Quote:
Originally Posted by Trollheart
It certainly wasn't the album to revitalise my love of the band, and I felt that since Brave New World they'd kind of rested on their laurels a little. Having hit the fans (including me) with the triumphant return of the decade-absent Bruce Dickinson, they really didn't seem to have capitalised on that, and I had lost interest. Like most people, my best Maiden albums are in the early to late eighties, those half-dozen opuses that run from Killers to Seventh Son, with maybe Fear of the Dark in there too.
|
Wow, I could have written this myself.
I was actually getting away from Maiden before he left.
No Prayerand
Fear were both departures both musically & vocally. Dickinson, by and large, didn't so much sing as growl his way through. And every song on No Prayer is a standard format, all coming in under 5 minutes. I couldn't say for sure, but this is probably in no small part because of Adrian Smith's departure and Janick Gers' arrival.
It was stripped down & basic. It was worse than bad. It was
boring.
(*That guy (Gers) is the clown prince, the comic relief, with all his straight up 80s hair band guitar twirling and posturing. The only plausible reason I can come up with for them keeping him is the fact that he contributes a good deal of songwriting.)
I completely ignored the Bruce-less Maiden, and to this day couldn't name a single cut.
There are 16 Iron Maiden studio albums. I have 14. With my mild OCD condition, you'd think I'd have to have all 16. No.
C'mon, the guy's name is Blaze, for crying out loud!!!
Quote:
One of Maiden's problems now, I feel, is that their tracks (much like, some would say, my reviews or my supposedly short stories!) are too long, and they go through too many changes and shifts to really appreciate them.
|
I agree with this, but with one exception.
The Red & The Black from
The Book Of Souls is a throwback to Maiden's prime. It's vintage Harris. Yea, it's 13 minutes long, but doesn't drag. It's interesting for the whole ride.
Matter of fact, the more I listen, The Book Of Souls is as closing in on the
Beast to
Seventh Son run you mentioned earlier. I've enjoyed this cd more than the last 4 combined, (well, I don't even have two of them. BLAZE, for cryin' out loud!!!) and it's been steadily moving up my internal Maiden chart.
Even the 18 minute long
Empire of the Clouds , which I thought was an overly long, ego driven, bloated Dickinson vehicle, has grown on me. It tells a really good story, and takes you on a doomed voyage.
It's still an overly long, ego driven, bloated Dickinson vehicle, but at least I now know when to stop listening.