I was banned from listening to them when growing up. I didn't like them much when I was old enough to listen to them. I find that most death metal is pointless to me. To add to that, anything that depressing just puts me in a foul mood and I just stop listening to it. However, they had that really cool mascot "Eddie" that was creepy cool. I used to love the weird pictures of him on T-Shirts.
Interestingly enough, I had all their albums up till 1999 or so. This was one of my favorite groups as a teenager, about the same time I was rebelling at home and had long hair. Phantom of the Opera was my favorite song of theirs. My favorite album was their live album. These days I haven't kept up with their songs, ever since Bruce Dickinson left the band and went solo. I remember drawing the Iron Maiden logo on my desk at school. I have to admit their artwork was one of the best around at the time.
I have not listen much to them or looked to see if they had new albums since the seventh son album. I like their music style and some of the lyrics are interesting, Eddie is one of the all times best mascots and the artwork was good.
Having seen this post I might look into them again, just to see what is going on.
I have found them to be quite interesting to listen to. I have enjoyed listening to them from when they first came out. My parents did not like their posters much but I thought it was pretty kewl looking. I will continue to listen to their music as classic rock for the next few years at least.