It was meant to be epic, and taking it as it is, an over produced double album full of Priestly goodness, I fucking love it. That said, I love everything Priest did, with the exception of Turbolover, haha..
Why bring up Maiden?

The thing about these bands is; Maiden are a band who don't evolve, they've been making the same music, bar a little more of a proggy sound now, for like, 30 fucking years! Why break what's not broken yes? I love Maiden too man, But Priest have tried several different sounds, some work, some don't, and to me they almost come across as power metal for this, and at the end of the day, at the very least, as long as Halford can still scream his arse off, Priest are Gods.