Iron Maiden

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
This opening sonic salvo from Steve Harris's East End stalwarts pretty much defined the late 1970's post-punk rebirth of rock traditionalism known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Featuring the strident cockney roar of the band's original lead vocalist Paul Di'Anno, IIron Maiden/I capitalised on the band's enormous grass-roots live following by storming immediately into the upper reaches of the album chart. A perfect balance of the irresistibly catchy ("Running Free"), the intricately epic ("Phantom Of The Opera") and the roguishly profane ("Charlotte The Harlot"), it's an assured debut, superficially marred by somewhat pedestrian production values. Newly enhanced with the addition of video clips and assorted other multimedia goodies, IIron Maiden/I--specifically the blazing, fretboard ferocity of its closing title track--is an utterly essential element of any self-respecting metal-head's record collection. Furious, whiplash headbanging is not so much recommended as completely unavoidable. I--Ian Fortnam/I

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2009-02-16 rating:
Cracking
Bought for my son. would recommend this album. Takes you back to your teens.

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review by: date: 2008-12-02 rating:
Leaves all metal before it in the dust.
While there's some great classic 70's metal, Iron Maiden's debut album seems to create a whole new world of heavy metal. Although Purple, Priest, Sabbath, etc. certainly paved the way, this album somehow takes all that was great in 70s metal (with an emphasis on METAL) and kicks it up a notch. The songs are fast, dark, mysterious, full of energy and great riffs. Although Maiden would reach new heights again and again throughout the 80s, the first album is so good at what it is that it still retains its classic status. The Amazon description (and Steve Harris) may mention a lack in production values, but with music this fired-up and rockin', it doesn't really matter. Honestly, you polish metal too much and it loses it's raw underground feel - and there's something cool about hearing one of the biggest bands in the world when they were still "underground"! If you like metal, this is a treat. If you're looking for blues influences, classic rock, or power ballads, watch out, 'cause this ain't "rock'n'roll". Maiden's roots are almost more in classical music (like Vivaldi and Beethoven) than blues. This is for people who like dark tales told to ripping guitars, driven by virtuoso bass that seems like it's about to rip free of the speakers and elaborate drumming.

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review by: TRUE METAL date: 2008-07-14 rating:
An awesome debut, before they got famous.
This album is bloody awesome. This is the start of Iron Maiden the great and they only got better and better. Here we have the vocalist Paul Di'ianno who was before one of the greatest vocalist of all time Bruce Dickinson. Paul Dianno is a really good vocalist. My favourite songs are Sanctuary, Running Free, Remember Tommorow, Phantom Of The Opera(amazing), Strange World(which sounds so much like Rainbows Catch The Rainbow) the classic title song Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden's first 2 albums are occansionaly overlooked because of iron maidens masterpiece The Number Of The Beast but they are damn good albums. This is a great for maiden fans, new maiden fans buy The Number Of The Beast. UP THE IRONS!!!!!

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review by: davethorn13 date: 2008-06-02 rating:
A good, if limited debut
I recall 'Iron Maiden' being one of a spate of releases by new heavy metal bands at the close of the 1970s. What most of them had in common was a lack of the finesse and class of the previous generation of hard rockers. In truth, they had a different agenda. Rather than being blues-oriented, they tended to opt for a leaner, faster sound, leading to a genuinely separate heavy metal genre. br / br /Iron Maiden's inspiration isn't exactly signposted with any subtlety: stock characters from horror fiction. The music tends to be very rough around the edges, but this works effectively on the first two tracks. The beginning of 'Sanctuary' could almost come from the punk era, while the drum opening to 'Running Free' recalls any number of glam rock hits. Perhaps surprisingly, two of the best tracks are the slow ones, 'Remember Tomorrow' and 'Strange World', on which the band are at their most controlled. Their closing signature song is also good. Their weakness is exposed on the longest track, 'Phantom Of The Opera'. It starts well enough, but they don't have the skills to carry off a long track with tempo changes. Anyone weaned on the likes of Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple will yawn at some of the passages here, while the instrumental 'Transylvania' is also dull. A fair start to the band's recorded output, then, but definitely not their best.


review by: jrcsalter date: 2008-02-11 rating:
Iron Maiden 1
This is a decent album to start with and, although it doesn't feature the iconic Bruce Dickinson on vocals, Paul Di'Anno's voice is still very good. br /There are no stand out tracks that I would constantly listen to, but that doesn't mean they're all bad. br /The CDROM content is okay and a great way of giving you your money's worth of space on the disc. It includes two very grainy videos; you are able to change the size from small to about half the size of your screen but no full screen option is available, which is no big loss since it's very low quality even on the smallest setting. Also included is a detailed biography, a family tree explaining where all the band members come from, a list of tour dates, album art for all the remastered CDs, many pictures and samples of music from other albums. br /Packaging is a standard CD case and comes with a booklet containing lyrics for all songs and loads of pictures and album art. br /All in all a decent buy to complete a collection, but not as good as some of their later stuff. br /Highlights: `Running Free', `Phantom Of The Opera', `Charlotte The Harlot'. br / br /Track Listings br / br /1. Prowler 03:56 *** br /2. Sanctuary 03:16 *** br /3. Remember Tomorrow 05:28 **** br /4. Running Free 03:17 **** br /5. Phantom Of The Opera 07:07 **** br /6. Transylvania 04:19 **** br /7. Strange World 05:32 **** br /8. Charlotte The Harlot 04:12 **** br /9. Iron Maiden 03:36 *** br / br /Total Time: 40:43 ***½ br /

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