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Iron Maiden announce new album

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sazabirules said:
I haven't listened to any of Bruce's solo work. I assume I should start with Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding?

Yeah, those two for sure. The debate over which one is the better album seems to slightly favor TCW, but AoB is really frigging good too. And probably more accessable, so I'd say start there, then try TCW.
 
Combichristoffersen said:
Seems I'm the only one who actually likes Virtual XI :lol

No I love it! I think both Virtual XI and The X Factor were great, not quite early/mid-80s standard but Man on the Edge and Futureal are right up there, and I think Lightning Strikes Twice would be - though I like Blaze I think he really ate this one, Bruce would have smashed it.
 
yacobod said:
and Mr. Solo the repetitive nature of Harris songs was nowhere near as bad during the Golden era as it is on the newer material, Mr. Harris' epic song writing is so formulaic now, it's like they are put together on an assembly line, just listen to the title track on Dance of Death for example

even Brave New World is extremely repetitive, especially in the choruses

A Brave New World
In a brave new world
A Brave New World
In a brave new world
In a brave new world
A Brave New World
In a brave new world
A Brave New World

:lol i still like the song but its repetitive as fuck

Tis true, but Out of the Silent Planet is the worst offender on that album, christ, he repeats that line one billion times at the end. I had to trim my mp3 it annoyed me so much. But I do like the album.
 
Combichristoffersen said:
Seems like it'll be another bunch of long, awful songs that go nowhere. So we're basically looking at AMoLaD II here. And AMoLaD was terrifuckingbad, so I have no hopes whatsoever for this shit :(



Fuck Fillerslave, and you can wait with Piece of Mind. Grab Seventh Son of a Seventh Son and Somewhere in Time instead.
Combichristoffersen said:
Hallowed.. is awesome. Still one of the best metal songs ever written.

And why oh why won't they ever play Deja Vu live, yet keep playing trash like Heaven Can Wait? :(
What the...
 
TheLastCandle said:
Yeah, those two for sure. The debate over which one is the better album seems to slightly favor TCW, but AoB is really frigging good too. And probably more accessable, so I'd say start there, then try TCW.

Its really a toss up.

AoB has Arc of Space (one of the most beautiful tracks ever), Darkside of Aquarius, Road to Hell, Man of Sorrows, while CW has The Tower, The Book of Thel, Chemical Wedding, and Jerusalem (also one of the most beautiful tracks ever).

I think CW inches just slightly ahead by being a full on concept album. Both are easily among the best of 90's metal though, and absolutely destroy what Maiden was doing at the time (hell, they also destroy the last two Maiden albums that Bruce made before he went solo).
 
Love the new single!

Cant wait for the full album, and the very soon upcoming tour.
August cant come soon enough here, Sonisphere here we come.

Up the irons!
 
sazabirules said:
I haven't listened to any of Bruce's solo work. I assume I should start with Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding?
Chemical Wedding is amazing, AOB is good too but not as good IMO. Anything else is a bunch of crap.

You guys might want to check Adrian Smith's solo band too Psyche Motel, Welcome to The World is a great album (Rain is one of my all time fav songs) and their first one is good too.
 
TheLastCandle said:
Yeah, those two for sure. The debate over which one is the better album seems to slightly favor TCW, but AoB is really frigging good too. And probably more accessable, so I'd say start there, then try TCW.

Both are great, but I'd say AoB is a bit more melodic than TCW, with TCW being a relatively heavy album (I once saw it described as having a guitar sound that 'made Maiden's guitars sound like sewing machines' :lol ). Tyranny of Souls is pretty good too, especially Kill Devil Hill. And yeah, Silver Wings from Bruce's best of album is gee fuckin' willikers Batman awesome, as it sounds like a carbon copy of mid-80s Maiden.

NameGenerated said:
What the...

Heaven Can Wait is boring filler trash, and AMoLaD is easily their worst album to date. Anything more you'd like to know? :p
 
Combichristoffersen said:
and AMoLaD is easily their worst album to date. Anything more you'd like to know? :p

This cannot be said with a straight face in a world where No Prayer For The Dying exists.
 
Hearing "El Dorado" makes me wonder why, on 3 straight albums now, they've gone with a terrible choice for a single. Being a lifelong Maiden fan who worships Adrian and Bruce, and was over the moon when they returned, I cannot tell you how electric it was hearing Wicker Man for the first time. It was a slice of distilled, classic Maiden that would have fit on every one of their classic albums (by design, no doubt). From the opening riff I knew the first time I heard it that it would be huge.

