Yay more Iron Maiden. I was in a Maideny mood so I did the best Maiden album of the 90s, not actually saying a lot seeing as... you know who... would come and ruin the band for 2 albums until the triumphant return of Dickinson. The album starts out with the really cool “Be Quick or Be Dead” and then breaks into the cool sing-a-long feel of the choruses in From Here To Eternity. It shows some experimentation, particularly in Be Quick or Be Dead which experiments with a faster tempo than normal Maideny stuff. It has a couple of classic songs, in particular Fear of the Dark. Childhoods End and Wasting Love are also awesome. It shows off a lot of the greatness of Maiden. From political commentary in Afraid to Shoot Strangers, to plain old simple heavy metal awesomeness in Fear of the Dark.
The first two tracks are extremely fast paced and lead one to believe wait... is this a Maiden album sans those amazing acoustic bits that build progressiveness into the music? Nope, you will be satisfied by the doom laden Afraid to Shoot Strangers. It still ranks as one of the top metal voices though, its just fallen a few notches. There is some really great music on this album. From the amazing Murray tapping to their traditional technically amazing solos. Dickinson comes across loud and angry and showing off all his vocal might. Murray's solos just boggle the mind. Steve Harris has a bass that shines through, more so than in many metal bands. Of course Nicko McBrain (also known as Mr. Best name ever) is still an amazing drummer and drives the music with his powerful and skilled drumming chops.
The first two tracks are extremely fast paced and lead one to believe wait... is this a Maiden album sans those amazing acoustic bits that build progressiveness into the music? Nope, you will be satisfied by the doom laden Afraid to Shoot Strangers. It still ranks as one of the top metal voices though, its just fallen a few notches. There is some really great music on this album. From the amazing Murray tapping to their traditional technically amazing solos. Dickinson comes across loud and angry and showing off all his vocal might. Murray's solos just boggle the mind. Steve Harris has a bass that shines through, more so than in many metal bands. Of course Nicko McBrain (also known as Mr. Best name ever) is still an amazing drummer and drives the music with his powerful and skilled drumming chops.
The lyrics are very dark, as usual with Maiden. But even these are more laden with messages of death and despair than normal Maiden tracks. One of my favorite Maiden tracks Childhoods End shows off a spectacular guitar part thanks to Murray and then a great rhythm part in the verse. It is enough to make you both despair and smile. The whole feel exuded by this album is very Iron Maidenesque. It is filled with all of the guitar parts and dark vocals complimented by one of rocks best rhythm sections that make the music great. Even though this album is not classic-ridden it still shows off some of Maidens best work.
This is a fabulous album that has everything that makes Maiden, Maiden. My only complaint is that there are few classic Maiden tracks here but if you consider it pretty much any aver song by Maiden could qualify as a classic for many other bands. (I mean the real Iron Maiden with either D'Ianno or Dickinson.) This is just an hour of Maiden showing off who they are accentuated by a couple amazing tracks that will survive as metal classics for years. Maiden shows their skill off here and you have to respect an album as awesome as this.
OVERALL 9/10
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