That Metal Thread

GemstoneEddie88 said:
Wow, it is always nice to hear what other Iron Maiden fans consider to be their best works. You can ask 100 Iron Maiden fans what their top 5 Maiden albums are, and you could get 100 different answers.

On Dance of Death, there is some interesting stuff there, I feel (like with every IM album post 7th Son) that not enough fat was trimmed; and there’s a strange sort of radio rock or AOR kind of feel to some of the songs (to my ears). At times, it feels more like a hard rock album than a metal album; which is strange for Iron Maiden because they have always been a metal band. Obviously, the title track and Paschendale are reunion Iron Maiden in peak form. Sometimes I can stomach No More Lies, Journeyman or Rainmaker, but I often find myself wishing I was listening to A Matter of Life and Death instead (if I wanted my reunion Maiden fix).

Fear of the Dark is way too long but has some of my all time favorites (Be Quick or Be Dead, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, Judas Be My Guide, title track). I do have to say, if you want make a song about the AIDS epidemic, DONT MAKE IT SOUND GAY. Fear is the Key might be the worst thing they’ve ever written.
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I mean, that's why we are here, to talk about shit. Though I would say, it's more interesting to hear why someone thinks an album is top or bottom. But if we are talking about the average Maiden fan, I would be surprised if the answers were that different. Top 5 will most likely always be Golden Age, from Beast to Son, maybe Brave New World swapped in. Worst, probably always both Blaze records.

You put it quite nicely with the not enough fat was trimmed, and I don't think anyone would claim that post reunion is just pure heavy metal. Dance of Death is weird, but I like a good chunk of the songs. Rainmaker is a bit cheesy, but I enjoy it especially compared to the typical modern intro Maiden songs. Montsegur is good, title track is great, same as Paschendale. No More Lies and Journeyman are quite the same but still ok. Gates of Tomorrow has a great chorus. The rest is a bit meh. Matter of Life and Death is amazing, certainly or at least for me Top 5.

My issues with Fear of the Dark is basically if you take out Be Quick or Be Dead, Afraid to Shoot Stranger and the title track the albums stops existing in my opinion. There is nothing good or interesting left. Which I don't think is the case for most of the other Maiden LPs. Once you take out the obvious singles and fan favorites, there are often still a good amount of great songs left.

Onni Kalsarikännit said:
Never listened to Dance of Death bc of the wreck of a cover artwork so that's the worst Maiden album in my books by default.
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.......yeah the cover is pretty atrocious. Though you should listen to it regardless. Albums covers in general really took a dip in quality.
 
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I Know 孤独のせい said:
Albums covers in general really took a dip in quality.
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I like Somewhere In Time's cover, it reminds me of this:

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Unfortunately, the poster is way better than the movie.
 
My Top 5 Iron Maiden albums:
  1. Somewhere in Time
  2. Powerslave
  3. Piece of Mind
  4. Iron Maiden
  5. A Matter of Life and Death
I think this is a pretty standard ranking. A Matter of Life and Death was my number 2 for a long time. Now I prefer the shorter songs and punchy, intentional sound of their golden era. The debut, Piece of Mind, Powerslave and 7th Son have all also spent time as my number 1.

Unrelated, I’m seeing Blind Guardian for the first time tonight. Pretty stoked!
 
GemstoneEddie88 said:
My Top 5 Iron Maiden albums:
  1. Somewhere in Time
  2. Powerslave
  3. Piece of Mind
  4. Iron Maiden
  5. A Matter of Life and Death

Unrelated, I’m seeing Blind Guardian for the first time tonight. Pretty stoked!
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I would be interested to hear why those are your top 5 especially Piece of Mind and the debut.

Last month I listened up and down through Blind Guardian's discography, good shit. Have fun tonight at the show.
 
Thanks. Should be a good time.

Piece of Mind might be the “sharpest edged” Iron Maiden album of the 80’s. When I listen to other metal bands of the time, namely more traditional styled bands like Malice, Savage, Judas Priest, or Holocaust, their songs have a much more typical metal structure. And those bands are very riff focused.

