martindavey87 'The Number of the Beast' is the album that gave birth to the Iron Maiden we all know and love today. Besides a number of memorable hits that have remained a staple in live sets, it's most notable for featuring the debut of Bruce Dickinson, a man who would go on to become one of the most beloved and recognizable singers in metal.

Musically and sonically, this isn't much different than Iron Maiden's previous two albums. Rough and gritty 80's new wave of British heavy metal, the only remarkable differences, besides the addition of a superior vocalist, is the slightly stronger compositions. Most notable being two of their biggest hits (which still hold that title to this day), 'The Number of the Beast' and 'Run to the Hills'.

Of course, there's also other Maiden classics such as 'Hallowed Be Thy Name', 'The Prisoner' and 'Children of the Damned', which have all stood the test of time and are still as refreshing today as they were in 1982.

The playing is good for its time. Steve Harris is an absolute beast on the bass. Dave Murray and Adrian Smith are both competent guitarists, who've yet to utilize their full potential, especially when it comes to the duel harmonies they'd use on future releases, but they play more than enough to give all the songs the small embellishments required.

'The Number of the Beast' kicked off a long run of releases that would usher in the bands "golden era", and while it has its significance in Iron Maiden's history, I don't really consider it anything more than a decent album. It's good, but the best is most definitely yet to come.

666sharon666 I don't think there's much doubt that Iron Maiden's third album The Number of the Beast is their most well known and iconic release, but despite that this has never been one of my favourite records by the band, though I do consider it the best thing they'd released up until that point. The addition of new vocalist Bruce Dickinson is in my mind the best singer change that any band has ever had. He took Iron Maiden's music to a whole new level. This was also the last album to feature drummer Clive Burr (who sadly died in 2013).

While the title track, Run to the Hills and my personal favourite Hallowed Be Thy Name are the most well known songs from the album the quality level is usually of the same high standard from start to finish. The only tracks from this one I don't enjoy to the same level are 22 Acacia Avenue, Gangland and Total Eclipse (which isn't on all versions of the album). These three songs are the only reason I don't consider The Number of the Beast a masterpiece the way I do with some of the Iron Maiden that would follow; I love every song on those albums. But still like with the self-titled debut The Number of the Beast is an essential album for any metal fan's collection. Most other Iron Maiden is no less so of course but when talking about historical importance from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal era I don't think things get more important or special than this one.

Attribution: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/iron-maiden-the-number-of-the-beast-t3603.html

siLLy puPPy Paul Di'Anno was out and Bruce Dickinson formerly of Samson was in. On their third album IRON MAIDEN blossomed into a formidable heavy metal act with the addition of Dickinson's operatic vocals at just the right time as the band was becoming more progressive and the music more demanding and now they could pursue the directions that bassist and main songwriter Steve Harris had been hoping for. Eddie earned his right to hang out with Satan after all that killing he did on the last album with a bit of a mystery since he is controlling Satan like a puppet who in turn is controlling a smaller version of him thus symbolizing the paradox of dominance.

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST is a power-packed heavy metal masterpiece that achieves perfection from the very first crunchy power chord of “Invaders” to the the chiming bells and operatic dual guitar onslaught of “Hallowed Be Thy Name.” The band continues their tradition of mixing their punkish aggression with melodic progressive metal with themes that were inspired by movies, fiction and philosophy. They succeeded in developing a diverse collection of well-crafted songs that made this album an instant classic becoming one of the most popular metal albums of all time. The re-mastered version contains the song “Total Eclipse” before the finale “Hallowed Be Thy Name” which was originally the B-side for the “Run To The Hills” single.

This would be the last album with drummer Clive Burr (and the only one on which he contributed his songwriting skills) who was fired from the band during The Beast On The Road tour apparently for being unreliable and letting his partying affect his stage performance testifying to the high and professional standards of this band. He would ironically (or ironmaidenically) switch places with his replacement Nicko McBrain in the group Trust and also had a short gig with the supergroup Gogmagog which also included Paul Di'Anno and future MAIDEN guitarist Janick Gers. Mr. Burr was sadly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis shortly thereafter and died in 2013 from complications. R.I.P. Clive.

