THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST

With the mighty Bruce Dickinson signing on, Iron Maiden finally had a vocalist capable of handling the complex material Steve Harris and the others had wanted to compose but had held back on during the Paul Di'Anno era. Since the previous two albums had been primarily composed of material written in the early days of the group, the new songs collected here represent several years of songwriting development over Killers, explaining the startling quantum leap in the group's style. Bruce's almost operatic vocal style is perfectly suited for the selection of songs, reflecting historical incidents and making various cultural references to produce the first five-star Iron Maiden masterpiece.