The FOTD title song's great - I dunno, I tried some of the rest a while back for the first time in years and even the good stuff like "Be Quick or Be Dead" just sounded slightly uninspired to me. The 90s got rough for a lot of bands.

I don't care that they do long songs on the new stuff at all. I prefer it actually. They do em well. "Too long" only matters for me if I already dislike the material - see Opeth or some such thing... I play the new Maiden albums all the time and it is never a chore for me.

See I've never really gotten into newer Maiden but I agree a 4 minute song could be a long song if you fuck it up bad enough.

Is the general style more subdued cuz being a big x factor fan I think maiden pulls off moody as good as the do big and epic

Yeah I've very rarely ever listened to something I thought was killer and was like "if only it was 4-5 minutes shorter."

Killers is 42 years old! yay!
What do you think about this album? I think it's flowing, not too long, melodic. Favorite - Prodigal Son.

For as great as the debut is, Killers improves on it in pretty much every aspect. Tighter, more consistent, more intense and melodic songwriting and a slicker production. Lots of great deep cuts on this one like the intense "Murders in the Rue Morgue", the power-metal-by-way-of-punk bonus track "Twilight Zone" and the despondent yet fearsome "Drifter", which has some of Di'Anno's wildest vocals set to record. My favorite though has to be the title track, which I think gives the not to distant thrash metal from Metallica and even Slayer a run for their money.

Killers is my second favorite Maiden album, and quite often my favorite. It is concise, straight to the point and full of both energy, memorability and amazing vocals. The antithesis of modern Maiden.

Interestingly, it is the 'consistency' of the material in Killers that allows it to focus and therefore be entertaining throughout, but only one song from it makes my top five Maiden songs. The debut album is definitely more spacey, à la Blue Oyster Cult and Triumph, than they would ever be again, and does contain a dud or two unlike Killers. Despite what might sound like a criticism, the debut has three of my top five songs. Remember Tomorrow, Strange World and Charlotte the Harlot. The lengthy interlude in Charlotte the Harlot sounds like it was picked straight from the Spectre's era Blue Oyster Cult. The tone and atmosphere of that and Strange World have never been reproduced by Maiden again.

And, ironically, it's an album the band doesn't hold in high esteem. Crazy to think that two fan favorites (Killers and SIT) have both been mostly 'overlooked' in the live setting by Maiden for 35+ years.

The past few weeks spent listening to it at least every other day has it going from my second least favorite of their 80s era to becoming my third favorite Iron Maiden album, just below Powerslave and Somewhere in Time. Recognizing it has none of the rough edges of the debut, that every song has such rich and densely layered melodies, that every riff and core progression is catchier and more memorable than it's got any right to be, that Paul Di-fuckin'-Anno can lay out some righteous vocals... really, the only times they top that are in Somewhere in Time, and the better half of Powerslave.

I just don't think the "punk" style of singing on Killers fits into Bruce's operatic style. As far as SIT, it was when they went in a more prog direction, this next tour is going to feature that album and the latest, so that will be cool. They have been doing the whole re-live the 80's for over a decade now and it's what the fans want but I would be more interested in hearing some deeper cuts.

Killers is a lot of fun and has that raw punky edge - not really one of their standout albums but it's great while it's on.

speaking of their art, a cool, insightful interview with Derek Riggs was just posted at BraveWords:

https://www.eonmusic.co.uk/derek-riggs- ... -2023.html

The band (or at least Steve) doesn't hold Killers in high esteem because it got savaged by UK critics* when it came out and it didn't chart in the UK as high as the first album. I think Steve still carries that with him, regardless of how beloved the album is by fans. I love Bruce, but I would love for some of those songs to show up in the set even with Bruce singing them. At the very least they should give Wrathchild a rest.

*UK metal critics have a horrible tendency to want to knock things down after they've been built up. They're kind of cunts like that.


Here's a talking point: Am I the only one who thinks Live After Death is in fact the worst live album from a classic band?

It surprises me that "Futureal" has been mentioned in this thread just once considering how fucking great it is, one of the greatest actually.

