Reviewing Every Iron Maiden Album (Part 1): The Self-Titled Album

Iron Maiden, is my favorite band of all time. They have written many great songs such as Powerslave and To Tame a Land, and have had some of the most talented band members, such as Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, and Nicko McBrain. However, this is about Iron Maiden's self-titled album, which will be the start of a new series I have in mind,"Reviewing Every Iron Maiden Album", in which I will review every single Iron Maiden Album, from their 1980 self-titled album, to the brand new Book of Souls. The first album I will review, is of course, their self-titled one.

This album isn't your normal Bruce Dickinson album, but with Paul Di'Anno, a singer that is also really great. One thing I like about this album, unlike some of the others, is it feels more like those rock and roll, party-like albums, with some great classics, like Prowler, Sanctuary, Iron Maiden, and Running Free. However, this is not their best album. However, their is one really good song in this album, a 7 minute long epic, known as Phantom of the Opera. The album itself is really good, and so are the tracks, which I am going to review separately.

Prowler - This is a great first song by Iron Maiden. This is one of my favorite tracks in the album, and while it makes a great opener to the album, I still find other songs from other albums, such as Invaders, Moonchild, and Aces High, to all be better than this song. This song is still a great song, and I like it's more complex, progressive middle part in the song, with the great guitar solo, but not the best.

Sanctuary - This is a good song to listen to, but it's nowhere near the best song in the album, and actually one of my least favorites. One reason is because it just feels a little weak, and The Number of the Beast is a much better song that sounds similar to this song, but with one of Bruce Dickinson's epic screams in the beginning of the song.

Remembering Tomorrow - When I had listened to this song, I was actually surprised how good this song turned out in the end. While it may seem boring at first, the good stuff comes in during the middle of the song. This song is like Genesis's "The Musical Box", as it feels boring, but you discover how good this song is after carefully listening to it, especially the middle part.

Running Free - I have actually decided, that while this song is pretty great, it can also be really overrated. It is a good song, and while I like the chorus of the song, I just don't find it the best song in the album, but it is still a great song. I liked the guitar playing right after the second chorus, and while it isn't the best song in the album, it is still a great Iron Maiden classic to listen to.

Phantom of the Opera - Here it is. This is the one really good song that makes this album worth listening to. Although their are other really long, epic songs that Iron Maiden has written, this one stands out from the others, and was their original epic, thus making it one of their best, and in my top 10 favorite Iron Maiden songs of all time because of that. The only thing I don't like about this song was the ending, where it just suddenly stops, and is pretty unoriginal for an ending.

Transylvania - Probably Iron Maiden's best instrumental they have written, and one of my favorite Instrumentals of all time, rivaling Death's "Cosmic Sea", and Metallica's "Orion". Although it could've done great with lyrics, it could be great either way. I still like the melody of this song, and the intro of the song just adds up to its excellence. Those things I just mentioned are only a small fraction of why this is one of my favorite songs in the album.

Strange World - This song has probably the best intro in any song from this album. I just like how it sounds, and it just makes you feel like you're on your way to a really good song. However, another thing I like about this, and why I like about the Paul Di'Anno era of Iron Maiden music, is because some of the songs are actually creative, and not the same monotonous songs remade over and over again. This song, is actually a softer song, than actually one of those heavy songs, and that is why I like it so much.

Charlotte The Harlot - Dave Murray has written himself a really great Iron Maiden song here. This song, not only is a great classic, but it's the start of a new saga for Iron Maiden, called "The Charlotte Saga", and other songs that follow this include 22 Acacia Avenue, and From Here to Eternity. The song is a really heavy song, with some melodic parts in it, but not the best song in the album.

Iron Maiden - A lot of Iron Maiden albums end with a really long, epic song, but this one ends with their self-titled, heavy metal classic. Along with Phantom of the Opera, Transylvania, and Strange World, this is one of my favorite tracks in the album. This song ends similar to the way Prowler started. They sound similar, and it's hard to decide which song is better, but I guess Prowler is a little better than this song.

So it looks like that this album is actually pretty good. Sure the production may not be nearly as good as Piece of Mind or Powerslave, it still sounds really great. I like a lot of the songs from the album, but the problem with this album, is how a lot of the songs sound kinda the same. Remember Tomorrow, Charlotte the Harlot, and Strange World all sound very similar. The same can be said for Prowler, Iron Maiden, and Sanctuary, as well as Translyvania, Running Free, and Phantom of the Opera. However, that does not make the album really bad. It is still a great album, but it is not my favorite, out of the ones I have listened to so far, which include all the 80s albums, and The Final Frontier. However, by the time this blog post series is done, I would've listened to them all.

The Verdict

87/100 - This album was a great start for Iron Maiden's career. It had nearly everything a good Iron Maiden contains, but the songs are not nearly as good as songs from The Number of the Beast, and Powerslave. While I like the album a lot, I wouldn't give it the A+ rating that some other Iron Maiden albums would get. However, while some of the songs sound the same, the album is actually pretty diverse for an Iron Maiden album. It had a lot of great songs such as Phantom of the Opera, Strange World, Prowler, and the instrumental, Transylvania. This also could have the potential to be the better of the Paul Di'Anno Iron Maiden album. Because of this, I recommend this album to be listened to, and would be good for a metalhead, who likes the classic sound of traditional heavy metal, but also likes variety in music.

So there you have it. This finishes the first review in the "Reviewing Every Iron Maiden Album" series, and I guess the next album will be Paul Di'Anno's other Iron Maiden album, which is called "Killers".

Comments

Good series - Skullkid755 (9/9/2016)

Nice review! - visitor (9/9/2016)

Good review. - visitor (9/10/2016)

Great review! - Brobusky (9/14/2016)