Fear Of The Dark (1992)

Fear Of The Dark (1992)

After the stagnant, uninspired No Prayer For The Dying, Iron Maiden clearly had to make a much stronger statement, and spurred by emerging progressive metal phenoms Dream Theater — whose demos impressed Bruce Dickinson — at first it indeed felt like the band’s ninth album would be just that. With Steve Harris credited as co-producer alongside Martin Birch for the first time, the sound of Fear Of The Dark was a great improvement over the previous record, and in a bold move, illustrator Melvyn Grant concocted a new version of mascot Eddie for the cover, replacing Derek Riggs, who had grown tired of drawing Eddie after Eddie for well over a decade. Opening cut “Be Quick Or Be Dead” was unusually aggressive and harsh, a propulsive, Motörhead beat-driven rager written by Dickinson and Janick Gers, with Bruce mostly using an atonal snarl. It was a departure from his usual “air raid siren” singing, but at least it was a concerted attempt to inject some life into the band’s new music.

Sadly, the band fails to maintain that momentum. Attempts at hookier material fall flat (“From Here To Eternity”), as do attempts to broaden the sound (the “Kashmir” rip-off “Fear Is The Key”). Even worse, power ballad “Wasted Love,” a leftover from Dickinson’s solo writing sessions with Gers, finds the band horribly, painfully out of their element, the bridge sounding so awkward it’s embarrassing. Only do Harris’ brooding “Afraid To Shoot Strangers” — an admittedly good live song — and Dickinson and Dave Murray’s vastly underrated, melodic “Judas Be My Guide” manage to make any sort of impression.

And then there’s the title track, this album’s biggest problem. Of course, “Fear Of The Dark” has gone on to become one of Maiden’s most enduring live staples, thanks in large part to two famous live renditions, one recorded at Donington in 1992 (and released as a video a year later) and another from Rock In Rio in 2001, during which half a million Brazilians sang along with unadulterated, contagious joy. It’s easy to see how this song works in a live setting, its intro and bridge lending themselves perfectly to soccer-style sing-alongs, and that Rio performance is chilling thanks to the fervent audience participation. However, structurally it’s one of Harris’s laziest songs, going through the motions from start to finish: mellow intro, explosive verse, galloping bridge, fast solo break, galloping chorus, mellow outro. It’s Songwriting Dynamics 101, but done in such obvious, pandering fashion that it feels beneath him. This is the guy who wrote the masterful “The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner,” for crying out loud. And those lyrics: “Fear of the dark, fear of the dark, I have constant fear that something’s always near.” For fuck’s sake, Steve. It was a moment where a band best known for being uncompromising instead pandered to their audience.

Of course, the dumbest song often turns into commercial gold — look at the UK chart-topping idiocy of “Bring Your Daughter … To The Slaughter” — and mass audiences gravitated toward the track immediately. Dickinson, whose lack of interest in the band was getting more and more obvious — he’d started touring as a solo artist and looked apathetic onstage with Maiden — would do one final farewell tour in 1993, and announce his departure, leaving Harris and Iron Maiden left with the impossible task of replacing one of metal’s most charismatic and popular frontmen.