Iron Maiden has never really been a riff based band. They happen to have good riffs, but the songs aren’t built around riffs. Piece of Mind sounds like, to me, more of a riff based album. It’s very heavy for its time and stands toe to toe even with some of the more aggressively fast or heavy albums of that year. Nicko McBrain coming into the fold really elevated the band. Just from listening to the album I can hear the countless hours, days and weeks that just him and Steve Harris spent in studio perfecting those rhythms. I’ve always thought of Nicko being a little more creative with his fills than Burr was (RIP). Really when I think of Nicko I almost think of an octopus.

Top to bottom Piece of Mind has one of their greatest track lists. The only two I really can’t stand are Sun and Steel and Quest For Fire, I do genuinely love the rest though.

My thoughts on the debut are a little simpler. It’s just delightful to think of the band in such an early state putting out songs like Phantom of the Opera and Transylvania. They had been honing that material for years up until then (well, around 5 at least). I love the rawer sound. DiAnno almost sounds like a punk singer at times. Some of that ELP/Wishbone Ash weirdness is present, along with a strong Thin Lizzy influence. I’d be hard pressed to find a better debut from a British band. Satan comes close.

What about you? What is your top 5?
 
GemstoneEddie88 said:
My Top 5 Iron Maiden albums:
  1. Somewhere in Time
  2. Powerslave
  3. Piece of Mind
  4. Iron Maiden
  5. A Matter of Life and Death
I think this is a pretty standard ranking. A Matter of Life and Death was my number 2 for a long time. Now I prefer the shorter songs and punchy, intentional sound of their golden era. The debut, Piece of Mind, Powerslave and 7th Son have all also spent time as my number 1.

Unrelated, I’m seeing Blind Guardian for the first time tonight. Pretty stoked!
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Top 5 for me:
1.Powerslave (first album I bought with my own money)
2. Somewhere in Time (the galloping riffs in that album are delicious)
3. SSoaSS (I like the good v. evil overarching theme of that album)
4. Killers (more polished than debut, but still has an edge to it)
5. Iron Maiden (great energy in that album)

Blind Guardian seems like a great show! Hope they play And Then There Was Silence or some of their Speed Guardian stuff
 
GemstoneEddie88 said:
Top to bottom Piece of Mind has one of their greatest track lists. The only two I really can’t stand are Sun and Steel and Quest For Fire, I do genuinely love the rest though.

My thoughts on the debut are a little simpler. It’s just delightful to think of the band in such an early state putting out songs like Phantom of the Opera and Transylvania.
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Interesting, not sure why, but Piece of Mind always strikes me as the runt of the litter when it comes to the golden age of Maiden. Most times the conversation circles around Beast and Powerslave. Quite the uneven album for me. Where Eagles Dare and Still Life are cool songs, and I think Die With Your Boots On is even better than the Trooper.

The debut is also a pretty good album, makes me sad that Maiden stopped doing the instrumental only songs after Powerslave. Transylvania is so good.

Squanto Airi said:
Top 5 for me:
1.Powerslave (first album I bought with my own money)
2. Somewhere in Time (the galloping riffs in that album are delicious)
3. SSoaSS (I like the good v. evil overarching theme of that album)
4. Killers (more polished than debut, but still has an edge to it)
5. Iron Maiden (great energy in that album)
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Both Di'Anno albums ? One of the great what ifs, curious how the band had continued if he had remained the vocalist for Maiden. I also prefer Killers over the debut.

GemstoneEddie88 said:
What about you? What is your top 5?
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Top 5 for me in no particular order :

Somewhere In Time
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
X Factor
A Matter of Life And Death
Final Frontier
 
I Know 孤独のせい said:
Both Di'Anno albums ? One of the great what ifs, curious how the band had continued if he had remained the vocalist for Maiden. I also prefer Killers over the debut.
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Number of the Beast was hit or miss, Piece of Mind drops off after The Trooper, and in my opinion, the 90s and 2000s up to Senjutsu have been marred by mediocre writing with the occasional good to great song.

While the debut also kinda is hit or miss, there's still a punkish edge and energy that I love.
 
Man vs persistent rats said:
Surprised how many people like the X Factor, I just noped out after No Prayer, I'll have to check it out. I also love Deja Vu, incredible song with earworm vocal melodies.

