Most Overrated Iron Maiden Albums

The Top Ten
1 The Number of the Beast

Way too uneven, for an album considered Maiden's best. There are some fantastic songs here, like Hallowed be Thy Name and the title track, but Invaders, Gangland and 22 Acacia Avenue are rather mediocre. Run to the Hills is also a little overrated

This is too underrated my opinion, because this is best album ever a whole maiden history, unbeatable masterpiece! This is too good overrated actually, only album where works all songs, no, teknical or progressive at all, everythings as should be..

Far from Maiden's best. Not bad at all and I do realize it's been highly influential, but Maiden can do better �" and they did. Their next four albums (Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Somewhere In Time and, my favorite one, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son) are just miles ahead of Number.

Overrated? Please, that's like you would say Metallica Master of Puppets or Slayer Reign in blood would be overrated. Maybe it sounds cool to take the best album of a band and say it's overrated.

2 The Final Frontier

A Matter of Life and Death is a perfect example for a great progressive album, The Final Frontier is a perfect example of a bad progressive album.

Worst album in all the catalogue. It took me almost a year to invest 15$ on Book of souls after listening to this. Actually, I haven't finished it yet. 3 minutes before anything starts and then final frontier (seriously what a bad song). maybe 1/2 song that has a tempo, the only one that does not start with 2 minutes of intro slow pace. If I want to listen to progressive songs that do not start or finish, I go to my ELP old records. I almost mailed my CD to the fan club address.

If anything, it's underrated. I don't know what people are talking about. It contains some of Maiden's most complex and interesting songs. It takes some time to get into, but it's certainly worth it!

The worst album of post 2000 maiden, and by far. Yet this album became more popular than masterpieces like "A Matter Of Life And Death" or "Dance of Death" that crush it anytime.

3 Piece of Mind

A good album but one which is severely overhyped, mainly due to the albums that sandwiched it (NOTB & Powerslave) and the great songs that are on it, including The Trooper and the underrated To Tame A Land. However, the album suffers from being extremely uneven. It takes half of the album to get going and during that time, we are treated to decent (if not great) tracks that lack the energy and power that made the previous albums so great. Once it does get going however, it's a blast to listen to. The Trooper gives the album the kick up the backside that it desperately needed and it gets going from there. So while decent, it falls slightly short in comparison with NOTB and is slightly overrated as a result.

It has some gems on it like Where Eagles Dare, Revelations, To Tame A Land and The Trooper (this song is kinda overrated).
But it's not as good as Powerslave and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. To me the weakest album of the Golden Era

The slowed down version of The Number of the Beast. I love this album, but it could do without the two fillers.

The most overrated Maiden song (The Trooper), and some pretty decent musics, but overall, only a decent album.

4 Iron Maiden

Debut albums by famous bands are usually weak in hindsight of their other material, and unfortunately, this one is no exception. The material demonstrated here feels mostly samey throughout and doesn't have as much of an identity as Maiden's later work, despite some gems here and there (Phantom Of The Opera being the highlight). The band later commented negatively on the production of the album, and it isn't hard to see why. Meanwhile, Paul Di'anno is not as good of a vocalist as Bruce Dickinson was and nowhere is that more evident than it is here. His punky vocal contradicts with the heavy metal sound the band go for, and it sounds really awkward as a result. He has a good voice as highlighted by songs like Remember Tomorrow or Strange World where he has more restraint, but for the most part you can see why he wasn't Maiden's permanent vocalist. A decent effort, but more for Maiden's die hard fans than anyone else.

Overrated? At that time and in it's context this was groundbreaking. Criticizing this is like criticizing the Beatles. If you were'nt around you have no idea of the impact.

A better production and this one would be their best album by a long shot

5 Powerslave

Imagine Flash on the Blade and Back in the Village were on No Prayer for the Dying. Would you still like them? I would add that I think the title track would be just above average by 1980s Iron Maiden standards without the solo.

This is an amazing album, but is not their best in my opinion, and is in the first spot in the top 10 best albums so...

4/8 songs suck, two songs about sword fighting! Come on! Far from perfect, and far from their best!

Too overrated album, some hits in and my favorite song, powerslave!

6 Fear of the Dark

Their most overrated album, and arguably their worst album as well. While the 90's were awful for Maiden, this was most definitely their lowest point. Despite a strong start to the album, with songs like Be Quick Or Be Dead & From Here To Eternity, the album quickly falters afterwards as the band constantly tries (& fails) to create good prog-metal. While prog-metal was never their strongest suit, here they don't even try. As such, the album continually meanders on and on without much reward for the listener as a result. No wonder Bruce left at this point.

Overrated by people who only like it for the titletrack or because it was where they started with Iron Maiden. In the fan community it's one of the least popular

It's not usually that acclaimed, but it's not the most unpopular either, though it probably should be. It is a terrible album.

