Thy Serpent wrote:
Trooper Of Steel wrote:
Of course they have a vibe with Bruce, he was with them since 1982 (Number Of The Beast). They made some of their greatest albums during that period. It is hard for a band like that, to suddenly have a new singer which is not a human air-raid siren. Thats why those albums sounded different than the rest, cause Blaze couldnt sing that way...the music was meant for his vocal style and i rekon it worked really well
Have to agree with you on this one. I felt Blaze's voice blended well with the Maiden sound in X Factor and Virtual XI. But Bruce is the voice of Maiden, much like Ozzy was the voice of Sabbath. The other vocalists had a better vocal range and in my opinion were just so much better than Ozzy. But you will still find a vast majority favouring Ozzy as the Sabbath vocalist. And one more thing. I think FOTD is one of Maiden's best albums. :twisted:
Well everyone's opinions and tastes are different. This is a review i did on another music site about FOTD.... P.S- we really should start a new thread about Maiden...
...A little anxious when it's dark...FEAR OF THE DARK..., February 13, 2005
Reviewer: Trooper Of Steel "Sean" (Melbourne, Australia)
By the time Iron Maiden released their 9th studio album in 1992, entitled Fear Of The Dark, they were a household name in the heavy metal world. Kings of their game and ontop of the hill. They held the yard stick.
But in my opinion, what you hear on Fear Of The Dark is the product of a tired and worn out band, which set the scene of what was to happen next.
I noticed a glimpse of Maiden's tiredness from their previous album, No Prayer For the Dying, and with this album, it grew even further. Whether Iron Maiden were changing with the times, as the 80's were long gone, there was something different with Fear Of The Dark...and it was disappointing.
Since guitarist Adrian Smith left the band in 1990 (before No Prayer For The Dying), there has been a noticable drop in the quality of the lyrics and song structure. New guitarist, Jannick Gers, did not contribute to the song-writing on "Prayer", but did co-write 5 songs on Fear Of The Dark, and to their latest album, still does help write a good portion of the band's songs.
Onto the album in question. It begins quickly with the thundering drums of Nicko McBrain to start Be Quick Or Be Dead, an awesome opener, perfect for Bruce Dickinson's vocal style. From Here To Eternity is next, a different type of Maiden song, lyrics wise, and it is saved by a very good chorus and solo. Overall, the song has a "fun" feel to it.
Afraid To Shoot Strangers is next, the song is based on the 1st Gulf War, about normal everyday people forced into battle by governments to kill people they dont know, nor even want to kill. It's one of the best songs on the album. Fear Is The Key follows and again the level drops a little. Despite the nice "galloping" guitar riffs, the song lacks depth and soon becomes boring.
Childhood's End is next, and again is an average track. By this far into the album, the style of the band's music is very different comparred to previous albums. The bands seems angry and their lyrics tend to speak about the struggles of the little people and how they are manipulated by politicians/government, and the after-effects of war.
Wasting Love follows, where it does pick up slightly. A semi-ballad, with nice riffs, but still not a standout track. The Fugitive is next, which is one of the better songs on the album, with a ripping chorus and a fitting solo.
The next two songs are arguably the poorest on the whole album (Chains Of Misery & The Appariton). Things get back on track with the next song- Judas Be My Guide, a great song from start to finish. Unfortunately it is also very short, clocking in at just 3:08. Weekend Warrior is next, and it continues the trend of average songs on the album. The title track ends the album, and although it is a very good song, I tend to prefer the live version of this song, as the studio version lacks a little something.
At the end of listening to this album, you are left disappointed and thinking that you havent gotten enough from it, that something was missing.
To me, Fear Of The Dark felt rushed, constructed quickly and recorded that way. Despite 5 great tracks, there seemed a lot of "fillers".
Bruce Dickinson's song-writing had weakened, while Steve Harris' contributions were still strong and saved this album from being a disaster. The addition of Jannick Gers into the song-writing also helped.
As if you could tell something was wrong with the band, in 1993 Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden to pursue a solo career...
(rating each song is as follows: 0.98-1= killer track, 0.95-0.97= awesome track, 0.90-0.93= good/very good track, 0.85-0.88= OK track, 0.80-0.83= poor/average track. Once you add up the score, divide it by the number of tracks to get the %)
Be Quick Or Be Dead: 1
From Here To Eternity: 0.93
Afraid To Shoot Strangers: 1
Fear Is The Key: 0.90
Childhood's End: 0.90
Wasting Love: 0.92
The Fugitive: 0.93
Chains Of Misery: 0.87
The Apparition: 0.85
Judas Be My Guide: 1
Weekend Warrior: 0.90
Fear Of The Dark: 0.95 = 11.15, divided by 12 (tracks)= 92.9%
In my opinion, Fear Of The Dark is ranked 10th out of 13 in the best to least best Iron Maiden albums. Like I wrote at the start of this review, this is a tired effort by Iron Maiden.
