MrKnickerbocker
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Listening to No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark recently it struck me: the energy, rasp, and simplicity (other than The Fugitive) on these albums flows much better directly from Killers. When released after Seventh Son, however, they sound shockingly angry and occasionally uninspired.
I think a lot of old school fans would have stayed on board and had a much easier time accepting Bruce Dickinson. His rasp on these two albums is much more comparable to Paul Di'anno's voice and the lyrics are more aggressive and "street" as they were on the debut albums.
Despite this, the songwriting probably would have kept Maiden as a more underground band and they may have missed their window to really hit it big by the time they got to Number of the Beast. Conversely, I think The X Factor makes a whole lot more sense coming directly after the dark, giant, epic beginnings on Seventh Son.
- What do you think would have been different if these albums were released immediately following Killers? How would Maiden's catalogue, popularity, and public perception have changed if NPFTD and FOTD were albums 3 & 4? (Obviously ignoring the lineup changes and stuff, let's just talk pure musical stylings).
I think a lot of old school fans would have stayed on board and had a much easier time accepting Bruce Dickinson. His rasp on these two albums is much more comparable to Paul Di'anno's voice and the lyrics are more aggressive and "street" as they were on the debut albums.
Despite this, the songwriting probably would have kept Maiden as a more underground band and they may have missed their window to really hit it big by the time they got to Number of the Beast. Conversely, I think The X Factor makes a whole lot more sense coming directly after the dark, giant, epic beginnings on Seventh Son.