So many excellent albums are turning 30 years old this year. I mean, there will always be albums turning 30 years old, but 1992 was a pretty amazing year for new music from many of my favorite bands. Coming off of the heels of their No Prayer For The Dying album, Iron Maiden came in strong with Fear of the Dark. The previous album’s tour saw Maiden drop in popularity as the band played smaller venues, primarily arenas in a half-house setting, but all of that would change with Fear of the Dark.
No Prayer pretty underwhelmed me for the Dying, and while it had some good songs, it just seemed to lack some strength. It almost felt slightly lazy. With that being said, I was anticipating the release of Fear of the Dark. I really had no idea what to expect, but Maiden was (and still is) my favorite band of all time (tied with the Grateful Dead). I remember loving Fear of the Dark and being so happy with its release. Except for a few songs, I felt it was a solid album.
How does Fear of the Dark hold up 30 years later? Let’s break it down song by song, and I’ll see.
Be Quick or Be Dead
What an album opener. On the No Prayer for the Dying album, Maiden kicked things off with “Tailgunner,” which I thought was a terribly weak song. This time around, Maiden comes out of the gates, all guns blazing with one of the heaviest songs they had done up to this point. The song was an intense, moshable song that had the band sounding like they were letting it all out. However, there was no holding back on this track, and Bruce’s scream at the song’s beginning is epic as fuck.
From Here to Eternity
What a terrible song. I am still not sure what the fuck they were going for on this song, but I blame those dumb songs on No Prayer for the Dying. “Tailgunner” and “Holy Smoke” were so stupid, and it was a failed attempt to be cute and clever. Unfortunately, this song continues that trend. I mean, with a lyric like, “she wiped his kickstart clean,” is just flat out disappointing. There is nothing more to say about this one other than it sucks. What the hell was Steve Harris even thinking? SMH.
Afraid to Shoot Strangers
Wow. Maiden took a sharp left turn with this song and put out one of my all-time favorite songs. From 1990-to 1991, the Gulf War was all over the news, and “Afraid to Shoot Strangers” reflected the state of mind that a military fighter must have been experiencing. This is the Iron Maiden that I love so much. Thought-provoking, strong, and capturing a mood with song. The chaos, the anger, the confusion, and the frustration of one are perfectly captured in this song. Why couldn’t all of this album be like this?
Fear is the Key
Holy fuck. Once again, Maiden slides into home for the win. This is a sadly overlooked and forgotten song. The groove to this song and Bruce’s vocals are so strong and moving. Any Janick Gers haters can also stuff it because he and Bruce wrote this one, and it is one of the strongest songs on the album. Excellent guitar delivery from Janick, and there is some great back and forth between him and Dave Murray. This one stands strong on its own, and it’s a song I need to revisit more—what a great tune and an excellent performance overall.
Childhood’s End
At this point, Maiden is three for three. While it shares the same title as songs by Marillion and Pink Floyd, this one is unrelated to either of those. Instead, Steve Harris once again turns his focus to social/political commentary addressing the state of the world in all of its sad and destructive ways. Greed, world hunger, political corruption, and other aspects of the darker side of humanity are addressed in this song. Much like Afraid to Shoot Strangers, this song captures the emotions he is addressing, but instead of characterizing it, he writes it from his own perspective as a human looking out and looking in. This is an intense and very moving song.
Wasting Love
One of the things I love to do is find out what other people think a particular song may be about. One of the things I read about “Wasting Love” was that it is sung from the perspective of someone who is dying lonely without ever having found true love. Any longtime fan of Iron Maiden knows that things are not always as they seem. Rarely is Maiden overly transparent, and this song is no different. I always believed that this song was Bruce’s “breakup letter” to Steve Harris. Bruce was tired, road-worn, and starting to feel trapped behind Iron Maiden’s name and overall presence. It’s a cry of desperation, sadness, and frustration that would carry over to “Tears of the Dragon” from his Balls to Picasso album that followed his departure from Maiden. This is a beautiful, sad, and moving song that was a first and a last for Maiden.
The Fugitive
While musically, I think this song is pretty good, overall, this song is so uninteresting. It isn’t very interesting, and it is unexciting. On Number of the Beast, Maiden based their song “The Prisoner” on the British TV show “The Prisoner,” They did so with excellent results. It was a great, thought-provoking, and exciting song lyrically and musically. “The Apparition” is also based on the TV show of the same name, but it’s a failure—a dull, forgettable song.
Chains of Misery
I’m still trying to figure out what the fuck is going on with this song. It blows me away how these guys can write some fantastic songs and then write some absolutely shitty songs on the same album. The guitar solo section in this song is cool, but it’s not enough to save this sinking ship. That “gang-style” chorus also makes the hole much bigger, causing the ship to sink at an accelerated speed—just an awful song.
The Apparition
I’ll be honest. I LOVE “The Apparition.” As a standalone song, I think it stands up on its own as a song that could’ve and should’ve had a more significant role in the Maiden lineage. The opening groove of the chorus is enjoyable and Bruce jumping right into the song without a grandiose musical intro is still a surprise as it’s not something he did all that much. But, in a nutshell, I think it’s a great song. It was really exciting to see a bold change for Steve, who has always been so gung-ho about adhering to a formula of writing. A great departure, a pleasant surprise, and a sadly overlooked and forgotten song.
Judas Be My Guide
It’s so weird that Fear of the Dark, as inconsistent as it is, has what I consider to be one of Maiden’s greatest songs ever. I put this song in my top 5 favorite Iron Maiden songs. It’s that good. Written by Bruce and Dave Murray, this song is a beast. I have always thought this song was about a loss of faith and a conflict with Christianity. It’s as if it’s about someone who wants to believe in God but realizes that praying and believing does absolutely as the character completely loses his faith in a whirlwind of confusion and anger. This is an example of what made Maiden great. A song that wasn’t literal but could be open to interpretation by anyone listening. Clocking in and just over three minutes, this song does more on its own than this album does as a whole. This song should have been a staple of Iron Maiden’s live shows and why this song was ignored is something I will never understand.
Weekend Warrior
I can’t even put to words how much I hate this song. How can this be the same guy who wrote the lyrics to “Judas Be My Guide?” I mean, I just can’t even. It’s not even worth typing about. If you are a fan of this song, you are a big ol’ dummy. That is all.
Fear of the Dark
As the album closes, this song almost makes you forget how crappy this album is for the most part. What I love so much about this song is that lyrically this song gave us a glimpse into the personal mind of Steve Harris. We’ve always known him to be a genius with his love of all things literature, but this song is personal. I feel like Steve opens up to us and lets us see that he is a human being with fears just like the rest of us. This song seems to delve into Steve’s deep-rooted fear of the unknown and even his mortality. It is an absolutely stellar song, and it’s no surprise that this became a classic Maiden epic in its own right.
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