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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
3.5 Uneven, but worthwhile overall, November 16, 2005
It's interesting, most people seem to think that Iron Maiden went into an artistic decline in the 90's, but no one seems to talk to much about why, other than that they don't like Blaze. Still, before Blaze showed up this band had become pretty different from the classic Iron Maiden, even if they still were the same basic subgenre. Here they started to move in the semi-epic, pseudo-prog metal direction that has defined their style ever since. It's certainly not as far as they would go in later albums, but that's definitely the direction they're heading. This album also has a bit more of a hard rock flavor to it, which is pretty weird. Overall it's pretty good, but with probably only 1 legitimately great song, and too many tracks. (If a metal album has over 10 tracks it almost certainly has too many.)
'Fear of the Dark' is the legitimately great track, and it is indeed awesome. A nice memorable, galloping epic well worthy of being named with all their other great epics. 'Be Quick Or Be Dead' is a solid speed metal number. Not their best thing, but solid. 'From Here to Eternity', 'Chains of Misery' and 'Weekend Warrior' are all lighter, hard rock-ish rockers. None of them is bad, particularly 'Weekend Warrior', which is very catchy, but they're all a bit cheesy and certainly not up to IM's standards. The album has a weird stretch of semi-epics and ballads stretching from tracks 3 thru 6. (This is the part of the album which particularly displays their evolution) 'Afraid to Shoot Strangers' and 'Childhood's End' are the best of them, and are very good, if generally pretty low-key. 'Wasting Love' is the purest ballad, and it's pretty decent, if not remarkable. An effective chorus. 'Fear is the Key' is the darkest one, rather reminiscent of what you'd hear on 'The X Factor'. Not great, but sufficiently interesting, and different. 'The Fugitive' is one of your more classic Maiden songs, stylistically, except that it is really quite grating, with a very irritating chorus. 'The Apparition' is a little bland, not too aggravating but not of much particular interest. 'Judas Be My Guide' is a highpoint, the strongest track other than the title track. A very nice epic chorus.
Overall very little of what you'll hear on this album is bad, but it is almost uniformly a cut below classic Maiden.(And you pretty much never heard anything bad on the first 7 Maiden albums) Still, it's worth owning.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Maiden's least consistent release, March 13, 2001
Fear Of The Dark is not a bad album, or the disaster many think it is. I think this album came off as bad because the band was wiped out from the 80's, a decade where they released 9 albums and toured constantly without a break, save for a few months. Bruce Dickinson shows the strain of this far more than any of the band members; his powerful howl has been reduced to a raspy gruff not worthy of his name. However, many of the songs here are great. Be quick or be dead, afraid to shoot strangers, the title cut, judas be my guide, childhoods end, and from here to eternity are great. Fear is the key, wasting love, the fugitive, and chains of misery are so-so tracks. they are good enough to be Maiden, but fear is the key and chains of misery should have been b-sides. Then FOTD would have been great. The album is mostly ruined by its worst tracks, the apparition and weekend warrior, which are truly horrid. They are not even worthy of being b-sides, they should have been scrapped at the start. Of course the record company wanted more tracks, and these were forced on, ruining the album. Ok-thats enough. The point is Maiden fans need this but newcomers to the band should get their other albums first.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well, I enjoyed it..., November 19, 2005
For some reason, this album has a lot of negative stigma attached to it, and I have no idea why. No, it doesn't sound like Maiden's awesome 80's efforts ("Piece Of Mind", "Powerslave", etc). It's a pretty big change in style, but it's still pretty damn good (and even better where you compare it to Maiden's last release, the average "No Prayer For The Dying".
First off, let me say what's bad about this album: Bruce, man, what happened to your voice? It's not anywhere as odd as it was on "No Prayer", but really, it doesn't sound as if Bruce was trying as hard here as he was on previous albums. Also, there are a few filler tracks here, such as "Fear Is The Key" and "Weekend Warrior", that kind of take away from the album. "But," you say, "you can skip over the tracks you don't like!" To which I reply, that's true... but this is IRON MAIDEN we're talking about here! If it had been any other band, this would probably be a 5-star effort. But I hold Maiden up to a far higher standard than most other bands, and having filler on a Maiden album is simply unacceptable. Period.
Then why did I give this album four stars? Because there's much to enjoy here as well. "Be Quick Or Be Dead" is one of my favorite Maiden opening tracks, "Afraid To Shoot Strangers" is a beautiful ballad that I definitely enjoy, and "Childhood's End", "The Fugitive", "The Apparition", and "Judas Be My Guide" are all catchy, enjoyable tracks. And, of course, there's the awesome title track, which is, to this day, one of my favorite Maiden songs, hands down. Most of the people who trash the album even like this song.
So, yes, there's lots for Maiden fans to enjoy here, but it's not of the band's greatest albums. If you're new to the band, i'd recommend that you start elsewhere (probably with their mid-80's albums), but once you've picked up a few Maiden records, then come back here and buy this one as well. If you're already into Maiden but are hesitant to buy this album, I say download a few of the better tracks (and make sure you get the title track), and see if you like what you hear.
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