Iron Maiden

4.5

nowhere near as horrible as i expected!!

2.75

Prowler is my favourite Iron Maiden song just want to put that out there

I was a bit disappointed with the rest of the album though. Was expecting heavy metal, but it was a bit tame?

3 ⭐️

I don’t usually listen to metal, so I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Iron Maiden’s self-titled debut. Surprisingly, I found it pretty interesting. It’s definitely heavy, but there’s more going on than just loud guitars and aggressive vocals. The songs have a strong sense of melody, and the guitar work gives the album a lot of character.
What stood out to me most was the energy. The album feels raw and a little rough around the edges, which I think works in its favor. It doesn’t have the polished sound of some later metal records, but that gives it a certain personality. Songs like “Running Free” and “Remember Tomorrow” show different sides of the band, from straightforward rock energy to something more atmospheric and melodic.
As someone who isn’t particularly into metal, I probably wouldn’t say that every song was immediately accessible to me. Bruce Dickinson wasn’t even the vocalist on this album, with Paul Di’Anno handling the vocals, and his grittier style gives the record a very different feel from the Iron Maiden sound I was more familiar with.
Still, I can understand why this album is considered important. Released in 1980, it helped establish Iron Maiden as one of the major bands of the emerging New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Even if metal isn’t normally my thing, I can appreciate how much personality and ambition the band already had on their first record.
Overall, Iron Maiden was an interesting listen. It didn’t suddenly turn me into a metal fan, but it gave me a better appreciation for the genre and for what Iron Maiden were doing early in their career.

Huh, the prowler riff was ripped off by papa roach for between angels and insects! Good guitar-y things, but it's still dad rock, which I'm not a fan of. 3*

Not very heavy metal - I was slightly disappointed

I enjoyed this a lot more than Number of the Beast for some reason. It's both more proggy and more punky than the fully formed Iron Maiden we would come to know (and love, in some cases).

Maybe the vocals also sound less cliched to me, being used to Bruce's over-the-top stylings on most IR tracks I've heard over the years.

As my 1001 colleague said, you can hear the building blocks of Metallica here, especially on the softer parts.

I'm also a big fan of the band name being the name of the album and the name of a track on the album - triple threat.

The Good: We get a maiden!
The Bad: Finding out what an Iron Maiden is…
The Ugly: Album Name = Band Name…

Gonna keep it brief. There were 3 songs that I recognized instantly, and they were fine to listen to… however, unlike their album The Number of the Beast, I really wanted this album to be over and done with…

Don’t know if that has to do with this singer…

Don’t know much…

2* that could be 3, but ain’t….

I'm not a metal fan so this did nothing for me and can't say I enjoyed much of anything here.

Der er noget fed nok tråd på albummet, og coveret er jo et levn fra en fantastisk men svunden tid. Der var mange edgy t-shirts i folkeskolen, der så sådan her ud, og de var røvfede

Bliver altid overrasket over hvor lidt heavy, datidens heavy metal var

Rigtig fint album i virkeligheden. Positiv overraskelse. Det er en stor 3'er, men desværre ikke helt en 4'er.

3.6

Holy shit, do I love Iron Maiden?!
First half is better than the second but still woah!

I want this to be my vibe but it's just not. Thanks to my high school boyfriend for forever ruining Iron Maiden for me...

Iron Maiden is awesome, but I do think this is a bizarre pick. If the list absolutely wanted to include a Paul Di'Anno Maiden album, I don't see why it wouldn't be Killers, which I think is a better collection of songs. Although, on another hand, listening to the debut in 2026 is kind of an interesting exercise. *And* if the idea here was to capture a unique moment for Maiden, I suppose this kind of makes sense, because they got quite a bit closer to the classic Maiden sound on Killers. Although, it's also a case of a debut that feels unique less because of a series of intentional decisions, and more due to the band not quite getting the formula right. But I must admit that in the grand scheme of things, the Iron Maiden sound was closer to full realization than you'd think. But there are some glaring differences across this album, many of which admittedly arise from the differences between the lineup here and on Maiden's most iconic run. Most notably, Di'Anno's vocals aren't bad, but they *certainly* don't feel like Iron Maiden. He's a little more gravelly than Dickinson, and I think that Dickinson *is* a much better fit for the band with his incredibly distinct operatics. Every once in a while there is also a guitar line that feels really weird when compared to the more familiar Maiden, and I kind of chalk that up to the presence of Dennis Stratton, who didn't even make it to Killers. But, this album *does* still feel as representative of The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal as Maiden's best. The sound here is still very much a combination of speed metal and some distinct influence from prog. And Steve Harris is still the primary songwriter here, which is pretty clearly identifiable. There is even the seed of Maiden's more ambitious moments here on Phantom Of The Opera, which is the longest, most intricate song here. But the song does end up over-extending itself a little. Although, a lot of the simpler songs here really define the sound on *this* album, and make it worth the occasional visit. Prowler, Running Free, Iron Maiden, and even the instrumental Transylvania are a blast. Maiden still conjures up some exciting precision and energy here, and the result is a great heavy metal album, even if it doesn't translate into one of the better Iron Maiden albums. But, I would still advise fans of the band to spin this. There is a lot to love, and it kind of captures a unique moment in the band's history.

Back when Iron Maiden had a punk flair and a different singer (RIP Paul), but they were still an absolutely killer (no pun intended) band. Fantastic songs abound on this thing, with exceptional guitar work on the more epic tracks, the ballads, and the hook-driven shorter songs alike. This record is amongst my favorites in their discography and I'm glad Paul seems to be getting his due for the most part in the many years since his contributions to what is perhaps the greatest metal band of all time.

3.5

Weirdly chilled out. I just can’t get into it though. Just feels so silly.

Edit: I ended up getting two Iron Maiden albums in a row. Downgrading this one because it’s not as good as the other

Just not for me man

This shit fucking rips hell yeah