Here is how I break down the four 90's albums:
No Prayer:
What a disappointment. Really their weakest album. It came after the longest delay between albums (at the time). It just wasn't worth the wait. I will say that this was one of my favorite Maiden tours ever. Jannick was fantastic and really seemed to pull Dave out of his shell.
And the No Prayer tunes they played translated so much better live.
Fear:
Finally the real Maiden returns. Their first album in the "CD" age, caused them to make it longer than it really should be. Definitely some B-Side material on here, but I maintain that this 12 song album is easily 8 songs deep.
The biggest issue with both of these albums, especially Fear, is that these are Bruce's worst with the band.
TXF:
I know some people think this is great, and some think it's terrible. But I think this had the makings to be a complete masterpiece. But it feels like a demo, both in production and some of the songs feel like they are not completely worked out. You also realized at this point how much balance Bruce (and Adrian for that matter) really gave the band, as this feels like a Steve Harris solo album. There are some masterful moments, and some tracks are put together fine, but I can't help but feel this is a just miss. A J- Dude says, Sign Of The Cross FTW!!
VIX:
Other than The TAATG, I really like VIX. The production isn't great, but it has a more comfortable Maiden feel than TXF. If they would ever do another Blaze era track with Bruce, I wish they'd do The Educated Fool.