I love Pallbearer. I've seen them twice in Portland. The second time I saw them I was super high and missed the opening bands. I usually always catch all the bands. But I was anxious about even going so I decided to just get lit af and go. When I got to the venue it was all lit up in neon, I hadn't been to this particular venue. Pallbearer had just started throwing down riffs when I walked in, and I just kind of scooted in like I belonged there. Very memorable show <3

My ranking for the Iron Maiden albums would be🤘 17. Virtual XI 1998 16. The X Factor 1995 15. Senjutsu 2021 14. The Book Of Souls 2015 13. The Final Frontier 2010 12. A Matter Of Life And Death 2006 11. Dance Of Death 2003 10. No Prayer For The Dying 1990 9. Fear Of The Dark 1992 8. Brave New World 2000 7. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son 1988 6. Somewhere In Time 1986 5. Iron Maiden 1980 4. The Number Of The Beast 1982 3. Powerslave 1984 2. Piece Of Mind 1983 1. Killers 1981

VHS are awesome.

Amazing you have a copy of Echoes of Refuge! That's a relic - and that definitely sounds like you ran into Ryan at that bar

Rut - Morbid Thoughts is my favorite Death Metal release of 2024. Killer 3 piece OSDM band with Crust elements. I'm in a Rut and I don't want out.🤘🏻

I enjoy VHS, great stuff! I'll be checking out Vanik as well 😃🤘

Suck, imo

I might have to check out these Metalhead boxes! Looks like y'all really look forward to them.

Gorgutsian black🎉

My first concert was Cathedral, in 1992. Sorely missed!🤘

There's an underground group associated with suave house called south circle.. the album is awesome check it out

