Review Summary: Iron Maiden's self-titled debut is a varied affair, showcasing a band discovering an identity all their own, and displays a bright future for the boys from the U.K.
Iron Maiden is easily flying the flag of Metal. You see, back in the late 1970's, Metal was still kind of a new thing. It was something that was done by very few bands and there was mostly a lot of Progression in there as well as of course your more straightforward bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. However, there was one band that had more influence than all of those bands and they're one of Heavy Metal's most important matriarchs. That band is of course Iron Maiden.
Now, Iron Maiden has a new album coming out later on in 2015 and the album is currently untitled. I am going to review each and every one of Iron Maiden's studio albums.
So where's the best place to start? Obviously at the beginning, way back in 1980.
This is the first Iron Maiden album release, it had the band's third or fourth vocalist at this particular point, as they were playing shows since 1975. However, this is their fist release and the vocalist at the time was Paul Di'Anno. So, for all of you that think that Bruce Dickinson was Iron Maiden's only vocalist, you guys have a lot to learn.
This album features 8 tracks and it wasn't exactly a lengthy affair, in fact it clocks in at under 40 minutes long. However, there's one thing about this when you compare it to the other Di'Anno release entitled 'Killers' that really made Iron Maiden to be a very different debut and actually really told us what was to come.
This is one of Iron Maiden's more varied albums. You have to remember that Paul Di'Anno did have a certain style that really fit the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. And while Iron Maiden is part of that particular genre, their take on it is just a little bit different than what a lot of the other bands at that time were doing, while still retaining that classic formula of NWOBHM. However, at the same time whenever you talk about Power Metal in the late 1980's, a lot of bands will site Iron Maiden as the absolute quintessential center point and possibly beginning point of that genre.
Now, Iron Maiden as an album itself compared to the two Di'Anno releases, this is actually the one I enjoyed the least. It's not by far the worst album in the entire discography however I just tend to enjoy 'Killers' a lot more. However, it is important to note that the very nature of this debut actually speaks more volumes to Iron Maiden's potential to necessarily what they've already done, considering at this point, they had done nothing. So, this is one of those debuts that actually shows that there is a lot of promise for this band in the future.
Now, the one thing that a lot of people may slam me for by saying I like 'Killers' better is the number of songs on Iron Maiden that really fit into their live set list. Either that, or have made appearances on many of their compilations.
The album kicks off with 'Prowler', 'Remember Tomorrow' is a song you'll hear sometimes in their setlist. 'Running Free' is an absolute classic, in fact it's been covered a couple of times. 'Phantom Of The Opera' is one of the best Iron Maiden songs of all time. 'Strange World' is next track, 'Charlotte The Harlot' was concluded by '22 Acacia Avenue' from the The Number Of The Beast album. The album closes with the self-titled 'Iron Maiden' which is considered to be one of their signature tracks.
Overall, this is a very, very good release and you can definitely kind of hear the sounds and the stylings of the early 1980's and you can definitely tell by the production style and you can tell by the way that this band was really performing these songs that this is a band that was maintaining a set identity for a little while, but they were still really finding exactly all of the little tweaks and turns that they were able to make within themselves in order to really become a definite entity and really have their own identity. And this is something that really built as time went on.
So as a debut, Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden is a fantastic start to this career and it's something that actually prompted them to continue writing with Paul Di'Anno, when there will be only one final album with him. We'll get to that next.
