Bored by the Beast (Fear Of The Dark - Iron Maiden)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Fear Of The Dark - Iron Maiden
Date:	21/06/04 (269 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A couple of classic tracks, Good production and talented musicians

Disadvantages: Unoriginal, Unwelcome departure from their usual style, Too cheesy at times, with rubbish lyrics

Following the departure of guitarist Adrian Smith from Britain’s most popular heavy metal band, the albums of Iron Maiden immediately fell into a slump devoid of the creativity, talent and enjoyment of their eighties offerings. Replacement guitarist Janick Gers was not inherently a weak link in the band, and indeed has remained as a third guitarist to the present day even following the reunion of ‘lost’ band members, but the remaining four members of Iron Maiden’s classic line-up seemed to have lost the drive and imagination present on their earlier releases.

Vocalist Bruce Dickinson in particular was increasingly unimpressive compared to his incredible earlier performances, and left the band after the Fear of the Dark tour to pursue a successful and ultimately much more rewarding solo career. Bruce and Adrian both returned to the band in 2000 and have remained there to this day, making for a much stronger Iron Maiden that is comparable to its glory days. Oh yes, and some of Bruce’s later solo albums were fantastic too. (1997’s ‘Accident of Birth’ and 1998’s ‘Chemical Wedding’ in particular, which also featured Adrian as well as the talents of Roy Z).


STYLE


Quite deliberately, the band opted for a change in musical direction after failing to inspire with the apparent ‘return to form’ of their previous record. The influence of seventies blues rock acts is quite prevalent in many tracks here, with a more laid back tone to most tracks and noticeable alterations in the guitar, drum, bass and vocal style. This was not intended to expand the band’s appeal (their number one single in 1990 and a string of top ten albums ensured that this was not necessary), but more a determination to release something different.

Bassist, primary songwriter and band founder Steve Harris recently remarked that the band’s fans will always ask whether their upcoming albums are going to be concept albums, that is albums based around a specific theme or storyline, and he consistently tells them that Iron Maiden have only ever released one concept album (1988’s excellent ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’), however similar assumptions about Fear of the Dark would not be unfounded; three tracks deal with fear, while other titles such as ‘The Apparition,’ ‘Be Quick or Be Dead,’ ‘Childhood’s End’ and ‘The Fugitive’ express concern or paranoia, however there is no real thread connecting these twelve tracks other than the band’s desire to focus on current affairs and events such as war, AIDS, capitalism and social decline as opposed to the historical and mythological angles of much of their older work.

As a contrast to the very poor production quality of their previous No Prayer For the Dying album, the over-polished, shiny production of the two albums before that and the more raw sound of their earliest work, the production here is actually quite interesting; everything can be clearly heard and defined, but nothing is overdone, a testament to Steve Harris and Martin Birch. Guitars sound clean but forceful when necessary, the bass can be heard clearly, and the drums don’t sound like Nikko’s whacking some cardboard boxes for a change. Bruce’s tired vocals do present an issue that cannot be tempered through production tricks however.


TRACKS


1. BE QUICK OR BE DEAD

The first single released from this album seemed to show a more brutal and enjoyable side of Maiden, with its harsh lyrics against the media and its speedy drum beat and guitar riffs. Definitely one of the highlights of the album, this makes for an excellent opener but is still not up to the high standards of the band’s earlier openers such as ‘Aces High’ and ‘Moonchild.’ Bruce’s vocals are at their most aggressive here, and it sounds very enjoyable.

“Covered in sinners and dripping with guilt,
Making you money from slime and from filth.
Parading your bellies in ivory towers,
Investing our lives in your schemes and your powers”

2. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

The first signs of the blues influence through the atypical guitar sound, this was soon released as a second single but fails to live up to the standards of the first track. Saying that, it’s not a bad track – and although the ensemble chorus spouting repetitive lyrics sounds cheesy, it’s quite standable. Bruce’s raspy lyrics are a definite turn-off here though, and lyrically this is the fourth and final part in the continuing saga of Charlotte the Harlot. (You know, if you follow these kind of things).

