THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

Iron Maiden's third album sees the arrival of Bruce Dickinson to handle the vocals. His voice is much more powerful, and in fact the whole sound is heavier on this album. Maiden wrote fast paced songs, now they write heavy fast paced tracks... This album could be considered as a second debut album though, and although it has been critically acclaimed, it's one of those I like the least.

Songs like "Invaders", "22 Acacia Avenue" and "Gangland" are really straightforward metal songs, and are really weak for this kind of album. "Children Of The Damned" is the "Remember Tomorrow" of this album - the melody is more diverse with a mellow first part. This is probably the song I like the most, along with "The Prisoner". The other songs, "The Number Of The Beast", "Run To The Hills" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name" are the hits of the album, songs the band would play on almost every live show - the first two are heavy and catchy, the last one is a dark epic.

Rating: 60/100 (2 stars)