It’s one of the more intense rivalries in the history of heavy metal. Who’s the strongest band of the British New Wave of Heavy Metal? Is it Judas Priest or Iron Maiden? The answer for fans usually boils down to consistency vs. diversity. Maiden is the more consistent band and Priest is the more diverse one. Both have brought their A-game to every album, generally, in their storied 30+ year careers. And both bands are as similar as they are different. Both groups sport the same fashion choices. Both groups maximized and perfected the use of the twin guitar attack. And both groups have arguably the best singers in all of metal.
However, there is a category in which Priest has a major leg up on Maiden. And that’s originality. Priest has four plus years on Maiden. They were the band that really invented the sound and the image. Rob Halford’s sexual orientation played a huge role in the fashion trends that were brought to the heavy metal. Making the metal spikes and leather outfits the standard uniform for the genre. They also were doing proto thrash and twin guitar duelage before anyone else. Song’s like ‘Exciter’ and ‘Sinner’ are excellent examples. Maiden merely adopted these elements. Also, it took Maiden a couple of years to perfect their attack. Whereas Priest came right out of the gate ready to go. ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’ continues to be the eponymous album of the new wave of heavy metal. And it continues to be an album that truly stands out as a masterpiece of the entire genre. Some even argue that it’s beginning of modern heavy metal.
Where Priest has a major leg up with those elements. Maiden crushes in consistency. Their first two albums are great, but they don’t become the band that we all know and love until Bruce Dickenson joins in 1982 on the ‘Number of the Beast’ album. And since that album came out Iron Maiden have been the most popular and consistent metal band in the world. Give or take a few years in the mid to late 90’s. Album after album of guaranteed 100% effort. No leftover songs, no covers that I can think of off the top of my head and millions and millions of records sold. Priest sold millions too but not on the level of Maiden. Just compare the record sales of ‘Ram it Down’ to ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’.
That being said I prefer Judas Priest overall. Just because they’re not as consistent doesn’t mean they don’t have strong album after strong album. In fact, I kind of feel like once you’ve heard ‘The Trooper’ by Iron Maiden you’ve heard them all. Maiden are the more consistent band, but often times they can get repetitive. Not as repetitive as AC/DC but still in that ballpark. They have a formula that they don’t really deviate from. And that’s totally fine and valid. You know what you’re going to get with an Iron Maiden album. Whereas Priest recognizes who they are and then try to stretch their records to all corners of their little box. Each new album is somewhat of a mystery. Not one album sounds like the last. Each record is a little different. The closest they got to repeating themselves was with 1984’s ‘Defenders of the Faith’ which is essentially ‘Screaming for Vengeance’ pt. 2. But the follow up to ‘Defenders’, 1986’s ‘Turbo’ was a completely different album. Yet, it’s still instantly recognizable as a classic Judas Priest sound. Then four years later they switch the tables around again with 1990’s ‘Painkiller’. I don’t know of a lot of bands that have albums like ‘Turbo’ and ‘Painkiller’ in the same discography. Maiden certainly never stretched that much.
At the end of the day both bands are 1,000%, grade A heavy metal. They’re both classically trained. They both sound amazing live and both bands put on one hell of a show. Combined they’ve influenced more heavy metal bands than anyone else. Both bands are recognized as the standard of metal. When I think of heavy metal I usually instantly go to one of the two bands. They are the suns of metal and the rest merely orbit around them in other factions of the genre. That being said, who do you prefer? Priest or Maiden?
Direct comparison of ‘Turbo’ to ‘Painkiller.’ Different albums, recognizably the same band. Much more diversity in the discography.
Whereas Iron Maiden is much more consistent. Listen to ‘The Trooper’ compared to their 1988 song ‘The Clairvoyant.’ Much more formulaic. It’s the Iron Maiden sound.
I like both and agree that Priest is definitely more interesting but my nod goes to Maiden especially lately because they have remained relevant. So is Priest really but their recent works are just not interesting to me. Lately I am on a Maiden kick. From this era Metallica also deserves a nod with Megadeth a distant 4th. Everyone else was just a pretender.
I started off listening to the older first gen metal like Sabbath and whatnot. Another great argument is always Ozzy vs Dio? And if I had to pick one, maybe above the above mentioned bands, it would be the latter elf. Not just because he is Italian but because he sang of lore and legend. Inside my brain, my life represents a Dio story. May he rest in peace.