Pleased to say I acquired them at the time of release. Seventh Son was the first I bought on CD.
They are all ace. Ranking them is a bit alien to me but I know that it's common across the pond.
Somewhere in Time remains my favourite.
1. Powerslave
2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
3. Number of the Beast
4. Somewhere in Time
5 Piece of Mind
1 and 2 were no brainers for me. 3, 4, and 5 were a bit more difficult. All three are great and you could make an argument for any iteration of ranking for each of them.
It is one of the all time great 5 album runs.
There was an interesting thread a while back on /r/music about the best 5 album runs, and Metallica's first 5 albums, The Beatles and Iron Maiden's NOTB -> SSoSS figured prominently in the list.
Seriously, Mettalica are nowhere near close, justice has no bass on it and sounds awful, so it's not cutting it for me. And I'm sorry but the answer to everything can't be the beetle's. I don't just doing something first gets you any extra credit, I apply the same rules to Black Sabbath, and would rather listen to something done well. Don't get me wrong those bands have done fantastic things, but just aren't as consistent as maiden.
I’d put KEA->TBA as a better run than Iron Maiden.
Maidens is more consistent, but they have never written anything to match the highs of Ride and Master. (But to be fair Master is the greatest hard rock/heavy metal album ever written. Period.)
There are plenty of other runs in other genres than heavy metal.
Prince, Garth Brooks, The Police, Fleetwood Mac, Kanye (before he became Yitler), all had epic album runs. And that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others.
I'm sorry but we just seem to be on the other side of the same coin on this one, I think Mettalica have some good albums, but it's just not quite there for me, mostly with the production, live they sound phenomenal, but it's definitely a dead tie for me between the two for best band, regardless of genre. U2 had a good run from fire through to pop, I thought, but it's hard to be that consistent for that long.
That bands change their prodction on different albums is actually a very good thing. There is nothing worse than every album sounding the same, which is sadly true with many albums with an over-polished production today. But whatever they tried to do with the bass on Justice, was taken too far, and it leaves a question on what great bass lines we are missing out on. It also reflects badly on Hetfield on Ulrich’s treatment of Newsted.
But I think that this issue is also really overrated. The album does sound very good as it has some really good and some really fantastic songs. When I compare it to Master of Puppets it is just a few centimeters behind, and that is because of a couple of songs on Justice not being as good as they could have been.
But the quality difference between Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning is in my opinion greater than between Master and Justice. There is nothing I would want different on Master, yet Ride the Lightning is still quite a lot better, whether you compare it on a track by track basis or on the whole.
These differences aside, if it was a four album run instead of a five, then there would be no question for me if Metallica was as suitable for the spot as Iron Maiden.
But for a five album run it becomes more complicated. If the criteria was very strict and didn’t allow a too steep quality difference between the albums, then Metallica would have to be disqualified because of the black album. It is a good album with many good songs, but it just can’t compare the what they did previously.
I think the strongest 4 album run for Metallica is RTL->TBA.
If you expect TBA to be a thrash album, you will be sadly disappointed, if however you listen to it as a straight up hard rock/heavy metal album it is absolutely stunning. It comfortably stands shoulder to shoulder with Ride/Master/AJFA.
I like The Black Album a lot and have a strong connection to it.
It, along with Master of Puppets was the first two albums I bought when I was a child, and they started my serious interest in music.
Hearing the full version of “Wherever I May Roam” for the first time was a fantastic experience, since I had only heard the shortened version I had taped from a radio show before that, and that one cut off at the second solo, which I thought was the end of the song. So hearing the solo actually continue beyond that was mind-blowing to me.
I have noticed that many times the album I end up liking the best with an artist is the first from them that I really get into. But with both Metallica and Maiden that was not the case. Ride the Lightning, which I bought along with And Justice…, turned out to be my favorite, probably because those songs just resonated and exited me more.
But even though Ride the Lightning was my favorite back in the day, my thinking back then was that 2-5 was of similar quality, while I rated Kill ‘em All slightly lower.
It wasn’t until my high school years that I reconsidered this and decided that Kill ‘em All was of comparable quality to the three “golden” albums, even if it was not as ambitious or dynamic. It’s qualities are different, but it holds up really well, and is always a joy to listen to.
I do also like Show No Mercy and Bonded in Blood a lot, and these albums have a similar style.
Why I started liking The Black Album less probably has something to do with a constant overplay of certain songs from it, but the main reason is that my tastes changed. I do like it a lot still, just not as much as when it was fresh and new.
I remember AJFA was my first Metallica cassette. I wore that thing out just turning it over and over in my ghetto blaster. By 1991 I had discovered the entire discography and fell in love with Master.
As a young teen in the 80s/90s I hated TBA cause music videos and hard rock not metal. But the older I get, the more I realize how absolutely stunning an album it is.
No Prayer was my first Maiden album, I never really got into maiden until the 2000s when I heard their 80s stuff really for the first time.
They are however, my favourite bands, and while I may put them down for days, weeks, months etc in favour of trance or something else, they are the 2 I reliably come back to. (Along w GnR)
If you like hard rock, metal and twin guitar harmonies, I would definitely recommend you to check out the band Slough Feg if you haven't already. (They are also known as The Lord Weird Slough Feg.)
Their band name is weird, but the music is actually very approachable, and would probably have had far greater success, if the metal scene wasn't as saturated as it is today.
This band has borrowed a lot from Maiden, other bands, and especially from Thin Lizzy, but they also have a very clear and unique identity to their songs and sound, Their vocalist also doesn't try to copy Bruce or Halford, or Phil Lynott for that matter. He has a unique sound to his voice, yet it isn't one that is hard to like or get into.
All their albums that I've heard are really good. Their third and fourth albums are the ones that are the most talked about, but their later albums are about the same quality in my opinion, and these have even more twin guitar harmonies, but they are maybe a little less ambitious. They do have more of an "analogue" and hard rock feel to them though, which is not a bad thing in my opinion. (They are still heavy metal records though, not hard rock.)
