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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
1st disappointing album from Iron Maiden, August 10, 2000
THE BAND: Bruce Dickinson (vocals), Dave Murray (guitar), Janick Gers (guitar), Steve Harris (bass), Nicko McBrain (drums & percussion).
THE DISC: (1990) 10 tracks clocking in at just over 44 minutes. Included with the disc is a 14-page booklet that contains band pictures, song credits/titles, song lyrics, and thank you's. Recorded at Steve Harris' Barn somewhere in England on the Rolling Stone Mobile. Cover art by Derek Riggs. Label - Epic. *The digitally remastered version (on Sanctuary Maiden label) released in 2002 offers more in the way of liner notes and videos for your PC.
COMMENTS: It's hard for me to write this review, since I've been a fan of Iron Maiden from the beginning. I have their entire collection on disc - Iron Maiden has so many great releases. Some of those ("Number Of The Beast", "Powerslave", and "Piece Of Mind" to name a few) are all-time British metal classics... as well as all-time heavy metal classics. However, there are so many things wrong with "No Prayer For The Dying". What the heck happened after 1988's "7th Son Of A 7th Son" (less than 2 years prior)? The sound (production) is flat. Much different from previous albums - Steve Harris' Barn and the Rolling Stone Mobile I'm sure has something to do with it. This was a first for the band recording here (most of their classic 80's material was recorded in the Bahamas or France). Guitar wizard Adrian Smith is gone... working on solo projects and beckoning Dickinson to join him (a few years later he got his wish). For the most part, the melodies are forgettable. And most importantly, the lyrics are silly, or don't fit with the song. Several reviews here trash Dickinson's vocals. I disagree - I think he sounds fine, but the lyrics just don't go with the guitar licks and melodies... leaving an awkward feel to most of this album. "No Prayer For The Dying" is also missing a trademark epic song. It doesn't have to be a 13-minute "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner", but something lengthier than "Mother Russia" (the longest song on the album at 5:31) would have been nice. Steve Harris is an amazing bassist, but the questionable bass playing on "Run Silent Run Deep" simply baffles me. The original album cover artwork features Eddie reaching out and choking a man... on the remastered edition, the man is gone and (background) colors are slightly changed. The band's most recent "live" albums ("Death On The Road" and "Rock In Rio") feature NO songs from "No Prayer For The Dying"... what's that tell you! On the plus side, the songs "Holy Smoke" and "Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter" made it to their "Essential" (2005) and "Edward The Great" (2002) best-of compilations. The latter of the two also made it to "Best Of The Beast" (1996). While these two songs are easily the best songs on the disc, that's not saying much... they're both weak compared to anything the band did in the 80's. The 3rd best song is "Tailgunner" - good tune with unconforming lyrics. I've kept the original disc and opted not to trade in for the remastered version - even with better sound quality, it's still an album I won't listen to much. In my opinion, Iron Maiden really struggled in the 90's... two sub par albums with Bruce ("Fear Of The Dark" was the other one), and two with sad replacement singer Blaze Bailey ("X Factor" and "Virtual Xi"). I've tried repeatedly to get "into" this album over the years... and I simply can't do it (2.5 stars).
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Iron Maiden At Their Most Mediocre., March 28, 2002
When talking about "No Prayer For the Dying," there tend to be two camps of Iron Maiden fans. There are those who hate the album, claiming that the songs are the weakest of Maiden's career and that it was the turning point in the band's career, when they went from embodying the greatness of the NWOBHM to being a shadow of what they were, prompting Bruce to leave the band. Then, there are those who love the album, praising it as a return to Maiden's "classic" sound after the synth-driven "Somewhere In Time" and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son."In truth, "No Prayer For the Dying" is neither. It is the most mediocre album that Iron Maiden have ever produced. It's far better than any of the travesties that followed it ("Fear of the Dark," "The X-Factor," and "Virtual XI") but nowhere near as good as anything that preceded it (or "Brave New World," which was Maiden's true return to form). New guitarist Janick Gers proved himself an ample replacement for Adrian Smith, though he would later show that his skills as a songwriter were significantly weaker than H's. "No Prayer" has its share of decent tracks, but the songs as a collection were nowhere near what Maiden is capable of. Make no mistake, "No Prayer" suffers from many, many weak songs. "Holy Smoke," a rant against televangelists, is a rather stupid premise for a Maiden song; "Bring Your Daughter . . . to the Slaughter" is a poor song (the original version of the song, found on Bruce's solo "Best Of..." album, is far better) which suffers from a ridiculous title; "Hooks In You" is a poor addition to the "Charlotte the Harlot" series (especially following the masterpiece "22 Acacia Avenue" from "The Number of the Beast"); "The Assassin" has a lame, repetitive chorus (that said, musically, it's a decent song); and the title track is just a generally weak tune. However, the good songs on this album are REALLY good. "Tailgunner" follows in the tradition of "Where Eagles Dare" and "Aces High" as a classic Maiden fighter pilot song. "Fates' Warning" and "Public Enema Number One" are both strong tracks (despite "Public Enema"'s unfortunate title), as is the epic-sounding "Mother Russia." The true highlight of the album, however - a song that should rightfully have become one of Maiden's all-time classics - is the maritime battle-themed "Run Silent, Run Deep." Building on a strong melody and one of Maiden's all-time top guitar solos, "Run Silent..." should have fit seemlessly into the canon of classic Maiden, yet somehow never received a place of honor on any of Maiden's live albums or their greatest hits collection. Die-hard Maiden fans need to own "No Prayer For the Dying," if only to fill out their collections. More casual fans may want to find a way to listen to the songs I mentioned as being good before they make a decision on the album. "No Prayer For the Dying" may indeed have been the beginning of the end for Iron Maiden. But if songs like "Tailgunner" and "Run Silent, Run Deep" are what a band is capable of doing at its weakest, that's a pretty good indication of what Maiden can do at their best.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Iron Maiden Can't be Stopped - but this album flopped, November 27, 2001
I was the BIGGEST Iron Maiden fan growing up. From age 10, when I got "Powerslave" for Christmas, to age 20, when I saw IM live for the 2nd time in Salt Lake City supporting No Prayer for the Dying, they were my pet band. After that concert, the songs on this album grew old fast, whereas songs on their first 5 albums have never grown stale to this day. I love Iron Maiden, but this album was the beginning of the end of their flowering as the world's preeminent rock band.
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