“She fell in love with his greasy machine,
She leaned over wiped his head kickstart clean.
She'd never seen the beast before,
But she left there wanting more more more”

3. AFRAID TO SHOOT STRANGERS

One of the finest tracks on the album, even though the structure of a quiet opening leading to a melodic riff and louder section at the end is something that was already a little exhausted on the band’s last album and would go on to feature prominently and less successfully on their later 90s offerings. A thoughtful and slow song about war, this is an example of what the rest of the album should have been like; musically different but still very appealing, with a haunting and distant drum beat from Nikko McBrain complimenting the guitar harmony and synthesised orchestra perfectly. Bruce’s quiet, deep vocals also add to the atmosphere, making for one of the best offerings of this point in Maiden’s career that likely holds a wider appeal than the rest of the album. Well done; the harmonious solo towards the end is also excellent, and doesn’t overdo things.

“Trying to justify to ourselves the reasons to go,
Should we live and let live?
Forget or forgive?”

4. FEAR IS THE KEY

The first track to sound distinctly average, this sounds like a re-hashing of some of the previous outings, but does have quite a catchy and upbeat rhythm. Bruce sounds better here, and the Egyptian-style nature of some of the guitars is interesting, but it’s not a track that pops into my mind very often. The lyrics are again pretty good though, especially the comment that “nobody cares until somebody famous dies.” Some quite good progression into different tempos towards the end, but nothing particularly striking.

“I remember a time when we used and abused,
And fought all our battles in vain
I remember a time we thought that passion was free
In the heart of the night”

5. CHILDHOOD’S END

The opening riff is pleasant but reminiscent of the last track, however when this song gets into its beat it is quite catchy and memorable. Nikko tries out a very fast galloping sound on the drums as the guitars take a back stage and this sounds nicely different, but once the chorus comes in there is really not much else that the song has to offer. A slow, moody track with some of Bruce’s best vocals, but still nothing groundbreaking or classic, which is a shame. An upbeat guitar section halfway through sounds good, but still continues the established riff.

“No hope, no life, just pain and fear
No food, no love, no seed
childhood's end”

6. WASTING LOVE

One of my least favourites on here, this travels too far into unnecessary soft rock territory. Slow and subdued, this also features some potentially embarrassing vocals from Dickinson and some of the worst lyrics the band have offered, and even the louder chorus (the best part of the song) is pretty unimpressive and soon fades into faux-acoustic melodies. The worst aspect of the song is certainly is length however, as it drags on far too long at six minutes; were it a three to four minute track like most on here it would be easier to forgive.

“Maybe one day I'll be an honest man,
Up till now I'm doing the best I can.
Long roads, long days, of sunrise to sunset,
Sunrise to sunset”

7. THE FUGITIVE

This track begins quite promisingly with a return to a stronger, more hard rock form with pounding drums, but then it all becomes a little confusing when ‘Wasting Love’-style slow melodies make themselves heard. Bruce’s vocals are quite good here, except for in the abominable chorus that belies the band’s earlier excellent lyrical offerings. This is unfortunately one of many weak links on the album, and fails to hold this part of the CD together amidst some other equally unimpressive offerings.

“I am a fugitive
Being hunted down like game,
I am a fugitive
But I've got to clear my name”

8. CHAINS OF MISERY

There’s something of old Iron Maiden mixed with a swing beat that makes this a fairly average song, although not one that I would class as among the best on the album. The unison vocals from track two are back here in the titular chorus and I like the muted sounds of the guitars as the chorus approaches, but on the whole this is a little bit predictable and devoid of surprises; even the solo is weak. It’s not easy for me to say this, you know.

“He lies to you he won't let you be
He's got your chains of misery,
He won't be still till he's turned your key
He holds your chains of misery”

9. THE APPARITION

This song wastes no time in introducing the vocals, but is again something of a weak link. I don’t hate it in the way that most Maiden fans seem to, perhaps as I’m comparing it to some of the tracks on here that I truly do dislike, but the solo sections sound like they’re straight from either the seventies or a bad computer game, and the idea of making Bruce’s vocal track slightly off centre from the guitar riff just results in a bad song.