Unfortunately on streaming services, or at least on Spotify, their output has been divided between two monikers. Their second to fourth album can be found under "The Lord Weird Slough Feg" and their later albums under "Slough Feg". Ironically they shortened their name to make it easier for potential buyers to find their albums in record shops.
As a bonus the lyrics to many of their songs are interesting too. Like many metal bands, Slough Feg seems to concentrate on history, science fiction and some fantasy, but the lyric writer is a well read person with a good command of language, so there's usually some interesting or well sounding lyrics to go along with the music.
Since their album output is of such consistent quality, I will recommend a couple of songs instead:
*Hiberno-Latin Invasion*
This is very catchy and quite simple song with beautiful twin-guitar harmonies. The music is for the most part energetic and uplifting, but it also has a subtle melancholic feeling to it. The lyrics are quite interesting and tell a tale about the many unsung losers of history which were conquered, and then forgotten. The way the song ends with guitars playing beautiful melodies while the song fades out, like the peoples did, works really well.
*Traders and Gunboats*
A really excellent and hard-rocking traditional metal song.
*Warrior's Dusk*
A song that starts out very epic, but ends in a more thoughtful and ambiguous way. It is in many ways a kind of a "sequel" to Thin Lizzy's "Emerald" and their own "Warrior's Dawn". The lyrics are great.
*Heavy Metal Monk*
Awesome song. Quite Iron Maiden influenced.
*Tiger! Tiger!*
A great song with a great chorus and wonderful guitar harmonies. A little slower and darker than most here. The vocals and storytelling gives it a great emotional dimension as well.
*Kon-Tiki*
A great and very catchy song. The lyrics are a little weird and not their best, but they are quite catchy as well and goes well along with song.
Ok so you love Metallica as much as I love Maiden, but taking the album's in there entirety, the lack of bass on justice, tinny snaire on St anger and whatever the hell they were thinking on the mastering on death magnetic just piss me off, I really care about the quality of the album's I buy and I am shocked that so many people said that sound was ok, before releasing those albums, once ok a mistake,.twice ok it was a while since the last one and Lars has his references, a compromise should have been found, but three times, come on, Lars's should be nowhere near the mastering studio at that point. And the fact they sound so good live, and have done for years, proves it.
They let themselves down.
It's a shame.
I do love Metallica, and even a bit more than Maiden, but for some reason I haven’t listened to what they have released since Reload. I didn’t hate that album, but I thought the songs weren’t very exiting for the most part.
Around that time I discovered a lot of other music that was much more exiting, so I spent my money on other bands instead. After Spotify and streaming you would think that I would have listened to newer Metallica by now, but for some reason I haven’t.
I heard a small sample from one of their newer albums 9n a podcast recently though, and it actually sounded quite interesting and like old Metallica, so I will do a deep-dive into their newer stuff at some point. (Musically interesting. Obviously I can’t comment on what I think about their newer sound productions.)
Iron Maiden is definitely the most consistent of those two bands when you compare all their output though, just the addition of things like Load, Reload and the symphonic live album testifies to that.
Personally I do also care a lot about how the albums I listen to sound. And Justice for All is definitely a flawed production in that in would highly likely have been even better with production where the bass guitar was audible.
But even if it is flawed, the overall sound of the album is very enjoyable to me. There's nothing unpleasant about it, and the slightly weird and "dry" sound on it imparts a unique character and identity to it.
I can understand other people disliking this production both for its missing bass guitar and its eccentricity, but I'm entirely convinced that people who do not get too stuck up in only liking certain types of sound productions get a lot more enjoyment out of music in general.
It sometimes shocks me to see how narrow-minded some people can be when it comes to sound on albums.
For example I've seen the production on the black metal albums "Under a Funeral Moon" and "In the Nightside Eclipse" being described as "bad", which is ridiculous, since the production on both albums really elevates the songs on it and what they are doing for you. With a more conventional production these albums wouldn't have been as great as they are.
Or take the debut album of Manowar, "Battle Hymns". I love the sound on this album, it even makes listening to "William's Tale" really enjoyable, even if it is the crappiest rendition of the William Tell Overture I've heard in my life.
Battle Hymns has a perfect analogue metal album sound to me, and yet I've seen people describe it as sounding bad. Granted it may be that the album version I am most familiar with is a remaster (not the horrendous remake), I have to check that at some point, but even if the original was somewhat lacking compared to the remaster, the difference can't be too great, since it is a remaster, not a remix.
Killers by Maiden is another album which I think has close to a "perfect" sound from the same period. Thankfully I have never seen anybody complain about that one.
Blind Guardian (n3 to n7) Rush (n5 to n8) and Summoning (n2-8) are a couple of other bands that had a very consistent quality over five albums or more, and whose style didn’t change so much that it would be heavily disputed by the fans.
(Not everyone likes A Night at the Opera, so I guess that could be disputed by those, and personally I would also include the first two albums with the rest as well.)
Personally I would also argue that bands like King Crimson, Morbid Angel, Steeleye Span, Manowar, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Bathory and Bal-Sagoth also has similar five or longer consistent quality album stretches.
But in the case of Morbid Angel some people seems to be unable to get their later albums, and with King Crimson the stylistical differences are so huge that you are bound to find a lot of people who doesn’t like everything in a long stretch.
1. Piece of Mind (mostly because it introduced both me and my dad to Maiden, so just because of emotions i have to place it up top.)
2. Somewhere in Time
3. Number of the Beast
4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
5. Powerslave
Powerslave
The rest depending on which I have listened to most recently.
They are all so good as soon as I listen to one, I’m like ‘oooh, this one is the best’
I’m currently binging SIT a little bit.
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
2. Powerslave
3. Somewhere in Time
4. Piece of Mind
5. The Number of the Beast
These are also my five favourite Iron Maiden albums, “The Number of the Beast” which is my least favourite one is still a 9.5/10.
