The peak of Maiden career.

One of the greatest heavy metal albums out there!

Written by Jaeryd on 20.08.2012 at 23:26

My only problem with most of Iron Maiden's stuff after the first two albums is Bruce Dickinson. Imagine, if you will, that one of the guitars was not tuned properly, and continued to hit every note a little too flat for a good portion of the track.

Vocals are the instrument of the voice, when used they make a huge impact on the overall sound of each song. Bruce, with his faux-operatic style and forced vibrato, seems to put to much pressure and coercion on his voice, and ends up being off-key very often because of it. If Paul Di'Anno didn't get his ass kicked out, he would've made this album twice as good as it already is. Unfortunately, while I do enjoy this CD, I still get put off by that forced vibrato and all the flat notes.

I think my favorite part of this album is that it was inspired by none other than one of my favorite book series by Orson Scott Card: the Alvin Maker series. First book is Seventh Son, and I believe that the second Red Prophet is my favorite of the series. Some badass historical fiction makes for a pretty cool source of inspiration, I guess.

I think you have to keep in mind that Iron Maiden are aiming for a heavy sound (duh!), even though this was one of their less heavy albums. Therefore Bruce has to emphasize that with his voice too, its suites the music that his voice is forceful regardless of the fact that it may be slightly off key on occasion. Vocals are a certainly a matter of opinion though, its a matter of ones own ears and mind.

Written by Guest on 28.05.2013 at 02:09

I think you have to keep in mind that Iron Maiden are aiming for a heavy sound (duh!), even though this was one of their less heavy albums. Therefore Bruce has to emphasize that with his voice too, its suites the music that his voice is forceful regardless of the fact that it may be slightly off key on occasion. Vocals are a certainly a matter of opinion though, its a matter of ones own ears and mind.

I posted that a while ago, while I was still busy listening to all the stuff I missed out on (I grew up in a Christian family that didn't like me listening to metal, so I missed out on a lot of classic bands and have had to play catch-up). It's been nearly a year since than and I have since fleshed out and modified my opinion. It's true, his voice really does fit the music, and the main feature of that voice is its raw power. Paul Di'Anno most likely wouldn't have made this album any better--in fact his voice could've made it worse as it might not have fit the overall sound. When I listen to Bruce, I can still hear him when he is off-key... but I like what he does for the music, so it's perfectly OK.

I would say its most power metal IM album, still like it, band what had a talent enver write same and make ''new sound'' good

Its a boring album except last few songs.. "overrated" i think

Grand, fierce and dramatic, that's what Iron Maiden is best at!

Cut "Can I Play With Madness" (not a huge fan of the title track either, but that's not as bad as CiPWM) and this would be 10 material.

This is what I call a perfect album. It is by far my absolute favourite album I've ever heard. Excellent lyrics, nice concept, amazing musicianship and an overall epic feel are the reasons why I love it so much.

The absolute best from Maiden!

Written by Joppe on 26.10.2016 at 15:35

Cut "Can I Play With Madness" (not a huge fan of the title track either, but that's not as bad as CiPWM) and this would be 10 material.

What's wrong with those tracks?

Written by Guest on 24.06.2017 at 15:35

Written by Joppe on 26.10.2016 at 15:35

Cut "Can I Play With Madness" (not a huge fan of the title track either, but that's not as bad as CiPWM) and this would be 10 material.

What's wrong with those tracks?

Totally nothing wrong with those tracks. For me the horrendous track is The Evil That Men Do.... my God that song is so goddamned boring.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 24.06.2017 at 16:24

Written by Guest on 24.06.2017 at 15:35

Written by Joppe on 26.10.2016 at 15:35

Cut "Can I Play With Madness" (not a huge fan of the title track either, but that's not as bad as CiPWM) and this would be 10 material.

What's wrong with those tracks?

Totally nothing wrong with those tracks. For me the horrendous track is The Evil That Men Do.... my God that song is so goddamned boring.

Yeah, I can see why not to like The Evil That Men Do, but CIPWM and the title track are great tracks

Written by Guest on 24.06.2017 at 16:25

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 24.06.2017 at 16:24

Written by Guest on 24.06.2017 at 15:35

Written by Joppe on 26.10.2016 at 15:35

Cut "Can I Play With Madness" (not a huge fan of the title track either, but that's not as bad as CiPWM) and this would be 10 material.

What's wrong with those tracks?

Totally nothing wrong with those tracks. For me the horrendous track is The Evil That Men Do.... my God that song is so goddamned boring.

Yeah, I can see why not to like The Evil That Men Do, but CIPWM and the title track are great tracks

Well, I can't, as TETMD always seemed to me as one of the two strongest of these tracks (with Infinite Dreams) especially live.

As for CiPWM = Typical maiden hit song, lame chorus that ruins it for me, ok song otherwise, I suppose.
As for SSoaSS = Not exactly a weak song, but forgettable and takes too long to build up, I do enjoy the last couple of minutes though. Somehow the song reminds a lot of "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" which I rather listen to.

Infinite dreams as well as the title track are the outstanding highlights here for me.Then a huge gap to Moon Child and The Evil that Men do.
CIPWM, but also the Prophecy, get skipped often.

Written by Joppe on 24.06.2017 at 18:06

Written by Guest on 24.06.2017 at 16:25

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 24.06.2017 at 16:24

Written by Guest on 24.06.2017 at 15:35

What's wrong with those tracks?

Totally nothing wrong with those tracks. For me the horrendous track is The Evil That Men Do.... my God that song is so goddamned boring.

