Iron Maiden Discography Thread: Recap

[TAC]

J Dude, how is that even possible? I mean, did you pick one random Maiden album and just decide not to listen to it?

[jammindude]

J Dude, how is that even possible? I mean, did you pick one random Maiden album and just decide not to listen to it?

OK....the term LOL gets thrown around a lot, but I literally LOLed. 

No, it's just that I was a really big Maiden fan up through SSoaSS, and then they lost me with Bring Your Daughter, and so I just moved on to other things and ignored them for a long time.   Then I heard The X Factor from a friend and liked it more than I thought I would, but then really hated VXI.   Then I got really excited about the reunion, but was ultimately disappointed with BNW, and lost interest in the band again.     But about the time Final Frontier came out, someone insisted I go back and check out AMOLAD, and it absolutely floored me.   I've been trying to play "catch up" with everything I missed ever since.   Slowing filling the holes in my IM collection.  DoD is just the one album that came out during a lull in my interest that I haven't gone back to check out yet.   I keep checking my local CD shops to see if I can get a used one, but I haven't seen it yet. 

[TAC]

Ok J Dude. I guess...   




So for the poll, I went with:

The Prisoner
Die With Your Boots On
The Duellists    ( I love the long instrumental part)
The Prophecy
Run Silent Run Deep ( one of Maiden's all time best choruses plus the first and only Maiden Mosh part)
The Unbeliever
The Educated Fool (This is the one Blaze Era song that I would kill to hear Bruce do. That chorus was made for him)
Montesegur

[Mosh]

Dance of Death is a weird one. As more time passes and with three more albums since then, it is really the black sheep of the catalog. Even the best moments, like Paschendale and Dance of Death, have been eclipsed by what they accomplished later on. That being said, because it's so unlike any other Maiden album that it has a charm that makes it worth revisiting once in awhile. You're not going to find songs like Journeyman on any other Maiden album. Even some of the rockers like Rainmaker have a unique tone.

[Cyclopssss]

it's a weird one, indeed. But it proved surprisingly solid, quality wise. Once you get over the horrid artwork and really start listening. I mean, Montsegur.....holy shit!

[nobloodyname]

Wow. I wasn't the first person to vote for The X Factor and Virtual XI songs

[Zydar]

Strange World
Invaders
The Prisoner
Sun And Steel
Sea Of Madness 
Judas Be My Guide 
Lightning Strikes Twice
The Alchemist

[MirrorMask]

Voted for:

Strange World
The Prisoner
Die with your Boots On
The Prophecy
The Fallen Angel
Montsegur
Out of the Shadows
The Alchemist

First ones left out:
Judas Be My Guide
Lightning Strikes Twice


As a fellow lifelong Maiden fan, you don't need to "justify" your Maiden obsession with me Mosh, I totally get it  I'm too a bit puzzled at how they wanted to do another album soon and now they're touring for two years... they probably planned things in advance and decided they'll have their next and most likely final album in 2020, 40 years after the debut.

[devieira73]

My choices (Bruce, read this for The Legacy tour! ):
Invaders (Always surprises me that this song is not regarded at the same level of the classics from TNoTB)
Sea of Madness and The Loneliness of… (Love everything SiT)
Run Silent Run Deep and Judas Be My Guide (I guess nobody here will agree with that, but I like No Prayer and Fear albums as much as the reunion albums - and lesser than the 82-88 run. What put them at this level to me is the rocker vibe that I somewhat miss in the reunion albums, although they are more elaborate)
The Unbeliever and Lightning Strikes (Great songs with terrible production)
Montsegur (Just wonderful)

[Dream Team]

J-Dude, you might like DoD. Hardly any of the overly-long acoustic intros. Mostly straight-up rockers with a consensus Top 5 song, maybe two of them. I like it more than most others here because I like Maiden up-tempo.

[Cyclopssss]

Damn.....forgot how good Sea of Madness is   

[Mladen]

That's a great selection of underrated, overlooked songs. I went with the following:

The Prisoner
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
The Prophecy
The Unbeliever
The Educated Fool
The Alchemist
When the River Runs Deep

Ranking the albums:

1. Somewhere in time
2. Seventh son of a seventh son
3. The X Factor
4. A Matter of life and death
5. Powerslave
6. Dance of death
7. Piece of mind
8. The Book of souls
9. The Final frontier
10. Number of the beast
11. Brave new world
12. Iron maiden
13. Killers
14. Virtual XI
15. No prayer for the dying
16. Fear of the dark

Keep in mind that the first twelve are all great. That's insane.

[ProfessorPeart]

Song poll:

Strange World
The Prisoner
Die With Your Boots On
Sea of Madness
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
The Prophecy
Look For the Truth
The Fallen Angel

As for ranking the albums, I couldn't even begin to. At best, I can name my favorite and then the next couple.

1. Somewhere In Time

Others in the top:

Brave New World
The X Factor
Piece Of Mind

Worst albums:

Fear Of The Dark
No Prayer For The Dying

[MirrorMask]

Their albums are so amazing that a list does not give the idea of how close they are. Take the reunion albums for example, they're all great in their own way so if I'd make a list there would not be a "5 albums distance" between the first and the last.

Going through the eras, I'd say...

Di'Anno: Iron Maiden > Killers
Classic albums: Piece of Mind and Seventh Son absolute best. Powerslave and 666 slightly behind. Somewhere in Time least favorite.
Transition period: Fear of the Dark > No Prayer
Blaze: The X Factor > Virtual XI
Reunion: Personal favorites are Dance of Death and The Book of Souls. The other three are all amazing anyway.