I was inspired by @bacon-dub to write about this after he was playing some Iron Maiden classics at the PIZZA discord server. Iron Maiden is a band that everyone that likes rock and roll in general, knows their value as musicians, even if Iron Maiden style is not theirs.
For me, Adrian Smith is for sure one of the top 10 guitarists of all time and Bruce top 10 as a vocalist.
Since I was a teenager I loved Iron Maiden, and their music is transmitted through the centuries. I had the privilege to see Bruce Dickinson coming back to the band after a few years of investing in his solo carrier with Adrian Smith in the band. And when they got back they had 3 guitarists in the band! That was totally different for that time! Up nowadays this is a rare event for a band.
And they had a concert at the Rock in Rio Concert in 2001 that was amazing with this new formation and the new album after his coming back, " A Brave New World", a nice album but in my point of view still not a classic compared with their past.
Interesting that for me after the classics from the past, such as "Fear of the dark", "Number of the Beast", "The trooper", and a couple of more, were only surpassed by titles from his solo carrier, more specifically at the "Chemical Wedding" album. It is a powerful album with very nice riffs, I think that is a little bit different from Iron Maiden, despite having the same vocalist.
For me, it opens with very good music called King in crimson which shows both Bruce's and Adrian's skills! Very good sound, check it out.