The Number of the Beast

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Times might have changed, now--with the advent of new-metal acts like Korn--but throughout the 1980s, a damning generalisation held true: English heavy metal rocked, while the American variant--with a few notable exceptions--sucked. The difference went beyond aesthetics--the Yanks' avowed penchant for big hair and eyeliner--though that was certainly part of it: British metal was essentially working man's food, loosely descended from biker-meets and Northern pubs; whereas, in the States, it was an outgrowth of stadium-rock, which traditionally subordinated substance to spectacle. Plug-ugly, cartoonishly morbid, Iron Maiden were typical of the local effort: emphasising a driving, no-nonsense approach to the music. And it worked: among metal aficionados, this album ranks as one of the defining moments of the entire genre. Of the eight songs here--including Maiden classics like "Run To The Hills" and the title track--only "Gangland" falls flat, though it's immediately overshadowed by "Hallowed Be Thy Name," acknowledged by many as this band's apotheosis. --Andrew McGuire

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-06-28 rating:
One of the greatest rock albums of all time in an appalingly bad remaster
"The Number Of The Beast" is an absolute classic, a landmark album in music/rock/metal history. And this reissue is an absolute disaster, with the classic cover printed in wrong colors, and the audio victimized by the infamous "loudness war" (Google the expression if you don't know what it means), with the music having been turned into one big mass of distorted noise. I did a full audio analysis of the whole album and just can't understand how the band's label could have let this precious material fall into the hands of inept audio engineers capable of producing something this amateurish. I wonder if the band had any say in these "enhanced" releases. Avoid this thing and buy an older, non-enhanced and non-remastered CD edition of the album if you want to hear how this masterpiece is really supposed to sound. Shame on EMI for releasing this insult to the band and their fans.

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review by: TRUE METAL date: 2008-06-07 rating:
666 THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST HELL AND FIRE THE ONE FOR YOU AND ME
This is a classic metal album. Every metalhead should have this in your collection if you dont treat yourself and go out and buy a copy of this fantastic album. First album with Bruce Dickinson and what a debut for Dickinson. From the awesome Intro Of Invaders To the classic Hallowed Be Thy Name this has all killer written all over and no filler. Filled with great solos/riffs fantastic drumming and amazing vocals by Dickinson. Iron Maiden were the second metal band i got into there amazing i dont how anyone can hate them. They are so talented. This is reall music if you're into Nu-metal burn your nu-metal collection and start a new collection of proper metal and by doing first buy this wonderful masterpiece. UP THE IRONS!!!!!!!!!!

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review by: date: 2008-04-16 rating:
Generally strong
This song features a number of strong songs - Children of the Damned, The Prisoner, Number of the Beast, Hallowed be thy Name, Run to the Hills and a few fillers such as Invaders, 22 Acacia Avenue, Gangland. In general I think the title track is pretty special, it has a raw energy to it very rarely replicated. Hallowed be thy name is special for the opposite reason, its a complex, long brooding song.

This also introduced Iron Maiden to the true metal scene, before this they were part of the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" a lot of which was also influenced by punk and also by what was happening in the US (Iggy Pop, MC5 etc). In fact Paul Dianno their first singer really had more in common with a non-metal scene. For those interested in checking out other early Bruce Dickinson, you might want to try to get a copy of some Sampson, although most of it is pretty crap (from memory there is a song called "Hard Times" and another song called "Vice Versa" which were ok).

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review by: Monsieur Ugine date: 2008-04-10 rating:
Hallowed Be Its Name
This CD is pure gold for one reason and one reason only..."Hallowed Be Thy Name". Yes, the other tracks are amazing. Yes, one track doesn't make an album. But in this case, I beg to differ. This has got to be one of the great rock/metal songs, and the live versions just make it even better and more atmospheric. If you're just getting into Iron Maiden, this is probably one of the best places that you could start.


review by: jrcsalter date: 2008-03-10 rating:
Iron Maiden 3
I had only heard of Iron Maiden through other people, but never really listened to any of their music until I heard `Run To The Hills' which I though was fantastic, so I went out and bought this album simply because it had that song on it. I thought the album was really good and Dickinson's vocals definitely made it stand out from other metal bands, but I had no idea of its iconic status.
This is the first Maiden album to feature Bruce Dickinson in the line-up and the first to contain a Top Ten single. It also has on it `Hallowed Be Thy Name' which I had not heard of before; as soon as I heard it, I thought it was definitely the best song on the album. It was only later I found out that many others thought the same. The title track has caused some controversy over the years by those people who dismissed it as `satanic' judging only by its title and not by its lyrics (which are quite the opposite), but this hasn't stopped it being a good song.
As in the others in this remastered series the disc contains two videos (very low quality, but okay nonetheless), an article about the creation and release of the album, tour dates, family tree, pictures, album artwork and a catalogue of the other CDs in the collection. Most of the stuff is also on the others, but the new pictures, video and information is welcome.
The disc is packaged in a standard CD case with a booklet containing lyrics and pictures.
All in all a very good buy and, as I found out myself, a good introduction to one of (if not the) definitive metal bands in history.
Highlights: `The Number Of The Beast', `Run To The Hills', `Hallowed Be Thy Name'

Track Listings

1. Invaders 03:24 ***
2. Children Of The Damned 04:35 ****
3. The Prisoner 06:03 ***
4. 22 Arcacia Avenue 06:37 ***
5. The Number Of The Beast 04:51 *****
6. Run To The Hills 03:53 ******
7. Gangland 03:48 ****
8. Total Eclipse 04:25 ***
9. Hallowed Be Thy Name 07:13 ******
Total Time: 44:49

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