Number of the Beast Iron Maiden's most overhyped album.

Everytime I go out in public with an Iron maiden t shirt people comment on my t shirt and mention the album number of the beast and say its their best album that album would be my least favorite 80s Iron Maiden album anyone else ever had that frustration? Ok labeling the album overrated would obviously be an ignorant thing to say and if I was a metalhead in the early 80s I would of loved the album but I think its overplayed and its not their best album. Personally I'd say Piece of Mind or Powerslave or arguably Somewhere in Time would be Iron Maiden's best album.

Killers is their best album. Number of the Beast is 50/50 for me. Hallowed Be Thy Name, Children of the Damned, Run to the Hills and the title track would all be in my top 20 Maiden tracks, the rest of it, I thought was pretty average.

And yes, everyone has that frustration every time an album is huge, but not your favorite. The Black Album, Screaming for Vengeance, Keeper of the Seven Keys, Among the Living, Rust in Peace to name a few.

A Matter of Life and Death is their best album.

Is there a point beyond everyone liking different albums?

Beast is a classic, and probably ranks highly because so many consider it among their best. As do I.

Like Beast but has never been my favorite. That would be Piece Of Mind since I first heard it in the 6th or 7th grade and today it's still tops with me.

I'm with Boris on this one.

For peple who are relly into Rock Music knows the value of various albums, but to most others it is only a hyped value what the media creates.

Everyone thinks they know Metallica, but what they really know is only The Black Album, same in this case too.

May the brilliant Music rock the world.

666

Overhyped? No, not at all... Fantastic album, but not my favorite. Piece Of Mind, Powerslave and Somewhere in Time actually sold better and charted higher than TNOTB. It's also the first time that many had every heard Maiden, thanks to MTV putting RTTH and the title track in heavy rotation. When the casual fans go to see Maiden they expect to hear the title track. That adds a lot of the lure of the album. Personally, I would rank it lower than most of the other Bruce albums, but it's still a fantastic release.

It's definitely over-hyped. But it has a few great songs on there.

And I might add I really like "Invaders" a song a lot of people don't like for some reason.

I love that whole album and it is my 2nd favorite Maiden album!

mikeinfla wrote:

And I might add I really like "Invaders" a song a lot of people don't like for some reason.

That's an amazing song! One of the best on the album. The vocals are very John Arch-ish.

I understand it's a basic essential but it really is my favorite Maiden album. Every track, except for mauve Gangland, is spot on and still raises hairs. Plus i love Clive's drumming on that album.

Not overrated, not overhyped, a total ass-kicker of an album from start to finish.

P.S. - Gangland is my favorite song on the album, the introduction to that song is one of my favorite in their entire discography. it's also a good example of why I prefer Clive's drumming style in Iron Maiden.  

The album *I* personally find overrated is Piece Of Mind.  I'll take Killers, NOTB, Powerslave and Somewhere In Time over that record any day of the week.

It's a great album and I wouldn't call it overrated but I do feel there are better albums. Piece Of Mind and Powerslave are two I prefer.

It's my favorite, but close to other like Killers, POM

to me maiden is mainly about fear of the dark and powerslave.

the rest is ok.

the last few albums are boring, with the exception of brave new world.

and I consider number of the beast to be overrated.

Gilbert wrote:

the last few albums are boring, with the exception of brave new world.

Yes they are.

MoonChild wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

the last few albums are boring, with the exception of brave new world.

Yes they are.

No. They aren't.

Iron Maiden actually continued to evolve their sound, which I find refreshing compared to most of the old-dog bands from the 80s that basically just continue to release carbon copies of the stuff they did back then. We don't need Powerslave Part 2, they've been there and done that.

No love for Piece of Mind, Shawn?

I like it, but it's their most overrated album. It does have two of the best songs they ever did, Children of the Damned, and Hallowed Be Thy Name, however. It has one or two filler tracks that drag it down a bit. That being said, one of the songs usually called a filler, Invaders, is actually amongst my favorite songs on the album.

Powerslave is my overall favorite Iron Maiden album, though.

I am a fan of this album. I don't know if it's overhyped or not, but it certainly brought the band to a new level of success and fame.

Iron Maiden's albums since 1988 or so have been various amounts of boring, bad or so-so. Their post-reunion albums have all been boring, old-man prog albums for the most part. No thanks.

I don't believe the album is overhyped but it was the album that made a commerical break thru in the States, MTV supported the album with their videos, Christian groups protested them and it was when I first became aware of them.

Witchfinder wrote:

I am a fan of this album.  I don't know if it's overhyped or not, but it certainly brought the band to a new level of success and fame.  

Iron Maiden's albums since 1988 or so have been various amounts of boring, bad or so-so.  Their post-reunion albums have all been boring, old-man prog albums for the most part.  No thanks.

100% disagree with your opinion on their post- reunion albums, but to each their own

manny wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

I am a fan of this album.  I don't know if it's overhyped or not, but it certainly brought the band to a new level of success and fame.  

Iron Maiden's albums since 1988 or so have been various amounts of boring, bad or so-so.  Their post-reunion albums have all been boring, old-man prog albums for the most part.  No thanks.

100% disagree with your opinion on their post- reunion albums, but to each their own

Maybe I was a bit harsh. I wish they would mix in some shorter, punchier material with the epics for variety.

I never bought one Maiden CD / LP ~ believe it or not -
My all time favorite song from them is 'Flight Of The Icarus' -
I have had vhs tpaes of them live in the distant past- very good concerts !!
It'll be fun for me to discover them - now- many years later -
maybe start off with POWERSLAVE - or even pre- Dickinson -
but I must say -I absolutely love Paul DiAnno's solo music -
sooooooo many good tunes from him and his band - love his voice and diverse style -