Iron Maiden - No Prayer For The Dying review
| Band: | Iron Maiden |
| Album: | No Prayer For The Dying |
| Style: | Heavy metal, New wave of British heavy metal |
| Release date: | October 01, 1990 |
| Guest review by: | Spyroid |
Disc I
01. Tail Gunner
02. Holy Smoke
03. No Prayer For The Dying
04. Public Enema Number One
05. Fates Warning
06. The Assassin
07. Run Silent Run Deep
08. Hooks In You
09. Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter [Bruce Dickinson cover]
10. Mother Russia
Disc II [1995 reissue bonus]
01. All in Your Mind [Stray cover]
02. Kill Me Ce Soir [Golden Earring cover]
03. I'm A Mover [Free cover]
04. Communication Breakdown [Led Zeppelin cover]
To call this album bad sure wouldn't be fair, but compared to other Iron Maiden albums 'No Prayer For The Dying' isn't really something to celebrate. I myself would call it the worst Maiden album with Dickinson on vocals. But I don't know any band who has released a great deal of albums like Maiden without failing a few times, so I'm not really blaming them. 'No Prayer For The Dying' is also the first Maiden album in more than 10 years that doesn't feature Adrian Smith, and even if Janick Gers is a great guitarist the chemistry wasn't really there yet, simply because he hadn't written any songs together with the band before.
'No Prayer For The Dying' kicks of with a quite boring track without any good hooks, and it fails to keep at least my interest up. The rest of the album continues more or less in the same way as if it consisted of mostly fillers from other albums until it reaches the end of 'Mother Russia' which is the worst song on the album. It's very unusual that I actually get bored by a Iron Maiden record so much as with 'No Prayer For The Dying'.
I don't only have bad things to say though - Dickinson is really great on this album and there are some really good tracks that aren't either played live or noticed by other fans very often. 'Bring Your Daughter..." is of course a great classic, and it's not the only humorous element of the album - 'Holy Smoke' is great and funny (don't miss the video!) and 'Hooks In you' is a goofy pick up on the Charlot theme. Also check out the title track which has some very nice melodies and lyrics.
For fans only but not worth completely ignoring. And well, who isn't a fan of Iron Maiden?
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Spyroid | 13.06.2008
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
8.8
8.8
|
Rating: 8.8 |
1990 a new decade and a new sound for Iron Maiden, without keyboards again, much more direct in sound, but a different atmosphere from 'Somewhere?' and 'Seventh Son?'. This is 'No Prayer for the Dying'! 'Tailgunner' the first single from 'No Prayer' is definitely not the album's highlight, in fact I thought by the first listen: ok, but it can only get better! And it really does. The very sarcastic 'Holy Smoke' is a good start, direct, rocking and mocking. One of the album's highlights is the half-ballad and title track 'No Prayer For the Dying', nice melody, good vocals and great solo, even without Adrian Smith, who left after the 'Seventh Son' tour and who was replaced by Janick Gers, who had already worked with Bruce Dickinson on 'Tattooed Millionaire'. 'Public Enema Number One' is yet another solid performance, 'Fates Warning' is one of the more atmospheric songs, dark intro and guitars quite similar to those used on 'Somewhere' a good song. 'The Assassin' even darker, with the beat of a march in some passages. 'Run Silent Run Deep' is once again a song about a movie, or at least influenced by the same titled movie with Burt Lancaster and Clarke Gable from 1958. This makes sense as I've seen Bruce Dickinson in an interview on german television making the statement he likes those films about the war at sea and especially those with submarines. When you now take a look into the booklet you will find that the song is cooperatively written by Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris. Read more ›› |
Rating:
6.6
6.6
|
Rating: 6.6 |
Iron Maiden came crashing into the 90s on the wave that was Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, finding themselves washed up on the shores of a new decade with Adrian Smith being taken to new lands by the sea. No Prayer For The Dying is the sound of the band wanting to move forward with a new sound that only served to take two steps back as they took one forward. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 18
Visited by: 116 users
| Katatronik Angel of Lust Posts: 1018  |
Agree with you, not a great album, though better than the Bayley-era IMO... Good songs are Tail Gunner, Holy Smoke, Bring Your Daughter and Hooks In You, but far away from being masterpieces...
