Still making my way through the new book and playing through the catalog. The ninth studio release and a much better album than the previous release. Much better production and songs although it’s a little long at 12 songs. New guitarist Janick Gers was able to be a big part of the writing and recording and co-wrote 5 songs. The direction was similar to the more raw straight ahead old school Maiden sound of No Prayer For The Dying but thankfully the production and sound was a million miles ahead of that album and the songs are much more memorable. This is also the first album cover to not be a Derek Riggs painting. Starting out with the first single “Be Quick Or Be Dead”, the tone is set right away with an uptempo track that reminds you of many of the early Maiden album openers and credit to the writers Dickinson/Gers. Single #2 “From Here To Eternity” is a catchy hard rock tune with a good chorus and the lyrics are a tie in to the Charlotte the Harlot saga. Another very good song for me. “Afraid To Shoot Strangers” is epic in every way. A long intro that just builds and builds until it gets to the chorus. Probably more known as a great live track than a studio one and it was in the setlist for this tour and for some of the Blaze Bayley era tours as well. “Fear is the Key” has an eastern feel and Zepplin musically and for me one of the more underrated tracks on the album and I love how venomous Bruce is vocally at times. Another great Dickinson/Gers track.
“Childhood’s End” has a cool melody and I like the chorus and it’s very melodic but It’s quite different and is a good song for me and again a little underrated.
“Wasting Love” was the first kind of big Maiden “ballad”. Meant for Bruce’s solo album Tattooed Millionaire, it probably fits better there but damnit I like this song and like the way the song builds slowly it getting heavier at the chorus. I’m sure many didn’t like this type of song for Maiden but I still like it a lot and it was the third single but only released in the Netherlands. If it was a few years earlier maybe it’s a hit. I think this one was also on the A Real Live One live album.
“The Fugitive” doesn’t do much for me and has one of those choruses that seems to go on and on(before someone says it yes I get the irony considering my love for Afraid to Shoot Strangers which also has a chorus that goes on and on and on…). I do like Nicko’s drumming quite a bit and it has a good groove but for whatever reason it’s always just been an okay song for me.
“Chains of Misery” was co-written by Dave Murray and like a lot of Dave songs it’s a really good song and tends to be overlooked somewhat. Good straight ahead hard rock.
“The Apparition” has a cool start and the verses are alright but doesn’t really have a chorus and really doesn’t go anywhere. It’s kind of Zeppelinish in parts but one of my least favorites on the album. “Judas Be My Guide” another good underrated song and a good chorus and solo. Another good Dave Murray co-write. “Weekend Warrior” is about as bad as it gets. We all get Steve Harris loves his football but we sure didn’t need a song about it. They should have deleted this one. The title track “Fear of the Dark” is a great closing and epic track. The longest song on the album it has become the best known song from the album and the only track that is still in the setlist. A great comeback after the previous No Prayer For The Dying release, with better songs and sound. Still a few songs too long and it would be better at 9-10 songs instead of 12 but it was the cd age when bands were giving more songs per album. I played the heck out of this on cassette at the time as it was my High School Maiden album and while I’ll never consider it one of their best I do think it’s still a very solid album minus a couple of songs. The worst part about the album was Bruce left the band at the end of the tour to go solo and the things were about to change even more.
Iron Maiden – Fear of the Dark (1992)
