My Overall Review of Fear of the Dark

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For my college english class, I had to write a review, so I chose Fear of the Dark, and we had to post it somewhere. Here is the best place I could find to do it\


Iron Maiden is one of my favorite bands because of the way they combine interesting, evocative lyrics. The band has been prolific, releasing 16 albums over nearly four decades. Fear of the Dark, released in 1992, was Iron Maiden's ninth album. Many of the band’s earlier albums, released in the early to mid-1980s, had supernatural or mystical themes. With Fear of Dark, the band returned to more "street-level" or realistic themes, for better or worse. The album marked a departure from these earlier albums and, while uneven, was fairly enjoyable.

The first track on Fear of the Dark, "Be Quick or Be Dead”, has a fast moving pace and quick lyrics. The message of the song is quite clear to the careful listener. It discusses political corruption, specifically the corruption scandals leading to stock market crashes in Europe at the time. While this song is part of the album, it was also a stand-alone single. The music video of the song depicts the band playing near a dock, with their lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, running through a series of narrow alleys with flashing videos of stocks crashing and corrupt politicians in the background. This videos helps emphasize the song’s powerful political message and anti-corporate themes.

The second song on the album, "From Here to Eternity", has a somewhat slower pace and a darker tone. Like “Be Quick or Be Dead", it was released as a single with a music video. Although the song centers around a motorcycle, the exact meaning of the song can be hard to decipher. The lyrics seem to imply a supernatural motorcycle ride with the Devil. However, the music video shows two riders getting killed in a mysterious crash and being sent down in an elevator to hell, suggesting that the motorcycle was cursed. At the end of the music video, the driver of the bike is revealed to be a skeleton-like demon. One of the best things about this song is the intense guitar solo.

Several other songs on the album feature dark, real-world themes. "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" is about the horrors of war. While the first half of the song is a bit mediocre, with lyrics that drone on at a slow pace, the rest features two excellent fast-moving guitar solos. One of the darkest songs on the album is "Wasting Love," the sixth track and the third single. It was also the third song to feature a full-length music video. In essence, the song is about having meaningless relationships for the thrill of it. The seventh song, "The Fugitive", is about a man on the run, while the eighth song, "Chains of Misery", is about a demon influencing people's decisions in the real world. Finally, the twelfth and final song on the album, and the title track, is about a man with intense nyctophobia, and the pain and torment that fear has brought him in past experiences. The song starts out with a dark, low, and slow riff, but speeds up. Around four minutes into the song there is also a great guitar solo.

One of my favorite things about this album, besides some of the music and lyrics, is the album art. The album cover depicts Eddie, the bands signature mascot, as a vampire-like figure growing out of a mangled tree at night under a bright yellow, eerie moon. It fits the mood of most of the songs, especially the title track, “Fear of the Dark”.

While Iron Maiden is my favorite band, and I enjoy most of their songs, there were a few missteps on Fear of the Dark. The fifth (“Childhood's End”), ninth (“The Apparition”), tenth (“Judas Be My Guide”), and eleventh (“The Weekend Warrior”) are arguably some of the band’s worst songs, not only on this album but in general. Most of the lyrics in these four songs sound uncreative, uninspired, and rhetorical. Moreover, the guitar work on a few of them is far from phenomenal, with slow rifts that drone on and sound very much the same. This may be why the band is far from the most loved in the band's catalog.

In conclusion, this album, although mixed, is fairly good. While it is not a classic, it has some memorable songs, and it makes for enjoyable listening. Although most Iron Maiden songs are about death, mysticism, the supernatural, or war (meaning that they are dark), Fear of the Dark is more about personal approaches to darkness and fear. If I had to rate the album, I’d give it a 7 out of 10, with a 4.5 out of 10 for lyrics and songwriting. While some songs such as “Be Quick or Be Dead” and “Fear of the Dark” have good messages, many of the other songs are a bit simple. For music quality, I would give it an 8 out of 10. The guitar work is typical of Iron Maiden and fairly good. If you are into metal, I definitely would recommend this album for a listen.
 
I want someone to write a college paper on why The Fugitive is proggier than Starblind. Make it happen!
 
I’m considering writing a college level paper on The Chemical Wedding. Anyway, nice review overall!
 
I want someone to write a college paper on why The Fugitive is proggier than Starblind. Make it happen!
Yeah but the fugitive is based on a movie. Starblind is a complex philosphical study of living with nihilism and why being secular is actually good
 
Yeah but the fugitive is based on a movie. Starblind is a complex philosphical study of living with nihilism and why being secular is actually good
If anything the movie would be based on the song as the movie came out in 93.

However I'm talking musically.
 
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