Modrigue Maiden's most uneven release

In 1992, IRON MAIDEN's ninth studio album navigates in troubled waters. The recent explosion of grunge highly overshadows traditional heavy metal bands. Furthermore, Harris and co.'s last opus, "No Prayer For The Dying", saws a clear lack of inspiration and renewal. "Fear of the Dark" roughly suffers from the same problems than its predecessor, however with the difference that, this time, interesting tracks are more numerous and especially more remarkable. Result: good and great titles, sometimes reminding the past glory, are surrounded by fillers ranking from average to bad. If the music neither possesses the ferocity of the first years nor pursues the progressive approach developed at the end of the 80's, the epicness is (partially) back. Another noticeable point is that "FOTD" features the first songs co-written by guitarist Jannick Gers for the group.

Let's talk about the 5 interesting tracks first. From the beginning of the disc, you can hear an improvement compared to the previous opus. Composed by Dickinson and Gers, "Be Quick Or Be Dead" is a typical MAIDEN-ien raging, fast-paced opener, much more convincing than "Tailgunner". Steve Harris' "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" is one of the two little gems of the record. Setting up a mysterious and haunting atmosphere, the musics turns melancholic, until the gorgeously powerful bridge. A very catchy composition, on the level of the group's eighties' standards! "Childhood's End" is quite pleasant and epic, while "The Fugitive" is enjoyable. As you may have guessed, the other little gem is the well-known title track, the best of the album, a metal hymn worthy of MAIDEN's past grandeur.

The other songs are mostly flat or boring. Dickinson and Gers' "Wasting Love", the band's first power ballad, which dates back to Dickinson's first solo effort "Tattooed Millionaire", is rather so-so. Without "Judas Be My Guide" and "Weekend Warrior", "FOTD" would have been a correct release.

80's fans will have a strange impression after listening to "Fear of the Dark". An uneven album, where nice titles, and especially two of MAIDEN's best 90's compositions, are interlaced between mediocre ones. Nonetheless, these aren't numerous enough to make a convincing record. Why too much fillers? 2 or 3 of them could have been avoided. As a result, this ninth opus is better than its predecessor, but overall ranks as average. However, if you enjoy the group's 1982-1985 era, you'll still have to give it a try, at least for the few songs cited above.

One year later, charismatic frontman Bruce Dickinson will left the band. Since ten years, his singing greatly contributed to the epic ambiances and the success of the metal quintet. Then... what future for IRON MAIDEN?

siLLy puPPy This is one of the biggest surprises of my IRON MAIDEN musical experiences. When i first heard the 9th studio album FEAR OF THE DARK i reacted like many having experienced their discography more or less in chronological order by reacting positively to a few tracks such as “Be Quick Or Be Dead” which mimicked their classic anthem metal sound, but quickly dismissed most of this album and shelved it and moved on to other things. I just recently picked up the 90s IRON MAIDEN releases and gave them the modern day scrutiny. Wow. Was i surprised with this one. I guess i wasn’t ready for this back in the 90s when i first heard this and after many years of discovering the more progressive side of the rock world, i have only now come to realize i had a gem in my midst for all this time from one of my favorite bands!

The stats: Bruce Dickinson would have enough and jump ship after this album but would return for 2000’s “Brave New World.” First album to be produced by Steve Harris but last to feature long time producer Martin Birch. Together they made a wonderfully sounding album. A torch has been passed here. Also produced in Steve Harris’ barn but the barn was converted to a full-fledged studio eliminating all the nasty gory details that plagued “No Prayer For The Dying.” The album cover was the first NOT to be created by Derek Riggs. That spooky tree turned to creepy dude of the night was inspired and created by Melvyn Grant. Michael Kenney was called in as a session musician for keyboards.

FEAR OF THE DARK actually has a suitable title for IRON MAIDEN fans. It was something that included just enough of what came before but provided a whole bunch of different ideas that actually made this album sound like a hodgepodge of ideas giving it a very disjointed type of feel. That is why i and many others just didn’t warm up to this one as much as the previous offerings. This album was all about experimentation and at the time of first listening i was having none of it, but these days i’m finding this to be a much more sophisticated album than i ever could have realized despite not being perfect nor the best the band has to offer.