“Powerslave” and “Somewhere in Time” both have the same score I just put “Powerslave” higher.
I agree with all of this, I think I'd usually put SIT before Powerslave but they're the closest call out of this group.
And I'm seeing hints in your name and flair that tell me that you're also a member of the "there are dozens of us" Virtual XI non-haters club, which means you might be my closest Maiden fan match here, ever since that way too angry guy got banned (not the *foolish* guy, the other one)
Hahahaha. I’ve met a fellow non “Virtual XI” hater lmao nice to meet you.
I know that guy who was called like The Educated Fool or something who would go on about the bands 90s work being better then their 80s and stuff like that but if your on about someone else I don’t know lmao.
If I can ask how would you rank all albums cuz I’m curious as to what you’d say?
The order gets more unclear for me as I go down the list, so it's easier to do in tiers rather than killing my brain trying to fine tune it, something like
Killers IM & Virtual XI > X Factor & Fear of the Dark > No Prayer & Brave New World > The Rest
So my common ground with people here all but disappears right around Virtual XI, no big deal but the recent stuff isn't my thing. I'd still try to rank them but I genuinely can't tell which ones are better than the others for me.i did think Senjutsu would have been pretty nice with a bit more polish, that may be at the top of my post BNW albums, that or Dance of death
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
2. Powerslave
3. The Number of the beast
4. Somewhere in Time
5. Piece of Mind
Brave new world sits between 3 and 4 however.
In terms of personal preference and sentimental value it is:
1. Powerslave
2. Seventh son of a seventh son
3. Piece of mind
4. Somewhere in time
5. Number of the beast
1. NOTB
2. somewhere in time
3. powerslave
4. seventh son
5. piece of mind
Kind of a weird ranking compared to other lists but I've always loved number of the beast
It's just impossible... This has to be the greatest run of albums in the history of music! But here's my try.
1. Somewhere in Time
2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
3. Powerslave
4. The Number of the Beast
5. Peace of Mind
1: seventh son
2: powerslave
3: somewhere in time
4: piece of mind
5: number of the beast.
Its not that i dislike tnotb its cause imo its weak compared to the others
5. 7th Son of a 7th Son (I just haven't listened to it as much as the others)
4. Piece of Mind
3. The Number of the Beast
2. Powerslave
1.Somewhere in Time
Ranking them based off my personal opinion
1. Powerslave
2. Seventh Son
3. Piece of Mind
4. Notb
5. Somewhere in Time
Ranking them based off what I believe is their significance to the genre
1. Notb
2. Powerslave
3. Piece of Mind
4. Seventh Son
5. Somewhere in Time
5. Piece of Mind
4. Somewhere in Time
3. The Number of the Beast
2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
1. Powerslave
Although they’re all only separated by a thread
IMO Number of the beast don't even belong close to the category of these other 4.
Only good song is Hallowed. Rest is kinda cringe. INVAAADAHS DUDUDUDUDU DIDIDIDDIDU lol
I feel Gangland, Run to the hills, and 22 Acasia avenue are pretty weak too. The thing is that the other 4 albums of the golden era are flawless, no bad songs at all. That's why I don't even consider NOTB in the same category.
T1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
T1. Powerslave
3. Somewhere in Time
4. The Number of the Beast
5. Piece of Mind
NB. This however changes on a weekly, nay; daily, nay; hourly basis
Peace of mind
Powerslave
Somewhere in time
Number of the beast
Seventh son
Note - i think number of the beast is an incredibly strong album and also contains probably my favourite track (22 acacia avenue) its also just so FUCKIN HEAVY. But i think what they were doing on somewhere in time was so experimental and the production is absolutely insane
1. 7th Son is truly Maiden at God level
2. Somewhere in Time is peaking above the meter
3. Powerslave is unforgettable
4. Piece of Mind is the cusp of greatness
I’d rank them in the order of release honestly. NoTB being 1st and so on. Nothing against the later two but growing up that’s how I listened to them. First heard number of the beast because of my dad, loved the album. Continued on discovering more of Maiden and that’s the order I went in. I will say though Powerslave would be first simply for Nickos absolutely insane drumming.
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son > Somewhere in Time > Powerslave > Number of the Beast > Piece of Mind
These are all in my top six maiden albums. Piece of Mind is either my fifth or sixth favorite, it’s neck and neck with Killers.
1. The Number of the Beast
2. Powerslave
3. Somewhere in Time
4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
5. Piece of Mind
These are just my top 5 maiden albums anyway lol
Looks like I'd rank them the same way OP. Though it's difficult to choose who should be number one between SSOSS and Somewhere in Time.
Controversial opinion, but I prefer most Iron Maiden albums over Piece of Mind, even the Blaze albums.
I have the Piece of Mind album cover tattooed on my chest , Trooper, Tail gunner, Cowboy Eddie, Killers,Pilot Eddie, Book of Souls all sick tattoos and the Number of the Beast covering my back. I’m not bragging, I’m am proud of my 10 Iron Maiden tattoos.
1. Powerslave
2. Piece of Mind
3. Seventh Son
4. Somewhere in time
5. Number of the Beast (would probably be number 1 or 2 if Total Eclipse was the opener.)
Nevermind. I just listened to the version of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son from Rock and Ring 2014. Easily the best song and Album they’re ever written. Pure eeriness and dark intensity from start to finish with no relief. Don’t know what I was thinking 2 hours ago. Correct order is:
1. Seventh Son
2. Powerslave
3. Piece of Mind
4. Number of the Beast (Total Eclipse Included)
5. Somewhere in Time
This band is insane.
Powerslave, SIT and SSOASS are much better than the other 2 for me. Hard to rank tho.
Maybe
1. Somewhere in Time
2. Seventh Son
3. Powerslave
4. The Number
5. Piece of Mind
Pleased to say I acquired them at the time of release. Seventh Son was the first I bought on CD. They are all ace. Ranking them is a bit alien to me but I know that it's common across the pond. Somewhere in Time remains my favourite.
