No Prayer for the Dying

No Prayer for the Dying is the eighth album on which Iron Maiden again presents the force of traditional metal around steel riffs, a forward-pushing beat and proud singing. Deliberately restraining the excessive epic bent and heavy synth use of the previous albums, and returning to shorter, rougher riffs and a raw band feel, it creates tension from another angle. It is also the record on which Janick Gers joined in place of Adrian Smith. The aggression of the opener “Tailgunner,” the momentum of the hit single “Holy Smoke” and the catchiness of “Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter,” which reached number one in the UK, carry the album’s drive, while the lyricism of the title track “No Prayer for the Dying” and the grandeur of “Mother Russia” give it breadth. Its distinction is that a stance of recovering the rawness and rugged energy of the early drive, over refinement, runs throughout. Rather than relying on flashy production, it wins on the straight force of riff and rhythm. A record on which a band that had passed through the grand 1980s deliberately chose a return to origins, it is a rough, powerful heavy-metal work.