As with the previous album, the band eschews the fantasy and literary inspired lyrics and sticks to social and more reality based themes. The opener “Be Quick Or Be Dead” lures fans in with the classic galloping melodic metal that everyone would expect but things suddenly drift in another direction with the second track “From Here To Eternity” which is actually the fourth song to continue the “Charlotte The Harlot” saga. This track has a new sound for the band. It is kinda like their old sound but has a rather speed ska feel to the verses. Once we get to the third track “Afriad To Shoot Strangers” we get a strange slowed down rocker that starts out with that classic MAIDEN intro a la “7th Son” but morphs into one of those classic MAIDEN riffs with a nice atmospheric background that eventually becomes a recognizable galloping metal frenzy.

“Fear Is The Kay” kinda reminds me of “Holy Diver” from Dio but MAIDENized of course. A slow tempo “Childhood’s End” follows which actually continues the albums mood by having a much slower and alienating feel that most MAIDEN fans will not immediately warm up to. Still plenty of metal riffage accompanies. The rest follow suit with the exception of the out of place “Weekend Warrior” which honestly sounds like Bruce Dickinson sat in on the “Back In Black” sessions by AC/DC and incorporated a throwaway track. My least favorite. Finally the title track which became a fan favorite sing along in concert. Nice riffage, nice developments and a perfect mix of slow and fast elements. One of my original faves. After many years of having this on the shelf i’m surprised that i like this album so much now. It was incubating somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind and now that i’ve unleashed its time-capsule charm i am impressed. No, it will not usurp the throne of the most classic of MAIDEN albums any time soon, but i highly recommend to anyone who wrote this off and shelved it to give it a spin again to see if it may have aged well without their knowledge. It sure was the case for yours truly.

666sharon666 Fear of the Dark is the second 90's Iron Maiden album and the last to feature singer Bruce Dickinson until Brave New World in 2000. After a strong run of album's in the 80's, the 90's saw Iron Maiden beginning a creative low-point and while Fear of the Dark isn't the weakest record to come out of this period in Iron Maiden history it is, to my ears anyway, the weakest of the Bruce Dickinson fronted releases.

Though Fear of the Dark may have one of Iron Maiden's most iconic title tracks, the album as a whole continues the decline that began on the previous album No Prayer for the Dying. But where that album still had several good songs it's only really the title track and Afraid to Shoot Strangers from this one that hold any lasting appeal for me. I guess the singles Be Quick or be Dead and From Here to Eternity are okay, but they're no Can I Play With Madness or 2 Minutes to Midnight.

Attribution: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/iron-maiden-fear-of-the-dark-t3632.html

Conor Fynes 'Fear Of The Dark' - Iron Maiden (7/10)

Despite having one of the band's best-known crowd favourites, Iron Maiden's 'Fear Of The Dark' is a somewhat less successful album for the legends, at least critically speaking. My first experience with the band, the album may have more of a personal significance to me, and while proving to be one of the band's less consistent works, there is some great music here from the band. While not as good as the true classic material of the band, 'Fear Of The Dark' is an at-times wonderful collection of tracks from one of metal's most enduring acts.

'Be Quick Or Be Dead' kicks off the album in a fairly classic Maiden fashion; a fast pace, galloping rhythm, and Bruce Dickinson's howl makes this track one that I would not have been surprised to see one of the earlier records. 'From Here To Eternity' also somewhat follows this formula. Truth be told though, Iron Maiden does take the rest of the album down a somewhat different lane. While it's certainly nothing alien to what Iron Maiden had already been doing, the music is perhaps a little more conservative in terms of speed, with many of these tracks veering towards Judas Priest's 'older' sound. Cutting straight to the point; this is done very well at times, but some songs fall off the wagon, and this may be why some fans of the band do not regard this album as highly. 'The Fugitive' and 'Judas Be My Guide' are two more straightforward tracks that really rock. While the intensity is toned down a bit, the riffs are in much the same style that Maiden had done before. Despite the subdued angle, there is still the care taken to the dual guitar harmonies. Weekend Warrior' is the only miss of a track here, with fairly uninspired guitars and facepalm-inducing lyrics. Here, Iron Maiden virtually declaws their music, and despite being released in '92, 'Weekend Warrior' sounds like it would have been some arena rock track from the heyday of the '80s. One bad apple aside, I don't think it hurts the rest of the songs.

Bruce Dickinson's voice is a point of contention for some, especially seeing as he would leave the band for the next two albums after this. Although some of the melodies are not so inspired or memorable, his voice was still in top shape, although he does not quite sound like himself here. At times, he sounds like Rob Halford- a good thing- and at others, he ad-libs away in the style of Axl Rose- a decidedly bad thing. 'Fear Of The Dark' certainly has some weaknesses to contend with, but the album's two most involving songs take it from being merely decent, to a very good album. Those two are the famed title track, and the lesser-known 'Afraid To Shoot Strangers'. The first of these evokes a maddening response from the crowd whenever its played live, and for good reason. It begins with a classic riff, then takes a breath as it gently builds into the most intense passage of the album. 'Afraid To Shoot Strangers' proceeds in much the same manner, with perhaps a more progressive direction. With these two songs alone, 'Fear Of The Dark' is more than worth a listen to a fan of the band.

