Nicko McBrain ranks Iron Maiden's albums from worst to best

'A Matter of Life and Death' is his favourite

Nicko McBrain and his favourite Iron Maiden album
Author: Scott ColothanPublished 16th Jul 2026

Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has ranked the band’s 17 studio albums from worst to best.

Appearing at a recent ‘An Evening With CapnHarris’ event at his Rock n’ Roll Ribs BBQ restaurant in Florida, 74-year-old Nicko was asked to place each of Iron Maiden’s albums on a leaderboard from worst to best.

Somewhat surprisingly, Nicko’s choice for the worst Maiden album was the band’s seminal self-titled debut ‘Iron Maiden’.

Alongside ‘Killers’ and ‘The Number of the Beast’, ‘Iron Maiden’ is one of three albums that were recorded prior to Nicko joining the band and featured Clive Burr on drums.

Explaining why he picked ‘Iron Maiden’, Nicko said: "I'll tell you what, the production on that wasn't the greatest, but nevertheless, still a good album.”

Nicko selected Maiden’s critically lauded 2006 album ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ as the best Maiden record, saying: "That's definitely my favourite album. ‘For the Greater Good of God’, ‘Lord of Light’, ‘The Legacy’. It's all pretty much perfect."

You can watch the full 40-minute feature with Nicko below in which he regales plenty of anecdotes about Maiden’s distinguished back catalogue.

Nicko McBrain releases his autobiography Hello Boys And Girls! on 22nd October and follows its release with a spoken word tour.

Iron Maiden’s greatest albums, according to Nicko McBrain:

17 - Iron Maiden

16 - Virtual XI

15 - No Prayer for the Dying

14 - The X Factor

13 - Killers

12 - The Number of the Beast

11 - The Final Frontier

10 - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

9 - Fear of the Dark

8 - Somewhere in Time

7 - Brave New World

6 - Dance of Death

5 - The Book of Souls

4 - Powerslave

3 - Senjutsu

2 - Piece of Mind

1 - A Matter of Life and Death

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