Rank the Albums

[The Educated fool]

After reading Teamrock.com's rankings of Iron Maiden's studio albums today, I thought this might prove to be a thread that got people talking... let's see. While I didn't necessarily agree with the author's picks, (which you can read HERE) I did definitely agree with him that ranking Maiden's albums is a tough thing to do. In the end, it's all about what appeals to you most, after all... and the worst Maiden album still has moments of actual metal brilliance anyway, in my humble opinion, so it's more a case of least-best than worse, as it were...

If, then, I were to rank Iron Maiden's catalogue of studio albums based on my opinion, the list would read:

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

What say you, folks? Thoughts? Opinions? Concession? Outrage? Let's talk about it!

[Jennie-5128]

To do it the other way round to you:

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

A lot of this is to do with the memories I associate with the albums rather than pure musical quality per se. BNW was such a blast of fresh air; FOTD was my daughters obsession when she was little, etc.

[Gonzo]

Exactly my thoughts, Jennie. I will always rank Piece of Mind as the most influental album in my life. It may not be the best, but it is the best to me.

Short story. A long long time ago, while visiting my fathers best friend I saw a vinyl of Piece of Mind... Nethless to say, it blew my mind. So, there I was, scared as shit, but somehow I couldn't take my eyes off of that cover. Everytime we visited this guy, who later became my godfather, I watched that picture for hours, literally hours.

At that time I was 3 or 4 years old, I did not know what it was, I did not understand how someone could have that horrid but captivating image in his apartment. Until one day, they played the vinyl. Euphoria is the only word that comes to my mind.

A few years after that he passed away, I inherited his collection and now that vinyl is framed in my bedroom, despite my girlfriends request, signed by the band members. Piece of Mind, for me will always be the best album ever.

In order to get that copy signed I had to stay for 3 weeks in the hotel where they were going to stay.

Oh, Virtual XI and The X Factor suck. Sorry Blaze.

[Jennie-5128]

Gonzo, yeah, someone bought my daughter a toy drum kit when she was 3. The image of her drumming away and shouting "Feel of the Dark! Feel of the Daaaarrrk!" never fails to bring a big grin to my face. She plays keyboard now...

(and yeah Blaze never really fit well with me in Maiden either. I like Wolfsbane tho )

[Gonzo]

You know, when I take care of my niece. We play this game all day. She's 6 and already a Heavy Metal fan. She lives in Florida and I live in Argentina, but I travel at least once a month to the states for work. In Halloween 2014 she wanted me to go with her to trick-or-treating, her mother wanted her to dress as a Disney Princess. She replied that she wanted to go get a costume with me and her daddy.

Needless to say, I got a Helloween Pumpkin mask, his father was lucky enough to find a Quiet Riots Metal Health look alike, and she picked up a Powerslave Eddie mask!!!!!! Poor his mother. Hahahahaha. If I find any pictures I'll be sure to post them.

BEST HALLOWEEN EVER!!!!

[Jennie-5128]

Well done you
Your niece is lucky to have someone like you who loves her

*cough*

Anyway, topic.

I wonder if a fan of Blaze-era will come to this thread?

[The Educated fool]

@Jennie

I'm not surprised to find out that we agree (relatively) on where the Blaze-era albums would fall on a list like this... I think Blaze was a tough sell for most Maiden fans. He did his best though, and there were still some excellent songs on those albums, in my opinion, but yeah, compared with the rest of Maiden's output, a bit weaker. I'm a little more surprised to see that we agreed on Killers though. I thought that might be more contentious. Cool to see that FOTD and NPFTD get some love on your list too... I think they're both chronically underrated.

@Gonzo

Would love to see some pics... that sounds like a cool Halloween!

Great story about POM too.

[Tunak]

Greetings from Chile

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

The X Factor and Killers are underated af.

[Jennie-5128]

Tunak, the COVER of Killers is ace but musically I find it v underwhelming...

But then your picks are radically different from mine all round

Maybe because we're opposite sides of the planet?

[Tunak]

Tunak, the COVER of Killers is ace but musically I find it v underwhelming...

But then your picks are radically different from mine all round

Maybe because we're opposite sides of the planet?

Hahaha, maybe geography influences our taste in music :O

And Killers... is most of all a sentimental thing, I associate killers with good memories