SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

For the longest time, Iron Maiden was my #1 band. It hasn't been until recently
where they've made a series of decisions that I just couldn't endorse that I'd
question whether or not they truly were the golden gods of metal.

Maiden sticks out in my mind for having the longest winning streak in the history
of heavy metal. From the self-titled debut to 1980 to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,
just classic album after classic album. The most remarkable thing is that you
can slowly see musical evolution from one album to the next. The first three
albums where just metal down your throat assaults with hints of prog here and
there, and that prog exploded on Piece Of Mind, an album many consider to be
their finest work (not I, but regrardless). A couple years later, Maiden once again
walked on the edge with keyboard tendencies which would eventually morph into
Maiden's ultimate artistic statement, the aforementioned 7th son, a how to for up
and coming metal bands who wish to add keyboards but not come across as
complete fairies.

Musicians; if Steve Harris is not the greatest bass player in metal, he's at least in
the top 3. This evidence is supported by the fact that he's the primary songwriter
of the two. Dave Murray and Adrian Smith; as individual guitarists they're pretty
good, but together, they're arguably the greatest guitar duo ever in music! Nicko
McBrain is a vastly underrated drummer who gets the job done with one fucking
bass pedal (and describes using two bass pedals as "undrummer-ish" oh the
horror). Pretty fucking impressive considering how fast the band plays. Last but
not least, Bruce Dickinson, the air raid siren. An intriguing medium between the
screechy vocals of Rob Halford and the rumbling but still medolic vocals of Lemmy
Kilmister (actually, that's more Paul Di'Anno than anybody else), Bruce has
inspired countless power metal and non-related vocalists as well as captured the
imagination of millions of denim jacket wearing rivet heads everywhere.

and of course, no tribute to Maiden is complete without Eddie

Best album: The Number Of The Beast

Best songs: Run To The Hills, Wasted Years, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, Powerslave

Posted: Dec 18 2008 02:31 am

Maiden is...fuck, they're just amazing. That's all I'm going to say because that's all I have to say. Oh, and

UP THE IRONS!!!

Posted: Dec 18 2008 12:15 pm

I love Maiden. The early years right up through Brave New World were fantastic. People hate Blaze, but Blaze era stuff was pretty damn good. Problem was, Blaze couldn't sing the Bruce stuff very well, so the tours sucked.

After BNW, they started to suck though. Dance of Death and A Matter of Life and Death just didn't really do it for me.

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

Syd Lexia wrote:

I love Maiden. The early years right up through Brave New World were fantastic. People hate Blaze, but Blaze era stuff was pretty damn good. Problem was, Blaze couldn't sing the Bruce stuff very well, so the tours sucked.

After BNW, they started to suck though. Dance of Death and A Matter of Life and Death just didn't really do it for me.

One of my problems with latter day Maiden. Steve Harris's songwriting got way too repetitive. 90 second soft intro, 6 minutes of an actual song, then an intro reprise.

Posted: Dec 18 2008 01:27 pm

Love Maiden but that had a few shitty albums, pretty much anything with the letter X in the title
X Factor
Virtual XI

But they also have a ton of great albums. The question really is to me, as it was issued on the throwdown portion of That Metal Show on VH1 Classic, the episode with Mike Portnoy, and that is Judas Priest or Iron Maiden?

Posted: Dec 18 2008 01:32 pm

Gotta back Maiden. Classic Maiden is better than Classic Priest, and Priest has had more bad albums.

I suppose it comes down to a matter of preference though. If you like your metal to be melodic, you'll pick, Maiden. If you prefer your metal loud, you'll pick Priest.

Posted: Dec 18 2008 01:56 pm

I think though Priest wins for me, since without Priest there may never have been a Maiden.

Posted: Dec 18 2008 02:08 pm

Priest wins for me because of Painkiller, but I do agree that Iron Maiden has more classic albums. Piece of Mind is a masterpiece. The solo in "Flight of Icarus" nearly brought me to tears when I first heard it, "Sun and Steel" is an overlooked gem, and even the slow songs are damned good. And of course, any Maiden artwork is made of win.

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

I'm gonna go with Priest for a number of reasons

-Maiden had the longer winner streak, but they only recovered once, and that was with Brave New World, which is good, but not great. Priest on the other hand, slipped up a couple of times, but they always came back with a classic. One with Screaming For Vengeance, and the second time with Painkiller.

-Priest is all around heavier

-Say what you will about Nostradamus, it wasn't the same song over and over again.

I will say that Maiden is the better live act, but their sets have become way too predictable. Priest's previous tour was half standards, and half shit they haven't brought out in decades. With Maiden's recent tour, the biggest surprise we got was Moonchild.

