Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark (1992)

Iron Maiden's ninth studio album, 'Fear of the Dark' is an interesting album since I'd say its the last decent Maiden record. Its not a great record, 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son' gets the honor of being the last truly great Maiden album, but its light years improved upon the horrible, 'No Prayer for the Dying' in '90 or the two subsequent albums they did after Fear with Blaze Bayley at the vocal helm and honestly I think its even better than any of the last four albums they've done with Bruce back at the vocal position (Bruce left after this one to concentrate on his solo work).

On a personal level Fear was actually the first Maiden record I heard and my initial interest in the band was spawned years ago when I saw an ad in a metal/hard rock magazine (Hit Parader, I think) for the album and I remember thinking that the cover of Fear was way more bad ass than the Metallica or Megadeth records I was listening to at the time. Therefore I had to have it. Unfortunately I don't really remember the album making a huge impression on me back then as I probably preferred thrash more so, but just recently I re-bought this album and was quite shocked to hear tons of great songs on it.

The album kicks off with, 'Be Quick or be Dead' & 'From Here to Eternity,' which are both fast paced catchy numbers that hook you in instantly and are more of less classic sounding Maiden songs. 'Afraid to Shoot Strangers' & 'Wasting Love' are slower numbers, somewhat ballady, but nevertheless decent songs if you're in the mood for them. 'The Fugitive' & 'Chains of Misery' are simple mid-paced songs, but they are catchy like you wouldn't believe, especially Chains' chorus which has been caught in my brain entirely too many times. For me though the albums absolute highlight is the 3 minute, 'Judas be my Guide,' which has superb musicianship, powerful lead vocals and honestly its one of the most memorable Iron Maiden songs for me. Finally the 12th song, the title track, 'Fear of the Dark' is an all-time favorite for Maiden fans and its played live at almost every show, though I think some folks will argue and say that they prefer the live version of it.

So, what's wrong with this album? Its hard to say really, but I think the fact that the songs are fairly simple mid-paced numbers that are somewhat short in length and there isn't really any ridiculously awesome jaw dropping solos in them that would otherwise grab peoples attention as much as the stuff from the 80's did. I could also be that most of the songs lack that characteristic Maiden dynamics which was present on the earlier stuff and I've also heard some say that Bruce's voice lacks passion, but I only partially agree with that one.

Nevertheless there are some good songs present and I'll still say this is the last decent Iron Maiden album, because frankly things got really bad after this.