Iron Maiden have gone through many phases, and 'Fear Of The Dark' falls on the brink of a rough transition for the band. All the same, there are many good songs, and even some gold to hear with this one. A painfully underrated album.

adg211288 Fear of the Dark is the ninth studio release from UK heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The album is perhaps most noteworthy amongst the legendary band’s releases for its iconic title track, and for being the final studio release of singer Bruce Dickinson’s first tenure with the band.

Despite the title track though, which is easily one of Iron Maiden’s finest songs, the actual album sees Bruce Dickinson bowing out when the band is at one of their lowest points. After the heavily progressive album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son Maiden went back to basics with No Prayer for the Dying, an album which lacked some aspects of the classic Iron Maiden records, but it did have a lot of decent hard rocking tracks, which to my ears made it a solid album in its own right. Enter Fear of the Dark though and things have turned to a mostly mediocre affair. Aside from the title track the only really brilliant track here is Afraid to Shoot Strangers, a song that oddly seemed to suit Dickinson’s successor Blaze Bayley better than it did him. Iron Maiden however hasn’t ever produced a really awful record, so as a whole Fear of the Dark still hits the above average mark, and a few more points are coaxed out of me for the two standouts, but otherwise this is probably Iron Maiden’s second weakest album, the only weaker one being 1998’s Virtual XI. Be Quick of Be Dead is a decent enough rocking track, but otherwise the album leaves much to be desired of an Iron Maiden release.

In a way, Fear of the Dark has the Iron Maiden elements that No Prayer for the Dying lacked, and likewise No Prayer for the Dying has the elements that Fear of the Dark lacks. Put the best of both together and you could potentially have an album to rival the real classics such as Powerslave, but we’re left with two inferior records in the end. Of course any true Iron Maiden fan should still have these in their collection, but for more casual fans of the band Fear of the Dark shouldn’t be on your priority list.

The problem with this one is really that only those select few songs already mentioned by name in this review really scream ‘Iron Maiden classic!’ at you. There are actually several half decent tracks such as From Here to Eternity, Chains of Misery and Wasting Love included as well, but at the end of the day, Fear of the Dark just fails to stand up to most of the other albums in what is a highly strong and consistent discography. This is still far from being a really awful album, but Iron Maiden disappoints me with this one.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 6.5/10)

UMUR Fear of the Dark is the 9th full-length studio album by UK heavy metal act Iron Maiden. The album was released in May 1992 by EMI Records. The original album contains 12 tracks while the 1995 re-issue comes with a bonus CD with 7 additional tracks.

The music on the album continues the more hard rock influenced heavy metal style of the predecessor No Prayer for the Dying (1990), but the sound is still unmistakably the sound of Iron Maiden. Bruce Dickinson´s distinct and strong vocal delivery is as always one of the defining elements in Iron Maiden´s sound, but the twin guitar leads that the band are known for are also present on Fear of the Dark. The musicianship in general is excellent. Tracks like the fast-paced Be Quick or Be Dead and the two epic tracks Afraid to Shoot Strangers and the title track, are the tracks that mostly sound like the earlier output by the band while tracks like the more hard rock tinged Weekend Warrior and Childhood's End represent the other side of the album´s sound. Tracks like The Fugitive, From Here to Eternity and Judas Be My Guide fall somewhere in between.

The production is powerful and clean. The sound suits the music well.

While Fear of the Dark isn´t exactly a revelation and the album could have used a few more metallic sounding songs, I actually find myself enjoying the album quite a bit. Either the years have softened me or maybe the album isn´t as bad as I remembered it ( I used to dislike the album, save for a few tracks). The bottom line is that even the hard rock tinged songs on the album are enjoyable when I listen to the album today and I´ll go as far as to give the album a 3.5 star rating.

Time Signature Metal is the key...

Genre: heavy metal / hard rock

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".

Pekka Maiden had hit their bottom with No Prayer for the Dying, which saw them abandoning the big and bold proggish metal tunes in favour of harsher rocking songs about real life subjects. Not a bad idea, but their pencil just wasn't sharp enough. Fear of the Dark continues very much in the same direction, the only difference being that this time they had the material in place. Not all the way but considerably more so than on the previous try.