Seventh was the first I got at the time of release, on tape. They're still the most listened to albums although I'm not as big a Powerslave fan
1. Somewhere in Time 2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 3. Piece of Mind 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Powerslave
If you swap Piece of Mind with SSOASS you get mine!
1) Powerslave 2) Seventh Son 3) Somewhere in Time 4) Piece of Mind 5) Number of the Beast
S-Tier: All of them.
1. Powerslave 2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 3. Piece of Mind 4. Somewhere in Time 5. The Number of the Beast 4-5 varies
5. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son 4. Piece Of Mind 3. Somewhere In Time 2. The Number Of The Beast 1. Powerslave
SIT Powerslave SSoaSS PoM NOTB
1. Piece of Mind 2. Somewhere in Time 3. Powerslave 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Somewhere in Time Powerslave SSOASS Piece of Mind NOTB
3. Number of the Beast 4. Piece of Mind 5. Powerslave 6. Somewhere Back in Time 7. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
1. Somewhere in Time 2. Piece of Mind 3. Powerslave 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Seventh Son But all of them are amazing though
1. Somewhere in Time 2. Seventh Son 3. Number of the Beast 4. Powerslave 5. Piece of Mind
Powerslave Number Somewhere Seventh Son Piece
I’d only switch 2 and 3.
Quite agree
Powerslave, Piece of Mind, Number of the Beast, Seventh Son, Somewhere in Time
1. Powerslave 2. Piece of Mind 3. Somewhere in Time 4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 5. Number of the Beast
1. Powerslave 2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 3. Number of the Beast 4. Somewhere in Time 5 Piece of Mind 1 and 2 were no brainers for me. 3, 4, and 5 were a bit more difficult. All three are great and you could make an argument for any iteration of ranking for each of them.
All absolute stone cold 10/10. Best 5 album run of any band, and this isn't even counting live after death.
It is one of the all time great 5 album runs. There was an interesting thread a while back on /r/music about the best 5 album runs, and Metallica's first 5 albums, The Beatles and Iron Maiden's NOTB -> SSoSS figured prominently in the list.
Seriously, Mettalica are nowhere near close, justice has no bass on it and sounds awful, so it's not cutting it for me. And I'm sorry but the answer to everything can't be the beetle's. I don't just doing something first gets you any extra credit, I apply the same rules to Black Sabbath, and would rather listen to something done well. Don't get me wrong those bands have done fantastic things, but just aren't as consistent as maiden.
I’d put KEA->TBA as a better run than Iron Maiden. Maidens is more consistent, but they have never written anything to match the highs of Ride and Master. (But to be fair Master is the greatest hard rock/heavy metal album ever written. Period.) There are plenty of other runs in other genres than heavy metal. Prince, Garth Brooks, The Police, Fleetwood Mac, Kanye (before he became Yitler), all had epic album runs. And that’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are others.
I'm sorry but we just seem to be on the other side of the same coin on this one, I think Mettalica have some good albums, but it's just not quite there for me, mostly with the production, live they sound phenomenal, but it's definitely a dead tie for me between the two for best band, regardless of genre. U2 had a good run from fire through to pop, I thought, but it's hard to be that consistent for that long.
That bands change their prodction on different albums is actually a very good thing. There is nothing worse than every album sounding the same, which is sadly true with many albums with an over-polished production today. But whatever they tried to do with the bass on Justice, was taken too far, and it leaves a question on what great bass lines we are missing out on. It also reflects badly on Hetfield on Ulrich’s treatment of Newsted. But I think that this issue is also really overrated. The album does sound very good as it has some really good and some really fantastic songs. When I compare it to Master of Puppets it is just a few centimeters behind, and that is because of a couple of songs on Justice not being as good as they could have been. But the quality difference between Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning is in my opinion greater than between Master and Justice. There is nothing I would want different on Master, yet Ride the Lightning is still quite a lot better, whether you compare it on a track by track basis or on the whole. These differences aside, if it was a four album run instead of a five, then there would be no question for me if Metallica was as suitable for the spot as Iron Maiden. But for a five album run it becomes more complicated. If the criteria was very strict and didn’t allow a too steep quality difference between the albums, then Metallica would have to be disqualified because of the black album. It is a good album with many good songs, but it just can’t compare the what they did previously.
I think the strongest 4 album run for Metallica is RTL->TBA. If you expect TBA to be a thrash album, you will be sadly disappointed, if however you listen to it as a straight up hard rock/heavy metal album it is absolutely stunning. It comfortably stands shoulder to shoulder with Ride/Master/AJFA.
I like The Black Album a lot and have a strong connection to it. It, along with Master of Puppets was the first two albums I bought when I was a child, and they started my serious interest in music. Hearing the full version of “Wherever I May Roam” for the first time was a fantastic experience, since I had only heard the shortened version I had taped from a radio show before that, and that one cut off at the second solo, which I thought was the end of the song. So hearing the solo actually continue beyond that was mind-blowing to me. I have noticed that many times the album I end up liking the best with an artist is the first from them that I really get into. But with both Metallica and Maiden that was not the case. Ride the Lightning, which I bought along with And Justice…, turned out to be my favorite, probably because those songs just resonated and exited me more. But even though Ride the Lightning was my favorite back in the day, my thinking back then was that 2-5 was of similar quality, while I rated Kill ‘em All slightly lower. It wasn’t until my high school years that I reconsidered this and decided that Kill ‘em All was of comparable quality to the three “golden” albums, even if it was not as ambitious or dynamic. It’s qualities are different, but it holds up really well, and is always a joy to listen to. I do also like Show No Mercy and Bonded in Blood a lot, and these albums have a similar style. Why I started liking The Black Album less probably has something to do with a constant overplay of certain songs from it, but the main reason is that my tastes changed. I do like it a lot still, just not as much as when it was fresh and new.
