Iron Maiden and Judas Priest

[GulDukat]

Might be better to create one thread for both bands as they often get lumped together anyway. Both bands ruled the 80's (and 70's in JP's case), both bands had their lead singer bail in the early 90's and were replaced by unpopular new frontmen, only to come back later, and both bands released sub-par albums in the 90's and made strong comebacks in the 00's.

Iron Maiden- Can't go wrong with anything from their 80's output. Iron Maiden to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son are all fantastic albums. I'm more of a Bruce Dickinson fan, but those first two albums with Paul Di'Anno are awesome too. As far as the post-Dickenson work goes, with Blaze Bailey, I thought that The X Factor had its moments but wasn't really into Virtual XI. As for the post-reunion albums, I thought that they were all good (an improvement over any of their mediocre 90's albums), but those first seven albums are all pretty much flawless classics and they will never be able to top them. Their first reunion album, Brave New World is their best later-day album, IMHO.

Judas Priest- Pretty much all of their albums from Sad Wings of Destiny (their sophomore album) to Defenders of the Faith are great, as was Painkiller (1990), their last with Halford before he left the band. I actually liked the two albums that the band recorded with Tim "Ripper" Owens, but they didn't sound like Judas Priest to me. It's like they abandoned their sound and were a completely different band, sounding more like Slayer than Priest. Whatever you may have thought about the two albums Maiden recorded without Bruce in the 90's, at least they sounded like Maiden. I thought that the three post-Halford reunion albums were all pretty good, but not great.

I also really enjoyed Rob Halford's band Halford. The first one is better than any of the post-reunion albums, IMHO. 2wo was pretty cool too. His early 90's band Fight wasn't bad either.

[Krazy]

Iron Maiden was my favorite band for years, as a kid growing up in the 80's. Ahhhhhh, memories. Powerslave is a fucking masterpiece IMO, and Piece Of Mind being my second choice- and Eddie and the artwork!!! I felt them starting to slip a bit with Somewhere In Time (still good though) reaching a Dickinson low with No Prayer For The Dying.... and come back with a solid effort in Fear of the Dark. Oh boy, those Blaze Bailey albums were dreadful- I can't even tell anyone if the music was good or bad since his voice was so damn awful. After the early/mid nineties music reshuffle kind of lost track and couldn't get into their new albums despite what some rather favorable reviews they got.

Like JP as well but was never the fan I was with IM. Absolutley love Defenders of the Faith, and like the more "thrash" aproack of Painkiller that no doubt was fueled by a different drummer.

Bruce Dickinson can still bring it live as well, last time I saw them was in '12 for the Seventh Sonof a Seventh Son "re-tour" or whatever it was billed as. Would have liked it to have been the Powerslave tour.

Good thread- ::thumbs_up::

[GulDukat]

Oh boy, those Blaze Bailey albums were dreadful- I can't even tell anyone if the music was good or bad since his voice was so damn awful.

It was almost impossible to replace Dickinson at that point in their career. He's one of the greatest rock singers, ever, and despite not singing on their first two albums, he is the voice of Maiden. I actually liked that the band went for another type of singer--someone with a baritone growl, as opposed to Bruce's air-raid siren. The X Factor isn't a grunge album, but it does have a '90's feel--darker, more sparse. It's not a great album, but it was interesting. Virtual XI was just really boring and half baked. Without Adrian Smith the band really suffered. Glad he came back along with Bruce.

As for Priest, check out Stained Class if you haven't already. A fucking masterpiece.

[Space Suicide]

Love both bands.

Also love The X Factor. So pffffft!

bad news too: Dickinson evidently has cancer of some sort. Boo!

[Krazy]

bad news too: Dickinson evidently has cancer of some sort. Boo!

Man, had to Google that. :/ Hopefully the prognosis is correct and he'll be OK...

http://www.ironmaiden.com/bruce-dick...treatment.html

Published: Feb 19, 2015

Just before Christmas, Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson visited his doctor for a routine check-up. This led to tests and biopsies which revealed a small cancerous tumour at the back of his tongue. A seven week course of chemotherapy and radiology treatment was completed yesterday. As the tumour was caught in the early stages, the prognosis thankfully is extremely good. Bruce’s medical team fully expect him to make a complete recovery with the all clear envisaged by late May. It will then take a further few months for Bruce to get back to full fitness. In the meantime we would ask for your patience, understanding and respect for Bruce and his family’s privacy until we update everyone by the end of May. Bruce is doing very well considering the circumstances and the whole team are very positive.

[henryeatscereal]

Love both bands, i'm a bigger fan of "Iron Maiden", but i love Priest too...

I'll join @Space Suicide in defending "The X Factor" and the Blaze Bailey era in general, most fans hate it but i think they recorded some great songs during that period, i'm not huge in the "Ripper Owens" era for Priest but the albums are listanable and far better than "Ram it down".

[GulDukat]

Ram It Down is pretty weak. It was actually recorded alongside Turbo, and all the songs were going to be one double album. I actually kind of like Turbo, ​although not all their fans do.

[henryeatscereal]

I like "Turbo Lover", but let's face it, it's cheesy as fuck...

At least they tried to experiment with synths and their sound, but the album was a huge disaster, Maiden had better results with "Somewhere in Time" (one of my favorite albums by them...) .

[eversonpoe]

i'm in the minority here, definitely a HUGE judas priest fan but have never been able to get into iron maiden (except their really early stuff with paul di'anno).

the first judas priest thing i ever bought was the Metalogy box set (still have it).
my favorite album is Sin After Sin.
haven't heard the newest album yet for some reason, but i have high hopes, as i actually loved nostradamus.

