RYM used to be a useful guide for rankings, but it feels like they get less and less traffic, as albums in the last decade get far less reviews than ones from, say, the 2000s.
https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/iron-maiden
Looks like Brave New World has a pretty big lead over A Matter of Life and Death there, but those being the top two rated ones of the newest six makes sense to me. I still need to give the two newest ones more listens, but I dinged both from the start due to a) both sounding muddy as all get-out, and b) both having too many songs that seemed excessively long. It was a chore to get through both.
BNW being the most popular one fits with my experience. I'm pretty sure that's because a lot of people who aren't big fans of the reunion era nevertheless really like that one, and reunion fans still like it a lot. So it makes sense that if you asked all Iron Maiden fans to rate the six albums, BNW would be highest. On the other hand, if you took a poll only of people who think highly of the reunion era as a whole, I think AMOLAD would win.
This is a very reasonable assessment, I think.
In my own experience (read: circle of friends), when BNW came out in 2000, there was (understandably) a lot of initial excitement for the return of Bruce and Adrian, and the album was generally VERY well received. When that waned a bit, looking at the album a little more "coldly", some started "complaining" about certain issues (songs that were longer than they needed to be, chorus repetitions etc.). I then remember people (again, people I knew) being quite happy with the songs on Dance of Death - sure, the cover art was terrible and some production choices questionable, but the songwriting was there. By the time A Matter of Life and Death came out, I didn't have that same circle for feedback - in my own view, the album was a great accomplishment for the band, but a little more of a chore to get through, for some reason. I saw them on that tour and, while I found the decision to play the whole thing admirable, I can't say I was super-happy with it.
Like I said, DoD is my personal favorite in the Reunion Era, but I still like BNW a lot. I
think I might rank them this way (today, at least):
Dance of Death
Brave New World
Senjutsu
A Matter of Life and Death
The Final Frontier
The Book of Souls
...but Senjutsu and A Matter... could easily be flipped. I don't know, Senjutsu is still pretty fresh. The Final Frontier has grown on me
a lot over the years. Didn't particularly care for it when it came out, I very much enjoy it now. And I consider TBOS a very good album too (If Eternity Should Fail is one of my favorite reunion songs) - it's the one, however, that feels too long to me.