And harsher it gets. Be Quick Or Be Dead opens the album with the all time most aggressive Maiden blast, over a couple of almost thrashy riffs Bruce spits venom on all the corporate leeches of the world. His newfound vocal style split opinions right in the middle, but for the new kind of material the new rougher voice is approppriate, I think. After the very fine opener things take a turn for the worse with From Here to Eternity, an almost Gn'R like rocker which is, like Hooks in You from the previous album, notable only for being a sort of a sequel to the Charlotte the Harlot saga. But this, like most of the "filler" material on the album is somewhat salvaged by a brilliant instrumental section with both soloists in excellent form. From the later songs especially The Apparition displays the same contrast of an excellent soloing section, I especially enjoy the guitar and bass unison run, and an utterly forgettable set of verses and choruses.

But the good tracks on this album are really really good, wonderful. The title track has been an ever present live staple since the release of the album, and totally deservedly. After hearing tons of great live renditions the original studio recording seems a bit short on energy, but the song is a classic in any shape. As is Afraid to Shoot Strangers, which sadly hasn't made any live appearances since the Blaze days. After a subdued, moody intro the band brings out a superbly radiant melody, which they keep varying until the end of the song, with an uptempo section spicing things up.

So the masterpiece department that was lacking on No Prayer for the Dying has been taken care of, and as the mid album "filler" material is of higher quality than that of its predecessor, with such fine tracks as Fear Is the Key, Childhood's End, Wasting Love, The Fugitive and Judas Be My Guide, the end result is a considerable step up.

A recommended album, but get the classics first. And the ones by the six man line-up. And perhaps some Blaze stuff...

Stephen Talking about Iron Maiden's ninth album, "Fear of The Dark", will bring back a lot of memories since there are so many historical events with this album. First of all, this is the last album with Bruce Dickinson before he was replaced by Blaze Bayley of Wolfsbane. Second of all, this is the first album of Iron Maiden that I was introduced to by an older friend when he lent me his cassette and spooked me off at first with its scary cover, I was only 12, but instantly hooked with the huge opener, "Be Quick or Be Dead". Third of all, this is probably a very diverse record compared to their earlier effort; Janick Gers who rarely contributes even puts some of his writing on the album, including their sole power ballad, "Wasting Love".

"Be Quick or Be Dead", which surprisingly wasn't written by Steve Harris, came out strong as a huge flaming opener. "Afraid To Shoot Stranger" followed the pattern of "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and also one of their best songs that's frequently played at the concert, along with the title track (which is clearly the greatest track of the album). "Judas Be My Guide" is an underrated classy heavy metal with an intense melody. "Childhood's End" is also lovable. Couple of decent and acceptable tracks including "From Here To Eternity", the Dokken-ized riffage of "Chains of Misery", and the ballad, "Wasting Love" are okay, but I just can't stand "Fear Is The Key" and "Weekend Warrior" which I believe are their worst songs here.

"Fear of The Dark" might not be a favorite album of many, but this is definitely one of mine. It still offers a lot of solid tracks and an essential buy if you're a Maiden hardcore or a casual heavy metal fan. This album served as the last great Maiden release of the 90s before they went downhill with Bayley until they're back to their original form with Dickinson in the 2000. This is a fine album that still received a frequent spin on my player and deserved a solid four-star rating.

friso Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark (1992)

First of all, the album's arranged beautifully. Iron Maiden has a sound only featered on FOTD. Less epic then other albums, more into the solid rock song thing of the eighties. This may sound a bit dissapointing, but wait... it's still Iron Maiden! They made a lot of great songs for this album. They did succeed in making total new atmospheres, contrary to those of records Iron Maiden made before this one.

Be quick or be dead is the heavy uptemp starter for this record. Heavey, rough.. One of the heaveyest sounding songs of Iron Maiden's long career. But anyway, a great opening thriller. From here to eternity is a storytelling song with an poprock influence. This is a weak point of the song, but still I nice song that has an Iron Maiden feel and muscianship.

Afraid to shoot strangers is an highlight of this album, it's an true masterpiece. A long opening part with atmospheric feel played by soft guitars and Bruce's great vocals. The big explosiong of the symphonic/heavey rock guitar solo's part makes this song one of the finests of Maiden career. Great theme's played by double guitars scaffold into a great melodic piece. It truly feels powerfull.

Fear is the key is a bid of a moodcrasher... it's slow and very moody. Still is has some nice parts and might just turn out to be an aquired taste. Childhood's end a beatifull epicfeeling song with nice drums (they almost sound a bit african). The chorus is very atractive here. Great atsmopsheres!

