THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

What can I say? This became Iron Maiden's best selling album, reaching #1 spots on the charts in the UK. It soon became on of the landmarks in heavy metal history and is a necessary album to own if you are deeply into this genre. Not because it sold so well and gained Maiden's popularity to the maximal at that time, but because of the excellent music here, containing some of their best songs ever. However, this is not a progressive album in any sense. OK, "Hallowed be thy Name" might give some hint of what to come but otherwise, please don't concider this as a prog album, but as an excellent heavy metal album.

It's one of their best though and the title track stands as one of my favorite metal songs. Every musician plays extremely well and the music is powerfull and great. This was Clive Burr's last album with the band. Nicko McBrain replaced him after this one, but I think they're equally as good. But somehow, McBrain fits better to Maiden, though it doesn't affect Burr's drumming at all on this album. That being said, my personal rating for this album is 4.5/5, though I wouldn't recommend it to a standard progger's collection. But if you are into heavy metal and stuff, this one is definitely NOT to be missed!