Unknown Soldier

Yep Marillion are pretty sissy sounding!

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Uh, yeah... nothing as hard or butch as Toto, named after a little girl's little dog!

and just for that, Batlord...

In the eighties I was a metalhead. Oh you wouldn't believe it now would you, but I was. Had the long hair, the leather jacket with hand-stitched band logos (yes I learned to do embroidery: what of it? You want me to hit you with my rolling pin??), the whole bit. Another album that was featured in my "Albums that changed my life", Iron Maiden's "The number of the Beast" has come in for a lot of criticism, both from so-called hardened metallers and Maiden fans, but it's always going to be close to my heart as it was the first Maiden album I ever bought, and more, the first metal album. It started off a love of heavy metal that, while it didn't stretch to the extreme metal scale of the likes of His Batship (I prefer to be able to hear what's being sung) still encompassed bands from Motorhead to April Wine, Saxon to Twisted Sister, and Manowar to Sabbath. But this was where it all started for me.


The number of the Beast --- Iron Maiden --- 1982

For me, this album has it all. Kickass cover that would scare/scandalise the God squad, great songwriting, Brice Dickinson remaking the band in his image, killer twin axe attack and a closer to die for. It annoys me when people diss "NotB" because it "doesn't flow" or "has weak tracks". I just love it. From the opener "Invaders" through to the almost operatically dramatic "Hallowed be thy name" I really see no bad tracks. And then of course you have the big hit singles, the comeback as it were, "Run to the hills" and then the title track itself, with that intoned "Woe to you, O Earth and sea..." that now presages the track when they play live.

Showcasing themes as diverse as sci-fi author John Wyndham's work and organised crime, to life after death and history, Iron Maiden proved with this album that they were moving away from what were seen as typical metal tropes, singing less about girls and beer and more about gods and demons, less about who's the toughest and more about where we came from, and where we are going. Maiden became --- perhaps surprisingly given the somewhat punkish nature of their first two albums --- the thinking man's metal band. And it all happened with this album.

A true classic of its time, and I'll defend it to the death against anyone who says otherwise.

TRACKLISTING

1. Invaders
2. Children of the damned
3. The Prisoner
4. 22 Acacia Avenue
5. The number of the Beast
6. Run to the hills
7. Gangland
8. Hallowed be thy name

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Anteater

^^ Love love love that album! I'm far removed from the generation that grew up with it of course, but its easy to see why its among your favorites.

As for that Toto comment on where their name from by the way, here's a fun tidbit from their official site-

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

The Batlord

Alright I'm gonna do this track by track just to spite you.


1. Invaders - Awesome opener. I wouldn't say it's one of their top songs, but it's still an awesome song that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of Maiden's career.

2. Children of the Damned - Why some bands decide to open with a belter and then follow it with a ballad I have no idea. It's a metal album. And not an "avant-garde" metal album either. It's just a straight up metal album. It needs to set the tone for such an album with more than one headbanger. It doesn't help that it's a rather dull song either.

3. The Prisoner - More like it. Again, not one of their best songs, but it's enjoyable. Still, on any other Maiden album this would be within shouting distance of filler.

4. 22 Acacia Avenue - Why this is such a famous song I will never know. After you get over the lyrics you're left with a dull song.

5. The Number of the Beast - Love this song. Brilliant atmosphere, brilliant build up, and a "brilliant" music video.

6. Run to the Hills - One of those songs that's just quintessentially Maiden in all ways possibly to be quintessentially Maiden.

7. Gangland - Filler. Not bad filler, but I wouldn't have missed it.

8. Hallowed By Thy Name - One of the best songs any band has ever done.


So, as far as I'm concerned we're left with three actual, honest-to-god classic songs ("The Number of the Beast", "Run to the Hills", and "Hallowed By Thy Name") a couple songs that show Maiden's progression and their potential without being the finished product ("The Prisoner" and "Gangland"), and two moderately crap songs ("Children of the Damned" and "22 Acacia Avenue"). And then of course there's "Invaders" which is, again, awesome, but not quite classic.

Bam. Your move.

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Trollheart

OK then, my move is pawn --- they're the little knobbly ones down the front, right? ---

Spot on. Great opener, sets the scene, gets you rockin' right away.

What? How many bands do this? I know few albums that even use ballads near the beginning, which makes it a little unique in and of itself. Also, it's not a ballad: don't you hear it kicking up in the last few minutes? And it ends on a big "Woh! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!" with killer guitar and a big scream from Brucey. Hardly "Strange world" now is it? Maiden don't really do ballads, and this is not what I would call a ballad.



Love this song. Powerful, iconic, fast and heavy with such interesting subject matter. Never filler, in any world or galaxy.

See above. The boogie guitar near the end makes this song, but I love the way it chugs along and while it may not be the greatest Maiden song ever written, let's not forget that it's originally an Adrian Smith song, adapted for Maiden when he joined.

Nothing to add here. Agree 100 percent.
Or here. Weakest track on the album and closest it comes to filler.

Not in any way an overstatement or hype. Simply one of the very best metal songs ever recorded and probably among the top ten best closers on any album. Has true classic written all over it even the first time you hear it.
Basically we don't disagree that much. I just think the tracks you see as potential filler are not, and CotD is not a ballad.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018