But their lead singles on each of the next 3 albums? Long, meandering, odd choices, lacking that memorable riff or gallop that Wicker Man and most classic Maiden singles had.

EDIT: bonus - The Prisoner, live from 1982. Clive Burr still on drums
He was better than Nicko
. Clive, Steve, Dave, Adrian, Bruce - this was my favorite Maiden lineup. Id kill to see them play this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tb8Jo11uGo
 
Solo said:
Hearing "El Dorado" makes me wonder why, on 3 straight albums now, they've gone with a terrible choice for a single. Being a lifelong Maiden fan who worships Adrian and Bruce, and was over the moon when they returned, I cannot tell you how electric it was hearing Wicker Man for the first time. It was a slice of distilled, classic Maiden that would have fit on every one of their classic albums (by design, no doubt). From the opening riff I knew the first time I heard it that it would be huge.

But their lead singles on each of the next 3 albums? Long, meandering, odd choices, lacking that memorable riff or gallop that Wicker Man and most classic Maiden singles had.
Wildest Dreams is a terrible song with the exception of the middle section (and the video was fucking stupid) I really wish they went with Rainmaker from the start. I think the idea of Benjamin Breeg as a single was to tell the fans that the album is a bit different than the last, cause Different Worlds (amazing song BTW) can fit perfectly in Dance of Death. Also Breeg was better at drawing attention to the new album with “who is Benjamin Breeg” and such.
 
Solo said:
This cannot be said with a straight face in a world where No Prayer For The Dying exists.

No Prayer for the Dying is a masterpiece compared to the shitfest that is AMoLaD. Seriously, I can't fathom how anyone could enjoy AMoLaD (although a few loonies seem to do so, while the majority of the fanbase seems to wish it could hate AMoLaD to death). It really is completely, amazingly awful in every way imaginable. And the new album looks to be AMoLaD part II. So I'll just keep pretending Maiden quit after Dance of Death. Harris is a hack nowadays, seems like the only way he can get an erection is by writing long, boring, 'progressive' wankfests that go nowhere. Fuck this shit, Maiden is dead.
 
:lol

Overreact much? The new album isnt even out yet, and even if it is mediocre like DoD or AMOLAD, Maiden can still tour and play their old shit and still be the best metal band out there.

The tour starts tonight - cant wait to read the setlist tomorrow! Maiden pretty much never changes their setlist anymore on tour, so what they play tonight in Texas is 99% certain to be what Ill see in Toronto in 3 weeks.
 
Solo said:
:lol

Overreact much? The new album isnt even out yet, and even if it is mediocre like DoD or AMOLAD, Maiden can still tour and play their old shit and still be the best metal band out there.

Na. Fan reaction to the length of the songs on the new album seems to be mostly negative, as it looks to be AMoLaD all over again. I really, really hoped they would get their shit together and fix all that was wrong with AMoLaD, but Harris has always been a stubborn bastard, so it seems he's hellbent on not listening to fan reactions and doing what he thinks is the best for the band. Which is fine, as I just won't buy the new album, just as I didn't bother buying AMoLaD. So it's no biggie, I just hoped Maiden would go out with a bang, instead of two giant shitstains in a row.

But then again, quite a lot of Maiden fans are cynical bastards who happen to dislike pretty much everything the band does. There's a reason why they shut down the official forum back in the day :lol
 
Combichristoffersen said:
Na. Fan reaction to the length of the songs on the new album seems to be mostly negative, as it looks to be AMoLaD all over again. I really, really hoped they would get their shit together and fix all that was wrong with AMoLaD, but Harris has always been a stubborn bastard, so it seems he's hellbent on not listening to fan reactions and doing what he thinks is the best for the band. Which is fine, as I just won't buy the new album, just as I didn't bother buying AMoLaD. So it's no biggie, I just hoped Maiden would go out with a bang, instead of two giant shitstains in a row.

But then again, quite a lot of Maiden fans are cynical bastards who happen to dislike pretty much everything the band does. There's a reason why they shut down the official forum back in the day :lol

You keep talking about "fan reaction" or "most of the fans"...who cares? If you like it or hate it, thats all that matters. Who gives a shit what "the fanbase" thinks? What you describe sounds more like masochism than being a fan. Generally, when I stop enjoying a band/TV show/film series that I once loved, I stop listening/watching it. Writing off an album solely on track lengths? smh

Anyways, Ill buy the album because I own every studio, live, and compilation/greatest hits package they've ever released, so at this point there is no jumping off the train. Oh, and Ill also buy it because I think it will be good.
 