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My buddy and I are driving to Atlanta and we just played this one. Absolute classic. That guitar harmony is one of my all time favorites. Those guitars just sound like they’re on cocaine (I’m sure most of the band was). Also, Nicko plays that with just one foot pedal! Insane!

On The X Factor, Sign of the Cross is at least worth a listen. If you forever want to the spoil the studio version for yourself, check out the Rock in Rio version. Dave Murray goes nuts on that solo.
 
GemstoneEddie88 said:
I know my ALL TIME FAVORITE Iron Maiden song Deja Vu has NEVER BEEN PLAYED LIVE!
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Deja Vu is so catchy, it's completely unique. It sounds more like a song off of Seventh Son than not.

Am I a nigger for ranking Fear of the Dark highly? Weekend Warrior is in contention for their worst song but I don't really care, the rest of the album slaps.

Regardless, some algo tax:
 
I Know 孤独のせい said:
Last month I listened up and down through Blind Guardian's discography, good shit. Have fun tonight at the show.
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It was a really great time at the show last night. Here's the setlist. The first night in Florida, the order of the songs was a bit different (they did all of Somewhere Far Beyond first), but the setlist has remained the same through the last two nights. Was super stoked that Time Stands Still At the Iron Hill remained. Truly, as long as I heard Into the Storm, Violent Shadows, and Mirror Mirror, I was going to leave satisfied - and that's exactly how I left. Really great sound from the band and it's kind of absurd to think about but Hansi Kürsch really has not lost a step. Obviously with age, time will wear your voice down and restrict your octave range, but Kürsch had some nice tricks to work around this. If he would ever have to hold out a higher note for a sustained time, he usually start the note but then end early. I didn't mind, Bruce Dickinson has been doing the same thing for a long time. Rest of the band sounded great. I especially loved the guitars. Blind Guardian's set ranks pretty easy in the upper quarter of shows I've seen, pretty easily top 15 I believe.

I also love whenever I can get in and out of Atlanta as fast as possible. This is the first time we've parked at the garage that connects to the Masquerade and it was very easy getting in and out. Those that have been to the Masquerade know that that area is pretty bad (Coco-Cola/Aquarium). Normally, when I go to Atlanta, I've made a habit of spending a night there (usually there is a touch of drinking involved before/after, but not this night). Our drive is right at 3 hours so it kind of borders on that "do I really want to do this after expending all this energy" territory.

The openers, Seven Kingdoms and Ensiferum, weren't bad. I'm glad Seven Kingdoms had riffs, but they had no onstage bassist and used a bass backing track, which I thought was lame. Also, I have no concrete proof of this, but I'm pretty sure there were guitar and vocal backing tracks too! Left a sort of strange taste in my mouth. Both Seven Kingdoms and Ensiferum had sound problems which is unusal for the Masquerade. Some of the best sounding shows I've been too have been there. Thankfully most of everything soundwise was worked out for Blind Guardian. Ensiferum isn't really my thing my they did get the pit going so I have to give them props. There was a good bit of moshing during Blind Guardian but it most certainly was a heavy metal pit. Not a whole lot of action. Very good night though, the crowd knew almost every word of every song.
 
Asian tech support said:
Am I a nigger for ranking Fear of the Dark highly?
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Nah I get it. I think I’ve met enough Iron Maiden fans to know that every Iron Maiden album is someone’s favorite or at least ranked highly for someone. For me, if you take the best songs from No Prayer and Fear you could make a very strong Iron Maiden album.
 
Calandrino said:
Summer is just Australian winter

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This place has brainrotted me, cause everytime I come across this song, HowlingChasm's post pops in my brain:
HowlingChasm said:

I think I'm a wolf, then again I'm fucking crazy
I think I need a bitch, don't you?
I think I need a... LONE WOLF WINTER
View attachment 7942087
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I Know 孤独のせい said:
Last month I listened up and down through Blind Guardian's discography, good shit. Have fun tonight at the show.
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What are your top 5 BG albums? I know you liked A Night at the Opera, but what about the rest?
 
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