Sinkadotentree The music itself is more melodic and streamlined than their first two records but having the operatic vocals of Bruce Dickinson certainly is the biggest change from their earlier sound. I saw this band in Toronto on their "Piece Of Mind" tour and i was blown away by all the people that came who were clearly into Punk. Back then i hadn't heard the first two albums so i had no idea that this band did appeal to the Punk rockers still in existence in 1983. I do feel that this is an upgrade over their first two albums but not by much. The first song to impress me is "Children Of The Damned" where they slow it down after the uptempo "Invaders". They slow it down sure but this is powerful at the same time. Burr is fantastic on the drum kit. "The Prisoner" is a heavy but straightforward track. "22 Acacia Avenue" is one of my favourites. Love the riffing ! The title track opens with spoken words that quote a section of Revelation chapter 13. Then the riffage and vocals kick in and build. How good is this after 1 1/2 minutes ! "666 the number of the beast...". Absolutley killing it ! Amazing tune ! "Run To The Hills" like the title track helped put this band on the world map. Love when it kicks in and they start to gallop and Bruce cries "Run to the hills, run for your lives !". "Gangland" like the opener is an uptempo barn burner. "Total Eclipse" has a good low end sound to it. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" takes a minute to get going but then lookout ! Great sound here as they start to gallop. So an upgrade over the first two but it would be "Piece Of Mind" the next one that would turn me into a life long fan.

Conor Fynes 'The Number Of The Beast' - Iron Maiden (7/10)

Long held to be Iron Maiden's immortal, classic contribution to the world of metal, Iron Maiden has undoubtedly had brighter musical moments than this, but its place as a go-to essential is not unfounded. Graced with some of the band's most recognizable songs, 'Number Of The Beast' lays down a foundation for all of the Maiden work to come. With galloping rhythms, acrobatic vocals, aggressive speed and relative lyrical sophistication, Maiden's third album is a great place to start with this band's illustrious career.

As part of the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) movement, Iron Maiden has a very signature sound to them here, one that's likely already indelibly etched into many a metalhead's mind. Twin-harmony guitars and a rhythm section that achieves a rolling pattern, akin to the galloping of a horse, are the two distinguishing traits of the band's music. Although these songs are quite catchy, there is a technical sense to the riffs. Speed metal is obviously a factor here, although it's used moderately enough for the music to be melodic and memorable. The two most famous tracks off the record are the title track, and the crowd pleaser 'Run To The Hills'; a song that features everything that fans love about Maiden. Here, the lyrics revolve around European conquest of the New World; an ambitious topic in comparison to the bawdy 'sex and drugs and sex' themes that many metal bands of the time were into.

Iron Maiden had been a capable act with singer Paul Di'Anno, but Bruce Dickinson's voice really brings the band's sound to a new level of distinction. He is one of those singers who manages to impress in a lower range, as well as a blistering falsetto. The epic closer and highlight 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' is most indicative of this. Beginning quite slowly, Bruce is able to set the scene of a dark holding cell, then raises the intensity as it becomes clear that the protagonist is doomed to be executed. Iron Maiden's sense of refined aggression is matched perfectly with this dark subject matter, although there are certainly more upbeat moments on the record, such as the tongue-in-cheek '22 Acacia Avenue'.

'Number Of The Beast' really is a perfect place to start with Iron Maiden, even more so than any best-of compilation. Although I think the quality of music would get higher as they tread towards more progressive domains, the classic quality and consistent songwriting makes this album a winner.

Warthur With the mighty Bruce Dickinson signing on, Iron Maiden finally had a vocalist capable of handling the complex material Steve Harris and the others had wanted to compose but had held back on during the Paul Di'Anno era. Since the previous two albums had been primarily composed of material written in the early days of the group, the new songs collected here represent several years of songwriting development over Killers, explaining the startling quantum leap in the group's style. Bruce's almost operatic vocal style is perfectly suited for the selection of songs, reflecting historical incidents and making various cultural references to produce the first five-star Iron Maiden masterpiece.

adg211288 Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast is one of those albums that is widely considered a classic album and quite often is at the top of people’s favourite Maiden album lists. And while I consider it a solid album, I wouldn’t quite go that far about the Number of the Beast. The previous album Killers even though it didn’t have Bruce Dickinson on vocals was actually in my opinion a better album. That’s definitely not to say I’m one of those people who thinks that The Number of the Beast is bad, it’s certainly not, it’s actually really good, exceptional even, but it’s not an album without its faults.