Posted: Dec 18 2008 03:40 pm

Also, Maiden may have Eddie, and who doesn't love Eddie, but Priest has ROB FUCKING HALFORD. As great as Bruce Dickinson is as a vocalist, he cannot top Halford, ever. Also, the fact that Priest really brought about the Metal Uniform for a great many years, and even funnier to me where it came from, but a uniform maiden wore themselves even.

Posted: Dec 18 2008 07:00 pm

'Moonchild' was fucking spectacular live.

I'm very split on this choice, as I've loved both bands very much for very many years, and they both hold an extremely important place in my heart.

T he important thing with me is that I still remember the first time I ever heard both Priest and Maiden.

With Priest it was 'Priest Live!' on vinyl. I remember sitting there listening to, in particular, The Hellion/Electric Eye, and Turbo Lover for some reason. Then it was Metal Works I believe, and that cemented my fandom for life.

With Maiden it was Best of the Beast. I have very clear memories of running around the house singing 'The Trooper' when I was 7 years old. I was proud that I had all the words memorized.

As far as live shows go, I saw Priest on their 'Retribution 2005' tour, and it was just made of win. They're new arrangement of 'Diamonds and Rust' was particularly amazing.

Maiden was supposed to be my first concert on the Brave New World Tour in 2000. I had to miss it, and they didn't come back to Vancouver until this year. I literally waited 8 years to see them, and after their explosive opening of 'Aces High' straight into '2 Minutes To Midnight', I turned to my friend and told him I could go home happy now. Maiden may play the same stuff, but it's jaw-dropping every fucking time.

And as far as albums, Maiden was absolute classic straight until 'Fear of the Dark', which was just not quite amazing. Then they kinda slagged, still with good albums, but not amazing. Then they bounced back in 2000. I was 10 years old and it was the most important, amazing news in the world when I heard that Bruce and Adrian had rejoined Maiden.

Priest though...they did 'Turbo' and 'Painkiller' within five years, and though the albums are worlds apart, they're both undeniably Priest.

Plus Priest managed to bounce back from 'Demolition', one of the worst albums I've ever heard.

Posted: Dec 19 2008 07:23 pm

I actually like Fear of the Dark a lot. I recently went through and downloaded all my favorite Maiden songs and the majority seemed to be from Fear of the Dark.

Posted: Dec 20 2008 04:35 pm

I noticed that too. 'Fear', 'From Here To Eternity', 'Afraid To Shoot Strangers', 'Be Quick or Be Dead' and 'Wasting Love' are all favorites of mine, but I can't get into the rest.

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

I liked Afraid To Shoot Strangers. At least when I was 15-16, when I was impressionable.

Posted: Dec 21 2008 11:39 pm

yeah, it's kinda just meh for me now

Posted: Dec 22 2008 12:08 am

Afraid To Shoot Strangers is an awesome title, but the song doesn't quite live up to it. The title track from Fear of the Dark is fucking epic though.

Posted: Dec 22 2008 01:56 am

There are no words for how amazing 'Fear' is...fuuuuck.

And I love the backing vocals in 'From Here To Eternity'

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

ross_rifle113 wrote:

There are no words for how amazing 'Fear' is...fuuuuck.

And I love the backing vocals in 'From Here To Eternity'

I love "Fear Of The Dark" and hate it. I love it cos its a great Maiden song, and I hate because Maiden have been re-writing it over and over again, to the point that I never want to hear them play a clean guitar intro again.

Posted: Dec 23 2008 12:40 pm

Here is a great question, what is your favorite Eddie? I am a fan of both Somewhere in Time Eddie, and Powerslave Eddie.

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

King wrote:

Here is a great question, what is your favorite Eddie? I am a fan of both Somewhere in Time Eddie, and Powerslave Eddie.

One of these two, and Live After Death Eddie (even though I'm not very fond of the album).

Posted: Dec 23 2008 08:51 pm

I have an 18' figure of Number of The Beast Eddie (also Killers Eddie), and that's my favorite.

Title: Hugh Joined: Sep 23 2007 Posts: 1591

I've never seen Priest live, I almost got to this summer but missed them. Maiden fucking owned live though.

Posted: Dec 24 2008 01:01 am

King wrote:

Here is a great question, what is your favorite Eddie? I am a fan of both Somewhere in Time Eddie, and Powerslave Eddie.

The Live After Death Eddie is cool because the artwork is done so good, I really like the blue and yellow on it. I also like the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Eddie, and the Virtual XI Eddie is pretty cool (even though the album was meh).

Joined: Nov 27 2008 Location: Australia Posts: 12

My favorites are death on the road and trooper eddie. Btw, am i the only one who has an upside track listing on my piece of mind cd case, or is it meant to be like this?

Posted: Dec 25 2008 08:43 pm

Eddie The Trooper, and Aces High Eddie.