THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

The third album from Iron Maiden is an ultimate heavy metal classic. In classic status this can be compared to such heavy metal and hard rock albums as Black Sabbath´s Paranoid, AC/DC´s Back in Black and Metallica´s Black Album. This is in other words an album almost every heavy metal fan owns. The album stirred up a lot of controversy when it came out because of the title, the cover and the lyrical content in the title track. Right wing Christian organizations found a perfect scapegoat in Iron Maiden and called them satanists. This is as far from the truth as you can get though. The only song on The Number of the Beast that has anything to do with occultism is the title track and it is not a song that worships satanism. Not that I mind. If you want to hear really blasphemous bands try out some of the norwegian black metal bands or the american band Decide, then you´ll have something to be offended or even outraged about. The Number of the Beast is only a story, nothing more.

The music has changed a bit since Killers which is mostly due to the fact that Bruce(the siren)Dickinson has become the new singer in Iron Maiden. Bruce has a totally different voice compared to Paul Di´anno. Bruce is and extremely skilled singer who masters the whole register. He sings with lots of paatos and theatrical skill. Paul Di´anno had a more limited voice range and his vocals were more raw. The music is still very melodic heavy metal. No progressive tendencies are heard yet in Iron Maiden´s music.

The double guitar attack from Adrian Smith and Dave Murray are very melodic yet powerful and talking about powerful listen to Steve Harris bass and Clive Burr´s drumming. Now that´s what I call a powerful rythm section. This would be Clive Burr´s last album with Iron Maiden.

All songs on this album are classic Iron Maiden material that they have played live for thousands of times. Especially the title track is an ultimate heavy metal anthem that is played every time Iron Maiden perform. Songs like Run to the Hills and Hallowed Be Thy Name are also live classics. Both Childre of the Damned and 22 Acacia Avenue have also been played many times. Both are great songs and the latter is a continuation of the story about Charlotte the Harlot from Iron Maiden´s debut. The Prisoner needs to be mentioned too with it´s classic sample intro. It´s also a song Iron Maiden fans love. Invaders is a powerful song to start the album. Listen to Steve Harris bass playing in this song. Really fast. Gangland is the least known song from The Number of the Beast, but I think it is enjoyable. Total Eclipse must be a CD bonus track as it is not on my original LP, I think I remember it being a b- side to one of the singles released with the album.

This is such a classic heavy metal album and even though it is not my favorite Iron Maiden album this fully deserves 4 stars as it is a really excellent album. Highly recommendable. Fans of Deep Purple, Rainbow, UFO and other seventies hard rock bands should be able to find pleasure in this album as well as heavy metal fans. This is not a progressive album though and might not appeal to everyone in here.