Iron Maiden vs Metallica

[pogoowner]

Metallica. Couldn't ever get into Maiden beyond a few songs here and there.

This. And Metallica's early work is gold.

[MasterShakezula]

Thank you, Liberation.

The magnitude of a band's change between albums and such can vary.

On one hand, you have, say, AC/DC, who would probably have a magnitude of 1 or so, while on the other hand, someone like Zappa, who often changed core sounds within an album, would have a 10. 

Iron Maiden, though a lot less varied in their outputs over the years than Zappa (or even Rush, or Metallica for that matter), would still have about a 2-3, but not a 1. 

And of course, this scale doesn't necessarily have to do with the goodness of the music.  Metallica's magnitude of change in style is definitely higher than Maiden's, though many would debate the quality of some of their works that are departures from their original sound. 

[Zantera]

Well, for starters I've listened to Maiden for about 8 years, not so much anymore, but still shitloads up until a few years ago.
Despite the change in singers, it wouldn't be impossible to pick maybe one song from each album, make a collection out of it, and convince a Maiden-newbie that they're from the same album.
Some hardcore Maiden-fans can argue that Somewhere in Time has synths, SSOASS is more "majestic", X-Factor being darker, obviously the change in singers, and that they have 3 guitarists now, but lets face it, these are all fairly small traits that only people who listen to Maiden a lot actually thinks about.
They can play The Trooper, Fear of the Dark, Run to the Hills or any other fairly "known" Maiden-song on the radio, and people will say "this is Iron Maiden, sounding Iron Maiden"
Hell, even take any of the re-union songs, The Wicker Man or Rainmaker, it's Maiden sounding Maiden.

Yeah, they've tried changing things, but the small changes they did hasn't left much of an imprint on the world.
Let's face it, despite many hardcore Maiden-fans liking The X-Factor, I'd still say the majority of radio-listeners would bash that album over and over, not only cause the lack of Bruce, but because it was a bit different after all.
Since the re-union, they have become slightly proggier with more longer songs, but the guitar-playing is still classic Maiden, it might have improved during the years, but it's so familiar that you hear right away who's playing the lead solo, or whatever.
Bruce, still sounds very much like Bruce, and despite having 3 guitarists now, it's not much of a change, because to actually hear a very noticeable difference, you need to have a killer soundsystem, or just a very good ear, and that doesn't apply to very many of Maiden's fans.

Maiden have changed, but it's so tiny in comparison to everything else, that nobody really thinks about it.
In a poll like this, they have nothing on Metallica in terms of changing their sound, Metallica has quite a few songs on Load and Reload, where I think many people would go "THIS is Metallica? doesn't sound like them at all", but that isn't the case with Maiden.
Even if Bruce is not singing on a certain album, instrumentally it's still very easy to recognize, through distinctive guitar solo's and such.

[Moonchild]

Maiden have changed, but it's so tiny in comparison to everything else, that nobody really thinks about it.

So... You take for granted what others think about Iron Maiden..your opinion is made by others.

Interesting....


Well ...for me Maiden has always been Steve Harris heart, soul and writing abilities but the fountain has run dry ever since Adrian left the band in the first place. They never sold out and that sound will be always unique and original.

Metallica were that terrifying unit in the 80's that reached to millions while being headbanging punks with a simple yet original formula.
They sold their souls to the Bon Jovi camp, exploded to the mainstream and gone artsy with Load and Reload, gone to rehab with St. Anger and finally accepted their roots on Death Magnetic.

I could rant about how Iron Maiden changed from perfect small fast paced songs to ever boring slow repetitive stuff but what makes me go to Metallica is that they know what their fans like. I don't care anymore if they make a great album these days because I know they will never make a Master of Puppets part 2 or a The Number of the Beast part 2.

What I do care about is how Iron Maiden doesn't know that the world has changed, they don't play different songs every night. They don't care about picking out of the box old songs to play on tour and they don't connect with the fans. They think if Hallowed be thy Name isn't played on one night it's the end of the world. Aces High, Caught Somewhere in Time and lots of others aren't played because it is necessary to play Fear of the Dark on a 80's themed World Tour. It's really mind bogging.

Metallica on the other hand have been the best touring band of all the time I guess. The changed setlists and the overall connection with their hardcore fans have been since St. Anger perfect.

[Zantera]

Maiden have changed, but it's so tiny in comparison to everything else, that nobody really thinks about it.

So... You take for granted what others think about Iron Maiden..your opinion is made by others.

Interesting....