I absolutely love 'Killers'. Blew my mind when I was seventeen. Raw, fun and powerful, and that fucking Paul Dianno (and that awesome cover art!). I think it is 100 times better than the debut.

Live After Death is a great introduction to Maiden for the newcomer and has some classic performances but there are better Maiden live albums out there (Beast Over Hammersmith and Rock In Rio for example). But it's still at least in the 85%-95% range.

It's nowhere near being the worst live album from a classic band. Not when Under A Pale Grey Sky and Cross Purposes Live exist.

Also, I really don't get how Killers is a classic. It's a good record, sure, but not a great one.

It's just so clear that the first two Maiden albums were basically their repertoire up to that time, and that most of the strongest songs went on the debut, and most of the lesser ones went on Killers, with some exceptions such as the title track, Wrathchild and Prodigal Son (all of which are classics).

Quite a few of the songs just feel more like B-side material (Innocent Exile, for example). Also the lack of an epic a la Phantom of the Opera really tells against the album; had one been included then I would have definitely rated it higher.



Most British music critics seem to have an element of this. Plenty of them are/were frustrated musicians, at least that's the theory.

Malcolm Dome though was one of the exceptions, he always had an enthusiasm for the music first and foremost and kept that throughout his writing, and stood by his opinions consistently.

Hmmm. I've always considered "Exile" to be one of the album's highlights. And "Purgatory" is an all-time Maiden top-ten classic, IMO.

I'm on team "Killers is way better than the debut". Wrathchild and Murders in the Rue Morgue are tight back-to-back classics and Prodigal Son is easily the best early Maiden deep cut. I wouldn't say the debut is bad at all but the best stuff on it is no match for the best stuff on Killers.

Another one here who prefers Killers to the debut. I think it's far superior. The debut is easily the weakest of the 80s albums for me (though still a great album).

Don't think I've posted in here yet, so I'll drop a few (probably unoriginal) thoughts:

-The debut is significantly better than Killers for me. Wrathchild is the only great song on Killers, whereas the first album has so many good ones.

-The 5 album run with Bruce is basically the peak of metal, but those songs are elevated by just how good of a live band Maiden is. Truthfully, there is a little bit of filler (mostly a few tracks on NOTB and the middle of Powerslave), but the heights are just so high.

-No Prayer for the Dying is the biggest grower in Maiden's catalogue, and I'd take it over a number of their albums (including Killers). Both the title track and Hooks in You are wildly underrated in the band's discography.

-Fear of the Dark, by contrast, is the weaker record. Its two best songs (Fear of the Dark and Judas Be My Guide) are better than anything on No Prayer, but the album I come back to more frequently is the shorter one. Also, Northtale's cover of Judas Be My Guide might be the only Maiden cover I've heard that was better than the original

-I'm not sure why The X Factor is the better regarded of the two Blaze albums. Virtual XI is much better, not only because it's shorter, but also because has more interesting songwriting. Lightning Strikes Twice should be a staple in their set today, and if Bruce had originally sung on it, it definitely would show up once in a while.

-Brave New World competes with any of the 5 albums in the band's classic run, and although I would concede that it suffers from many of the problematic tropes of modern Maiden, the performances and songs are so good that it just doesn't matter. The Thin Line Between Love and Hate is the single most underrated track they've ever done. Just a wildly emotional and intense performance with killer guitar solos. Also, most of the tracks that also appear on Rock in Rio are even better on that album.

-Speaking of which, Rock in Rio is the definitive live album for Maiden in my books. Live After Death is nowhere near as good. I will admit that I have not heard the numerous live records they've put out more recently though.

-Dance of Death (the song) needs to be played live. This is another song that lives up to the band's 80s legacy.

-The Book of Souls and Senjutsu are both brilliant for the same reason: they take every modern Maidenism that we all hate, make it even worse, and yet the final product comes out better than before. Seriously, both of these records are better than DOD/AMOLAD/TFF even though they're longer and more extreme in their usage of slow intros and outros, repetition, and lengthy songs. I was always more positive about modern Maiden than most prior to these records, but ultimately still disappointed. Now, I'm of the exact opposite opinion: these guys are still creative geniuses and know exactly what they're doing.