Solo said:
Anyways, Ill buy the album because I own every studio, live, and compilation/greatest hits package they've ever released, so at this point there is no jumping off the train. Oh, and Ill also buy it because I think it will be good.

I've bought everything up to and including Dance of Death, but after that I just.. stopped caring all that much. I love their old, pre-AMoLaD studio stuff, but nothing they've released after DoD, including live albums, interest me. I'll always have the memories of when Maiden was actually good, I guess :p

Oh, and yeah, the cover art for the new album is a bit bleh too. Not as bad as the DoD cover was, though :lol

wRATH2x said:
So this is Iron Maidens last album?

I don't buy it, but are they advertising it as the last album?

No, just fan speculations based on comments from Steve and Nicko regarding their health, the album title and some comment Steve once made about wanting to quit after their 15th studio album or something. Although I sort of do hope they quit, so Adrian and Bruce can go back to doing Bruce solo albums again.
 
Combichristoffersen said:
Hey man if you don't like the new stuff you can always ignore it and enjoy their live shows. I want Maiden to keep pumping out albums, it's better than most of the shit released in this age, at least for me :)
 
Ashour said:
Hey man if you don't like the new stuff you can always ignore it and enjoy their live shows. I want Maiden to keep pumping out albums, it's better than most of the shit released in this age, at least for me :)

My disappointment was not due to Maiden doing more albums (I probably won't buy them anyway, the direction the band is going just doesn't appeal to me), but due to it meaning that it'll take even longer for Bruce to do a new solo album :lol
 
Combichristoffersen said:
My disappointment was not due to Maiden doing more albums (I probably won't buy them anyway, the direction the band is going just doesn't appeal to me), but due to it meaning that it'll take even longer for Bruce to do a new solo album :lol
Tyranny of Souls is a bunch of shit with the exception of a few songs. AMOLAD is a better album.
 
Solo said:
Steve Harris confirmed yesterday that it isn't :lol
I knew it :lol

As long as they tour I don't care though, I'll give this a listen and hope its good. I'm pretty meh to the last three albums and I like Brave New World, so I hope this one is a "like"

And I don't know why I'm posting this but Di'Anno must have been feeling like shit all these years :lol I never really gave any of his work outside of Maiden a chance, is it any good?
 
Ashour said:
Tyranny of Souls is a bunch of shit with the exception of a few songs. AMOLAD is a better album.

Now I know you're trolling. ToS might not be as good as TCW or AoB, but AMoLaD is on the same level of awful as St. Anger.

wRATH2x said:
I never really gave any of his work outside of Maiden a chance, is it any good?

That Gogmagog EP he did back in the 80s was decent, some of his early solo stuff is OK and that Original Iron Men album he did with Dennis Stratton has a few decent soft rock songs, but mostly his solo stuff is shite and poor covers of the stuff he did with Maiden.
 
wRATH2x said:
And I don't know why I'm posting this but Di'Anno must have been feeling like shit all these years :lol I never really gave any of his work outside of Maiden a chance, is it any good?
Everything I heard is crap. The only album worth checking is Nomad, it's pretty good. He's backed by great musicians too (Bassist and Drummer of Angra, forgot who the guitarist is).
 
Combichristoffersen said:
Now I know you're trolling. ToS might not be as good as TCW or AoB, but AMoLaD is on the same level of awful as St. Anger.
WTF! :lol that's trolling man. Nothing is as awful as St. Anger. AMoLaD has really good songs, I enjoyed every single one of them live too.
 
Ashour said:
WTF! :lol that's trolling man. Nothing is as awful as St. Anger. AMoLaD has really good songs, I enjoyed every single one of them live too.

A bit trolling, maybe :lol But seriously, I'd probably take St. Anger over AMoLaD. I just really, really fucking hate everything about AMoLaD except Different World and For the Greater good of God (and the latter is only decent), while I actually loved the title track off St. Anger :lol
 
Combichristoffersen said:
A bit trolling, maybe :lol But seriously, I'd probably take St. Anger over AMoLaD. I just really, really fucking hate everything about AMoLaD except Different World and For the Greater good of God (and the latter is only decent), while I actually loved the title track off St. Anger :lol
I only enjoy the 1st half of the title track off St. Anger until the talkies then it becomes terrible. I enjoy most of AMOLAD, yes some songs need editing but that doesn't break them for me.
 
Ashour said:
I only enjoy the 1st half of the title track off St. Anger until the talkies then it becomes terrible. I enjoy most of AMOLAD, yes some songs need editing but that doesn't break them for me.

