IRON MAIDEN

The first of the two Paul Di'Anno-fronted albums, and the sole Iron Maiden album released featuring Dennis Straton on guitar, this is an excellent debut album which sheds light on a band who had mastered the conventions of their major influences - traditional heavy metal with a side order of punk and prog rock - and had synthesised them into a powerful and compelling new sound for themselves. The raw production and Paul Di'Anno's no-frills shout lends itself well to highlighting the faster, punkish side of the band on songs like Prowler and the title track, whilst quiet ballads incorporating loud and heavy interjections such as Remember Tomorrow and Strange World show a strong Judas Priest influence, bearing a strong resemblance to Priest songs in a similar vein such as Here Come the Tears.

However, the track that really points the way to the band's future is The Phantom of the Opera, which combines a prog-rock influenced song structure with a lyrical concept ripped from literature and a musical delivery which perfectly balances the drama and theatricality demanded by the concept with the balls-out aggression characteristic of this album at its best. The classic Iron Maiden sound had not completely taken shape at this point, but it's in songs such as Phantom of the Opera where it can be heard the clearest, and despite the lack of the band's best-loved vocalist and one of its most talented guitarists it's a great listen which holds up well against their future classics.