“In a world of delusion
Never turn your back on a friend,
’Cause you can count your
real true friends on one hand”

10. JUDAS BE MY GUIDE

It’s cheesy and obvious, but this track does manage to redeem the album a little as I really like it. The general mood is quite happy and enjoyable, while the verse style and especially the chorus are reminiscent of the band’s finest works. It may be that I just love hearing that guy sing in that operatic voice… yeah, that’s probably it – a very good song though, and certainly better than most of the other songs on here. Nicely brief at only just over three minutes as well, with some great guitar harmony stuff.

“Judas my guide,
Whispers in the night,
Judas my guide”

11. WEEKEND WARRIOR

Just as things had started to get interesting (and were about to again with the final, title track), the band present what I regard as the worst song they have ever done. Some songs from their debut sounded a bit too old fashioned, and later vocalist Blaze Bayley wasn’t as good as Bruce, but this is a terrible track that I’m so glad they didn’t release as a single; the acoustic sound given to the electric guitars fails miserably, while Bruce just gets on my nerves with the new, gravely sound in his voice that really suggests he should take some time off for fencing and flying (which he thankfully did). Don’t listen to this.

“The rebel of yesterday, tomorrow's fool
Who are you kidding being that cool?”

12. FEAR OF THE DARK

The main reason Iron Maiden fans bought this album, this closing track is undoubtedly the finest track on here and it was this song (albeit a live version released a year later) that first got me into the band. That may be just reason for regular Dooyoo readers to hate it already. Quite epic in scale, although not to the extent of the band’s previous large-scale tracks, it’s still a brilliant metal song that starts softly to build the excitement before launching into one of the band’s best ever guitar riffs. Everyone is at their best here, and I genuinely find it hard to believe that the band could produce something this good while also coming up with ‘Weekend Warrior.’

“Fear of the dark, fear of the dark,
I have constant fear that something's always near.
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark,
I have a phobia that someone's always there”


VERDICT


Public opinion regards this as a fairly average album, and I have to agree, but I would also not recommend it to anyone interested in the band; although these are very seldom, there are indeed a couple of excellent points in this CD (most notably the title track), but buying a live album such as the excellent ‘Rock in Rio’ (also available on DVD) will save you the trouble of owning about nine very poor songs.

As I said earlier, I actually find it very difficult to see how this CD could be this unimpressive when it features such classics as ‘Afraid to Shoot Strangers,’ ‘Be Quick or Be Dead’ and ‘Fear of the Dark’: it can’t really be blamed on individual members, although Bruce’s vocals do show a lack of commitment at a number of points, although it’s safe to say that the band had lost a little interest in creating genuinely exciting music at this point in their careers. For the record, their next album would not be released until 1995 (with a different vocalist) and showed a darker, more bleak side of the band but at least instigated a resurgence in their creativity. As a huge Iron Maiden fan I don’t enjoy slagging them off, but it’s clear that this album only reached number one in the charts due to their previous popularity and support. Not a dark chapter in the Iron Maiden saga; more of an incredibly dull one.


IRON MAIDEN discography and my own self-righteous opinions as shown by star points

1980 – Iron Maiden ***
1981 – Killers **
1982 – The Number of the Beast ****
1983 – Piece of Mind *****
1984 – Powerslave *****
1985 – Live After Death (live) *****
1986 – Somewhere in Time *****
1988 – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son *****
1990 – No Prayer For the Dying **
1992 – Fear of the Dark **
1992 – A Real Live One (live) **
1993 – A Real Dead One (live, again) ***
1993 – Live at Donington (live, again again) ***
1995 – The X Factor ***
1996 – Best of the Beast (best-of compilation) ****
1998 – Virtual XI **
2000 – Brave New World ****
2001 – Rock in Rio *****
2002 – Edward the Great (greatest hits) ***
2002 – Eddie’s Archive (lost tracks and stuff) **
2003 – Dance of Death ****

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