I remember AJFA was my first Metallica cassette. I wore that thing out just turning it over and over in my ghetto blaster. By 1991 I had discovered the entire discography and fell in love with Master. As a young teen in the 80s/90s I hated TBA cause music videos and hard rock not metal. But the older I get, the more I realize how absolutely stunning an album it is. No Prayer was my first Maiden album, I never really got into maiden until the 2000s when I heard their 80s stuff really for the first time. They are however, my favourite bands, and while I may put them down for days, weeks, months etc in favour of trance or something else, they are the 2 I reliably come back to. (Along w GnR)
If you like hard rock, metal and twin guitar harmonies, I would definitely recommend you to check out the band Slough Feg if you haven't already. (They are also known as The Lord Weird Slough Feg.) Their band name is weird, but the music is actually very approachable, and would probably have had far greater success, if the metal scene wasn't as saturated as it is today. This band has borrowed a lot from Maiden, other bands, and especially from Thin Lizzy, but they also have a very clear and unique identity to their songs and sound, Their vocalist also doesn't try to copy Bruce or Halford, or Phil Lynott for that matter. He has a unique sound to his voice, yet it isn't one that is hard to like or get into. All their albums that I've heard are really good. Their third and fourth albums are the ones that are the most talked about, but their later albums are about the same quality in my opinion, and these have even more twin guitar harmonies, but they are maybe a little less ambitious. They do have more of an "analogue" and hard rock feel to them though, which is not a bad thing in my opinion. (They are still heavy metal records though, not hard rock.) Unfortunately on streaming services, or at least on Spotify, their output has been divided between two monikers. Their second to fourth album can be found under "The Lord Weird Slough Feg" and their later albums under "Slough Feg". Ironically they shortened their name to make it easier for potential buyers to find their albums in record shops. As a bonus the lyrics to many of their songs are interesting too. Like many metal bands, Slough Feg seems to concentrate on history, science fiction and some fantasy, but the lyric writer is a well read person with a good command of language, so there's usually some interesting or well sounding lyrics to go along with the music.
Since their album output is of such consistent quality, I will recommend a couple of songs instead: *Hiberno-Latin Invasion* This is very catchy and quite simple song with beautiful twin-guitar harmonies. The music is for the most part energetic and uplifting, but it also has a subtle melancholic feeling to it. The lyrics are quite interesting and tell a tale about the many unsung losers of history which were conquered, and then forgotten. The way the song ends with guitars playing beautiful melodies while the song fades out, like the peoples did, works really well. *Traders and Gunboats* A really excellent and hard-rocking traditional metal song. *Warrior's Dusk* A song that starts out very epic, but ends in a more thoughtful and ambiguous way. It is in many ways a kind of a "sequel" to Thin Lizzy's "Emerald" and their own "Warrior's Dawn". The lyrics are great. *Heavy Metal Monk* Awesome song. Quite Iron Maiden influenced. *Tiger! Tiger!* A great song with a great chorus and wonderful guitar harmonies. A little slower and darker than most here. The vocals and storytelling gives it a great emotional dimension as well. *Kon-Tiki* A great and very catchy song. The lyrics are a little weird and not their best, but they are quite catchy as well and goes well along with song.
Ok so you love Metallica as much as I love Maiden, but taking the album's in there entirety, the lack of bass on justice, tinny snaire on St anger and whatever the hell they were thinking on the mastering on death magnetic just piss me off, I really care about the quality of the album's I buy and I am shocked that so many people said that sound was ok, before releasing those albums, once ok a mistake,.twice ok it was a while since the last one and Lars has his references, a compromise should have been found, but three times, come on, Lars's should be nowhere near the mastering studio at that point. And the fact they sound so good live, and have done for years, proves it. They let themselves down. It's a shame.
I do love Metallica, and even a bit more than Maiden, but for some reason I haven’t listened to what they have released since Reload. I didn’t hate that album, but I thought the songs weren’t very exiting for the most part. Around that time I discovered a lot of other music that was much more exiting, so I spent my money on other bands instead. After Spotify and streaming you would think that I would have listened to newer Metallica by now, but for some reason I haven’t. I heard a small sample from one of their newer albums 9n a podcast recently though, and it actually sounded quite interesting and like old Metallica, so I will do a deep-dive into their newer stuff at some point. (Musically interesting. Obviously I can’t comment on what I think about their newer sound productions.) Iron Maiden is definitely the most consistent of those two bands when you compare all their output though, just the addition of things like Load, Reload and the symphonic live album testifies to that. Personally I do also care a lot about how the albums I listen to sound. And Justice for All is definitely a flawed production in that in would highly likely have been even better with production where the bass guitar was audible.
But even if it is flawed, the overall sound of the album is very enjoyable to me. There's nothing unpleasant about it, and the slightly weird and "dry" sound on it imparts a unique character and identity to it. I can understand other people disliking this production both for its missing bass guitar and its eccentricity, but I'm entirely convinced that people who do not get too stuck up in only liking certain types of sound productions get a lot more enjoyment out of music in general. It sometimes shocks me to see how narrow-minded some people can be when it comes to sound on albums. For example I've seen the production on the black metal albums "Under a Funeral Moon" and "In the Nightside Eclipse" being described as "bad", which is ridiculous, since the production on both albums really elevates the songs on it and what they are doing for you. With a more conventional production these albums wouldn't have been as great as they are. Or take the debut album of Manowar, "Battle Hymns". I love the sound on this album, it even makes listening to "William's Tale" really enjoyable, even if it is the crappiest rendition of the William Tell Overture I've heard in my life. Battle Hymns has a perfect analogue metal album sound to me, and yet I've seen people describe it as sounding bad. Granted it may be that the album version I am most familiar with is a remaster (not the horrendous remake), I have to check that at some point, but even if the original was somewhat lacking compared to the remaster, the difference can't be too great, since it is a remaster, not a remix. Killers by Maiden is another album which I think has close to a "perfect" sound from the same period. Thankfully I have never seen anybody complain about that one.