[Space Suicide]

Love both bands, i'm a bigger fan of "Iron Maiden", but i love Priest too...

I'll join @Space Suicide in defending "The X Factor" and the Blaze Bailey era in general, most fans hate it but i think they recorded some great songs during that period, i'm not huge in the "Ripper Owens" era for Priest but the albums are listanable and far better than "Ram it down".

I like Blaze Bayley. I love his former band Wolfsbane and his solo work after Maiden so yeah I like him and his albums. The X Factor is incredibly bleak and dark. The only song I dislike is 2am. The album even has Sign of the Cross...love that fucking song. 11 minutes that goes by in like 3. That's special if a long song doesn't feel like as an eternity.

As for Judas Priest, I too am in the disliking group for Turbo overall (though Turbo Lover and Out in the Cold are great). The shining moment for the band is Sin After Sin to Defenders of the Faith. With Ripper, Jugulator was an incredible album. I love it. Blood Stained and Cathedral Spires are some of the best songs in the catalog.



Wonder if Rob ever sang this, I think he'd kill it. I'm going to have to youtube it.

[Space Suicide]

Thought I'd bump since why not? Even though this isn't JP or Maiden, this cover of the above song I posted is incredible!

[WorzelG]

I think my favourite Maiden album is Seventh Son, or Piece of Mind. I didn't like No Prayer for the Dying because Steve Harris had wanted it to have this 'live feel', recorded it in his barn and I thought it just sounded like shit. I thought they came back really strong with Fear of the Dark, but of course this was the beginning of the end for Bruce and on the 'final tour" with Bruce there was a definite tension. Glad they sorted it out and reformed eventually

[GulDukat]

Any thoughts on Bruce's solo albums? I haven't heard most of them.

[WorzelG]

Any thoughts on Bruce's solo albums? I haven't heard most of them.

The first one, Tattooed Millionaire, I really liked No Lies which I thought was completely un-Maiden - but the rest I thought I couldn't see why he just couldn't do it within the band. Not heard any of the other CDs

[CaptainSelection]

Iron Maiden was my first band and my favorite from 2nd grade up until it was finally succeeded by NIN around March 2013ish

[GulDukat]

Listened to this album for the first time in ages. Classic.

[Sutekh]

King Diamond belongs in this group! for me JP, maiden and KD are peas in a pod and pretty much the only music of that kind I listen to

BTW anyone who has JP's unleashed in the east dvd, halford popping out of the ground during electric eye is the funniest thing ever

[Space Suicide]

King Diamond belongs in this group! for me JP, maiden and KD are peas in a pod and pretty much the only music of that kind I listen to

BTW anyone who has JP's unleashed in the east dvd, halford popping out of the ground during electric eye is the funniest thing ever

Live at the Budokan is a great concert video recording as well. The only DVD I own is Live vengeance '82.

[GulDukat]

King Diamond belongs in this group! for me JP, maiden and KD are peas in a pod and pretty much the only music of that kind I listen to

BTW anyone who has JP's unleashed in the east dvd, halford popping out of the ground during electric eye is the funniest thing ever

Cool, I'll have to check out King Diamond.

I tried looking on youtube for that Priest clip of "Electric Eye" and couldn't find it.

[Sutekh]

lurking in the dark is the tune that will tell you whether you like king diamond or not

pop up halford is 3:18

[henryeatscereal]

I recently listened to "Rocka Rolla" by Priest and i gotta say it's criminal this album is so forgotten, love a lot of songs from it...

[GulDukat]

I recently listened to "Rocka Rolla" by Priest and i gotta say it's criminal this album is so forgotten, love a lot of songs from it...

It's a good album.

[Space Suicide]

Oh, to Blaze Bayley naysayers, I was sifting through my CDs and forgot ever mention them:



Good stuff from this band.

[ziltoid]

This album was my introduction and gateway to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and, many other fundamentally awesome bands in my late teen years:


Powerslave was the first album I listened to from Iron Maiden. Both of these albums blew me away. My preconceived notions of rock music from that era were influenced from the opinions of others. Until then I never gave it a chance until I met a fellow metalhead and told me to give them a chance (at this time I was heavily listening to Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Prick). A few weeks later I walked into a music store and bought those two albums on a whim. After my first listening of Screaming for Vengeance I knew everyone that told me that they were repetitive and sucked didn't know shit about music. From then on I went on my own path to discover music that I would never had given the light of day.

That time in my life was a musical renaissance and I hold those two albums in high and emotional regard. I was going through a rough time in my life when I discovered those two special albums. They became an escape from the real world whenever I listened to Screaming and Powerslave. I formed an emotional bond with these albums. To me they weren't pieces of plastic and paper but, an art piece that became alive and I could live within that art for a few minutes at time. I became fiercely loyal to those two albums from their respective discography. To this day nothing could ever replace the surreal experience from buying, taking off the plastic wrap, looking at the amazing art, putting on the headphones and devouring those albums. I matured with Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, they hold a special place in my heart.

In my opinion, to this day the songs Aces High and Electric Eye still kick the ass of many songs that are released by many artist today.

[GulDukat]

Love this song:

[ziltoid]

This is my favorite cover and rendition of Judas Priest:

[Space Suicide]

This is my favorite cover and rendition of Judas Priest:

Neve heard that before and it's awesome!

[Maximilian]

Who's fucking down?

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/iro...-in-september/

[WorzelG]

Oh, to Blaze Bayley naysayers, I was sifting through my CDs and forgot ever mention them:



Good stuff from this band.

Very surprised that anyone from the US knows Wolfsbane.

[Krazy]

I'm actually looking forward to that. Seems like it'll have some prof elements to it similar to Powerslave. And if it's anything like Powerslave it'll be fucking amazing.