Wasting Love is again a moody song wich begins to work when you listen to it more frequently. It's again a daring song for Iron Maiden, it has an strange mood.

The Fugative is a great hard rocker with lots of emotional guitar parts. The rytmic parts are very interesting here. After the heavy beginning suddenly a smooth guitar part arises making you believe Bruce's lyrics (on a cold oktober morney...). Those lyrics are great by the way, I realy feel the connection between the words and the music.

Chains of Misery is a kind of playfull song. I like the opening riff. Kind of strange are the football team like choir sounds in the chorus. Still a nice song.

The apperition is again a song with a structure and mood/sound that Iron Maiden never had showed before. This I like about this album, it's not so Iron Maiden-like. Judas be my guide is nice mooded song with some speed in it. This was just what the album needed at the time. Good joice!

Weekend Warrior is aging totally unMaiden. The vocals sound kind of bullying, but the lyrics are actually of the protest kind. It's about a hooligans life. The middle solo parts of this song complete the song with some very great melodies. It works!

Well... I'm nog going to discribe how nice the song Fear of the Dark itself is!

Conclusion. Oke, this is a strange album in the Iron Maiden discography. It has a distinctive atmosphere whilst featuring both art rock and long-hare-street-type metal. The song-writing is very strong and the guitar solo's are even better then on most Iron Maiden albums. Some of the classic of this album are real winners. Four and a halve stars for this underrated Maiden album.

SouthSideoftheSky A more mature maiden!

Fear Of The Dark was very much an anomaly in my CD player in the 90's, during which I mainly listened to Alternative Rock bands like Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. But unlike all those Alternative bands, or anything else I listened to in those days, this album has staying power. Fear Of The Dark was the first Iron Maiden album I ever heard and for a very long time it was the only Iron Maiden album I had ever heard. It is fair to say that this was 'the' Iron Maiden album for me during my early years as a music lover.

I certainly wouldn't call myself an Iron Maiden fan in general - not then, and not now - but this album holds a very special place in my collection. Indeed, it is quite probable that this album actually influenced my personal musical journey towards the music fan I am today. However, I honestly do not think that my personal relationship with this album affects my present rating in any way that makes it biased. It really is my considered judgement that this is one of the very best Iron Maiden albums! It is needless to point out how vastly superior this album is compared with the previous, and very disappointing No Prayer For The Dying.

Fear Of The Dark is certainly not as brilliant as Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. Indeed, far from it. But it is highly melodic with very strong and memorable melodies and riffs and loads of great guitar solos. In my view there is not one weak song on this album and several of the songs are excellent. There is just one great melody after another and most of the songs have a slight progressive touch. The progressive leanings can be found mostly in the arrangements and in the details, but especially also in the many interesting tempo changes and mood changes often within the same song. Like on Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son there are discrete keyboards in the background on several songs that adds a greater depth to the music than on most earlier albums.

Afraid To Shoot Strangers is one of the more progressive songs here. I remember how impressed I was by the several tempo and mood changes and great, highly melodic guitar parts and good solos. And today, I am still impressed with it! There is much progression in this song too. Every time the main guitar melody returns, it is played slightly differently than the last time around which proves that Iron Maiden can be intelligent when they want to. Subtle intelligence, in a way.

Wasting Love has a great guitar melody and is an unusual type of song for Iron Maiden to do - it is something of a (semi-)ballad. This helps to make this album varied and interesting throughout. It might be compared with Deep Purple's Wasted Sunsets from the Perfect Strangers album. Indeed, the voice of Bruce Dickinson sounds even closer to that of Ian Gillan on this album than on other Iron Maiden albums, I think. On some parts of Fear Is The Key you could easily believe that it is Ian Gillan singing!

The title track is a classic that has become a live favourite for the band until this very day. It is a great song!

Many Iron Maiden fans seem to dislike this album, and that might be because it is a bit different from many of their earlier albums - both lyrically and musically. Personally, I find this album much more mature than most of their early albums. I find some of those early albums somewhat naive and lacking in substance, especially some of the (supposed) 'epics' that I often find repetitive and overlong. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son was to my mind the first really great Iron Maiden album (and my all time favourite by them). Fear Of The Dark has a nice diversity and also consistency.

I am always very restrictive with my higher ratings, but I do not hesitate to give this album four stars. (And I do not do that to compensate for other people's low ratings, I never do that!)

A very underrated album! Recommended even for people who are not Iron Maiden fans.