That said after album opener Invaders you might be forgiven thinking that this is Maiden’s best work. A fast three and a half minute job and basically the first album track with Bruce Dickinson up front. It’s a great metal song and definitely a Maiden classic. The slower Children of the Damned follows and keeps the standard as high as Invaders set it. Two vastly different songs here and if the whole album were up to this standard then yes, it probably would be my favourite Maiden album but sadly that is not the case, though it keeps going strong through the third track The Prisoner which is based on the TV series of the same name and has samples of its audio in the intro. 22 Acacia Avenue is no less a strong song, although of the first four it’s the weakest. Lyrically it’s a sequel to Charlotte the Harlot from the self-titled debut album.

Next on the album come two of Iron Maiden’s most known songs, the album’s title track The Number of the Beast and Run to the Hills. Great songs both but this album was released in 1982 and since then these two in particular have been played to death. They’ve stood the test of time in terms of greatness and are definitely worthy of being considered classics, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing and perhaps to some these songs might be ones that sometimes, unjustly I might add, get skipped. Overall though you’ll notice that I didn’t say anything negative about my personal thoughts, and you’d be right in thinking that up until this point The Number of the Beast remains a 5 star album.

This is where it all goes downhill. To call it bad would not be fair (in fact they’re still pretty solid songs) but after six of the nine songs being of such a high standard the next two songs come as something of a disappointment to say the least. They are namely Gangland and Total Eclipse (which was only added onto the album for the 1998 remaster). Wrong’s wrong with them I hear you ask? Well not a lot really but Maiden have become the victims of their own high standard on the album with these two songs. Total Eclipse is the better of the two with a quite infectious groove to its rhythm.

Fortunately they bring it all back up to the standard of the earlier songs with the album’s closing track, Hallowed Be Thy Name. While it is like The Number of the Beast and Run to the Hills in that it has been overplayed, in fact I once read an interview which said Nicko McBrain won’t play if this song isn’t in the setlist (ironic consider Clive Burr is still in the band at this stage), this is one of the earliest examples of an Iron Maiden epic. And Nicko has good reason to want this at every gig, because it is easily the finist thing on The Number of the Beast. While the debut album had Phantom of the Opera this is perhaps the first true classic of the long Iron Maiden, usually Steve Harris penned, epics. The song tells a story like an epic should and is executed to perfection. From the haunting toll of that bell in the intro to the traditional Maiden sound when the song erupts into full assault heavy metal to Bruce Dickinson’s excellent vocal performance, especially nearing the end of the song in those final lines of the song when for the first time the song’s name is sung, Hallowed Be Thy Name is what metal is all about. Perfection.

Because of those two songs, Gangland and Total Eclipse, overall I just can’t quite consider The Number of the Beast to be the masterpiece it’s often hailed as but yes, it is very good. I just need to be in love with every single song to give it a full 5 Star score, so with that said, my final verdict is just a bit lower.

(Review originally written for Heavy Metal Haven)

Time Signature Invaders...

Genre: NWoBH

Heralded by many as Iron Maiden's best and most important album, "The Number of the Beast" certainly is a heavy metal classic and one of my all time favorite albums. There are no weak tracks to speak of - even "Badlands" and "Total Eclipse" (on the reissued version) have something to offer.

