FEAR OF THE DARK

Probably the best Maiden album, even if it's very different from the other releases - the darkest one, for sure. Dickinson's last Maiden album for 8 years, he'll return in 2000 with Brave New World.

It was the first Maiden album to be releases directly on CD, that's why it runs to almost one hour of music instead of the 40-50 minutes of the previous releases.

Many of the tracks here are among my Maiden favorites : Afraid To Shoot Strangers which talks about the Gulf War (and about the war generally), Fear Is The Key which talks about AIDS, Weekend Warrior (abour hooligans), The Fugitive, Wasting Love, From Here To Eternity (another Charlotte The Harlot song !), Childhood's End, and of course, the title track.

There are many influences here : boogie, blues, classic hard rock (From Here To Eternity should have been an AC/DC song, Fear Is The Key seems to be inspired by Led Zeppelin's Kashmir for the melody), and two of the best tracks here are slow ones (Wasting Love, Afraid To Shoot Strangers).

Largerly underrated album (see the rates), I think it's really unfair to see in Fear Of The Dark a bad Maiden album. It's a very different album, but so was Seventh Son Of A Seveth Son, The X Factor and A Matter Of Life And Death. For me, Fear Of The Dark is one of the most beautiful Maiden albums, I really adore it !