Top ten Iron Maiden albums ranked
No. 5- Iron Maiden (1980)
A landmark album in the metal music industry, Iron Maiden released their self-titled debut in 1980. The album was raw in nature, similar to Metallica’s approach with their debut album Kill Em All, and saw the band lay the foundation for their work ahead.
The album features a great mix of ballads and up-tempo tracks including “Running Free”, ”Prowler”, “Remember Tomorrow”, “Strange World” and the instrumental track “Transylvania”. The band did a great job of blending punk rock with metal and progressive rock and the result is a classic album that helped jumpstart the career of one of the most iconic bands in music history.
No. 4- Piece of Mind (1983)
Expectations for Iron Maiden were high after they defied all expectations with the landmark The Number of the Beast album in 1982. The band did not disappoint as Piece of Mind was a commercial and critical success immediately upon release.
Lyrically, the album discusses many pieces of ancient literature within the songs including the 1854 poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” in “The Trooper”, the science fiction novel “Dune” in “To Tame A Lamb”, and greek mythology in “The Flight of Icarus”. While the first half of the album pales in comparison to side two, Piece of Mind as a whole is a well-balanced record that has stood the test of time over the last 31 years.
No. 3- Powerslave (1984)
Right from the jump, Powerslave is a straight-up hard-hitting record that does not skip a beat. The band kicks off the album with “Aces High”, a song that was written from the point of view of a fighter pilot. This song has become a live staple and is one of the band’s most popular tracks, having been featured in Madden 10 and Nitro Circus among other works.
The album closes with “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, which takes listeners on a captivating musical journey through Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem of the same name. At 13 minutes and 45 seconds in length, it was the band’s longest song until it was surpassed in 2015 by “The Empire of the Clouds”.
Powerslave helped introduce Iron Maiden to a brand new audience as “Aces High” and “2 Minutes to Midnight” received regular airplay on rock radio stations. From a technical standpoint, Powerslave was the last true classic Iron Maiden album that did not feature synthesizers and keyboards and as a result, fans are treated to just over 50 minutes of pure heavy metal magic.