Rank all Iron Maiden albums

There's 16 of them already.

1. A Matter of Life and Death
2. Powerslave

^ these two are about equal for me, but Life and Death is longer, so it gets top spot.

3. The Number of the Beast
4. Piece of Mind
5. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

^ golden era Maiden, all are awesome

6. Dance of Death
7. Brave New World

^ the first two reunion era albums, both amazing

8. The X-Factor
9. The Book of Souls
10. Iron Maiden
11. Fear of the Dark
12. The Final Frontier
13. Killers
14. Somewhere in Time

^ I love all of these, too. The X-Factor is a wonderful dark brooding album, a big departure from their 80s sound, but a great fit with Blaze's vocals. The Book of Souls is a massive double album. The two NWOBHM albums come in this tier, too, for me. The Final Frontier could be a little higher, but I don't like the first half as much as the last three tracks, which I adore. Somewhere in Time is great, but uneven and with some of my least favourite Maiden tracks ever (Deja Vu!). And the synth sound is still a little off-putting.

15. No Prayer for the Dying
16. Virtual XI

^ the only two albums Maiden ever recorded that I can't say I really even like. They're not really bad, just uninspired and even sound a little forced. Bruce trying to sing like Paul DiAnno is a failure, as is Maiden with Blaze trying to recapture the 80's golden era Maiden sound. There's enough highlights in these two albums to make them worthwhile though, so I don't hate them or anything. Just my least favourites, that's all.

Now you.

1. Iron Maiden
2. Killers
3. Piece Of Mind
4. Powerslave
5. Number Of The Beast
6. Somewhere In Time
7. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
8. No Prayer For The Dying
9. Fear Of The Dark
10. The Book Of Souls
11. Dance of Death
12. Brave New World
13. A Matter Of Life Or Death
14. The Final Frontier
15. The X-Factor
16. Virtual XI

1.Powerslave
2.Number Of The Beast
3.Piece Of Mind
4.Iron Maiden
5.Somewhere In Time
6.Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
7.No Prayer For The Dying
8.Fear Of The Dark
9.Brave New World
10.Dance Of The Dead
11.Killers
12.A Matter Of Life And Death
13.The Book Of Souls
14.The Final Frontier

and by default, since I own neither and from what I've heard from them I don't really want them:

15.The X-Factor
16.Virtual XI

1. Killers
2. Iron Maiden
3. Piece of Mind
4. Somewhere In Time
5. Number of the Beast
6. Powerslave
7. Brave New World
8. The X Factor (would be higher if I liked Blaze's voice which I don't)
9. Dance of Death
10. A Matter of Life and Death
11. No Prayer For the Dying
12. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
13. Fear of the Dark
14. The Final Frontier
15. Book of Souls
16. Virtual XI

Although once you get past the top six I'm not really a fan

What Witchfinder said.

Other then putting SiT at number 1 I agree pretty much with Lari. You really put it that low?

Somewhere In Time
Killers
Piece Of Mind
Number Of The Beast
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
Powerslave
Iron Maiden
Brave New World
No Prayer For The Dying
Fear Of The Dark
Book Of Souls
The Final Frontier

The other couple of albums I have not heard and obviously do not own.

I don't understand why anyone would put Somewhere in Time low on a Maiden list!  

Also to rank an album high just because it's longer is weird too. IMO, the Blaze albums are dead last terrible! Followed by all the post reunion Bruce albums after Brave New World (which is the last great Maiden album IMO).

Troublezone wrote:

I don't understand why anyone would put Somewhere in Time low on a Maiden list!  

It's more surprising that it's held in such high esteem these days, I remember when it came out that a lot of fans (myself included) didn't like it at all. It grew on me big time and I think for a lot of others as well.

I'm more surprised that Piece of Mind isn't in anyone's top two! It isn't in mine because I prefer the Di'anno albums but I think it's the best Bruce album by a country mile!

1. A Matter Of Life And Death
2. The Final Frontier
3. Piece Of Mind
4. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
5. Powerslave
6. Number Of The Beast
7. Dance Of Death
8. The X Factor
9. Book Of Souls
10. Somewhere In Time
11. Fear Of The Dark
12. No Prayer For The Dying
13. Virtual XI
14. Killers
15. Iron Maiden
16. Brave New World

Somewhere In Time
Piece of Mind
Powerslave
Killers
Iron Maiden
Fear of the Dark
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
No Prayer for the Dying
Brave New World
Number of the Beast
Dance of Death
A Matter of Life and Death
Final Frontier
Book of Souls

The Blaze albums won't go on my list.

1 - Iron Maiden
2 - Killers
3 - Number of the Beast
4 - Piece of mind
5 - I don't give a shit after 4 - it's all prog metal, and not what they built their fanbase on. Yes, I turned my back on them and showed my Jump in the Fire backpatch during the Powerslave show. Never looked back either.

Boris2008 wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

I don't understand why anyone would put Somewhere in Time low on a Maiden list!  

It's more surprising that it's held in such high esteem these days, I remember when it came out that a lot of fans (myself included) didn't like it at all. It grew on me big time and I think for a lot of others as well.

I'm more surprised that Piece of Mind isn't in anyone's top two! It isn't in mine because I prefer the Di'anno albums but I  think it's the best Bruce album by a country mile!

