{"id":694056,"date":"2026-07-16T02:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/694056\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T02:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:30:07","slug":"the-best-worst-iron-maiden-album-according-to-nicko-mcbrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/694056\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best + Worst Iron Maiden Album, According to Nicko McBrain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Longtime Iron Maiden<\/a> drummer Nicko McBrain<\/a> recently ranked the band’s entire catalog \u2014 and the results might not be what you’d expect.<\/p>\n

McBrain, who played live and on record with Maiden from 1982 until his retirement from touring in 2024<\/a>, offered his thoughts on Iron Maiden’s 17 studio albums during last month’s “An Evening With CapnHarris” event at his Rock n Roll Ribs barbecue joint in Coconut Creek, Florida.<\/p>\n

As each album was revealed in non-chronological order, McBrain\u00a0gave\u00a0his brief feedback and placed it on a leaderboard, shifting them up and down as their counterparts were unveiled.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The Best Song Off Every Iron Maiden Album<\/a><\/p>\n

Nicko McBrain’s\u00a0Favorite + Least Favorite\u00a0Iron Maiden Album<\/p>\n

McBrain made a bold claim with his pick for least favorite Iron Maiden album: the band’s 1980 self-titled debut<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I’ll tell you what, the production on that wasn’t the greatest, but nevertheless, still a good album,”\u00a0said McBrain, who didn’t drum on\u00a0Iron Maiden. (The band’s first three albums featured Clive Burr<\/a> behind the kit.)\u00a0McBrain’s bandmates have also\u00a0expressed dissatisfaction with the debut album’s production, though its title track remains their most-played song live with nearly 2,500 documented performances on setlist.fm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And what about McBrain’s favorite Iron Maiden album?<\/p>\n

That honor went to the band’s 2006\u00a0opus\u00a0A Matter of Life and Death. “That’s definitely my favorite album,” McBrain enthused, while highlighting long-form epics such as\u00a0“Brighter Than a Thousand Suns” and “Lord of Light” as\u00a0standout tracks.<\/p>\n

On his way to reaching his final ranking of all 17 albums, McBrain delights attendees with anecdotes from each record, serving up some laughs along the way.<\/p>\n

Watch the video and see the complete ranking directly below.<\/p>\n

Watch Nicko McBrain Rank Every Iron Maiden AlbumNicko McBrain’s Full Iron Maiden Album Ranking, Worst to Best<\/p>\n

17.\u00a0Iron Maiden
16.\u00a0Virtual XI
15.\u00a0No Prayer for the Dying
14.\u00a0The X Factor
13.\u00a0Killers
12. The Number of the Beast
11.\u00a0The Final Frontier
10.\u00a0Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
9. Fear of the Dark
8.\u00a0Somewhere in Time
7.\u00a0Brave New World
6.\u00a0Dance of Death
5.\u00a0The Book of Souls
4.\u00a0Powerslave
3.\u00a0Senjutsu
2.\u00a0Piece of Mind
1.\u00a0A Matter of Life and Death<\/p>\n

What’s Next for Nicko McBrain?<\/p>\n

McBrain will spend a lot of time revisiting his Iron Maiden tenure as he releases his autobiography,\u00a0Hello Boys and Girls!, in October. He’ll promote the release with a European book tour<\/a> that runs from Oct. 26 through Dec. 3.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The 8 Best Iron Maiden Songs Over 8 Minutes Long (Ranked)<\/a><\/p>\n

“It’s been a real honor to write my very own autobiography and have the chance to walk down memory lane, revisiting all the experiences that have made me who I am and brought me to where I am today,” McBrain said in a\u00a0statement<\/a>. “And I’m thrilled and delighted to be taking those stories on the road and share them all with you. I feel truly blessed to be able to say\u00a0Hello Boys and Girls\u00a0to you all in person later this year. We’re going to have a lot of fun together, so come and join me for a great night out. I’ve got a LOT of stories I want to tell you all!”<\/p>\n

See how WE ranked every Iron Maiden album below!<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden Albums Ranked<\/p>\n

See how we ranked all 17 Iron Maiden albums from worst to best.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Joe DiVita<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain recently ranked the band’s entire catalog \u2014 and the results might not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,150594,5204,128,50,3584,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-694056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-link-in-bio","tag-metal","tag-music","tag-news","tag-rock","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}