New Iron Maiden

I don't think Maiden's last few have been very progressive.  Just long songs with too much repetition and too many similarities.  Slow intros and outros.  I wouldn't mind them doing some more adventurous stuff in terms of songwriting.  How would a live band like Maiden that has huge sing along choruses do a song that didn't do the verse/chorus structure?  If their epics were more like Rime of the Ancient Mariner I'd be thrilled.  I think they have the chops to do something special still but I don't know.  I love Iron Maiden and metal but I'm not that hopefully.  Will still go see them when they come close, best live band I've seen.

I don't care for the cover myself.  Compared to classic Maiden artwork its quite bleh.


Edited by Ancient_Mariner - July 29 2015 at 14:21

It does!

I was caught off-guard too, it was not until I read some of the comments!!

infocat wrote: Sounds like Iron Maiden.

Not quite

^ Dude, get it - QUICKLY.........
I've thought highly of Maiden since Powerslave (I was barely 13 when my 'Satanist' friend, of the same age, mind) he played me the cassette of it. Then he wanted Piece Of Mind taped from LP (he didn't have a working TT to play his record) , so then To Tame A Land became my fascination.
VirtualXI is good, just a frad uninspired. Sounds like a great band running on vapours. Weak for their standards, but still relatively good. I can forgive them after, what seems to me, as the musically demanding tunes of The X Factor. Probably drained them completely. ( A notable comparison can be made to Chicago, their VII album was technically demanding, utilised every shred of their chops, then their following VIII, was kinda straight-forward).

progbethyname wrote: ^^ agreed on all counts Tom and Sagi. Virtual X1 is lowest of the low for iron maiden in general and its really not that bad of an album. I like the educated fool on that one. It's solid. Anyhow. I am very excited for the next maiden. It will definitely be better than virtual 11. Lol

Yeah, Educated Fool is good, Futureal is a killer opener, The Clansman isn't too bad either. When Two Worlds Collide is very good, Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger is good, Como Estas Amigos is O.K. The rest is a bit 'take it or leave it' - average (or below - Angel And The Gambler - 9 minutes of Maiden-style R&R, novel for the first few minutes, then gets tired pretty fast). In a full Maiden mood, I give it 3 stars - my least fave Maiden is No Prayer.......don't even have that on vinyl - just cassette.

thebeastmustdie wrote: I'm borderline obsessed with 82-88 era Maiden, especially Murray and Smith's guitar work on those albums, but I'd be lying if I said I've really enjoyed anything they've done since No Prayer For The Dying. I only managed to listen to Final Frontier once all the   way through and that was a very tough listen. will still check this out though

Only album I could say I thoroughly enjoy after 7th Son is Brave New World, a real come back, all the rest have their moments; A Matter of Life and Death also a tad higher among the post-2000 releases.

^ Virtual XI was quite a step down - quite a straight-ahead Hard-Rock album, but has its moments.....

^ Tough pick - The Sign Of The Cross, I suppose, but any of the longer tracks are just amazing......
......it's 20 years old this year, has a very 'natural' sound, and is still quite fresh today. Hard to believe I scored the vinyl for 30 bucks back in '99.

progbethyname wrote: Sagichim wrote: Tom Ozric wrote: I'm probably that album's biggest fan...... Sorry but I'm the X Factor's biggest fan  Er no X2.

Why........?? (said in deadpan, robotic fashion)

I loved the artwork too.  It's very apt for an Iron Maiden album.  Eddie, nothing more need be said.