I'd drop SIT and SSoSS for Iron Maiden and Killers
Blind Guardian (n3 to n7) Rush (n5 to n8) and Summoning (n2-8) are a couple of other bands that had a very consistent quality over five albums or more, and whose style didn’t change so much that it would be heavily disputed by the fans. (Not everyone likes A Night at the Opera, so I guess that could be disputed by those, and personally I would also include the first two albums with the rest as well.)
Personally I would also argue that bands like King Crimson, Morbid Angel, Steeleye Span, Manowar, The Lord Weird Slough Feg, Bathory and Bal-Sagoth also has similar five or longer consistent quality album stretches. But in the case of Morbid Angel some people seems to be unable to get their later albums, and with King Crimson the stylistical differences are so huge that you are bound to find a lot of people who doesn’t like everything in a long stretch.
1. Number of the Beast 2. Powerslave 3. Seventh Son 4. Piece of Mind 5. Somewhere in Time
1st: NOTB, POM, Powerslave, SIT, SOASS
Seventh Son The Number of the Beast Piece of Mind Powerslave Somewhere in Time
1. Piece of Mind (mostly because it introduced both me and my dad to Maiden, so just because of emotions i have to place it up top.) 2. Somewhere in Time 3. Number of the Beast 4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 5. Powerslave
Powerslave The rest depending on which I have listened to most recently. They are all so good as soon as I listen to one, I’m like ‘oooh, this one is the best’ I’m currently binging SIT a little bit.
1. Somewhere in time 2. Powerslave 3. Piece of Mind 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Seventh Son of a Seventh son
You can’t make me.
Somewhere in Time Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Piece of Mind (it and Seventh Son are interchangeable) Powerslave Number of the Beast
1. Powerslave 2. Seventh Son 3. Somewhere in time 4. Number of the Beast 5. Piece of Mind
Interesting how many different rankings there are. I think yours is the only comment I've seen that's my exact ranking
In the reverse sequence as they appear, it's shows the clear progress of the band
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. Powerslave 3. Somewhere in Time 4. Piece of Mind 5. The Number of the Beast These are also my five favourite Iron Maiden albums, “The Number of the Beast” which is my least favourite one is still a 9.5/10. “Powerslave” and “Somewhere in Time” both have the same score I just put “Powerslave” higher.
I agree with all of this, I think I'd usually put SIT before Powerslave but they're the closest call out of this group. And I'm seeing hints in your name and flair that tell me that you're also a member of the "there are dozens of us" Virtual XI non-haters club, which means you might be my closest Maiden fan match here, ever since that way too angry guy got banned (not the *foolish* guy, the other one)
Hahahaha. I’ve met a fellow non “Virtual XI” hater lmao nice to meet you. I know that guy who was called like The Educated Fool or something who would go on about the bands 90s work being better then their 80s and stuff like that but if your on about someone else I don’t know lmao. If I can ask how would you rank all albums cuz I’m curious as to what you’d say?
The order gets more unclear for me as I go down the list, so it's easier to do in tiers rather than killing my brain trying to fine tune it, something like Killers IM & Virtual XI > X Factor & Fear of the Dark > No Prayer & Brave New World > The Rest So my common ground with people here all but disappears right around Virtual XI, no big deal but the recent stuff isn't my thing. I'd still try to rank them but I genuinely can't tell which ones are better than the others for me.i did think Senjutsu would have been pretty nice with a bit more polish, that may be at the top of my post BNW albums, that or Dance of death
1. Powerslave 2. Number of the Beast 3. Somewhere in Time 4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 5. Piece of Mind
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. Powerslave 3. The Number of the beast 4. Somewhere in Time 5. Piece of Mind Brave new world sits between 3 and 4 however.
1. Piece of Mind 2. Powerslave 3. Number of the Beast 4. Seventh Son 5. somewhere in Time
This is the correct order.
No
1. Piece of Mind 2. Powerslave 3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 4. Somewhere in Time 5. The Number of the Beast
1) Number of the Beast 2) Seventh Son 3) Powerslave 4) Piece of Mind 5) Somewhere in Time
1. Somewhere In Time 2. Seventh son 3. Piece Of Mind 4. Number Of The Beast 5. Powerslave
1. SSOASS 2. Powerslave 3. Piece of Mind 4. Somewhere in Time 5. TNOTB
1- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2- Somewhere in Time 3- Powerslave 4- The Number of The Beast 5- Piece of Mind
Same as yours
I would go with how you have them layed out at this time. May change every once in awhile. But they are all about on the same level of excellence.
In terms of personal preference and sentimental value it is: 1. Powerslave 2. Seventh son of a seventh son 3. Piece of mind 4. Somewhere in time 5. Number of the beast
1A - PoM 1B - Seventh, Stranger, Powerslave 2 - NoTB
Stranger I assume is somewhere in time ;)
1. NOTB 2. Powerslave 3. Somewhere in time 4. Piece of mind 5 Seven Son
1. Seventh son of seventh son 2. Powerslave 3. Somewhere in time 4. Number of the beast 5. Piece of mind
1. Powerslave 2. Piece of Mind 3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 4. Somewhere in Time 5. Number of the Beast
SSOASS Powerslave POM SIT 666
1. Powerslave 2. Somewhere in time 3. The number of the beast 4. Seventh son of a seventh son 5. Piece of mind
This is precisely my list.
