I am going to guess that I am the biggest fan of No Prayer For the Dying on the forum (unless Forostar jumps in here, and even then it might be close). My experience with this album is very similar to LooseCannon's experience with Virtual XI. I didn't have greater context with it, I didn't realize that this was the band without a key songwriter, I didn't know that this was their way of following an ambitious progressive Metal concept album, I didn't know that this was an effort to get back to their roots. I also was familiar with and enjoyed Tattooed Millionaire, and the other rock bands I liked to listen to at the time included Aerosmith and Scorpions. I was very much a classic hard rock kind of kid. With that being said, there isn't a lot of music I listened to as a kid that still resonates with me in the same way today. Iron Maiden stand among the few, this album included. I don't think of that as an insignificant detail.
To that end, I fully acknowledge that had I heard the album for the first time today or if I had been a fan at the time and anxiously awaited this as the followup to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, I probably would've been severely disappointed. The music is far less adventurous, the guitar playing takes quite the step down (not only is Adrian missing, but the progression in Dave's playing also left with Adrian), all the things that made Maiden so exciting in the late 80s are stripped away. But without all that greater context, to me it was just another Iron Maiden album. It's not necessarily what I want from Maiden, but it works for one album and I enjoy it on the rare occasions I put it on.
So where does this album get by while Fear of the Dark stands as my least favorite of all the Maiden albums? After all they are very close musically, feature the same lineup, and I also was introduced to both albums at the same time (along with most other pre-X Factor Maiden albums. For one thing, I like this album best when it commits to that raw and stripped-down style. Fear of the Dark deviates from that a lot, as I noted in my FOTD post, which ends up making the album sound a bit unfocused. Also, the songs are just better. No Prayer has a couple "goofier" songs, but they don't really reach the level of ridiculousness of some of the material on Fear of the Dark. I also think the material is better performed and produced. It doesn't have that thin, hollow drum sound. Bruce doesn't sound bored. People complain about raspy Bruce, I don't think he sounds bad. It fits most of the material. On Fear of the Dark he goes for more of a hybrid between raspy and operatic that sounds way less convincing. This album is also more concise and doesn't overstay its welcome. Fear of the Dark is exhausting to listen to. Too many songs and too much filler. I think No Prayer represents where the band actually wanted to go at the time, while Fear of the Dark is a band unsure of itself but is continuing to do what they were doing on No Prayer because that made the most sense at the time. To that end, I think it was necessary for them to take a break from the proggy stuff in order to find a new approach to progressive Maiden. X Factor and AMOLAD are fantastic albums, but they are very different than Seventh Son and Somewhere In Time.
I am also going to advocate that the three best songs, and thus the three that should be promoted, are Fates Warning, Public Enema Number One, and Run Silent Run Deep. Dave's playing might've taken a step down on this album, but his writing took a step up. Not only are Public Enema and Fates Warning easily the best songs on the album, but they are probably in the top 5 best songs he's contributed to the band. On past albums, his contributions were usually the most obvious filler material. The bump in quality also lasts throughout the 90s. Chains of Misery is pretty bad, but Judas Be My Guide is awesome and his tunes on both Blaze albums are highlights (Justice of the Peace would've made a decent addition to X Factor). I think a few things happened. The band probably leaned on him pretty heavily with Adrian out of the band and before Janick's abilities as a writer were really explored. His writing style probably also suits this material better. It's hard to say because nobody really knows how much of Murray material is Murray's and not someone else's (even the writing credit on Charlotte is dubious and has been investigated on this forum). There are some recurring hallmarks (heavy riffing, bluesy interludes/intro), but other than that it's hard to say. Regardless, Fates Warning and Public Enema are the most exciting, energetic, melodic, and classic Maiden sounding songs on the album. They're the only songs where the meat-and-potatoes Metal approach really works without sounding like a tired attempt at recapturing an old style. They still seem to push the band forward. Fates Warning has a fantastic bridge as well.
That brings me to Run Silent Run Deep. Supposedly, this song was one of the acoustic Tull-ish songs Bruce brought to the band for the Somewhere In Time sessions. I actually don't struggle to hear the song that way, which is one of its strengths. I find great songwriting results in songs that can be translated to a variety of styles and instrumentation. That is why you see many creative and interesting covers of Beatles songs, for example. Iron Maiden isn't really a songwriting focused band and, with some exceptions, their music tends to be difficult to translate. Run Silent Run Deep is a sort of exception (most Bruce penned songs tend to be that way, naturally). Anyway, I love the mood of the song, I love the riff, I really like the chorus. Great twin harmony too.
The title track is obviously the most popular song here and it is a great song. Like I said before, however, I like this album best when it fully commits to that stripped down sound. No Prayer is like a holdover from previous albums. Very Infinite Dreams-esque. But that's not where the band was at the time. Consequently, it's very inferior to songs like Infinite Dreams. On the other hand, Public Enema is comparable to, and in many ways better than, something like Another Life or Innocent Exile.
I have to say I really enjoyed the album during this listen. It's not top tier by any means, but a strong 6 or 7. Better than Fear and Virtual XI, but doesn't measure up to any of their 80s efforts. Probably a more digestible and enjoyable listen overall than Dance of Death, but not as artistically respectable. I also honestly don't mind songs that are routinely shit on like Hooks In You and The Assassin. Those songs have some decent hooks and catchy choruses, despite being kinda goofy. My least favorite song is actually probably Mother Russia. It's a lame attempt at a non-epic and a disappointing finish to the album. Something like No Lies off Bruce's album would've been a more appropriate closer. Something with a nice dynamic buildup and a singalong chorus. The lyric is also incredibly naive in hindsight, but I suppose it's somewhat unfair to hold that against them.
