This month started off with what I thought the best albums of 1990s were, and I suspect that many of you were hit with a big wave of nostalgia. Since I already got the roller coaster going, we’re about to ride right down into a hell of an album. I hinted at this classic at the beginning of the month, and it’s one I’ve loved since I got a hold of it back in 2016. Not only that, but it’s an example out of a myriad amount of examples that prove that fantastic Heavy Metal (And by extension, good music in general) didn’t up & disappear once it hit 1990. Also, last month marked it’s 30th birthday, and thus this review is also a celebration of sorts. So, saddle up your horse, grab your six shooter, and get ready to take a look at my review of Iron Maiden’s 1992 classic, Fear Of The Dark. Ride em cowboy!
Background
By 1992, Iron Maiden were running on fumes. After going on tour after tour with nary a stop to take a break & relax, the band seemed tired. Bruce Dickenson seemed to have taken the end of this decade of touring particularly rough, as a mixture of issues kept pushing the man down, with the straw that broke his back being the death of his dear friend, Freddy Mercury. Despite this, the band managed to let out a beast from it’s cage, and it’s name would be Fear Of The Dark. Released on the 11th of May, 1992, the release would be a far cry from what the group’s last two releases were. There is no heavy usage of Prog, nor is there any Low-Fi over correcting, as Maiden returned to their older form. Steve Harris turned the barn they used in the recordings for No Prayer For The Dying into a full-fledged studio, and as such the recording & production was considerably better than that of NPFTD. From it’s release, Iron Maiden would go on the Fear of the Dark Tour 1992, which included 66 concerts on five continents for well over a million fans, and was considered to be a big success. Then, once 1993 came around, Bruce Dickenson would ultimately leave the band to pursue his solo career, and by extent to take a break from the grueling schedule of Iron Maiden.
Oddly enough, Fear Of The Dark would ultimately receive mixed reviews. AllMusic commented that, while "easily an improvement over 1990's lackluster No Prayer for the Dying (both musically and sonically)", the release "still wasn't quite on par with their exceptional work from the '80s". Sputnikmusic was more positive about the album, stating that "though many of the songs are still sub-par by their standards ... the band returns to the lofty heights that they enjoyed for the entirety of the 80's". Finally, Billboard gave Fear Of The Dark a positive review on release, saying Dickinson's voice "shows no sign of wear and tear" and the guitar work "sounds fresh and crisp".
In a bit of irony, Fear of the Dark would be ranked No. 8 on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1992 in October of 2011. Further adding to this irony, the album would be the third Iron Maiden album to top the UK Albums Charts, and it would be their most successful record in North America after the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in 1991, with 438,000 copies sold as of 2008.
Basic Description
Iron Maiden with a Western feel.
I don’t know what the band was watching at the time, or if the ghost of John Wayne was hanging around in the studio during the recording, but I swear that you could use this entire album as the soundtrack for a Western. There’s this.....vibe, that comes across like the wind from the plains of the old west, and the sound of horses thundering along. It’s strong from beginning to end, which is weird considering that you don’t really get that Western meat in the songs. In fact, there’s some pretty tough subjects being sung about. From the view of Desert Storm through the eyes of a soldier, to the fear in sexual relationships resulting from AIDS, and even Football Hooliganism, Fear Of The Dark has a degree of seriousness that can be surprising when it hits. Fortunately, it’s not all doom & gloom, as there are still plenty of tunes that feel like the typical Iron Maiden material. Not only that, but Iron Maiden seems to reign themselves in after going in vastly different directions (More on that below), and it appears as if the band finally feel united once again......which makes things all the more sad when Bruce Dickenson left the band.
Best Track
To single out one song that could be considered the best off of this album is genuinely insane! Pretty much every single song on this CD is a killer, and there’s no reason to even look at the skip button as the music plays (Although there can be one exception made, but that’s a little later). Bruce & the boys really felt reunited on this record, as the two prior releases were wildly different in terms of style, and this one sounds and feels reminiscent of their mid 80s era. The band feel like they’re simply deciding to rock out across the near hour long runtime (57 minutes & 58 seconds), and not trying to be too Prog or too Lo-Fi. My favorite track however, would have to go to the 3rd to last song of Fear Of The Dark, Judas Be My Guide. It begins with a slow buildup with a western twang reminiscent of Be Quick Or Be Dead & Afraid To Shoot Strangers, but then tears into the main bread & butter of the track. The instrumentation is played at a faster pace when compared to the intro, and you’d swear that you are riding a horse on the plains of the old west. Things never go so fast that it comes across like things will fly off the rails, but you are in for an intense ride during it’s run time!
Judas Be My Guide
Worst Track
Like I said above, every song on Fear Of The Dark is metal of the highest degree, and acts as irrefutable evidence that classic Heavy Metal didn’t “Die” in the 1990s. That being said, if one was to say that Weekend Warrior was the worst thing on the album, I would understand. Again, this song isn’t bad, and has just as much space in the spotlight as everything else on the record. However, it doesn’t quite have the same level of energy or punch as the rest of the album. It’s still wonderful to listen to, but for whatever reason it doesn’t stay with me like everything else does, and it probably doesn’t for anyone else that isn’t a fan. Once again, I still like is as much as all the other songs, but it has less of a grip on your ears when you compare it to everything else.
Weekend Warrior
Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album, click on the link below:
Fear Of The Dark
Overall Impression & Rating
Fear Of The Dark is proof positive that Heavy Metal, despite not being as popular as it was in the 1980s, still was a musical force to be reckoned with. Iron Maiden were still going strong in the early 90s, and despite Bruce Dickenson running on fumes by 1992, still had a phenomenal set of vocal pipes across the tracks of this record, and the rest of the band put in a lot of work also. If you want to make any pretentious metal hipster have a brain aneurysm about Heavy Metal not being so blindly paid attention to in the decade that supposedly “Killed” it....have them listen to this!
Fear Of The Dark is a solid 10 out of 10. No question about it!
And that was my review of Fear Of The Dark. This would be the last time that fans would see Bruce with the band for roughly 8 years, but it was a hell of a way for him to go out on! Now, we travel to near the end of the 1990s, as I’ll be taking a look at a album that sadly should be more popular than it was. See you soon!
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