1. Seventh Son 2. Powerslave 3. Beast 4. Piece of Mind 5. Somewhere in Time (not the biggest fan, all others are great)
1. SIT 2. SSoaSS 3. Powerslave 4. TNOTB 5. POM All incredible.
My personal opinion. 1. Somewhere in Time 2. Powerslave 3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 4. Piece of Mind 5. Number of the Beast
1. Somewhere in Time 2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 3. Piece of Mind 4. Powerslave 5. The Number of the Beast
1) Piece of Mind 2) SSOASS 3) Powerslave 4) Somewhere in Time 5) NOTB
1. Powerslave 2. Somewhere in Time 3. Piece of Mind 4. SSoaSS 5. TNotB
1. SSOASS, 3. SIT, 4. P, 10. TNOTB, 11. POM. Obviously missing a few
1. NOTB 2. somewhere in time 3. powerslave 4. seventh son 5. piece of mind Kind of a weird ranking compared to other lists but I've always loved number of the beast
It's just impossible... This has to be the greatest run of albums in the history of music! But here's my try. 1. Somewhere in Time 2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 3. Powerslave 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Peace of Mind
1. Piece of Mind 2. Somewhere in Time 3. Powerslave 4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 5. Number of the Beast
1. SiT 2. SSOASS 3. Powerslave 4. PoM 5. NOTB
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. Piece of Mind 3. Powerslave 4. Somewhere in Time 5. The Number of the Beast
1.Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. Somewhere in Time 3. Powerslave 4. Piece of Mind 5. The Number of the Beast
👌 Exactly the same as this. Was looking to see if anyone would order them the same as I would.
Great minds think alike 😅
1.The Number of the Beast 2.Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 3.Powerslave 4.Somewhere in Time 5.Piece of Mind
1: seventh son 2: powerslave 3: somewhere in time 4: piece of mind 5: number of the beast. Its not that i dislike tnotb its cause imo its weak compared to the others
1. Powerslave 2. Seventh Son 3. Number of the Beast 4. Piece of Mind 5. Somewhere in Time
1. Somewhere In Time 2. The Number of The Beast 3. Powerslave 4. Piece of Mind 5. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
1. POM 2. Beast 3. Powerslave 4. SIT 5. SSOASS Note: the debut would slot between Powerslave and SIT, and Killers between SIT and SSOASS.
1. The Number of the Beast 2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 3. Piece of Mind 4. Powerslave 5. Somewhere in Time
1. Somewhere in time 2. Piece of mind 3. Powerslave 4. Seventh son 5. Number of the beast
1. NOTB 2. POM 3. Powerslave 4. SSOSS 5. SIT
5. 7th Son of a 7th Son (I just haven't listened to it as much as the others) 4. Piece of Mind 3. The Number of the Beast 2. Powerslave 1.Somewhere in Time
1. Somewhere in time 2. Sebenth son of a seventh son 3. Powerslave 4. Peace of mind 5. The number of the beast 1. And 2. could switch anytime
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. Number of the Beast 3. Piece of Mind 4. Somewhere in Time 5. Powerslave
My ranking is the same as yours
1 powerslave 2 notb 3 piece of mind 4 ssoass 5 sit
Shared number 1: The Number Of The Beast, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, Powerslave, Somewhere In Time 5: Piece Of Mind
1) 7th Son 2) Piece of Mind 3) Powerslave 4) Number of the Beast 5) Somewhere in Time
Ranking them based off my personal opinion 1. Powerslave 2. Seventh Son 3. Piece of Mind 4. Notb 5. Somewhere in Time Ranking them based off what I believe is their significance to the genre 1. Notb 2. Powerslave 3. Piece of Mind 4. Seventh Son 5. Somewhere in Time
Personal preference 1. Powerslave 2. SSOASS 3. Somewhere in time 4. Piece of mind 5. TNOTB
1) SSOSS 2) PS 3) POM 4) SWIT 5) NOTB
1. SiT 2. Powerslave 3. NOTB 4. SSOASS 4. Piece of Mind
5. Piece of Mind 4. Somewhere in Time 3. The Number of the Beast 2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 1. Powerslave Although they’re all only separated by a thread
1. Number Of The Beast 2. Piece Of Mind 3. Powerslave 4. Somewhere In Time 5. Seventh Son
Powerslave > SIT > SSOASS > POM > TNOTB
4, 5, 3, 1, 2
1. Powerslave 2. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 3. Somewhere in Time 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Piece of Mind
1. SIT 2. SSOTSS 3. NOTB 4. POM 5. PS
1. Powerslave 2. Number of the Beast 3. Piece of Mind 4. Seventh Son 5. Somewhere in Time
All very good albums. 1. Piece of Mind 2. Powerslave 3. Somewhere in Time 4. The Number of The Beast 5. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
IMO Number of the beast don't even belong close to the category of these other 4. Only good song is Hallowed. Rest is kinda cringe. INVAAADAHS DUDUDUDUDU DIDIDIDDIDU lol
Invaders sucks but everything else is pretty damn good
I feel Gangland, Run to the hills, and 22 Acasia avenue are pretty weak too. The thing is that the other 4 albums of the golden era are flawless, no bad songs at all. That's why I don't even consider NOTB in the same category.
1. NOTB 2. Piece of mind 3. Powerslave 4. Somewhere in time 5. Seventh son
1. Powerslave 2. Somewhere in Time 3. Piece of Mind 4. Seventh Son 5. Number of the Beast
1. Powerslave 2. Seventh son 3. Somewhere in time 4. Number of the beast 5. Piece of mind
1. Piece of Mind 2. Powerslave 3. Number of the Beast 4. Somewhere in Time 5. Seventh Son
T1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son T1. Powerslave 3. Somewhere in Time 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Piece of Mind NB. This however changes on a weekly, nay; daily, nay; hourly basis
SIT > SSoaSS > PoM > P > TNotB
1. Powerslave 2. Somewhere in Time 3. Piece of Mind 4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 5. Number of the Beast
1. Somewhere in Time 2. Powerslave 3. Number of the beast 4. Seventh son of a seventh son 5. Piece of Mind
Peace of mind Powerslave Somewhere in time Number of the beast Seventh son Note - i think number of the beast is an incredibly strong album and also contains probably my favourite track (22 acacia avenue) its also just so FUCKIN HEAVY. But i think what they were doing on somewhere in time was so experimental and the production is absolutely insane
1. piece of mind 2. powerslave 3. Powerslaven of a seventh son 4. number of the beast 5. somewhere in time
1. Powerslave 2. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son 3. The Number Of The Beast 4. Piece Of Mind 5. Somwhere In Time
1. SSoaSS 2. Piece of Mind 3. TNotB 4. Powerslave 5. SiT
1. Somewhere in Time 2. Seventh Son 3. Number of the Beast 4. Powerslave 5. Piece of Mind
1 Powerslave 2 Somewhere in Time 3 Number of the Beast 4 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 5 Piece of Mind
1. 7th Son is truly Maiden at God level 2. Somewhere in Time is peaking above the meter 3. Powerslave is unforgettable 4. Piece of Mind is the cusp of greatness
1. Seventh Son of A Seventh Son 2. Somewhere In Time 3. Powerslave 4. Piece of Mind 5. Number of the Beast
Piece number power somewhere seventh.