I'd definitely say the debut is better than Killers. Catchier, more memorable songs, better experiments. Killers is great for a punky blast of energy but the debut has a lot of just iconic shit. But then again it was also my first metal album ever.

I agree that it's been criminally overlooked. (So, too, has "The Nomad".)
Glad to see some love for the song. ALL of the tracks that close out each reunion-era album are essential Maiden, IMO.

The debut has the better songs (Maiden picked the best songs to go on the debut, like any smart band does), but Will Malone's lame production brings them down a smidge. Martin Birch's amazing production elevates the Killers songs to a similar, if not higher level than the debut.

The Thin Line... has my favourite vocal lines in a Maiden song ("I will hope my soul will fly, and I will live forever"). I love the way Bruce delivers those few lines, especially the word 'forever'. It gets me every time.

I hope they return Sanctuary back to setlist. Love that song.

Yeah, sung by Paul

Face In The Sand

Double bass drum, a rarity by Nicko's standards.

This is my take, as well. Sonically, it packs more of a punch and the title track is one of my favorite Maiden songs (definitely my favorite DiAnno track) but the debut is just stacked with classic songs from top to bottom.

Another overlooked barnstormer and one of the highlights of the reunion era. Absolutely love every minute of this tune.

Fear of the Dark is a real uneven one for sure. The title track is among the band's best, but there are a handful which always fail to stay with me. Even "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" doesn't do it for me, despite being the one which many consider to be quite good. "Childhood's End" is the only track which manages to be memorable off that record to my ears personally.

The Thin Line Between Love & Hate is a great, GREAT song. It starts heavy then ends soft. I'd rather they run that formula into the ground then rewriting Sign of The Cross over and over again.

"Childhood's End" is easily my favorite from that album. I like the title track, but it's more of an 'anthem' than an 'epic', unlike their typical album-ending songs. Still great for what it is, of course.

I think it's a perfect way to cap off Brave New World, which is the album the band needed to save themselves after the slow descent they'd experienced in the 90s. Bruce belting out the name of the song at the end is some of his most graceful vocal work. I love that they kept Nicko at the end going "Oh, I fucking missed it!". I don't think he missed a beat - I think it's just a very earnest exclamation of how much he'd missed working with Bruce and Adrian, like the whole band was back together again.

What I love most about The Thin Line Between Love and Hate is that it feels like a jam song at times. It just wanders aimlessly through these various passages with guitar solos popping in and out. They do that occasionally on some of the recent albums as well, and I think it fits the 3-guitar format really well.

I was wondering: during a live performance, ever since they became a three-guitar band, who among Adrian or Janick plays Adrian's guitar solos on their pre-Janick songs? Is it still Adrian? Do they alternate playing those solos since Janick used to play them anyway when Adrian was away? Or does Janick stick to playing rhythm guitar on those songs?

I've only seen Maiden perform live once and I didn't take notice. Also, I was on the side where Dave was standing and they hardly move around the stage unlike Bruce or Steve.

That's an interesting observation. I'd like to think you're right here.

From what I have noticed on a lot of the older songs, Dave and Adrian play the solos and Janick just dances around and swings his guitar in every poser move like an 80's glammer.

Childhood's End is really good (especially when they come back to the intro melody with a driving beat), but I can't help but feel like that really interesting drum arrangement on the chorus could pack a lot more punch. Judas Be My Guide, on the other hand, is perfect, easily the best song on the album. I also really like The Apparition, which apparently is one of the most hated Maiden tracks ever? Why? Because it doesn't have a chorus which repeats "The Apparition" ad nauseam or a superfluous triple guitar solo? Sometimes I really don't understand Maiden fans.

To my knowledge and as seen in live performances, they mostly stick to their original solo distribution, except The Trooper and Evil That Men Do, where Adrian and Janick play the solos simultaneously.