New Iron Maiden

Tom Ozric wrote: ^ Just BRILLIANT, more consistent than Seventh Son...........

oh, are you serious??

Tom Ozric wrote: ^ Well, the title-track is in the Top-Ten for Maiden, if not Top-5, but the album overall falls short of Somewhere In Time. I think so, anyway. And Powerslave has Back In The Village, which has always been a slightly 'lesser' track on an otherwise BRILLIANT album.

new IM album has 4 songs I don't like.
Back in the Village is more than ok with me.

To me, the new album falls short of even Brave New World which I enjoyed a lot more and had no filler songs IMO.

Tom Ozric wrote: ^ I can agree with that. It's pretty darn hard to have 90+ minutes of perfection, especially with a back-catalogue of incredible work. BNW is pretty awesome, AMoLaD too, however, on-par are DoD, TFF, and TBoS. And even then, still hard to top much of the 80's classics and The X Factor. No Prayer holds the lowest rate for me, even though a weak 3 star. Virtual XI being a 3.5 for me. Then it's all 4's and a few 5's.

To me, Virtual XI is their weakest effort; also Dance of Death was rather uneven yet better than TFF which bored me terribly last time I gave it a chance.

No Prayer... was ok with me but it came after SSOTSS plus they had lost Adrian Smith. It was a failed attempt to get back to the roots. Still there are some songs I like on it (the singles Holy Smoke and Bring Your Daughter...being the weakest songs for me).

Powerslave is great but a bit too repetitive. Most songs sounds the same, except ROTAM, of course. I wouldn't put it among my favorites (Brave New World, SSOASS, Somewhere in Time, Book of Souls and maybe The X Factor).

^ It's indeed very good, and along with The Final Frontier, my least spun of the 'new era' albums.
I'm really enjoying The Book Of Souls, and Empire Of Clouds, whilst the first few spins I was underwhelmed, it's revealing itself as an incredible, story-telling epic that works amazingly well. Such is the musical depth here, it does take a few spins to sink in. Some of the shorter tracks aren't as exciting, but still very good. But now, upon re-discovering Somewhere In Time, they don't play as fast as they used to. Things like Long Distance Runner and Deja Vu are amazing, I don't hear that tempo these days.
And which is a stronger track - Alexander The Great, or Seventh Son ????   Both impossibly fantastic.

Alexander agree, hope they play it live during next year's tour.

THE X FACTOR.............
...........6 out of 5 stars........................THE BEST MAIDEN ever.........followed ever so closely by Somewhere In Time/Powerslave..........................then the debut..............

The Book of Souls - A really strong album - and pleased to see them starting to get a bit of 'prog' recognition in the music media at last, after steadily moving to longer, more complex works in more recent times (especially since Bruce's return). I enjoyed their early days when part of the NWOBHM (I bought 'The Soundhouse Tapes') and just quietly drifted way from them in the mid-80s (as with much classic/prog rock) as they became a bit samey and I moved to more complex fayre. I now find them surprisingly deep and multi-layered, with more intelligence and variety than the usual metal bands. Good on them! Empire of the Clouds and the Red and the Black are especially good tracks for any progger to ponder!

I also love the album.......I have my tickets for next April already. I am expecting an amazing show next year....Can't wait!! 

progbethyname wrote: Metal Hammer's 2015 Album of the year.

wow, really? I LOLed reading that.