The album opener is "Invaders" which is just a weird but breakneck tempo track about the viking invasions of Britain in the 8th century. The weird aspect of the song consists in the strange choice of key and the funny scale run in the chorus riff. The following track is the magnificent ballady "Children of the Damned" which in turn is followed by the legendary "The Prisoner" with its iconic drum intro and anthemic chorus. "22 Acacia Avenue" is a progressive affair, which started its existence as a straight Adrian Smith written track, which was then Maidenized as Steve Harris inserted several iconic breakdowns, tempo changes and bridge sections into it, creating the perfect Maiden track. The title track is another kind of proggy track whose opening (both the spoken word rendering of a passage from the Bible and the opening riff and vocals/lyrics). "Run to the Hills" is a more straightforward galloping metal track and a classic rock song with an anthemic chorus and memorable guitar solos. "Gangland" is an uptempo and straight rocker to which Clive Burr contributed in terms of writing (it is not a classic like the other tracks on the album, but it does contain some nice guitar harmonics and it is an adrenalizing breakneck track), while "Total Eclipse" (on the reissue; Burr was also involved in the writing of this one) is more of a midtempo straight rocker (which contains an unpredictable tempo change, as the song explodes into an uptempo bridge section slightly reminiscent of one of the main riffs of "Phantom of the Opera". The closer is the classic "Hallowed Be Thy" name, which is another kind of progressive affair with a dark ballady introduction, an anthemic chorus, loads of guitar harmonies and a couple of tempo changes.

"The Number of the Beast" is a metal classic and belongs in any metal CD collection!

Stooge Here we are again. Another legendary metal band makes another vocalist change. Is letting go of the popular frontman Paul Di’Anno career suicide? Clearly not, since if the Dickinson-for-Di’Anno swap never occurred, Maiden may have just been one of dozens of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Bands that didn’t quite hit the big time. With a rather brief honeymoon period with Bruce Dickinson, the band thrust themselves into the studio and made the album that launched them to international stardom, The Number Of The Beast.

Stylistically, there are certainly a couple of tracks that would suit Di’Anno’s vocals. The primary examples of this are album opener “Invaders” and the follow-up to “Charlotte The Harlot” from their debut album, which is titled “22 Acacia Avenue”. I could easily hear either of these songs on one of Maiden’s first two albums.

“Children of The Damned” is driven with a mix of acoustic guitar, melodic supporting guitar, and a nice Steve Harris bass line for the first half of the song. It’s the first example on the album where Bruce Dickinson shows us that not only is he replacing Paul Di’Anno. He wants us to forget about him entirely! The energy picks up in the second half of the song to great effect, making for one of the most entertaining tracks on the album.

“The Prisoner”, in my opinion, is easily one of the catchiest songs on the album. This song could have found a nice home as a single, that is, if it weren’t for two of the most popular songs in heavy metal.

“The Number of The Beast” and “Run To The Hills”, while considers almost universally as classics of the genre, happen to be two of my least favorite songs on the album. I don’t find these songs to be really weak or anything. I think they just suffer from being the two most popular songs on the album. My opinion is probably in the minority for Maiden fans,so it’s probable that many would get more enjoyment out of these songs than I do. They can’t be two of the most popular metal songs for nothing, can they?

“Gangland” begins with an interesting Clive Burr drum pattern, but the composition itself is nothing special. It ranks at the bottom of my personal Number of The Beast song rankings.

The final song on the album, much like the two singles off the album, suffers slightly from overplaying. However, “Hallowed By The Name” is a much stronger song than either of them. The main harmony guitar part in the song is one of the strongest they have ever done, and the intro sounds great.

I must note that I have an older CD version of this album, so it doesn’t include the track “Total Eclipse”, which has been included on most subsequent releases. I can’t comment on this song as I’ve only heard it a few times.

The Number of The Beast is the ideal place to start from if you’re just getting into Maiden. Branch out in either direction chronologically in their discography and you’re good to go!!

J-Man Revelations Ch. XIII V. 18

The Number of the Beast marked a significant change for Iron Maiden. First of all, you have the entrance of Bruce Dickinson, "Air Raid Siren", on vocals, and second you have an international success and one of the most iconic and influential albums in heavy metal. Yes, you could call The Number of the Beast one of the most groundbreaking albums in metal, but it is certainly not without reason. This album is fantastic and marks the first in a long string of Dickinson classics. Many people would call The Number of the Beast the best Iron Maiden album, and even though I don't entirely agree with this, it would be pure blasphemy to call it anything less than quintessential and just simply awesome.