Spice had a great track on tbe corrupter soundtrack called good girl gone bad

I'll admit that I didn't like The X Factor either the first time I listened to it. I was sitting there in my bedroom feeling totally baffled. I just couldn't figure out what Maiden had tried to do with such a weird collection of sad and dark songs. There was no The Trooper, no glorious choruses, no hooks, no catchy songs, no trace of the Iron Maiden I'd come to love. Nevertheless, The X Factor grew on me and if you were to ask me what my favorite Iron Maiden albums are, I wouldn't even have to think about it and I'd say "Piece of Mind¨ and ¨The X Factor". The biggest problem with The X Factor is not the music, but the fact that people fail to appreciate it for what it is. Fans of Maiden that don't get The X Factor compare it to the albums Maiden recorded with Bruce back in the early 1980s and that's where the problem lies. Let me explain why I love The X Factor and the reasons you should listen to it in a different way. If this review makes you want to listen to it again and give it another chance, I'll be satisfied. Who knows? You may well rediscover it and come to love it. There are bands that have chosen to always write about the same topic over and over again, bands like Cannibal Corpse (gore) and Deicide (Satan and a never ending war against Christianity). Not that there's anything wrong with that. I actually happen to like them both, but there are other bands that like to write about many different topics. A myriad of them, if you will, bands like Megadeth, Metallica and Iron Maiden. 22 Acacia Avenue? A song about a prostitute. Fear of the Dark? Self-explanatory. To Tame A Land? A famous book you should read if you haven't already. Where Eagles Dare and Tailgunner? World War II. Weekend Warrior? Soccer hooligans. What am I getting at? Well, Steve Harris has never restricted his songs to a single topic. He's penned songs about movies, TV shows, literature, history, etc, etc., and he's even written some very personal songs (Blood Brothers and The Educated Fool - both of which were written after The X Factor came out, but you get the point). Such composers can't help it if the way they feel in a particular period of their lives influences their songwriting. I mean, I guess Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) will always write about zombies, regardless of what's going on in his life. But not Steve Harris, and that is something people always forget when they bash The X Factor. They forget that when it came to writing songs for the album that would eventually be called The X Factor, four major changes had taken place in Steve Harris' life, changes that undoubtedly impacted his music. What changes? 1. He got divorced, 2. Bruce left Iron Maiden, 3. Martin Birch stopped producing Iron Maiden records, and 4. His father passed away. These four major changes are not to be underestimated and neither should their immediate effect on Maiden. First his divorce. He had been married 16 years. Not 2... not 5... not 8... but 16 years. And it all came crashing down in 1993 with all the pain a divorce usually entails. How do you think he felt? I don't know how many years he dated his ex-wife before they got married, but we could be talking about a relationship that may have well lasted 20 years. Maybe even more. Then, Bruce announces he's leaving the band. Another important relationship in his life comes to an end, and a painful one at that. Remember, Bruce Dickinson never told Steve he was leaving the band. Steve found out because Rod told him, and according to the official biography, Steve felt betrayed and hurt. The frontman of your band, a person you may not be the best of friends with, but with whom you undeniably had an important relationship with, stabs you in the back and walks away after what? 10 years or more? How would YOU have felt? And then another blow. His friend Martin Birch who had produced and engineered every single Maiden album since 1981 decides to call it quits. The man responsible for that classic Maiden sound we all love says "ok. I'm done". I'm sure that was not an easy time for the genius behind Iron Maiden. And on top of all that, his father passes away. So, in the face of all that, how can we expect Steve Harris to write about books, historical figures, or pyramids? The man was depressed, for God's sake, and that depression can be heard throughout The X Factor. All you have to do is read the lyrics. It's pretty clear, actually: "I'm scarred for life, but it's not my flesh that's wounded", "Sometimes I wake, I feel that my spirit's broken", "Now that your faith will be put to the test. Nothing to do, but await what is coming", "I've felt like suicide a thousand times or more". These lyrics are, if you ask me, a cry for help. They're a unique opportunity to get inside Steve Harris' head and feel what he was going through in such a dark period of his life. So no wonder The X Factor is a dark album. It just couldn't have been any other way. Comparing it to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son or Piece of Mind is totally unfair. Iron Maiden was a different band when they wrote Infinite Dreams. It was a different time period with different circumstances. Furthermore, The X Factor was not produced by Martin Birch. Sometimes it's easy to forget how much a producer can influence a band's sounds or the decisions made during the recording process. But remember the role played by Bob Rock in Metallica's eponymous album? Remember Scott Burns' influence in death metal? Birch ¨simply¨masterminded most of that amazing Iron Maiden sound that catapulted them to world fame. And he was now gone. And then there's the issue of Blaze's voice. I think he takes too much flak, considering the fact that his voice fits perfectly with the dark atmosphere of the album. And not only that, you must also take into account the fact that the odds were stacked against him from the get-go. He was chosen to replace Bruce Dickinson, one of the greatest heavy metal singers of all time. Blaze had big shoes to fill. Well, that sounds like an understatement. He had HUGE shoes to fill. There's just no way he was going to live up to the expectations. It was an impossible job. Even if there are many fans out there who like his voice, most people can't help thinking "he's no Bruce Dickinson", and that's also unfair. He did the job he was hired to do and his performance on The X Factor is superb. Period. The X Factor is not an album for everybody. There are no songs to sing along to (with the exception of Man of the Edge, perhaps). It's not a fun album in the conventional sense of the word. It's slow and you won't hear Maiden doing what they do best, but every song is haunting and seductively simple. The lyrics are powerful and evocative. The feelings that emanate from them are not consistent with your typical heavy metal spirit, but that's the beauty of this album. I don't know if I've managed to make you see things in a different way. I certainly hope so. But if not, let me try one more time before I end this review. Listen to The X Factor without comparing it to any other Maiden album. Appreciate it for what it is. Carefully read the lyrics and submerge yourself in Maiden's darkest period. Feel the pain Steve Harris felt and the endless questions that surely tormented him at the time. Let the gloomy atmosphere of The X Factor surround you and you'll understand why it doesn't have a single (truly) catchy song. The X Factor is a beautiful masterpiece. A pessimistic, melancholic, and heartbreaking album. But it is indeed not beautiful in a conventional way. The X Factor holds the allure of the Doré illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy. See for yourself. Listen and understand.

Big thank you for the Galicia mention here. You're spot on with Pete Helmcamp vocal influence

Same opinion on that new Pallbearer… definitely a grower… more subdued and minimal than expected but enjoying it. I really enjoyed Forgotten Days and would swap it with Sorrow and Extinction in it's place but that's been a recent switch after returning to the album lately. So cool to see you showing more vinyl on the channel, I collect all formats, life spice variety, that whole deal right?

Nice! Awesome to revisit these I've not listened to in a long time, only one I have not heard or own is that Tidfall. Tormentor waaaaay overdue for anohter full length… will it ever happen?!

It took me years to like Cathedral. Speciallly because Lee Dorian´s voice. But now they are one of my 3 favorite bands (besides Therion and Napalm Death).

everybody pick the same albums Tupac All eyez on me blueprint ready to die

Blueprint not the best Jay-Z album to me everybody always pick the album it's the same as the dynasty

tela 🔥🔥🔥

17. Virtual XI 16. The X-Factor 15. No Prayer for the Dying 14. Fear of the Dark 13. Senjutsu 12. The Final Frontier 11. The Book of Souls 10. Dance of Death 9. A Matter of Life and Death 8. Brave New World 7. Somewhere in Time 6. Iron Maiden 5. Killers 4. The Number of the Beast 3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. Powerslave 1. Piece of Mind Iron Maiden is my favorite band of all time. Some of these can be interchangeable depending on my mood. But for right now, this is where my ranking stands. To me, there's no wrong way to rank Iron Maiden's albums. Any Iron Maiden ranking to me is a good ranking because they don't have any bad albums whatsoever (Minus the Blaze Bayley stuff though, in my opinion)

