Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but not great., October 15, 2002
No Prayer for the Dying is Iron Maiden's 1990 follow-up album to the Seventh Son album, a hugely successful album. Steve Harris wanted to take a step back to the basics and produce more of a "Garage" type sound, instead of expanding on the huge and progressive nature of their last two albums, "Somewhere in Time" and "Seventh Son". Adrian Smith disagreed with this approach and left the band. Janick Gers was brought in, and indeed brought a much more raw and hard edge to the rhythm and overall sound. The contrast between Gers and Dave Murray on guitar is extremely big. The two styles are extremely different, almost two much so. Harris' vision is understood, but the result is a rather poor and lackluster effort from a band that we came to expect so much from. Not that it's a bad album in anyway, just not up to the calibur of their previous seven albums. The first three songs are actually pretty good. "Tailgunner" is this albums fast paced energetic opener, followed by "Holy Smoke" one of the two singles from this album, a very good song with a great back to back solo where you can clearly hear the differences in style of the two guitarists. The title track follows and is a more melow but good song, similar to "Children of the Damned" from the "Number of the Beast" album. The album now proceeds to descend into a series of songs not worth mentioning. Assasin is just not a good song, not up to Maiden calibur. It does, however, pick up towards the end with the last three songs. "Hooks in you" is indeed a catchy song, with a cool chorus, and characteristic creepy vocals from Bruce Dickinson. Great guitar work as well. "Bring your Daughter to the Slaughter" in next, and was the other single released. A very catchy chorus with hysterical lyrics. "Mother Russia" is a descent attempt to end the album with a Maiden characteristic epic finale, but it falls short compared to "Alexander the Great" or "Hallowed be thy name". In general, it's a good album as far as Rock and Roll goes, but the worst Maiden album up until that point.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why all the hate?, March 24, 2003
I've noticed a lot of people badmouthing this album, but I think it is GREAT! What is everybody's problem? The only thing a little different about this album from other Maiden albums is that it is more raw and direct. The songs are shorter (most are between 4 and 5 minutes long), and there is very little presence of synths or layered tracks. The other thing that people complain about is the replacement of guitarist Adrian Smith by Janick Gers.However, despite what you may hear, this is a great set of 10 songs! If I had to, I would pay the price of the whole album just for "Tailgunner." It is my favorite song on the album, and from its opening riffs, it is entrancing. The two singles are "Holy Smoke" and "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter." They are also very good; they have a tongue-in-cheek humor that is rarely present in Iron Maiden's music. These, and the others of this great album, rock in a straightforward fashion. That is not to say that there are no classic-sounding masterpieces! The title song is brilliant, and the main riff is one of Maiden's best ever. "Run Silent Run Deep" and "Mother Russia" are two more of my favorites. So what's this about Janick Gers being so terrible! I think he is great, and honestly, he's not as good as Adrian Smith, but that doesn't mean he's a bad guitarist. The only real fault that I can find in this record is in "The Assassin." This is a great song, until the chorus comes along. I will admit, the chorus is rather flat. But the rest of the song is brilliant! It saddens me that so many Maiden fans will dis this album so terribly. It is great. Take it from a REAL Iron Maiden fan.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Iron Maiden's Least Inspired Moment, December 22, 2004
Iron Maiden fans either love this album or hate it - there doesn't seem to be much middle ground. I'm in the camp that dislikes this album. To me it just seemed so uninspired and boring. I wasn't looking for synths or keyboards, but I was looking for more of the same quality songwriting that the previous seven albums had in spades.
This album also marks the departure of Adrian Smith and the addition of Janick Gers. Janick's been in the music business for years and is a very good guitarist. He did great in Gillian, Gogmagog, White Spirit, and Bruce's first solo album, but in my opinion, he wasn't a good fit for a technical band like Iron Maiden.
To me Adrian's co-written song "Hooks in You" is the one of the few bright spots on the album. The other good tracks are "Tailgunner" and "No Prayer for the Dying." The rest to me just isn't good Iron Maiden. There's always going to be a snag here and there for every band. This one just happens to be Iron Maiden's snag.
I find that when an album you haven't heard before is mercilously bashed, you tend to go into it expecting it to be some of the worst stuff you've ever heard. And then when you actually sit down and listen to it, you come away thinking it wasn't half bad. But in this case, it was 1990, and I was expecting another killer album from one of my favorite bands. Instead, I found it fell far short of my expectations. Even today, while I have the album in my collection, I don't go back to it often.
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album No Prayer for the Dying 
