The Iron Maidens : Releases >>

Information provided by Amazon.co.uk

The Number of the Beast >>

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

Iron Maiden: Remastered >>

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, Iron Maiden 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, Iron Maiden--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. --Ian Fortnam

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son: Remastered >>

By the release of this landmark eighth album, Iron Maiden had settled into what's generally considered their classic line-up. With Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Nicko McBrain operating at the very peak of their form, band mastermind, main songwriter and bassist Steve Harris decided to extend the Maiden remit yet further by unveiling their very first concept work. Contemporary critics scoffed in the face of such a grandiose gesture, but Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son spawned no fewer than four British hit singles and remains an indomitable highlight of the Maiden's illustrious career. From the strident commercial metal of "Can I Play With Madness", through the keyboard-enhanced epic bombast of the title track, to the fretboard intricacies and chest-beating machismo of "Only The Good Die Young", Seventh Son finds Iron Maiden at their most assured and creative. Essentially, this is a spectacular example of 22-carat heavy metal. Ian Fortnam

Powerslave: Remastered >>

It's way too easy to write off Iron Maiden as the preserve of maladjusted boys with fluffy, budding moustaches, stuck in the murk of the British 1980s. They were preposterous, they were anachronistic--in utterly appropriate Spinal Tap terms--and their growth rate could not even be charted. But they really do rock, which, as ever, lets them off the hook. Besides which, Powerslave is arguably the best Maiden album precisely because it's so bombastic and lugubrious; it achieves its effect with bludgeoning tactics. Obsessively fast and brutal riffing, interminable repetition and lyrics so epic and gruesome they're irresistible ("The body bags and little rags of children torn in two/And the jellied brains of those who remain, to put the finger right on you"). Grand and absurd, it's also pretty brilliant. --Taylor Parkes

Piece of Mind: Remastered >>

Somewhere Back In Time: The Best Of: 1980-1989 >>

Killers: Remastered >>

Live After Death >>

In the live arena heavy metal can be implausibly powerful; it can rattle teeth from gums, set ears ringing like the clappers of doom and, when concocted by the gentlemen of Iron Maiden, virtually fracture your skull. Live After Death, meanwhile (a packed double disc set recorded during the band's extensive World Slavery jaunt of 1984 and 1985), is the awesome, irrefutable proof. Of course, expertly hewn slabs of solid rock carefully concocted in recording studios are all very well. But "The Number Of The Beast" and "Run To The Hills" were simply made to be blasted through 152,000 watts of PA system by five young men with undiluted testosterone pulsing through their bulging, whiplash veins. Bruce Dickinson's astounding lung capacity is frankly terrifying at times--he's certainly not a man you'd ever want to meet in a blow football tournament--while the band are virtually aflame. --Ian Fortnam

Brave New World >>

One of the most comforting things about living in the UK is knowing what you can rely on: bank holidays will be rainy, beans will be on the breakfast menu and Britain's homegrown heavy metal heroes will continue rocking well into their twilight years. Motorhead do it, Ozzy Osbourne does it and, with Brave New World, Iron Maiden prove that they can do it, too. Featuring the return of vocalist Bruce Dickinson, after his self-imposed, six-year exile from the band, Brave New World is the sound of classic Iron Maiden at their finest. The guitars--augmented by the return of Adrian Smith--still scream along at top volume, with their signature blistering solos and frantic time changes. Songs like hit single "The Wicker Man", the anthemic "Blood Brothers" and "The Nomad" all bear the hallmarks of Maiden's best work--that is, they rock. Brave New World is the triumphant sound of one of Britain's heavy metal institutions returning to the top of the heap. --Robert Burrow