---- "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Iron Maiden should still be shot for daring to record the worst song in their reperoire ever on this album... Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter not a single song in their career is worse than this pile of shit.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Ellrohir Heaven Knight Posts: 8669  |
according to their biography "Run to the hills" it is good song 
---- My rest seems now calm and deep Finally I got my dead man sleep 
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| Lucas Mr. Noise Elite Posts: 13427  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.06.2008 at 22:14 Actually, that is one of my favourite Maiden songs. Sure, I am not a Maiden fan at all! (the only album I like is Brave New World, but I never listen to it). Bring your daughter... is funny, catchy, and overall just pretty hilarious. Eventhough it is quite stupid. 
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.06.2008 at 22:14 That's really a matter of taste, I think it's the best song on the album. But then it was one of the the first songs I learned to play on guitar, and which I played with my first band But worse than Gangland? Quest For Fire? Weekend Warrior? Lord of the Flies? Como Estais Amigos? Not in my book.
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| Deadsoulman Elite Posts: 8004  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.06.2008 at 22:14 I definitely agree  This album has the worst songs they ever recorded anyway, with Bring Your Daughter..., Holy Smoke (though the vid is funny, as pointed out by the reviewer) and Tailgunner. The songwriting is really poor on this record.
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| Smurfophagist Posts: 1069  |
definitely one of their worst albums. Listening to songs from this album is like listening to stuff that plays during the 8 a.m. cartoon credits.
---- Having a signature is an absolute must.
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 |
Written by Smurfophagist on 19.06.2008 at 13:26 Now THAT'S bad ^^
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| Nicko's Nose Posts: 490  |
Very underrated! The title track, Public Enema Number One, Fates Warning and Mother Russia are awesome songs!
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| Daggon Underpaid M.D. Posts: 1689  |
I almost always forget that they recorded this album, nothing as great as their other hits. Bring Your Daughter... Is catchy and funny, but not a classic jeje.
---- "Les vers savent qu'ils n'ont pas d'ailes, c'est pour cela qu'ils se cachent sous terre"
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
Quote: That summs everything up..
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 13.06.2008 at 22:14 This song is indeed god awful. But I think a few songs on "Virtual XI" are even worse. I wanted to shoot myself the first time I heard "Come Estai Amigos". "Weekend Warrior", "The Apparition" and "Wasting Love" deserve strong mentions here too. By the way, to those who think Maiden lost their 'powerness' with AMOLAD: they had lost it long before that. All their albums after SSOASS are rather weak compared to their 80s stuff (and, imo, not worth listening to). This band completely failed to evolve. To the reviewer: Dickinson really great on this album? Are you kidding me? He sucks like never.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469 |
Written by Spyroid on 14.06.2008 at 00:11 "Gangland" and "Quest For Fire" are surely not among the best Maiden songs but they're decent. The others you mention all suck.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| thewall30 Posts: 349  |
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675  |
Written by thewall30 on 31.01.2010 at 16:52 It's definitely one of them. I find this album to be on a par with their 80's albums, and it's definitely a classic to my ears barring the less than great production. And Bring Your Daughter... is one of my fave Maiden songs, so I definitely don't go along with the hatred shown to the song by a few in this thread. "Fear Of The Dark" was a patchy album, but I love every song on No Prayer. It's an excellent album to me for sure. 
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| RavenKing Posts: 1941  |
Written by Angelic Storm on 28.11.2011 at 00:34 OMG, we really disagree here. I hate this album and think it is definitely not in the same league as their 80s stuff. Well, we can't agree on everything. lol
---- They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end But everybody's only looking out for themselves And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by RavenKing on 04.12.2011 at 17:25 I think most people would disagree with me about this album actually.  I know I'm in a very small minority who actually loves No Prayer... I think a lot of people even prefer the Blaze albums to it. Well, no, but we don't have to agree on everything. 
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