Jens wrote:
Only gave the album one listen so far, and although I enjoyed large parts it felt a bit bloated to me. When I finished it I didn't feel like jumping right back into it but that can be attributed to the sheer size of the album. Will give it a couple more spins before making my mind up about it, some excellent harmonies in there for sure.
For the record I don't think The Number of the Beast is close to their best work. I'd rate Piece of Mind, Brave New World, Somewhere in Time and Powerslave ahead of TNotB.
I also don't think Speed of Light is good enough to be the <5 minute asskicker in the vein of The Wicker Man, Aces High and The Trooper that they wanted it to be.
I've listened to it four times now. Gets better every time.
The period from TNOTB all the way to SSOTSS was exceptional throughout, so picking the best album is much down to personal preference. Personally I prefer TNOTB, because along with some of their best tracks ever, Clive Burr's drumming was just perfect and added so much to the Maiden sound.
Brave New World has some epic tracks, but overall that era Maiden is not my favourite.
Speed of Light doesn't really compare to the songs you listed, but something like The Red and the Black is easily comparable to their all time classics like Fear of the Dark etc. Speed of Light might actually be the weakest track on the album, if you could point out one. And to be fair, I'm liking it more with every listen.
I think they've looked for new ways with their previous two albums and now really built on the promise of The Final Frontier with this album.
