New Iron Maiden album?

My son is bugging me to go to Spirit Halloween this afternoon. Theres a Walmart in the same plaza so I will prob stop in while we're there to see if they've got the Maiden.

exact33 wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

It seems when a band gets to a certain level of success like Metallica and Maiden, they almost deliberately piss off half of their fans. They’re too self-absorbed to give a shit anymore.

Only AC/DC and Motörhead cared about giving the fans what they want and expect. Gotta give props to Overkill, Testament and Exodus too!

I get it but I also think playing the same songs for 20+ years and writing new songs that are similar gets boring and the need to explore kicks in.

Brave New World came out over twenty years ago, and Maiden have been putting out the same crap ever since. I agree, they should do some exploring and change it up a bit.

Harris somehow became the thing all the young musicians of Britain in the mid/late 70's despixed, and that is a pretentious progressive rocker.

I bought the debut in 80', seen them for the 1rst time in summer of 81', and
"Somewhere In Time" was the last Maiden album purchased new at release & the last four attended. A great fun for me and for them.

I bought the album this weekend.

Fat Freddy wrote:

My son is bugging me to go to Spirit Halloween this afternoon. Theres a Walmart in the same plaza so I will prob stop in while we're there to see if they've got the Maiden.

Well, that was a complete waste of time (as I suspected it would be)... No Maiden CDs at Walmart, nor at Target, which I also stopped at because we passed it on the way home. Oh well, it was worth a shot (shrug).

I did see these totally cool Eddie masks at the Halloween store, though. The "Piece of Mind" one has been there in the past, but the "Matter of Life and Death" version was new to me. For $69.99 apiece, though, they went back on the shelf after I took this pic.

Required Fields wrote:

I bought the album this weekend.

I picked it up today. Haven't had a chance to spin it yet.

I am expecting my copy to arrive within the next 10 to 12 days hopefully.

In the meantime, i am still resisting the temptation to listen to the entire album online.

I think it will be remastered within a couple years from now. If I get it, I’ll get that one. I already have the remasters of Brave New World and Dance of Death.

Maybe Kevin Shirley does it shitty on purpose so they have an excuse to reissue it later with better sound and bonus tracks.

I played the first disc this weekend. Maybe half a dozen times altogether. Song by song. Went through half a dozen Trooper beers while at it.

I don't have an opinion yet. 

I'm saving the second disc for another listening session when I can properly focus like that.

Lari wrote:

I played the first disc this weekend. Maybe half a dozen times altogether. Song by song. Went through half a dozen Trooper beers while at it.

I don't have an opinion yet. 

I'm saving the second disc for another listening session when I can properly focus like that.

That is an interesting approach.
For me, if it don't click of grab me on first/second listen, it probably never will.

Hope you enjoy it

I wouldn't have played it six times if I didn't like it. But my point was that I'm not "rating" it or comparing it to older albums. I'm just enjoying the music. 

I'm still not sure how well Book of Souls holds up. It was a behemoth of an album, with ups and downs. I really like the good tracks, and I like to think in time it's going to be a classic.

James B. wrote:

Lari wrote:

I played the first disc this weekend. Maybe half a dozen times altogether. Song by song. Went through half a dozen Trooper beers while at it.

I don't have an opinion yet. 

I'm saving the second disc for another listening session when I can properly focus like that.

That is an interesting approach.
For me, if it don't click of grab me on first/second listen, it probably never will.

Hope you enjoy it

A lot of enthusiastic fans try to force themselves to like something. It happens all the time.

Even if Maiden recorded Bruce dropping a deuce, some diehard fans will find a reason to enjoy it.

Troublezone wrote:

James B. wrote:

Lari wrote:

I played the first disc this weekend. Maybe half a dozen times altogether. Song by song. Went through half a dozen Trooper beers while at it.

I don't have an opinion yet. 

I'm saving the second disc for another listening session when I can properly focus like that.

That is an interesting approach.
For me, if it don't click of grab me on first/second listen, it probably never will.

Hope you enjoy it

A lot of enthusiastic fans try to force themselves to like something. It happens all the time.

Even if Maiden recorded Bruce dropping a deuce, some diehard fans will find a reason to enjoy it.

Very true. And no I'm not lumping Lari in that category. But I do find it hilarious that that's the attitude a lot of Maiden fans seem to have. They also love giving the same old excuses if someone voices an unpopular opinion about a new song or album. The two I get the most whenever I say something negative on YouTube is, I'd like to see you do better when you're that old, and how many arenas have you sold out in your life. Like its okay to not like a song or album and still be a fan. Maybe if more fans were honest and voiced how boring Maiden have become, the band might take notice and change it up. But when the majority of the people posting sit there and yes man the shit songs saying how great it is because they don't want to ruffle any feathers with other fanatical fans, maiden will never change.

Bottom line is, Maiden is a great band, one of the all time best there ever has been, but damn they have grown stale. I've even tried to come at the angle of pretending it's not them, and just a new band I've recently discovered. Still bores me to tears.

Maiden has been average to bad for decades. Bruce's last three solo albums are all much better than anything Maiden has done since the 80s.

Listen, I love Maiden and I've spent tons of cash on them over the decades but I don't find what they've been doing for for the past 30 years to be very good. I think they are held aloft because they have an all time great merchandising operation and they leverage that to cover up their bad songwriting. Maiden shows are fun to go to with lots of sing along moments but their albums are a tough slog.

I’m one of the few that likes No Prayer for the Dying. Part of the reason is nostalgia because it was my first Maiden album.

I had only started listening to hard rock and metal in 1988… so 1990 was the year I was fully a metal fan. I think Tailgunner and Holy Smoke are great songs. I know Bruce had a lot to do with the musical direction because it sounds very similar to his Tattooed Millionaire solo album.

Witchfinder wrote:

Maiden has been average to bad for decades. 

I think they aced it with A Matter of Life and Death. Better than anything they released in the 80's.

After the first listen I can't say I hate it. I need to listen to it more.

Lari wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

Maiden has been average to bad for decades. 

I think they aced it with A Matter of Life and Death. Better than anything they released in the 80's.

I need to revisit this one.

I think they've been average to good since Brave New World. But nothing will ever touch anything they did up to Seventh Son Of A Seventh son.

Lari wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

Maiden has been average to bad for decades. 

I think they aced it with A Matter of Life and Death. Better than anything they released in the 80's.

You’re in the minority. There’s a reason Maiden mostly plays the hits from their 80s albums. If the fans liked that album like you do, they would play more songs from it.

My usual “go to” albums from Maiden are Piece of Mind, Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son.

Gilbert wrote:

Lari wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

Maiden has been average to bad for decades. 

I think they aced it with A Matter of Life and Death. Better than anything they released in the 80's.

I need to revisit this one.

I do too. I remember thinking it was a bit too progressive when I first heard it. I think that was the beginning of their current style of songwriting.

The little poster that came with it was cool though…

Matter Of Life And Death was the first Maiden album I didn't love at first listen. I like it quite a lot now and can say it's the last Maiden album I can listen all the way through without getting bored.

DallasBlack wrote:

Matter Of Life And Death was the first Maiden album I didn't love at first listen. I like it quite a lot now and can say it's the last Maiden album I can listen all the way through without getting bored.

I am gonna spin it in the car today.

I ALWAYS give anything I buy several listens and a good chance to sink in. I don't buy stuff I think I won't like. I'm not a critic. I'm a consumer, so I just enjoy the music the best I can.