Cool ranking. Here’s mine: 1 Powerslave 2 Number of the beast 3 Piece of mind 4 Killers 5 Seventh Son 6 Brave new world 7 Iron Maiden debut 8 Somewhere in time 9 A matter of life and death 10 Book of souls 11 Dance of death 12 Senjetsu 13 Final frontier 14 No prayer for the dying 15 Fear of the dark 16 X factor 17 Virtual VI

most fans have no prayer for dyin last....its my fav album...prob cus its first maiden i heard so it stuck with me...memory album. my worst is matter life and death....somewhere in time, debut album, 7th son, poweslave, number beast top 5. ps also x factors cool... i used to drink with blaze bailey yrs back around that time.... anyways cool vid.... from birmingham uk......birth place of metaaaaaaaal.....

"The Guessing Game" is an all-time favorite for me. The rest is boring.

Love Cathedral, own their complete discography!!!! Big fan since their inception!!!!

Interesting points! Was a huge fan back in 2005 and never really got attached to another album after frances. I really should give the other albums a listen through

Really enjoying your content, discovered your channel looking for an Enslaved ranking. The only album I know in this video is that Danzig, the rest of these bands I will look up. Great video.

Great video, I recently found 2 Enslaved used CDs: "Isa" and "Ruun". I only have the 90's material and never really listened to the later era stuff. Just seeing what people's take is on them.

Jayda is from Sacramento I believe

Nice keep doing these please

Iron Maiden need to go back to shorter albums. Cut the filler. Lots of bands actually.

Nice Pissgrave shirt! Band from my city. Yeah I snagged that Xysma boxed set from their demo days, good stuff… oh man oh man, I won't touch their later era stuff, just not my cup of tea.

Dig that Firepower poster behind you guys. It is a huge album for sure.

Yeah I was quiet psyched when HH reissued that Nunslaughter EP at the time. Cool Ares Kingdom shirt… shoulda took that as a hint a CD would be on display, great band, don't get enough recognition IMO. Good picks!

Great ranking video… my picks (not including comps and EPs), interesting alternate Reek artwork. 1) Symphonies of Sickness 2) Necroticism 3) Heartwork 4) Reek of Putrefaction 5) Surgical Steel 6) Swansong 7) Torn Arteries

I can't agree more with No Prayer For The Dying. When I saw that Holy Smoke video. I was ready to tear up my Maiden card. Especially after a my favorite album Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.

All maidenfans have their own favoritealbums. You said that you have'nt listen so long to maiden. I think over time you booth gonna love Dance of death. Killers is always top three

Nice rankings and best Birthday Card ever!

1 RTS 2 101 3 FBD 4 VDOP 5 TGSTK 6 CFH

Your kid knows Maiden better than me and I'm 51... lol

I love metal/rock music. Metal/rock music makes me feel so much better.

That Dying Fetus album is one of my favorite death metal albums of last year. 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

Thank you for introducing me to stuff I haven't heard yet. I also like Tiamat. The song from Tiamat called Cain has been on my mp3 player for years.

1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 2. A Matter of Life and Death 3. Somewhere in Time 4. The Number of the Beast 5. Senjutsu 6. Powerslave 7. Book of Souls 8. Piece of Mind 9. Brave New World 10. Final Frontier 11. Dance of Death 12. X Factor 13. Iron Maiden 14. Killers 15. No Prayer for the Dying 16. Virtual VI 17. Fear of the Dark

Very cool to hear all this. I think we must have had the same Brave Words sampler. I think both Lake of Tears and Tiamat were on teh same one that time. The youtube algorithm thing recommended me this video and I thought I'd check it out. Then I went and watched the others. It seems like we're probably around the same age, maybe a year or two apart, and I definitely remember some of these formative albums.

Cooler Junge, aber Fear of the Dark auf Platz 15🤔. Meine Nr 1 Piece of Mind. 🤘🤘

I have never heard of a single artist here, never mind the albums. And my teenage years were over by the mid 90s, so not even a different generation.

OutKast is the best Hip-Hop duo of all time! BTNH best Hip-Hop group of all time!

Great list man

Amazing bro. I've listened to thousands and thousands of albums throughout my life, and in the past I found it difficult to choose "the best albums I've ever listened to" but with my collection it's become much easier to decide. Currently I think To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd, Illmatic by Nas, Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint by JAY-Z, MBDTF by Kanye West are my choices. But I love a lot of albums from the 70s and 90s. I've heard a lot of albums.