Iron Maiden: No Prayer for the Dying (1990)

I remember being disappointed when I heard Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark.  Not because I had been a long-time fan and their sound on that album was a departure from what I was used to.  No, Fear of the Dark was actually the first Iron Maiden album I ever heard.  I was familiar with the name, but not the band.  It was considerably lighter than I thought it would be.  Keep in mind that my first exposure to metal was with thrash metal bands like Metallica and Megadeth.  So Iron Maiden's much more melodic take on metal caught me by surprise.  I eventually grew to love the album, songs like "Be Quick or Be Dead", "Judas Be My Guide", and of course the title track are all terrific.  And eventually I started checking out the band's earlier material.  Of course as I did that, my feelings for the first Iron Maiden album I ever heard lessened significantly. 

It took a long time for me to get around to the album immediately preceding Fear of the Dark because it is a generally poorly-received album and because of its proximity to Fear of the Dark.  The other reason is that the big hit from the album is "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter", which has never been a particular favorite of mine.  In fact, I really do not care for the song much at all.  It is a little too mainstream pop-metal for me.  So it was with trepidation that I finally took the plunge on the album.  I was more concerned with filling holes than really getting into the release.

The album really is not that bad.  I do not think it is as good as Fear of the Dark, and of course it does not even come close to the album that preceded it, the masterpiece Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, arguably Iron Maiden's finest album.  This is quite the letdown from that album.  This album is very much a safe album.  It does not really push anything, the songs are all fine, with the exception of the aforementioned "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" and "Hooks in You", which are both pretty terrible.  The problem is that there really is no standout.  As I said, there is just nothing really here that comes close to any of the band's prior legacy.  It is almost like an Iron Maiden tribute band.

The other issue is the lackluster performances by the band members.  Bruce Dickinson, he of the air-raid siren, operatic vocals in the past, just sounds tired and bored.  He is trying some edgier vocals this time around, but there is not a lot of feeling behind them.  Steve Harris, whose bass rhythms have been the primary driving force behind the band, just is not doing anything terribly interesting, and his songwriting suffers as a result.  The guitar solos do not grab the attention of the listener as they have in the past.  The result is an album that sounds sort of rushed and more of a cash-in than a heartfelt, creative Iron Maiden release.

Honestly this is not a bad album, but it absolutely pales in comparison to the band's prior releases and comes up incredibly short next to the album that came just before it.  It is a disappointment.  But damn if it does not have a cool album cover.

Iron Maiden: Live After Death (1985)

One of my wife's favorite movies is Rock of Ages, which is a musical with an ensemble cast and featuring all rock songs from the 1980's.  As a result, I have seen it a number of times.  In one part, the female lead and the male lead are discussing rock albums and the female lead says that her all-time favorite album is a live album by this fictional band.  That has always struck me as kind of odd.  I have personally never cared all that much for live albums, but maybe I have been listening to the wrong ones.  There are a few live albums that are considered absolute metal classics.  Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East is one and this is another.

There is a reason that Iron Maiden continues to sell out large arenas despite the fact that they receive very little radio or television play.  They are without a doubt, a terrific live act.  I saw them finally a couple of years ago when they made their way into Nebraska.  Their explosive live performance shines through extremely well on this album.  The songs are all performed with a lot of energy and sound great live.  There are some minor issues with some instruments being a little too loud in the mix compared to others, but that is not that big of a deal.

This is a somewhat early release, so the songs are limited to those on the band's first five albums.  There are some questionable choices here.  It is not terribly likely that Iron Maiden will be breaking out the 13-minute long epic "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" too often nowadays.  It is a good song, just not terribly conducive to a concert.  And then there is the closing track "Phantom of the Opera", which is not a song I would have thought would have been a closer in a concert.  There is obviously some editing going on on the release and different versions have songs in different orders so maybe it was not the closing song.

The only complaint that I have is that Bruce Dickinson was having a little bit of a bad night.  He is not quite able to hit some of the incredible high notes that he did on the album versions.  This is particularly obvious in songs like "Aces High" and "Powerslave".  He avoids this issue by doing a little bit more of a hoarse yell that actually fits in well with the music.

There is a reason this is one of the consensus greatest live albums of all time.  Iron Maiden does a fantastic live performance and it comes through quite well here.  I still would not consider this a favorite Iron Maiden album, but it is damn good.  Maybe I will check out that Judas Priest album next.