That's essentially my problem with modern Maiden. Harris' penchant for writing self-indulgent, long songs just for the sake of writing long songs just doesn't appeal to me. I prefer their shorter, rockier songs (Rainmaker, The Wicker Man, Running Free etc.), with the occasional, long 'epic' song (Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Clansman, Phantom of the Opera etc.) inbetween. But when almost every song is over 6 minutes long, with some even pushing 11 minutes in length, it just feels bloated for no apparent reason. The songs don't really go anywhere, and it all just ends up being really, really boring. Maiden has always had a certain progressive element to their music, but AMoLaD seemed like some weird experiment where they tried turning the band into a 'real' prog metal band.
 
Combichristoffersen said:
Now I know you're trolling. ToS might not be as good as TCW or AoB, but AMoLaD is on the same level of awful as St. Anger.

Impossible. Steve Harris could shit in a paper bag and it would be a better album than St. Anger.

AMoLaD is ok. It had it's moments, but I do tend to agree that the length of the songs is the problem. If you chopped some of those songs in half (aside from Benjamin Breeg, which I rather like) you could have a pretty damn solid album.

I'll get the new album and enjoy it to some degree I'm sure, but to be honest I don't really need them to release an album ever again. :lol I just need them to exist because they are one of the best damn live bands ever, and I will see them every single time they come near me. They've already done their part by writing no less than 6 classic albums, so I'll accept them releasing merely ok albums if it means they keep coming around.
 
Apparently Harris also stated that the majority of the songs on TFF are written by Smith, Dickinson and Harris. Hopefully Harris wasnt being modest and the album is heavy on Smith/Dickinson tracks.
 
TheLastCandle said:
Impossible. Steve Harris could shit in a paper bag and it would be a better album than St. Anger.

AMoLaD is ok. It had it's moments, but I do tend to agree that the length of the songs is the problem. If you chopped some of those songs in half (aside from Benjamin Breeg, which I rather like) you could have a pretty damn solid album.

I'll get the new album and enjoy it to some degree I'm sure, but to be honest I don't really need them to release an album ever again. :lol I just need them to exist because they are one of the best damn live bands ever, and I will see them every single time they come near me. They've already done their part by writing no less than 6 classic albums, so I'll accept them releasing merely ok albums if it means they keep coming around.
OK Maiden albums are far better than most of the albums being released nowadays.
 
i listened to el dorado a few times yesterday, can't say that i'm very excited about the new album based on that track, its pretty terrible

at least Brave New World had the awesome first single The Wickerman (w/the opening riff totally stolen from Judas Priest's Running Wild), and Dance of Death had the competent Wildest Dreams as its first single followed by the glorious Rainmaker

AMoLaD is total shit tho, the only decent song on there is a Different World, No Prayer for the Dying may suck, but its leaps and bounds better than AMoLaD, the tracks are shorter so they dont outstay their welcome

i'm a firm believer that bands have a shelf life, Maiden hit its creative peak with SSoaSS, Adrian Smith knew it and decided to walk away before things went downhill, Bruce hung around for 2 more mediocre albums but he knew the bad had gotten extremely stale, the next 2 Maiden albums with Blaze are mostly a lot of filler and crap

BNW was pretty good comeback/reunion album that i think benefitted from nostalgia, and i think the guys were actually energized to come back together, i think BNW is actually better than No Prayer and Fear of the Dark, and would actually be a suitable follow up from SSoaSS, but DoD and AMoLaD are easily worse than FotD, and are back to mediocre Maiden

w/e tho, they still kick ass live, and i will probably go see them this summer in Tinley Park, IL for fun, but i have no illusions that the new album will be good
 
Powerslave is the creative peak, man. Actually, to be completely accurate, the peak of Maiden is Live After Death, which is in my eyes the best live album ever.

SIT and SSOASS were also great, but definitely get filed under "the experimental era".

Iron Maiden to Killers to Number of the Beast to Piece of Mind to Powerslave is like starting from the foothills and reaching the peak of Mount Everest. SIT/SSOASS are then jumping off the peak with a parachute, and NPFTD is the crash landing :lol
 
Solo said:
Powerslave is the creative peak, man. Actually, to be completely accurate, the peak of Maiden is Live After Death, which is in my eyes the best live album ever.

SIT and SSOASS were also great, but definitely get filed under "the experimental era".