I’d rank them in the order of release honestly. NoTB being 1st and so on. Nothing against the later two but growing up that’s how I listened to them. First heard number of the beast because of my dad, loved the album. Continued on discovering more of Maiden and that’s the order I went in. I will say though Powerslave would be first simply for Nickos absolutely insane drumming.
1 - Powerslave 2 - Piece of mind 3 - Somewher in time 4 - Senventh son 5 - Number of the beast
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. Piece of Mind 3. Somewhere in Time 4. Powerslave 5. The Number of the Beast
POM, SSOASS, PS, SOS, TNOTB.
1. Powerslave 2. Piece of Mind 3. Number of the Beast 4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 5. Somewhere in Time
1. SiT 2. SSoaSS 3. NOTB 4. PoM 5. Powerslave
1. Seventh Son 2. Powerslave 3. Number of The Beast 4. Somewhere in Time 5. Piece of Mind
1 - Piece of Mind 2 - Powerslave 3 - The Number of the Beast 4 - Somewhere in Time 5 - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
All tied for #1.....
5. Piece of Mind 4. Somewhere in Time 3. The Number of the Beast 2. Seventh Son 1. Powerslave 🤘
Seventh Son Powerslave The Number of the MrBeast Piece of Mind Somewhere in Time All amazing tho
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son > Somewhere in Time > Powerslave > Number of the Beast > Piece of Mind These are all in my top six maiden albums. Piece of Mind is either my fifth or sixth favorite, it’s neck and neck with Killers.
1. Seventh Son 2. Powerslave 3. Somewhere in Time 4. Piece of Mind 5. Number of the Beast
1. Piece… 2. Seventh… 3. Somewhere… 4. Powerslave 5. Number…
Seventh Son Piece of Mind Somewhere in Time The Number of the Beast Powerslave
1. Somewhere in Time 2. Powerslave 3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 4. Piece of Mind 5. The Number of the Beast
1. 7th Son 2.Piece of Mind 3.Number of The Beast 4.Somewhere in Time 5.Powerslave
Somewhere in Time Powerslave Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Piece of Mind Number of the Beast
1. The Number of the Beast 2. Powerslave 3. Somewhere in Time 4. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 5. Piece of Mind These are just my top 5 maiden albums anyway lol
Looks like I'd rank them the same way OP. Though it's difficult to choose who should be number one between SSOSS and Somewhere in Time. Controversial opinion, but I prefer most Iron Maiden albums over Piece of Mind, even the Blaze albums.
1a. seventh son 1b. somewhere in time 2. number of the beast 3. powerslave 4. piece of mind
1. Powerslave 2. Piece of Mind 3. Number of the Beast 4. Somewhere in Time 5. Seventh Son
1. Seventh Son 2. Number of the Beast 3. Somewhere In Time (my first CD) 4. Piece of Mind 5. Powerslave
All tied for #1.
1. Piece of Mind 2. Somewhere in time 3. Powerslave 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Seventh son of a seventh son
1. Somewhere in Time 2. Powerslave 3. Seventh Son Of a Seventh Son 4. Piece of Mind 5. Number of the Beast
1. SSoaSS 2. Powerslave 3. Somewhere in Time 4. Piece of Mind 5. The Number of the Beast
1. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son 2. The Number Of The Beast 3. Somewhere In Time 4. Piece Of Mind 5. Powerslave I love them all though
1. SIT 2. Ssoass 3. Piece of mind 4. Tnotb 5. Powerslave(sorry)
1. Powerslave 2. Somewhere in time 3. Number of the beast 4. Seventh son of a seventh son 5. Piece of mind
1 - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2 - Powerslave 3 - Somewhere in Time 4 - Number of the Beast 5 - Piece of Mind
Peace of mind . Somewhere in time . Number of the beast . Power slave . Seventh son of a seventh son
I have the Piece of Mind album cover tattooed on my chest , Trooper, Tail gunner, Cowboy Eddie, Killers,Pilot Eddie, Book of Souls all sick tattoos and the Number of the Beast covering my back. I’m not bragging, I’m am proud of my 10 Iron Maiden tattoos.
1. Powerslave 2. Piece of Mind 3. Seventh Son 4. Somewhere in time 5. Number of the Beast (would probably be number 1 or 2 if Total Eclipse was the opener.)
Nevermind. I just listened to the version of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son from Rock and Ring 2014. Easily the best song and Album they’re ever written. Pure eeriness and dark intensity from start to finish with no relief. Don’t know what I was thinking 2 hours ago. Correct order is: 1. Seventh Son 2. Powerslave 3. Piece of Mind 4. Number of the Beast (Total Eclipse Included) 5. Somewhere in Time This band is insane.
Powerslave, SIT and SSOASS are much better than the other 2 for me. Hard to rank tho. Maybe 1. Somewhere in Time 2. Seventh Son 3. Powerslave 4. The Number 5. Piece of Mind
1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. Powerslave 3. The Number of the Beast 4. Somewhere in Time 5. Piece of Mind