Iron Maiden's Reviews
No Prayer For The Dying (Average Rating: 6.20 out of 10)
Iron Maiden At Their Most Mediocre. (Rated this album with 6 out of 10)
Reviewed by
stevexxlt2
from United States
When talking about "No Prayer For the Dying," there tend to be two camps of Iron Maiden fans. There are those who hate the album, claiming that the songs are the weakest of Maiden's career and that it was the turning point in the band's career, when they went from embodying the greatness of the NWOBHM to being a shadow of what they were, prompting Bruce to leave the band. Then, there are those who love the album, praising it as a return to Maiden's "classic" sound after the synth-driven "Somewhere In Time" and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son."In truth, "No Prayer For the Dying" is neither. It is the most mediocre album that Iron Maiden have ever produced. It's far better than any of the travesties that followed it ("Fear of the Dark," "The X-Factor," and "Virtual XI") but nowhere near as good as anything that preceded it (or "Brave New World," which was Maiden's true return to form). New guitarist Janick Gers proved himself an ample replacement for Adrian Smith, though he would later show that his skills as a songwriter were significantly weaker than H's. "No Prayer" has its share of decent tracks, but the songs as a collection were nowhere near what Maiden is capable of. Make no mistake, "No Prayer" suffers from many, many weak songs. "Holy Smoke," a rant against televangelists, is a rather stupid premise for a Maiden song; "Bring Your Daughter . . . to the Slaughter" is a poor song (the original version of the song, found on Bruce's solo "Best Of..." album, is far better) which suffers from a ridiculous title; "Hooks In You" is a poor addition to the "Charlotte the Harlot" series (especially following the masterpiece "22 Acacia Avenue" from "The Number of the Beast"); "The Assassin" has a lame, repetitive chorus (that said, musically, it's a decent song); and the title track is just a generally weak tune. However, the good songs on this album are REALLY good. "Tailgunner" follows in the tradition of "Where Eagles Dare" and "Aces High" as a classic Maiden fighter pilot song. "Fates' Warning" and "Public Enema Number One" are both strong tracks (despite "Public Enema"'s unfortunate title), as is the epic-sounding "Mother Russia." The true highlight of the album, however - a song that should rightfully have become one of Maiden's all-time classics - is the maritime battle-themed "Run Silent, Run Deep." Building on a strong melody and one of Maiden's all-time top guitar solos, "Run Silent..." should have fit seemlessly into the canon of classic Maiden, yet somehow never received a place of honor on any of Maiden's live albums or their greatest hits collection. Die-hard Maiden fans need to own "No Prayer For the Dying," if only to fill out their collections. More casual fans may want to find a way to listen to the songs I mentioned as being good before they make a decision on the album. "No Prayer For the Dying" may indeed have been the beginning of the end for Iron Maiden. But if songs like "Tailgunner" and "Run Silent, Run Deep" are what a band is capable of doing at its weakest, that's a pretty good indication of what Maiden can do at their best.
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