Some very strong songs and some very weak songs, like two different bands recording one album, confusing

7 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Overrated to a degree. I personally don't hate this album, and I can understand the appeal it holds for many as it does have a solid tracklist and does experiment more than most of their other albums. I admire it for that, but I don't enjoy it as much as their other albums. This is because most of the extra features added feel much like an afterthought and don't really enhance the music very much beyond their initial inclusion. It feels rather safe in that regard. Meanwhile, the inclusion of synths is not as well implemented or as satisfying as it is on Somewhere In Time and much of the other music on the album doesn't try anything new. Only songs like The Clairvoyant stand out as they truly stick to Maiden's metal roots without some of the pretension that the rest of the album brings. So while good, it is one of Maiden's weaker 80's outings and doesn't hold up as well as a result.

Boring, repetitious and overall not very good. Not quite as bad as Dance of Death or The Final Frontier, but the weakest of Maiden's initial run with Dickinson undoubtedly. Even The X Factor was a better album, at least that had a darker, bleaker atmosphere going for it... and for better or worse, ushered in the new era of the band's career, songwriting and all.

When I was into Maiden; I liked this album but thought the band over-rated it hugely. Wasn't a patch on Powerslave or Somewhere In Time.

I never liked this album. The only song I really enjoy is the Evil that men do, but that's because I like the guitar harmonizing between Janick and Adrian.

8 Killers

Hardly Overrated, it was never rated that highly anyway. It was part of the reason They got BD in because where Steve Harris wanted to go with the band did not suit Paul Dianno's vocal range. Though you look at the biggest Metal band of all time, Metallica, and you see that a huge vocal range in the high register, was not as essential as everyone at the time believed.

Very overrated. It's as acclaimed as any other Maiden album from the 80's, but it's not that good. The songs are basicly leftovers from the first album, and it shows. There are some great songs here, like the title track, but too many fillers.

Too overrated album ever, one very classic maiden album ever, killers song is killer!

I don't think it's overrated, for me it's way better than the debut.

9 The Book of Souls

While far from bad, it certainly is not a masterpiece. I guess their legacy and unrelenting desire to outdo themselves with each album led critics to overvalue the album. While some bits in Empire of the Clouds and The Red and the Black are absolutely unreal, there is too much filler in both the songs. Speed of Light is the most forgettable 21st century maiden song while Death or Glory is pretty average. I enjoyed the album, but was not impressed with it like I was with A Matter of Life and Death or Brave New World.

Everyone is saying it's their best since Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. While it has three theatrical epics, the shorter songs are No Prayer for the Dying quality. The three mammoth tracks fool you easily in the illusion that this is an "epic progressive masterpiece", it is always better to judge each album by its worst songs rather than the best. I know it's a matter of taste, but I don't get how this album got more popular than the incredible previous three ones.

Not a bad album by any means; just not as great as some of the other 21st century maiden albums. Many of the songs suffer from being bloated and so aren't as memorable, especially Speed of Light, If Eternity Should Fail, Death or Glory and even Empire of the Clouds (all written/co-written by Dickinson), which was disappointing to say the least. As much as I love Dickinson, Steve Harris should get back to writing most of their stuff and let Dickinson do the singing.

Give this album another listen and it doesn't sound as sharp as their other albums. While it certainly has its moments (the title track is phenomenal, as are parts of Shadows of the Valley and The Red and the Black), there are several filler tracks, not least of which are Speed of Light, the Man of Sorrows, Death and Glory and large chunks of Empire of the Clouds. Love Maiden but this album doesn't hold up to their other 2000's stuff like AMOLAD, BNW and even TFF.

10 No Prayer for the Dying

Why is this even on here? 90% of people consider this one of Maiden's worst, which I disagree with but either way something widely considered to be a terrible album can't really be described as overrated

This follow seventh son album, this is little better than seventh son, my opinion!

Their worst Dickinson album, nothing more to say about it.

The Contenders
11 Somewhere in Time

Half great songs, half fillers, completely ruined by production. This thin sound is ideal for some black metal, but for Maiden? No thanks!

Iron Maiden at the top of the world. Everything fits perfect together here.

Best production and least filler of any Maiden album, love it, 100% classic

12 Brave New World

It's just so average for them and people often hail it as one of the best and more often the best of the 2000's era which it certainly isn't, A Matter of Life and Death holds that title and I would place Dance of Death and the more recent Book of Souls above this too.

A lot of fuss about the return, but in the end an okay album nothing more nothing less

13 A Matter of Life and Death

Best album since the return of Bruce Dickinson

14 The X Factor

Their best album!

15 Dance of Death

Worst album of the new era. The production is pretty bad, and the material is very hit and miss.

Virtual x is worst album what they ever done, actually..

Weakest album since the return of Bruce Dickinson

In the Bottom 3 where it should be.

16 Virtual XI

Objectively not overrated since it is considered one of their worst

Not the songs but Blaze ruined this album same goes for the The X Factor

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