Not at all, but for every million fans that would say that Maiden has sounded fairly the same over the years, you might find one person who says "no, every album is miles different from the previous".
So no, I'm not basing my own opinions on what other people think, I'm basing it on how Maiden's albums actually sound, and let's face it, Maiden has always been sorta proud of being what they are, they haven't felt a need to leave their "comfort"-zone.

[Moonchild]

Maiden have changed, but it's so tiny in comparison to everything else, that nobody really thinks about it.

So... You take for granted what others think about Iron Maiden..your opinion is made by others.

Interesting....

Not at all, but for every million fans that would say that Maiden has sounded fairly the same over the years, you might find one person who says "no, every album is miles different from the previous".
So no, I'm not basing my own opinions on what other people think, I'm basing it on how Maiden's albums actually sound, and let's face it, Maiden has always been sorta proud of being what they are, they haven't felt a need to leave their "comfort"-zone.

I think you mistake having a staple sound and having songs that sound alike. The former is true just like Manowar, Slayer, Coldplay, the Stones, Muse or ACDC have for example. It's not a bad thing, each member know what they do best and they do it perfectly. I think it's a fucking risk how they have released BNW over and over on the last 10 years when their best stuff was simpler and straightforward.

The latter isn't true, I can't compare Run to the Hills to The Final Frontier, it's not the same song or album.

[Zantera]

Obviously they aren't, but as I mentioned, I think Maiden is more of a "has changed, but not much" rather then "have not changed at all", but going into nitpicking isn't really gonna change much.
Comparing Run to the Hills with anything from The Final Frontier is a bit of a stretch, El Dorado is probably the closest, but I think Run to the Hills has more in common with songs like The Trooper, Wasted Years, The Evil That Men Do, Fear of the Dark, Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter, Rainmaker and The Wicker Man, those are more the "comparable".

[Ħ]

Metallica has the intro to Battery and Enter Sandman.

Iron Maiden has nothing.

Giving this one to Metallica.

[GuineaPig]

Metallica has the intro to Battery and Enter Sandman.

Iron Maiden has nothing.

Giving this one to Metallica.

 

[Ħ]

Sorry but I genuinely do not see much of anything in either band.

[Zook]

Where's Sigz to say that Maiden is bland and boring? I'm having controversial opinions withdrawals.

[hefdaddy42]

Metallica any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

[Zook]

Metallica any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

You're lactose intolerant aren't you?

[axeman90210]

Metallica any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

[jammindude]

There was a time when Metallica was my absolute favorite.  I bought RtL when it was a new release on the record store shelf.

I even love both St. Anger AND Lulu.   

In spite of that...I have to say that Maiden has a more dense supply of listenable material.  Even though Virtual XI is an absolute abomination, and could very well be the worst metal album in history...(yes, I think it makes St. Anger look like SFAM by comparison)...the rest of IM's catalog has just been a bit more consistent.

I just don't think anything IM has done can make up for the betrayal I felt when I first heard The Black Album.  I've grown tolerant of it over time...but it just hurt the first time I heard it.  It felt like absolute betrayal.    Iron Maiden never made me feel that way. 

No Prayer for the Dying made me balk and VXI made me puke...but only Metallica has made me feel stabbed in the back.

I pick Iron Maiden.

[Jirpo]

I don't get the hate for VXI. Just try and listen to it with an open mind, without expecting it to suck. I love it, its really quite similar to BNW just without Bruce.

[Fluffy Lothario]

No offence, but saying any of these two bands "wrote the same album over and over again" is a sign of absolute ignorance.

Exaggeration for effect. Metallica wrote four thrash albums, three of which sound very similar, and then went wandering. I've heard Number of the Beast, Powerslave, Brave New World, Dance of Death, the one after that, and two best of collections by Maiden, and you'd have a very hard time convincing me you couldn't put any song from any album onto any other album and it wouldn't sound out of place given a bit of production tweaking (with the exception of the eras with different singers, of course).

Most Maiden sounds pretty similar to me, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just look at Metallica. Some of their classic albums follow a similar formula, and it worked. Once they started to stray from that further, it became very hit and miss, emphasis heavily on miss.
I voted Metallica, but that was on the strength of their early amazing albums (I'm including TBA in that), and not on their consistency, which Maiden clearly has done better.

See, this is the difference with me. With few exceptions, I would rather see a band eventually start writing drastically different music, even stuff that I don't care for much at all, than writing the same or very similar stuff forever. When a band does that, it gives me the impression they're far more mature musicians (and, to an extent, mature, interesting and intelligent people in general). Their musical aspirations are wide-ranging, they're interested in experimenting and playing in a lot of different styles, and/or their tastes/writing interests are in a state of evolution. They show they're not just a one-trick niche artist, or even worse, a gimmick act. I find it far easier to feel respect for musicians, as musicans and as people, if they go exploring.

