killers is worse than Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death and The Final Frontier? As much as I really disagree with the idea of Number of the Beast and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son being among their best, that's probably even more ridiculous.

It's not surprising at all. Killers is mostly B-Sides that didn't make the debut and it sounds like it. While "Ides of March" and "Genghis Kahn" are epic as fuck and the title track is quite strong, the rest is pretty mediocre. There at least four tracks that I dislike enough that I'm either skipping them or waiting for them to be over.

A Matter of Life and Death is strong, though like all modern Maiden albums, overlong. There's not a weak track on it and the first two tracks are phenomenal. Dance of Death and The Final Frontier are a less consistent, but there aren't any tracks that I straight up dislike. If I have to make the choice to sit down and listen to one of those two from start to finish or Killers, I'm definitely picking the former.

 

[The Ozzman]

A Matter of Life and Death is strong, though like all modern Maiden albums, overlong. There's not a weak track on it and the first two tracks are phenomenal.

Agreed

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

Listening to Brave New World now and fuck it, I bumped it up a spot.

 

[rusty water]

I had the first few albums when they came out ( no pun intended ) and the album called ` the number of the beast ` was good at the time, I liked the Em chord progression at the beginning of the song called `children of the damned `. If I remember, and I may be wrong, the next album was called ` piece of mind` and I enjoyed that album also. I went to see them on that tour and it was entertaining enough. However it all went a bit pear shaped after that, and I didn't buy any more. I think they only included Janik Gers, or hows it spelled?, because they wanted to be linked with Gillan and then to Ritchie Blackmore, but who can blame them for that? Ritchie Blackmore is one of the best entertainers and guitarists ever. Ozzy warned Sharon about taking Maiden with them on the Ozzfest tour, and Dickinsons subsequent behaviour and also comments on television lead to them being egged off stage, many people turned up with eggs that night. Anyway, they were good so long ago.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#16 Virtual XI (1998)

Average points per vote: 2/16

Blaze Bayley era Maiden > Paul DiAnno era Iron Maiden

Worst opinion ever.

Anyone that doesn't place Virtual XI at the very bottom of their discography is deaf, no exception.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#15 The X Factor (1995)

Average points per vote: 4/16

The XFactor sounds like a cheap Maiden cover band with Meatloaf on vocals. The playing and production are shit along with alot of the lyrics.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#14 The Final Frontier (2010)

Average points per vote: 4.5/16

So I picked up my copy on the way home, first two songs bored me stupid.

And THEN... I got to Mother Of Mercy. HOLY SHIT. CLASSIC Adrian Smith riffs, and a fucking wicked Harris gallop with Nicko accentuating it all. VERY impressive!

Have moved onto Coming Home, a softer song, but with a GREAT opening riff. The Murray solo is just beautiful. Has a feel which takes you back to the first two albums!

So far, this is a record which warms up. MUCH better production work by Shirley & Harris on this one, it's clearer and fuller and Nicko has finally fixed his fucking awful snare sound of the last two records.

Is it mindblowing (so far)? No. But it IS a big step up.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#13 The Book of Souls (2015)

Average points per vote: 5.6/16

So people are saying The Book of Souls is Maiden's best album since 7th Son. And people I'll say, that I expected to have nothing positive to say about it at all.

I bet it's pretty average, like their last 8 releases.

We aren't talking about Manilla Road tho

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#12 Dance of Death (2003)

Average points per vote: 5.9/16

As I listened to Dance of Death the other day, I started to wonder what will happen to Maiden in the future... IMO DoD is a great album, especially for a band that has been around almost 30 years... so, what's next?

If you see the last four albums, there's a tendency to write better long epic songs and the rockers are not quite as solid as they used to be, in fact, they haven't written a great rocker since Fear of the Dark with be Quick or be Dead or From Here to Eternity, with the exception of Montsegur... so, I think Maiden should think about releasing a concept album, something kinda like Fates Warning's A Pleasant Shade of Grey, or something like that, based on a historical event...

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#11 No Prayer for the Dying (1990)

Average points per vote: 6.2/16

I don't consider either No Prayer for the Dying or Fear of the Dark bad, just a little weak for a band like Iron Maiden. No Prayer is actually pretty good, but obviously it's not as serious or epic-sounding as the early albums. I think "Tailgunner", "Holy Smoke", "No Prayer" and "Bring Your Daughter" are all great songs.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#10 Fear of the Dark (1992)

Average points per vote: 6.59/16

Fear of the Dark is unbelievably pedestrian, to the point that I routinely forget it exists. Good song, great for concerts, but that's it.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#9 A Matter of Life and Death (2006)

Average points per vote: 7.4/16

A Matter Of Life And Death would have been one of their best if they'd been able to restrain the impulse to play every riff 16 times before changing. Even as is, it blows their 90's stuff out of the water.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#8 A Brave New World (2000)

Average points per vote: 9.2/16

A BRAVE NEW WORLD
A BRAVE NEW WORLD
IN A BRAVE NEW WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORLD
A BRAVE NEW WOOOOOOOOOOOORLD

Now we get to the heavy hitters. The next 4 albums are all within half a point of each other.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

#7 Killers (1981)

Average points per vote: 10.4/16

Killers? More like Fillers, amirite?!

Killers is their best album. Only a namby-pamby ShIT fanboy could say otherwise