I'm big into the vocals and I think Somewhere in Time and Piece of Mind have the best of their career.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

1 - Iron Maiden
2 - Killers
3 - Number of the Beast
4 - Piece of mind
5 - I don't give a shit after 4 - it's all prog metal, and not what they built their fanbase on.  Yes, I turned my back on them and showed my Jump in the Fire backpatch during the Powerslave show.  Never looked back either.

I was kind of with you on that score (although I have warmed to SiT and Powerslave over time BUT Ryme is still one of the most tedious pieces of crud I have ever heard)

I saw them at Birmingham Odeon on the Somewhere in Time tour only because our lodger was running the local student union and had a left over ticket and I've got to say I was bored to tears. I have never really undstood the cult like devotion they inspire but will admit that those first six records hold up well

Boris2008 wrote:

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

1 - Iron Maiden
2 - Killers
3 - Number of the Beast
4 - Piece of mind
5 - I don't give a shit after 4 - it's all prog metal, and not what they built their fanbase on.  Yes, I turned my back on them and showed my Jump in the Fire backpatch during the Powerslave show.  Never looked back either.

I was kind of with you on that score (although I have warmed to SiT and  Powerslave over time BUT Ryme is still one of the most tedious pieces of crud I have ever heard)

I saw them at Birmingham Odeon on the Somewhere in Time tour only because our lodger was running the local student union and had a left over ticket and I've got to say I was bored to tears. I have never really undstood the cult like devotion they inspire but will admit that those first six records hold up well

And I think all the post reunion albums minus BNW are bloated and boring crap! Trim the fat and get back to basics. A couple long songs are ok, but not a whole album!

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (metal perfection)
Piece of Mind
Powerslave
Number of the Beast
Somewhere In Time
Dance of Death
The X Factor
Brave New World
The Final Frontier
A Matter of Life and Death
The Book of Souls
Iron Maiden
Killers
No Prayer for the Dying (this album is not bad at all, I like it better than FotD)
Fear of the Dark
Virtual XI

It was tough putting the post-reunion albums among the others. I feel it would make more sense to list the favorites of the classic era separately from the favorites of the post-1992 era. I also don't feel as enthusiastic about the Di'anno albums as others. I like them a lot, but they're not as significant to me as the bulk of their other albums aside from a few songs.

Might top 5 might be shuffled around on any given day:

The Number of the Beast
Killers
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Powerslave
Piece of Mind
Brave New World
Dance of Death
Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden
Somewhere in Time
A Matter of Life and Death
The Book of Souls
No Prayer for the Dying
The Final Frontier
The X Factor
Virtual XI

Wurthless wrote:

I also don't feel as enthusiastic about the Di'anno albums as others. I like them a lot, but they're not as significant to me as the bulk of their other albums aside from a few songs.

Same here, I put them at 14 & 15. I'm just not a fan of Di'anno's voice.

1. Somewhere In Time
2. Number Of The Beast
3. The Book Of Souls
4. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
5. Killers
6. Piece Of Mind
7. Pick'em
8.
9.
10.

i'm gonna segment it for more sensible ranking

classic era (1980-92):
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Piece of Mind
Powerslave
Number of the Beast
Somewhere in Time
No Prayer for the Dying
Iron Maiden
Fear of the Dark
Killers

1992-present:
Dance of Death
Brave New World
The Book of Souls
The X Factor
The Final Frontier
A Matter of Life and Death
Virtual XI (this is their only album that straight up sucks. everything else is good to great, imo)

akeldama wrote:

Wurthless wrote:

I also don't feel as enthusiastic about the Di'anno albums as others. I like them a lot, but they're not as significant to me as the bulk of their other albums aside from a few songs.

Same here, I put them at 14 & 15. I'm just not a fan of Di'anno's voice.

I don't mind his voice, but something about it doesn't resonate with me as much as Bruce's, or even Blaze's, voice. That's probably blasphemous, but blasphemy's metal as shit.

I also think the songwriting wasn't as strong on Killers in particular, with some songs not really sticking with me well. I can't think of a lick of the music from Drifter, Another Life, Innocent Exile, or Twilight Zone off the top of my head, while most other Maiden albums I can practically play them over in my head. The debut is killer though (pun partially intended) not suffering from that issue as much. I still put every other classic Bruce-Bruce album over it though.

I'm not really that keen on Killers either. It doesn't have anything to do with Dianno either. I just don't think it's all that spectacular and it's sandwiched between two bonafide classics.

I swear you lot are deaf!

Killers was my first IM album and I played the hell out of it. Twilight Zone easily holds it's own against their very best.



For those who can't remember!

Somewhere In Time
Number of the Beast
Seventh son of the seventh son
Killers
piece of mind
The Final Frontier
Powerslave
Maiden Japan
Iron Maiden
Fear Of The Dark
Brave New World
Maiden England
Best of The B'sides
Soundhouse tapes
Everything else....

Boris2008 wrote:

I swear you lot are deaf!

Killers was my first IM album and I played the hell out of it. Twilight Zone easily holds it's own against their very best.



For those who can't remember!

Whenever I see the words "Twilight Zone" Rush's track immediately pops in my head instead. I like Killers, I just don't find myself drawn to it like I do other Maiden records. I'll have to jam it soon, for sure.