Metallica is a win-win for me here. Not only have they displayed alarmingly mature careers by that definition, but unlike most people, I like more or less as much of their latter career material as I do their earlier career stuff, if not more. Iron Maiden are a bunch of brightly coloured clowns who, despite dressing it up a little differently, are still performing the same trick some thirty years into their "careers", a trick which I rarely found anything other than crappy and dull in the first place.

[Mladen]

I really like Virtual XI. I don't get how can the worst metal album ever have songs like The Clansman, Futureal, The Educated fool and Como estais amigos. These are golden. 

[Jirpo]

I really like Virtual XI. I don't get how can the worst metal album ever have songs like The Clansman, Futureal, The Educated fool and Como estais amigos. These are golden. 

Well said!

[jammindude]

Sorry...but TAatG, DLTTEOAS, LST and WTWC are just absolute CRAP IMO.  And it wasn't Blaze...I actually *LOVE* The X Factor.  I think it's one of the most underrated albums in IM's catalog.  I even think Blaze did a really fantastic job with some of Bruce's material.  His version of ATSS from BotB is fantastic!   No, it wasn't Blaze.  I honestly listen to that album, and I hear some great ideas...but it's hard for me to take that a bunch of men were sitting in a room hearing TAatG, and not one person had the balls to say, "Ya know Steve...don't you think that chorus is overdoing it a bit?"    Part of me almost wants to believe that it was done on purpose with the intent of blaming the failure on Blaze so they could try and romance Bruce back into the band.    (but that's just silliness)

NOTHING....not even Blood Brothers...can touch TAatG for repetition.   I've been listening to metal for 30 years, and I've heard alot of repetitive songs from alot of different genres.    I don't even think "I Wanna Rock" repeats itself as much as TAatG.    Sometimes it's hard to believe they didn't do it on purpose. 

Sorry...I'm actually a pretty mellow guy, but this album pisses me off for some reason.   

[Liberation]

No offence, but saying any of these two bands "wrote the same album over and over again" is a sign of absolute ignorance.

Exaggeration for effect. Metallica wrote four thrash albums, three of which sound very similar, and then went wandering. I've heard Number of the Beast, Powerslave, Brave New World, Dance of Death, the one after that, and two best of collections by Maiden, and you'd have a very hard time convincing me you couldn't put any song from any album onto any other album and it wouldn't sound out of place given a bit of production tweaking (with the exception of the eras with different singers, of course).

I could be evil and give something like Journeyman, but just try Brave New World and Paschendale. I do not see how exactly you could swap these two and tell me they sound similar, even though they're both medium-length songs with big and powerful moments.

[Jirpo]

Yeah I agree about the chorus of AATG obviously is way too repetitive. But thats my least favourite on the album by a long shot. It would be a good song IMO if they shortened it down to 5 minutes or so.

[Ruba]

Iron Maiden is much better.

They have made 15 studio albums. Fear of the Dark is only good, the other 14 are at least great (4/5). My favourites are the five first.

Metallica has used their potential fully, technically they are alright (except the bass, Orion!). But they have made Master of Puppets, which is the greatest album ever. ...AJFA, Kill, Black, Load and Magnetic are also albums I like, but those aren't enough.

But the biggest reason: DOUBLE GUITAR MELODIES!

E: Actually I haven't heard Kill 'Em All and St.Anger entirely. But the first has many great songs.

[ZKX-2099]

I think it's unfair to make this poll so close to the release of Lulu.

[Zantera]

I think it's unfair to make this poll so close to the release of Lulu.

Technically Lulu isn't a Metallica album.

[Ruba]

and they have never made me go "WTF IS THIS".

I don't mean to argue against the band I chose (and one of my all time favourite bands) but I just have to say it...




MAYBE LIGHTNING STRIKES TWIIICE

Nah.

DON'TLOOKTOTHEEYESOFASTRANGER!

[BlobVanDam]

I think it's unfair to make this poll so close to the release of Lulu.

Technically Lulu isn't a Metallica album.

NO EXCUSE! 

[ZKX-2099]

I think it's unfair to make this poll so close to the release of Lulu.

Technically Lulu isn't a Metallica album.

I actively despise you.

[Zantera]

I'm not defending it or anything, but it's a collaboration.
Still, Metallica hasn't made anything good since And Justice (though Load is decent enough), so Lulu shouldn't really need to be included when talking about Metallica's downfall.

[kirksnosehair]

Interesting that this thread popped up again.  On a whim I decided to take Death Magnetic for a spin at the gym this morning. 

