No Prayer For the Dying

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How good is No Prayer For the Dying on a scale of 1-10?

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    16
8/10

The title track is the first song that truly sounds like Iron Maiden. A mournful melody introduces a subdued, near-acoustic verse where Bruce’s voice really shines. He puts his all into this song, alternating between rasp and pure operatic belt at the drop of a hat. The melodies are strong and the instrumental sections are classic Maiden, especially when the latter half picks up speed. Dave Murray and Janick Gers, however, should be appalled of their performance on this song. Dave’s first solo is actually out of key. It’s an absolute mess, and Janick’s isn’t much better. The solos are pure wanking. They sound like the atonal garbage one would expect from a Slayer solo section. I’m truly shocked that Martin Birch allowed these solos to make the final cut. Though there is some solid guitar work on the album, all of the guitar solos sound like first takes. Sometimes this spontaneity adds to the energy of the track, but more often than not it simply sounds sloppy.
 
Love this track. Dave, especially, is a killer here, and we get a proper introduction to Janick. Bruce makes that new voice sound okay, and we hear old Bruce in places. 9/10, best song on the album (does not bode well for the rankings elsewhere, unfortunately).
 
Definitely has a FOTD feel to it, always felt that way. There are some good melodies, although something about this track never resonated with me the way other more progressive Maiden tunes did. Both ATSS and FOTD on the next album better capture what I feel they're trying to achieve here. I also think Bruce sounds really bad on it. The one song where the raspy vocals just don't work. Solos are meh. I do love the "god give me the answer" bit at the end though. It's just that everything up to that point doesn't do anything for me. It's not bad, I'm just indifferent to it.

5
 
Best song on the album. Really nice guitars, especially that little riff in the chorus section. Lyrics are nice too. But then there's a boring instrumental and it all fizzles out

7
 
While I don't care so much for the parts in the song while Bruce is singing, they aren't bad either, and can be overlooked because of the awesome guitar work on this song. The speed-up tempo change partway through I could do without (ATSS would do it better on the next album) but this is still an enjoyable song, if not the most memorable in the band's discography. 7/10
 
Pales a bit in comparison to the previous tracks, although that doesn't make it necessarily bad. It's quite a strong track, actually, and the opening melody is very beautiful. The lyrics are also pretty good. 7.
 
I think it might be one of the most underrated tracks of theirs. The lyrics are quite powerful and song condenses a lot of interesting stuff in 4 minutes. 9/10
 
A good track, lots of nice parts in a short time. Doesn't really take off though, one of those almost super good songs that I just can't see the problem with. Just a feeling that it never gets as good as it could have been. Still great.
 
A simple melodic groove is accented by some odd bird tweet synths before giving way to a pleasant, musically sparse verse. Bruce's vocals are unusually husky here, but it kind of works.

A heavier melodic break loops back around to the verse, followed by the same break, then an intro reprise before breaking into a more energetic interlude and a pretty strong, if a bit disjointed, extended solo section.

This gives way to what I guess is the one-time-only chorus ("come give me the answer to my life"), before ending on an intro reprise.

This is an interesting song, both structurally and in overall feel. Bruce's vocals risk crossing into self-parody at times, and the bird tweet business is kind of odd, but the song has pretty solid underpinnings. I'll round it up to a 7/10.
 
This song is a hidden classic. One of the best title tracks and one of the best slow songs of Maiden. It has a haunting melody and Bruce is on top with his performance. Great verses and even better solos. Best song on the album, I hope it will return to the setlist some day. The song benefits from the production of the album. Very meaningful song. 10/10
 
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An introspective song with some interesting music and lyrics, the album's title track isn't quite the most outstanding of the band's songs, but it's pretty decent for what it is. The change-up was done better by ATSS on the second album and on here feels more like they're trying to emulate "Hallowed" again. As a whole, it's above average. 6
 
I love a good cover but this is too much of a straight copy for my liking. Still good, nice wee bit before the solos but I like my covers to be different, this is pretty much a straight copy. Some covers make me wonder "why am I not listening to the original?"
Covers that don't do that include...

Ryan Adams - Wasted Years
Fall Out Boy - Beat It
Skyes - Closer (Kings of Leon cover)
Colin Hay - Land Down Under live acoustic (maybe not technically a cover but a totally different version)
Sultans of Swing by that guy that does loads of metal covers
 
Singer’s a bit weak, but it was a very tasty cover. Very straightforward, but I dug the updated sound they gave it.
 
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