Iron Maiden's Reviews
No Prayer For The Dying (Average Rating: 6.20 out of 10)
Maiden's weakest... (Rated this album with 4 out of 10)
Reviewed by
A music fan
from MN
First of all, let me preface this by saying that Iron Maiden is my favorite metal band--actually, my favorite band of any genre--of all time. But, simply put, this bombs. Perhaps it was rushed, perhaps it was affected by personnel shifts, (Janick Gers replaced Adrian Smith on this one, BTW, Gers is a fine guitarist and I don't blame him for it,) or perhaps Maiden was just going for something less pretensious, more laid back, than this album's predecessor, "Seventh Son..." Whatever happened here, this album just isn't worthy of Maiden's other efforts, even Virtual XI. This album did have its moments, however, (it IS Maiden, after all.) Here's my thoughts, track by track. 1.)Tailgunner-a decent song. I like this one, but it isn't quite on par with an arena-rocker like "Run to the Hills." 2.) Holy Smoke-Probably my favorite of the album. The opening guitars are kind of poppish--a bit of a departure for the band, but this is just a catchy tune. 3.) No Prayer For the Dying-Kind of fell flat for me. Not the emotionally moving song that Harris was trying to write. 4.) Public Enema Number One-A fairly strong number, but, again, not on par with some of Maiden's other songs. 5.)Fate's Warning-mediocre. 6.)The Assassin-I actually like this one simply because it's a bit different. Not too heavy, kind of the less is more principle. 7.)Run Silent,Run Deep-mediocrity, but Bruce really sings his head off in the chorus and strengthens the song somewhat. 8.)Hooks in You-Ugghh. If it weren't for this song, I would have rated the album three stars. There's just no excuse for this. This would be filler material on a Poison or Motley Crue album and has no business whatsoever on a Maiden album. 9.) Bring Your Daugther...To The Slaughter. Gotta like this one. Good-ol-fashioned metal and showed Bruce's ability to write straight up horror metal which was evident on his solo project "Accident of Birth." 10.) Mother Russia-OK, but not a closer epic like "Rime of The Ancient Mariner." I'm not unrecommending this disk. As I think I've already pointed out, this one at least had some decent songs. If you're a huge Maiden fan, you'll want to buy this one. However, for someone who is introducing him/herself to Maiden, try "Seventh Son..." "Brave New World," or "Powerslave."
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