What is there to say about this song that hasn't been said a million times? It's a legendary track, being well known even beyond the Maiden fandom or even outside Metal circles. Kinda funny that one of the most well known metal songs of all time is about being afraid of the dark. It's a reasonable fear and one of the fundamental sources of uncertainty and anxiety throughout nature and evolution. Yet despite that, nowadays it's often associated with young children who can't fall asleep. Because of that it's pretty funny hearing literal thousands of metalheads sing about being afraid of the dark with their full heart.
Unlike some songs like RTTH or TNOTB where listening to them so much over the years has lessened my appreciation of them, FOTD is somehow different. It'll never grow old for me, especially listening to live versions. The clean sections and the crowds singing along to all the guitar leads is pure magic. One of the reasons why essentially any live version is superior to the studio version. The latter is still magnificent though, if I have the choice though I'll always go with one of the 2000s live versions.
One thing worth mentioning is how the success of this song permanently changed how Steve writes epics. While there are plenty of twin lead sections found on this album and NPFTD, the title track is focused on strong unison melodies. That's something heard on most songs from TXF onwards, where guitar harmonies have become more and more rare. Of course, there are always some exceptions on various songs. Yet, it seems that Steve consciously started avoiding harmonized leads, in favor of strong melodies for the audiences to sing along to. It's difficult to fault him after being so successful with FOTD, a song that became an instant classic at a time when Maiden was in decline. Still, it's a shame that we rarely get any guitar harmonies anymore. There's room for both in my opinion.
I don't think it's necessary to go through the various section and give my thoughts, we all know what the song sounds like. It's another 10 from me.
