THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

Paul Di'Anno was out and Bruce Dickinson formerly of Samson was in. On their third album IRON MAIDEN blossomed into a formidable heavy metal act with the addition of Dickinson's operatic vocals at just the right time as the band was becoming more progressive and the music more demanding and now they could pursue the directions that bassist and main songwriter Steve Harris had been hoping for. Eddie earned his right to hang out with Satan after all that killing he did on the last album with a bit of a mystery since he is controlling Satan like a puppet who in turn is controlling a smaller version of him thus symbolizing the paradox of dominance.

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST is a power-packed heavy metal masterpiece that achieves perfection from the very first crunchy power chord of 'Invaders' to the the chiming bells and operatic dual guitar onslaught of 'Hallowed Be Thy Name.' The band continues their tradition of mixing their punkish aggression with melodic progressive metal with themes that were inspired by movies, fiction and philosophy. They succeeded in developing a diverse collection of well-crafted songs that made this album an instant classic becoming one of the most popular metal albums of all time. The re-mastered version contains the song 'Total Eclipse' before the finale 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' which was originally the B-side for the 'Run To The Hills' single.

This would be the last album with drummer Clive Burr (and the only one on which he contributed his songwriting skills) who was fired from the band during The Beast On The Road tour apparently for being unreliable and letting his partying affect his stage performance testifying to the high and professional standards of this band. He would ironically (or ironmaidenically) switch places with his replacement Nicko McBrain in the group Trust and also had a short gig with the supergroup Gogmagog which also included Paul Di'Anno and future MAIDEN guitarist Janick Gers. Mr. Burr was sadly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis shortly thereafter and died in 2013 from complications. R.I.P. Clive.