Fear of the Dark 1992

"This album never sat well with me. I know it was a huge international hit at the time, and I understand why, but when it came out, I was disappointed with many of the tracks on it and I considered the less progressive and more hard rock oriented approach a regression of sorts. I love hard rock, but my inner Maiden fanboy just couldn't come to terms with Iron Maiden playing hard rock.

The tracks that disappointed me at the time, and still don't sit well with me to this day are "From Here to Eternity" (I admit that I like its catchy chorus, but the song as a whole never did anything for me), "The Apparition" and "Weekend Warrior", which both sound like second rate AC/DC tracks to me (I like the bridge section of the former though).

"Judas Be My Guide" and "Chains of Misery" are okay rock/metal tracks, and I enjoy listening to them, to be sure, but compared to many of Maiden's other songs throughout their career they they are at an average level. Iron Maiden do deserve credit for writing these songs, because they are different from the usual Maiden material at the time, and these two tracks work much better than Maiden's other attempts at being different on this album.

There are also some above average tracks on this album. The opener "Be Quick or Be Dead" is an uptempo metal track which is likely to spark off an adrenaline rush in the listener (which is, unfortunately immediately killed by "From Here to Eternity). "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" is probably the hit ballad of the album, and I think it is quite good. It is dark, heavy and melancholic which makes the uptempo bridge seem even more uptempo than it is. There are also some nice guitar harmonies in this track, which can also be said about the other ballad "Wasting Love" although it does not work as well as "Afraid...". I also quite like "Fear Is the Key", which is a sort of classic rock track with a metallic edge and a darker atmosphere contributed by the eastern scale that the track is built around.

"Childhood's End" and "The Fugitive" are more obscure tracks, but for some reason, they are my favorite tracks of the album. And then there is, of course, the super hit "Fear of the Dark", which is a dark and sing-along-friendly metal track.

While a very popular Iron Maiden album, it is, for my money, far from their best release. However, the music on this album is perhaps more accessible to the uninitiated than many of their other albums, and I am more at ease recommending this as an entry point into the world of Iron Maiden than with "The X Factor" or "Virtual XI" or even "The Final Frontier" although the latter is much more up my alley than "Fear of the Dark".

(review also posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"