Yeah, I can see why not to like The Evil That Men Do, but CIPWM and the title track are great tracks

Well, I can't, as TETMD always seemed to me as one of the two strongest of these tracks (with Infinite Dreams) especially live.

As for CiPWM = Typical maiden hit song, lame chorus that ruins it for me, ok song otherwise, I suppose.
As for SSoaSS = Not exactly a weak song, but forgettable and takes too long to build up, I do enjoy the last couple of minutes though. Somehow the song reminds a lot of "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" which I rather listen to.

I completely disagree. CIPWM chorus is bery catchy, and while catchy does not equal good, it is an absolute classic tune because most fans love it.
And the title track is one of my favorites off the whole album, I think the long build up is fun and amazing.
Honestly I always listen to the whole album, even The Evil That Men Do, and recently I decided this is my favorite Maiden record

Listening to "The Evil That Men Do" now. It was one of the reasons I picked up Seventh Son of a Seventh Son back in the day (the concept album part also intrigued me), as a radio station I listened to used to play it often.

It's a big part of me getting into Maiden. Great song. Glorious intro.

And of course better than "Can I Play With Madness".

Their last great album.

R.I.P. Iron Maiden (1975-1988)

This is it. This is where Iron Maiden peaked imho. If it wasn't for that annoying Can I Play With Madness this would be my favorite album from them, but still the individual songs are outstanding and the performance as flawless as it can possibly get. It's 80's Iron Maiden at their best after all, so even with that one less enjoyable song it's still one of the crowning achievements of metal music.

Written by Maco on 06.01.2019 at 05:32

Their last great album.

R.I.P. Iron Maiden (1975-1988)

Whole 90 they have good albums, only last 2 are bad, you seems are influenced by wrong persons

Written by Irritable Ted on 16.02.2020 at 13:30

Written by Bad English on 16.02.2020 at 11:25

Written by Maco on 06.01.2019 at 05:32

Their last great album.

R.I.P. Iron Maiden (1975-1988)

Whole 90 they have good albums, only last 2 are bad, you seems are influenced by wrong persons

Fear Of The Dark is the only decent album after 7th Son. Everything since has been a muddled mess.

Prayer is my fav IM album even daughter song is overated, Blaze albums was good 3 Bruce come backs specially 1th are awesome,
How many metal bands if we compare put good albums out after 5th? Few and IM is one of them

Written by Irritable Ted on 16.02.2020 at 13:30

Fear Of The Dark is the only decent album after 7th Son. Everything since has been a muddled mess.

I would call Fear of the Dark a tad more than decent, No Prayer a decent one, and the Book of Souls good to very good. As for the rest, I agree.

Written by Metal Rasputin on 16.02.2020 at 02:28

This is it. This is where Iron Maiden peaked imho. If it wasn't for that annoying Can I Play With Madness this would be my favorite album from them, but still the individual songs are outstanding and the performance as flawless as it can possibly get. It's 80's Iron Maiden at their best after all, so even with that one less enjoyable song it's still one of the crowning achievements of metal music.

I largely agree. This is where they peaked. CIPWM can be pretty annoying, also The Prophecy gets skipped by me regularly. As for the rest, amazing album.

Not the best from Maiden but it's still pretty good. Can't stand Can I Play With Madness.

Written by DeathMetal on 01.05.2020 at 10:31

Not the best from Maiden but it's still pretty good. Can't stand Can I Play With Madness.

Bring your daughter is worst band song, here Claywonant, can I play whit madness and moonchild stands out

Written by Bad English on 01.05.2020 at 10:56

Written by DeathMetal on 01.05.2020 at 10:31

Not the best from Maiden but it's still pretty good. Can't stand Can I Play With Madness.

Bring your daughter is worst band song, here Claywonant, can I play whit madness and moonchild stands out

I listened to Bring Your Daughter once and I never went back. I try to pretend like it doesn't exist.

Written by DeathMetal on 01.05.2020 at 23:26

I listened to Bring Your Daughter once and I never went back. I try to pretend like it doesn't exist.

That is what there is to do with (at least) one song on each Maiden album. Everybody makes their choice as to which song to ignore.

I used to think Maiden's best album was Powerslave, until I spun this one a few more times.

Powerslave is 9.5/10 for me, whereas this one is 9.8/10 and their best - Infinite Dreams, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, and The Prophecy are slightly weaker than the other songs to be a perfect 10/10.

This album really grew on me, it's a fantastic record.

Hands down, it is the best Iron Maiden album of all time. All songs are excellent and consistent.

Been revisiting all of Iron Maiden's albums after the recent release of Senjutsu and thought I'd update my thoughts on this record. This still holds up as one of their best albums of all time! They continue and expand upon the use of synthesizers from their previous album, resulting in what may be their most theatrical and thematically unified album to date. Bruce delivers a kind of snarl that almost foreshadows the raspy voice he's about to employ in the 90s (aka, Iron Maiden's dark age), but it fits really well for the menacing nature of the album's subject matter. The title track is one of Steve Harris' finest moments as a songwriter and I had the privilege of seeing this gem live back in 2012 on the Maiden England Tour. There are a couple weak spots but it's not a big deal. Can I Play With Madness, while not a bad song, is definitely my least favorite on the album and Only The Good Die Young's chorus is a bit standard sounding but there really aren't any moments on this album that I would call bad. Infinite Dreams and The Prophecy are extremely underrated tracks, The Evil That Men Do and The Clairvoyant are superb singles, and Moonchild is an amazing opening song, probably their best, with a mystical acoustic intro that is appropriately reprised at the end of the last song to create a bookend effect for the whole record. Not much I can say that everyone else hasn't already said, this album is another crown jewel for Maiden.