The Greatest Iron Maiden Album of All Time

2025-05-17

Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden

It’s nearly impossible to pick one Iron Maiden album that is their best, but Audio Ink Radio is striving to do that. – Author: Anne Erickson, Photo via Ken Settle

When it comes to ranking the Iron Maiden studio discography, that’s really a difficult job. Every single album in the band’s catalog has its special place in the Iron Maiden history, and every record is important to the band’s legacy. The same goes for any of the big metal bands, whether it’s Metallica, Judas Priest, Anthrax or others. Even these bands’ albums that were less popular or hated on by critics and music experts have great value today.

Iron Maiden is a band that has experienced some lineup changes throughout the years, and bass player Steve Harris is really the only consistent member. But, obviously, lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson is synonymous with the name Iron Maiden, so he is also a significant part of their past, present and future.

It’s nearly impossible to pick one Iron Maiden album that is their best, but Audio Ink Radio is striving to do that. So, let’s get to the No. 1 greatest Iron Maiden album of all time. While it wasn’t their best-selling album ever, we’re going with their seminal 1984 release, “Powerslave.”

Iron Maiden’s Best Album of All Time

While it was hard to just go with one Iron Maiden record here, “Powerslave” simply has it all, so we had to go with it. After releasing “Powerslave” in 1984, Iron Maiden went on their legendary World Slavery tour, and it really launched them into being one of the biggest metal bands in the world. The band played an incredible 187 shows in under a year on that tour, which is really mind blowing, and they also performed four gigs at Long Beach Arena, which was collected for their “Live After Death” release. It doesn’t hurt that the album has stunning artwork, too, which is actually the case with all of Iron Maiden’s records.

Just look at the songs on “Powerslave.” You’ve got “Aces High,” “2 Minutes to Midnight,” “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and the album’s title track all proving that it doesn’t get much better than this set. These songs featured some of the heaviest metal music of Iron Maiden’s generation, packing in speed, energy, hard guitars and an overall doomy vibe. It also features the beloved instrumental track “Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra).”

Rolling Stone named “Powerslave” their 38th best metal album of all time. Of the release, they gushed that, “Dickinson’s pride in the album is justified: The singer’s stunning skill is evident throughout, as when he soars above tracks like the aerial-combat–inspired ‘Aces High’ and the anti-war screed ‘Two Minutes to Midnight,’ as bassist Steve Harris and drummer Nicko McBrain weaponize their trademark rhythm-section gallop and guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray hand each other the shred baton like Olympian relay racers.”

Dickinson released his solo album, “The Mandrake Project,” in 2023, and during an interview with Kerrang about it, he mentioned, “Well, yeah, I also did ‘Powerslave’ and ‘Revelations’ and ‘Flash of the Blade on my own completely.”

For more metal features, find Audio Ink Radio’s tally of the greatest heavy metal debuts of all time.

Anne Erickson
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Posted by Anne Erickson | Features, Metal, Music

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