FEAR OF THE DARK

Fear of the Dark is the 9th full-length studio album by UK heavy metal act Iron Maiden. The album was released in May 1992 by EMI Records. The original album contains 12 tracks while the 1995 re-issue comes with a bonus CD with 7 additional tracks.

The music on the album continues the more hard rock influenced heavy metal style of the predecessor No Prayer for the Dying (1990), but the sound is still unmistakably the sound of Iron Maiden. Bruce Dickinson´s distinct and strong vocal delivery is as always one of the defining elements in Iron Maiden´s sound, but the twin guitar leads that the band are known for are also present on Fear of the Dark. The musicianship in general is excellent. Tracks like the fast-paced Be Quick or Be Dead and the two epic tracks Afraid to Shoot Strangers and the title track, are the tracks that mostly sound like the earlier output by the band while tracks like the more hard rock tinged Weekend Warrior and Childhood's End represent the other side of the album´s sound. Tracks like The Fugitive, From Here to Eternity and Judas Be My Guide fall somewhere in between.

The production is powerful and clean. The sound suits the music well.

While Fear of the Dark isn´t exactly a revelation and the album could have used a few more metallic sounding songs, I actually find myself enjoying the album quite a bit. Either the years have softened me or maybe the album isn´t as bad as I remembered it ( I used to dislike the album, save for a few tracks). The bottom line is that even the hard rock tinged songs on the album are enjoyable when I listen to the album today and I´ll go as far as to give the album a 3.5 star rating.