Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden (CD, Jan-2004, EMI Records Netherlands)

1990s 'No Prayer for the Dying' introduced Janick Gers on guitar after the disappointing departure of Adrian Smith. Gers is a great rhythm guitarist and he brought a renewed vitality and urgency to the band, but his solos sometimes leave much to be desired. In 'No Prayer ...' cracks in Maiden's metal armour began to appear, with the emphasis apparently on reclaiming the raw energy of very early material at the expense, seemingly, of well crafted melodic metal songs.
So I had apprehension about the release of this album which was immediately dispelled with the release of the single 'Be Quick or Be Dead', a rampant 200+bpm song with a stunning opening riff, Bruce Dickinson berating the 'fatcats'. Constant touring had taken its toll on his ullulating air raid siren-like voice, and the vocal register of old was replaced by a venom spitting growl which (on this track at least) seemed just as effective. Which only made the disappointment with the album release more accentuated.
The production on the album has more in common with 'Piece of Mind' than 'No Prayer for the Dying'(thankfully), but after the opening blast of 'Be Quick or Be Dead' things go pear shaped. 'From Here to Eternity' is a song about motorbikes and women, a subject best left for the likes of Meat Loaf. And at a time when Maiden singles in the UK were guaranteed to go straight into the top ten (usually the top five), tellingly the subsequent release of this track as a single from the album didn't even make the top twenty. 'Afraid to Shoot Strangers' is a seven minute epic about the anxiety facing a soldier about to fight in the first Gulf War. It starts slowly and builds into a fast burner, but lyrically and musically just doesn't cut it when compared to the likes of 'Hallowed be thy Name', 'Powerslave' and 'Heaven Can Wait'. Subsequent tracks see the band trying out some slightly different approaches - the balladlike 'Wasting Love', the sparse sounding 'Childhood's End', the stop-start rhythm of 'The Apparition' and the anti football (soccer) hooliganism lyrics of 'Weekend Warrior'(which sounds more like Bruce Dickinson's solo material than Maiden) - none of which pack the punch of earlier material. This, combined with the fact that 'Fear is the Key', 'Judas be my Guide' and most especially 'The Fugitive' sound unconsciously self-parodying result in this album sounding almost desperate. Given that Bruce Dickinson left, not unacrimoniously, less than a year after the release of this album, it's entirely possible that internal band dynamics had some impact on the songwriting.
And after all that the band manage to pull out an ace right at the end with the title track. 'Fear of the Dark', after its brooding start, breaks into a fast paced classic with a riff that has a nodding acquaintance with 'Die With Your Boots On' and some excellently crafted melodic guitar parts (although live renditions on 'A Real Live One', 'Rock in Rio' and 'Death on the Road' seem to work better - this really is a classic live track).
At sixty minutes long, this was Iron Maiden's longest studio album to date -and it feels like it.