Iron Maiden to Killers to Number of the Beast to Piece of Mind to Powerslave is like starting from the foothills and reaching the peak of Mount Everest. SIT/SSOASS are then jumping off the peak with a parachute, and NPFTD is the crash landing :lol

Powerslave is their worst 80s album IMO. Aces High, Back in the Village and Rime of the ancient Mariner are great, with Powerslave being decent, but the rest is awful and the most blatant filler material they've ever shat out. I'll always hold SiT and SSoaSS as their absolute best albums, with NotB and Killers as worthy contestants. I wish they would bring back those awesome synth guitars :(

I'll give you Live after Death though, it's pretty good. Although quite a few Maiden fans seem to hate that too :lol
 
No Maiden fan worth shit would hate Live After Death. Its the band at their absolute peak and height of popularity on their most ambitious tour. Bruce's voice was still 100% there, and Dave and Adrian were on absolute fire the whole tour. As a unit, they've never been better. And the setlist is comprised solely of the first five albums, so its all legendary stuff. And its incredibly well captured and produced.

I dont know who these Maiden fans are you keep talking about, but they obviously suck.
 
I disagree, self titled thru the number of the beast are scaling the mountain before arriving at the golden era of Maiden, Piece of Mind thru Seventh Son are the true Golden Era line-up for Maiden (Murray, Smith, Dickinson, Harris, McBrain)

**i actually prefer the rhythm section of the first 3 albums tho, i think Clive Burr + Steve Harris had such great chemistry, the first 3 albums are more lively and energetic

but Seventh Son is definately their creative peak, Fillerslave may have the best guitar sound out of any Maiden album (no disputing that really), but it also has a pointless instrumental, and weaker songs Flash of the Blade and The Duellists, while they are not as bad as Quest for Fire, they are still definately filler on an otherwise great album, Powerslave is basically filler book-ended by 2 great songs on each side, SSoaSS is golden besides the throw away track Can I Play with Madness

Somewhere in Time is underrated, title track, wasted years, stranger in a strange land, deja vu, and alexander the great are all awesome, even the loneliness of the long distance runner is pretty good, the only poor tracks on there in my opinion are sea of madness and heaven can wait

Solo said:
Bruce's voice was still 100% there, and Dave and Adrian were on absolute fire the whole tour.


Solo man, go listen to Beast over the Hammersmith from Eddie's Archives if you want to hear 100% prime bruce sing, his vocals are completely godly in that performance, Live After Death was recorded at the very end of that tour, and bruce even admits that his voice was pretty shot by the end of the tour, i don't think its his best vocal performance by any means, he sounds better on rock in rio lol
 
Solo said:
No Maiden fan worth shit would hate Live After Death. Its the band at their absolute peak and height of popularity on their most ambitious tour. Bruce's voice was still 100% there, and Dave and Adrian were on absolute fire the whole tour. As a unit, they've never been better. And the setlist is comprised solely of the first five albums, so its all legendary stuff. And its incredibly well captured and produced.

I dont know who these Maiden fans are you keep talking about, but they obviously suck.

IIRC people complained about Bruce having a cold (?) when they recorded the album, making his voice sound 'off', although the LaD video is the one who gets the most flak. I think. Beast over Hammersmith seems to have replaced LaD as people's fave Maiden live album as of late. Which is understandable, as Beast over Hammersmith is smokin'.
 
yacobod said:
**i actually prefer the rhythm section of the first 3 albums tho, i think Clive Burr + Steve Harris had such great chemistry, the first 3 albums are more lively and energetic

Truth. I already said earlier that Burr >>> McBrain. Big time. Ive been listening on YouTube a lot lately to their 1982 Hammersmith gig, and Burr's drumming is so much more energetic and punchier. It pains me to hear McBrain's limp dick intro to Run To The Hills.
 
yacobod said:
SSoaSS is golden besides the throw away track Can I Play with Madness
I used to like it a little bit, until VH1 started playing it over an over again. Now I go "fuck this" every time I hear it
 
wRATH2x said:
I used tolike it a little bit, until VH1 started playing it over an over again. Now I go "fuck this" every time I hear it

:lol I did like the song, but it's definitely overplayed to death and beyond.

@yacobod: I think Sea of Madness is decent enough, but Heaven can Wait is indeed trash.
 
Combichristoffersen said:
IIRC people complained about Bruce having a cold (?) when they recorded the album, making his voice sound 'off', although the LaD video is the one who gets the most flak. I think. Beast over Hammersmith seems to have replaced LaD as people's fave Maiden live album as of late. Which is understandable, as Beast over Hammersmith is smokin'.


ya basically said the same thing in my stealth edit above, ya if you don't have eddie's archives, definately seak out Beast over hammersmith by other means if necessary, bruce's vocals are phenomenal on here, the live versions of Children of the Damned and 22 Acacia Avenue are godly
 
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