Iron Maiden

3.5

In the summer of 1980, Iron Maiden were the hottest thing around. Their debut album had just come out and they were touring Germany with Kiss. I was 13 and too young to go to the concert at the Cologne Sporthalle. But we played the debut record over and over again. It really was a new form of hard rock... ‘Heavy metal’ was a new term back then, and indeed this music was faster, more aggressive, “harder” than what had previously been considered ‘hard rock’. Added to that was the eerie aesthetic of the artwork.

Although I’m not really much of a fan of heavy metal, I do like the early Iron Maiden. I’m probably one of the few fans who lost interest in the band when singer Paul Di Anno left. Bruce Dickinson was certainly a stroke of luck for the band and fits better overall into the band’s musical concept, but I preferred Di Anno’s punk attitude – less cliché, more decadence.
The contrast between his “un-metal” vocals and the band’s fast riffs and bass lines remains unique.

Musically, the album isn’t quite on a par with their second album “Killers”, but that’s not down to the band’s performance, but rather the mediocre production. Nevertheless, you can’t help but be drawn in by the band’s raw energy. An album that set the tone in many respects for 1980s rock music.

A pretty standard but enjoyable metal album. The overly theatrical vocals have always turned me off Maiden a bit but they weren't too bad here. Besides they're not exactly the focus here, as the main selling point of this album is the long instrumental passages. They're not as expensive here as they would be on later Maiden albums but there's still some pretty great ones here, especially Phantom of the Opera. This isn't the most consistent album in the world as there are a couple of dud tracks here but for the most part I'd say I enjoyed this.

Favs: Phantom of the Opera, Iron Maiden, Remember Tomorrow, Prowler

Least Fav: Running Free

7.3/10

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

You guys, I think I like Iron Maiden

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Guitar: great
Bass and drums: great
Vocals: irritating
Lyrics: annoying

This is the kind of thing that convinced me that I don't like metal, even though you'd think I'd like it considering some of the other stuff that I like. I would give this record a 4 if it were all-instrumental, because it is headbanging-worthy. But then he starts singing again.

Feels less refined than other Iron Maiden songs I’ve heard, but it still has the energy to make it good

I enjoyed this album a lot more than the other Maiden album on this list. Once I discovered they had a different vocalist for this album, I think that was the key difference for me. No disrespect to Bruce, but it’s just too operatic for me. Although, I’m sure that’s what people enjoy about him. But Paul Di’Anno has a good balance of not going too over the top. Also, this album had way more melodic moments than I expected. Good balance of beauty and rocking out. I’d actually give this album a 3.5 or 3.75

In this album, the songs were high energy, and you can tell that a lot of care and attention was paid to the instrumentals. I prefer this style of rock music to the 70s psychedelic and bluesy rock style that came before. It was a decent listen overall.

Probably better than I remembered. IM has it's place and should be respected for longevity and some influence if not musicianship. I was expecting not to want to ever listen to another, but that's not the case. I'd see what the rest of their stuff was about before saying never. 2+

I will base this review on the original UK release, rather than the North American edition, which added the single "Sanctuary".

In some regard, I understand that there was a need to include another Iron Maiden album when Bruce Dickinson wasn't the lead vocalist. After all, this band had gone through several singers over 50 years, thus it made sense to at least mention another. Plus, there is sentimental value in looking back on a band's humble beginnings. This is why we get to check out the self-titled debut, when the lead vocalist was Paul Di'Anno.

First, let me be clear, I do not consider Paul to be as good a singer as Bruce Dickinson. But really, that's an apples-to-oranges comparison if you think about it. Bruce has a more operatic singing style that complements the band's more progressive-leaning compositional work of later releases. Paul, on the other hand, had a more punk-ish attitude to his performance, with a grittier, down-to-earth delivery that gave the band's early output a more aggressive flair. Sure, he could hold a long note on tracks like "Remember Tomorrow" and "Strange World", but there was something truly gripping about the more in-your-face vocal performance he had. I was certainly entertained enough to have fun and sing along throughout the album's runtime.

I enjoyed every track on their debut. There's the obvious live staples of "Iron Maiden" and "Running Free", the harbinger of the band's more progressive songwriting in "Remember Tomorrow" and "Phantom of the Opera", the instrumental onslaught of "Transylvania" into the ethereal ballad of "Strange World", and the no-frills rockers of "Prowler" and "Charlotte the Harlot". Even with lineup changes to come, the core identity of the band's style was largely cemented with this record, especially with Steve Harris's bass gallops and some electrifying guitar work from Dave Murray and Dennis Stratton.

Overall, I had a fun time revisiting Iron Maiden's debut. It is such an immaculate showcase for what's to come. Rest in power, Paul.

Bastante aburrido. Puro griterío insoportable por momentos. Una guitarra magnífica, pero mal acompañada

Good. we will rock you or something

4/5. Great debut album, the bass playing on here is especially top notch. basically sets the blueprint that future Iron Maiden albums would run with and do better/crazier things with. favorite song is probably the multi-phased center piece of the album “phantom of the opera”.

Noooo. One Iron Maiden album was enough. Honestly, it's fine, I don't even hate it, but completely uninteresting to me.

In my collection (ok so I taped it off my step-brother)

Probably the absolute best album (and band) to come out of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and easily the most successful.

Hard and melodic. I think the production is good too even though tha band have since slagged it off. Paul Di'Anno was a great singer and it's a shame he went off the rails on drugs and got fired.

I lost interest in Iron Maiden when they replaced Di'Anno with Bruce Dickinson after Killers. I never rated Samson, his previous band, and thought he was far too operatic. What the hell do I know!

i liked strange world!