This album has a slightly different sound than the first two Iron Maiden full-lengths, mostly due to Bruce Dickinson's vocal prowess. Gone are the punk-laden vocals of Paul Di'Anno, replaced by the masterful heavy metal vocals of Bruce Dickinson. As you can imagine, the very different style of the two vocalists greatly impacted Iron Maiden's sound. The punk-ish sound of the first two albums is gone almost entirely, and in replacement is a more traditional heavy metal sound. The Number of the Beast also introduces the galloping basslines and high falsetto vocals that Iron Maiden is known for. However, the band had yet to fully unleash their prog side by the time of this album. The prog influences are still scarce on this album, but within the next two albums that would change drastically. The only proggy song on this release is the mini-epic Hallowed Be Thy Name. Otherwise, this album is heavy metal with little variation outside of that genre.

The Number of the Beast is an 8-track, 40:20 album. Although another 5 to 10 minutes would've been nice, this is a generally good length for a heavy metal album. There is very little filler here, and the only song short of excellent is Gangland. The other songs are all masterpieces of heavy metal. Children of the Damned, The Prisoner, 22 Acacia Avenue, and Hallowed Be Thy Name are my personal favorites, but songs like The Number of the Beast and Run to the Hills are unquestionable classics. Needless to say this album is all killer and (almost) no filler. Some of Iron Maiden's best material can be found here.

As with all Iron Maiden albums, the musicianship is some of the best out there. Every single bandmate is extremely talented, and they always play exceptionally well together. As mentioned, this is the first album with Bruce Dickinson behind the microphone, and what a debut with Iron Maiden this was! The man is just a fantastic singer, among the best in all of heavy metal. Steve Harris' bass playing is also another highlight here. Iron Maiden is one of the few metal bands who really emphasizes on their bass player, giving Harris more than enough room to shine through with his talent.

The production on The Number of the Beast is perfect. This is among the best heavy metal productions ever. It's powerful, clean, and the bass is high in the mix (something I usually really like). It doesn't come as much of a surprise, though, considering how great Iron Maiden's production qualities usually are. Martin Birch is simply one of the best producers during this time period.

Conclusion:

The Number of the Beast is one of the most influential albums in heavy metal, and after hearing it many times, it's not hard to understand why. Calling this album incredible is nothing short of the truth. Consider how many metal musicians, now legends in their own right, cite The Number of the Beast as a major musical influence. How many albums do you know that can fit a label like that? I'm going to give The Number of the Beast a 4 star rating. I would've gone higher, but decided not to because Iron Maiden made even better albums in their future. Still, this album is a must-have for all metalheads.

floflo79 My favorite metal album of all time. Just awesome.

Invaders is a super track with energy and rage. Love it. Children Of The Damned have wonderful vocals and great acoustic guitar. The Prisoner is great with killer riffs. 22 Acacia Avenue have a good riff but the song is not awesome. The Number Of The Beast is just perfect. Really great song. Run To The Hills is also a classic. Great riff, great melody, great solo. Gangland is my least favorite song of the album. Good but forgettable. Hallowed Be Thy Name is just the best metal song ever. Perfect from the beginning to the ending. The solos, the riffs, the lyrics, the vocals... Everything is perfect in this song.

The Number Of The Beast is just a classic album. Not only in metal but in music.

friso Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast (1982)

The creation of the metal-epic...

The beginning metal-scene had to progress quite a lot from heavy rock'n roll to the varied and inventive scene we know today. This album still stands as a landmark in the development of the genre. From now on heavy instrumentation, epical song-structures and emotionally developed songs could all be part of the same formula. That formula was called Iron Maiden.

Paul Di'Anno was fired because of his risky behavior and new lead singer Bruce Dickinson (ex-Samson) was to be the new front-man of the band. The vocal capabilities of Dickinson, the metal instrumentation and the wish to expand the music became the foundation for the third album of Iron Maiden. The album has songs of different sorts and the artistic approach on the music made this a very likable album for proggers at the time. Some commercial moments made the music accessible for the big public as Iron Maiden got their international fame in this period.