Made it about half way through it and moved on to.....Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

[Slain]

Some of Metallica's albums are better than some of Maiden's albums, and vice versa, but as a whole I'd pick Iron Maiden. Bruce Dickinson. That is all.   

[lateralus88]

I think it's unfair to make this poll so close to the release of Lulu.

Technically Lulu isn't a Metallica album.

I actively despise you.

Personal...attack?

[El Barto]

World Slavery Tour--03/04//85--Dallas--WASP (backstage pass)
Somewhere  on Tour--01/24/87--Dallas--Vinnie Vincent??
Fear of the Dark Tour--08/07/92--Dallas--???
The X Factour--03/15/96--Dallas--???
Virtual XI World Tour--7/12/98--Dallas--Dio (113°-front row with a flask of JD)
The Ed Hunter Tour--8/8/99--Dallas--Monster Magnet
Brave New World Tour--9/1/2000--Dallas--Queensryche--Rob Halford
Give me Ed 'til I'm Dead tour--8/13/03--Dallas--Dio, Motörhead
Eddy Rips of the World (Early Days)--08/09/05--Denver, Co--Slipknot
Eddy Rips of the World (Early Days)--08/20/05--San Bernadion, Ca--Ozzfest (eggs be a flyin)
Somewhere back in Time--02/09/08--Los Angeles, Ca--Lauren Harris
Somewhere back in Time--05/21/08--Houston, Tx--Lauren Harris
Final Frontier World Tour--06/09/10--Dallas, Tx--Dream Theater
Final Frontier World Tour--06/11/10--Houston Tx--Dream Theater

1986-Damage, Inc. third row, opening for Ozzy.
1988-Texxxas Jam-premier of Harvester of Sorrow, John Marshall on rhythm guitar
1989-Damaged Justice-at baricade for entire show.  Newsted gave me a beer.  During second beer break, I reached for another and he kicked my hand out of the way and said "you already got one!"  Got a drum stick and a pick.  Coincidentally, met Kenny Rogers after the show.
1991-Wherever we may Rome-Front row, right
1992-Metallica/G&R-John Marshall on rhythm guitar-Sweltering, drunk off my ass on vodka
2000-Summer Sanitarium- No Hetfield, lots of guests-Kid Rock's midget ran around the whole show yelling "yeah, mother fucker!" in that little midget voice.
2000-Makeup date for previous gig-4˝ times louder than anything I've ever heard in my life.
2003-Summer Sanitarium-watched from VIP on stage right-knelt down behind Ulrich's riser during Fuel-scary fire everywhere
2009-World Magnetic tour-Hamburg Germany-Drunk off my ass on Holsten beer with friendly krauts
2009-World Magnetic Tour-Dallas

Just establishing some street-cred. 

I'm going with Maiden pretty easily.  They produced three albums I don't like,  but 10 that I adore.  I liked Load and Re-Load more than most people,  but can't stand TBA, and feel about SA the same way everybody else does.  Honestly,  the best thing Metallica's done in ages was written by Mercyful Fate.

Something I've been pondering is what it'd be like to sit through a concert made up of all of their worst songs.  I wouldn't mind that with Maiden.  None of their songs make me wretch,  and it'd be interesting to hear some of them live.  The Metallica equivalent would be excruciating. 

Consistency through the years is an interesting consideration.  Metallica has tried to make a different album every time, and more often than not,  they've sucked trying.  I don't think Maiden makes the same album at all.  As others have pointed out,  there's a constant Maiden sound that runs through them,  but I can't think of more than two albums in a row that are similar. 

It's also worth noting that Bruce was a completely different singer during NPftD and FotD than he was for any of the preceding or following albums.  I'd almost consider them to have had 4, if not 5 different singers.  Hard to make the same album over and over with that much change in the vocals. 

Trying to figure out which is the better live band is damned tough.  Both of them are able to get crowds whipped up like crazy.  There's a reason I've seen them both so many times.  Always a great show.

[TAC]

Great post, Bart.
You're spot on about Bruce on NPFTD and FOTD. He was completely robbed of his power those years.
Strangely, the No Prayer tour was one of my favorite concerts of all time.

But RL over TBA? Wut?

[7StringedBeast]

I have to go with Metallica.  I like Maiden too.  But, I mean Metallica writes songs that actually sound really different from each other.  Maiden's songs are all extremely similar to each other.  I mean, they have been just ripping up the Minor scale their entire careers with galloping triplets.  They never really broke new ground for themselves.  Don't get me wrong, I like Maiden.  I just think Metallica is the better band.