Slartibartfarst42
Trooper
While Fear of the Dark was an improvement on NPFTD, that isn't much praise when NPFTD set the bar so incredibly low. Nevertheless, this album was a step in the right direction with one or two highlights.
Be Quick or Be Dead was a really good track and I was pleased to see Janick contributing to such a good song. This would bode well for the future. I also really liked Afraid to Shoot Strangers and the title track is an absolute masterpiece, which stands up well to almost anything else they've done.
Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends. All of the other songs on the album range from completely forgettable to absolutely woeful and once again I was left sorely disappointed. Compared to everything they'd done up to 1988, this was just embarrassingly poor. I'd come to expect the very highest quality from Maiden and this just wasn't it at all. With a few good songs on the album, I might have been more forgiving if the live show was better, but it wasn't.
It was announced that Bruce would be leaving and I can't say it came as a surprise. They felt like a band who were out of ideas and didn't know where to go next, and I imagine Bruce could see that just as well as me. I went to see them on Bruce's farewell tour and it is the only Iron Maiden gig I've ever been to where I wanted to leave early. The last two albums had hurt the band badly, so for a start they were no longer playing huge venues and in comparison to what I'd seen in previous years, this had the feeling of a dying band. They played at the Glasgow Arena when I saw them but most of the venue was curtained off and they were just playing a small section. Even that wasn't packed. You could feel the tension on stage with some barely concealed hostility between some of the band members. It was perfectly clear to me that Bruce really didn't want to be there. There was no banter with the audience, he was completely lackluster, and as soon as he didn't have to sing a part of the song, he simply walked off stage. The show ended with him hurling abuse at some members of the audience before walking off again and the rest of the band looking embarrassed. As I walked away from that gig, I felt glad he was leaving and I wasn't inclined to bother with Maiden again. They'd had their day and they were incredible, but this was poor and it hurt too much to watch my favourite band self-destruct any more.
Be Quick or Be Dead was a really good track and I was pleased to see Janick contributing to such a good song. This would bode well for the future. I also really liked Afraid to Shoot Strangers and the title track is an absolute masterpiece, which stands up well to almost anything else they've done.
Unfortunately, that's where the good news ends. All of the other songs on the album range from completely forgettable to absolutely woeful and once again I was left sorely disappointed. Compared to everything they'd done up to 1988, this was just embarrassingly poor. I'd come to expect the very highest quality from Maiden and this just wasn't it at all. With a few good songs on the album, I might have been more forgiving if the live show was better, but it wasn't.
It was announced that Bruce would be leaving and I can't say it came as a surprise. They felt like a band who were out of ideas and didn't know where to go next, and I imagine Bruce could see that just as well as me. I went to see them on Bruce's farewell tour and it is the only Iron Maiden gig I've ever been to where I wanted to leave early. The last two albums had hurt the band badly, so for a start they were no longer playing huge venues and in comparison to what I'd seen in previous years, this had the feeling of a dying band. They played at the Glasgow Arena when I saw them but most of the venue was curtained off and they were just playing a small section. Even that wasn't packed. You could feel the tension on stage with some barely concealed hostility between some of the band members. It was perfectly clear to me that Bruce really didn't want to be there. There was no banter with the audience, he was completely lackluster, and as soon as he didn't have to sing a part of the song, he simply walked off stage. The show ended with him hurling abuse at some members of the audience before walking off again and the rest of the band looking embarrassed. As I walked away from that gig, I felt glad he was leaving and I wasn't inclined to bother with Maiden again. They'd had their day and they were incredible, but this was poor and it hurt too much to watch my favourite band self-destruct any more.