Invaders is a song that must have been intended for Di'Anno's voice. Dickinson tries to recreate the flamboyant up-tempo heavy rockin' style of first two Iron Maiden album and succeeds. The songs has great parts, but I never really understood the way couplet and refrain succeed each other.

Children of the Damned shows Iron Maiden in freshly discovered new grounds. The song has an epical feel an extremely extrovert vocals of Dickinson. This emotional affair comes to a zenith with an very touching end section. Great track!

The Prisoner has a more guitar-riff-like approach. This song isn't my favorite of the album, but it still stands as a great metal track.

22 Acacia is yet another new experiment by Maiden. It continues the concept of whore Charlot the Harlot with a story-telling lyrical style. The introduction of the story of Bruce is sympathetic, but during the song his opinion about the 'service' of Charlot changed brilliantly and dramatically. The combination of this inventive lyrical (and instrumental) progress in the song with the beautiful instrumentation makes this one of the best Iron Maiden tracks. Both guitar solo's are great as well.

The Number of the Beast is yet another story-telling lyrical track with yet some more instrumental exploration. The ever important bass-lines of Harris are great and the guitar solo's perfect. This song get's me moving, great metal!

Run to the Hills represents the commercial part of the album. Still the song has a great lyrics about the killing of all the Indians in North America. It's a nice song and nothing more.

Gangland is a song with an atmospheric approach. As the title suggest, the song has a dark sound that perfectly fit with the lyrics about a dark society with killers on every corner of the street. The drums and the main guitar riff are strong and the vocals are great. Somehow this song is a lonely track in Maiden discography: it just doesn't sound like other tracks. Great!

Total Eclipse was a b-side intended for our Japanese amigo's who had to spend a lot of money on European music and thus deserved a bonus track. The song has less sophisticated themes, but still has an interesting structure and the apocalyptic lyrics are nice.

Hallowed be thy Name. This is the one metal epic. This track alone is a ground-braking affair and one of the most inspiring metal tracks ever! The dark atmospheres, the great instrumental guitar parts, the progress during the song, the heart-aching vocals of Dickinson.. all are great. The song moved me when I was 12 years old and I still thinks just as brilliant to day. Iron Maiden is here to stay!

Conclusion. An album with lot's of amazing moments, whilst changing the style of the band quite a bit. Still this is not like a 'transitional' album, this is Iron Maiden arriving in a new era. A lot of songs have a special place in my hearth because of the emotional and extrovert vocals of Dickinson and the amazing instrumental parts. The innovative song-writing of Iron Maiden made them one of the best acts of the eighties for sure. Five stars.

Sean Trane Attention: true story. At the time of release of this album, I was living on Riverside Drive and further down the street lived a complete metalhead whom I was fairly friendly with. He lived at number 664 and we used to call him "The Neighbour Of The Beast" and use to rile him with it. But In Canada, the street address numbers generally jump by 6 or 8 at a time so there was not 666, so the beast became a squirrel up his tree which was always offered some sacrifice, the axe offered and planted in the ground and candles were often seen burning in his honour. I think that not many squirrels had such loving care as Lucifer (as we had called him) did. Silly young progheads ;-) !!!! Count me as one of those that was completely shattered when DiAnno got the boot, but one must recognize that his replacement was a fitting one. Maiden had one of the most impressive metal voices around. Dickinson "Air Raid Siren" is definitely the classic sound of Maiden and only the first hour fans can say otherwise. But let's face it, it is with this third album (and two hilarious B&W footage video-clips receiving constant MTV rotation) and Dickinson that Maiden acquired a whole new dimension (at least in terms of audience).

Actually I was not that big a fan of this album, as it was confirming the slick production of the previous Killers album. But the two hits, Run To The Hills and the title track were so often played, along with Children Of The Damned also receiving regular airplay, while the above-mentioned friends were always raving about Hallowed Be Thy Name (the only remotely prog track on this album, IMHO) and Acacia Avenue (another metalhead buddy was living on 22 Willow Street ;-), that shunning exposition to the album was hopeless.

Overall , I can only say that TNOTB only differs from Killers by the singer's voice, the rest not changing much. They were on the upswing, so there were absolutely no reasons to change anything. History will prove them right.