Review by Sonny for Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden (1980)

Early 1980 I had just turned 18 and was mad into metal and heavy rock: Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, UFO and Budgie to name but a few. The trouble was, these bands were great, but they were old guys - some were even in their thirties! Kids my age were all playing in punk rock bands and, I had to admit, those punks sure played with some fire and energy. Then the music press started buzzing about this young bunch of cockney upstarts playing heavy metal called Iron Maiden and my ears pricked up in interest. Meanwhile, I picked up a copy of the newly released Metal for Muthas and it was pretty obvious to everyone that Maiden were the stand out act on that compilation (although Angel Witch's Baphomet is fucking brilliant too) and their two tracks, Wrathchild and Sanctuary, were snarly and aggressive calls to arms. Then came the single Running Free which was a bit different to the tracks on MfM and had a bounce to it that made headbanging a cinch!

Anyway, fast forward to spring and Maiden's self-titled debut hit our local Woolies and off I go to procure a copy. The first thing that confronted the prospective purchaser of said wax disc was the intense stare, rictus snarl and punk haircut of "Eddie the 'Ed" daring us to buy this album or be a pussy and stick with KISS or Foreigner! Needless to say, I was all in and handed over my quid seventy-five or whatever it was back then and headed off home with no shortage of anticipation to hear exactly what Chris Welch and Malcolm Dome were making all that fuss about in the music weeklies.

So, needle hits vinyl and off we go with a degenerate tale of a flasher in the park called Prowler and those punks can kiss their arses goodbye. At last, a band of similar age to me playing with all the fire and venom and "fuck you if you dont like it" attitude the punks had co-opted, only this was fucking METAL!!! Second track Remember Tomorrow was a much slower and more subtle affair and this is where Maiden showed they had much more to offer than just punkish aggression and crass lyrics, Paul Di'Anno proved he had more than just a vicious, snarling vocal delivery and the twin guitars of Murray and Stratton unleashed hell with their incendiary guitar solos. At this point some of you younger fans may be saying "but Sanctuary is track 2" and on later CD versions it was, but that track was never on the original release. Remember Tomorrow is followed by the "hit" single Running Free and although I loved it at the time it has kind of paled for me in later years, but did serve as a great attention grabber for the band prior to the debut's release and, all things being relative, it is still a good song.

Next up and closing side one is one of the album's real highlights, Phantom of the Opera. Which already showed that Maiden had a bit more in their songwriting arsenal than the vast majority of bands sheltering under the NWOBHM umbrella, with Steve Harris in particular wanting to pursue a more epic and complex route than was the lot for most metal bands of the time and although Phantom is no Rime of the Ancient Mariner or even Hallowed Be Thy Name it is still a brilliant piece of nascent progressive heavy metal that doesn't trade complexity for heaviness, but keeps both intact and serves as one indicator as to why Maiden succeeded where so many others failed.

The instrumental Transylvania opens side two and allows the guitarists to showcase their skills with more of their soon-to-become trademark incendiary soloing, Harris' bass throbbing along underneath and Clive Burr setting the tempo with his fantastic, on-the-mark drumming skills. Transylvania subsides into the gentle intro to another somewhat atypical NWOBHM track, Strange World, where we actually get a kind of vulnerable, touchy-feely lyric and atmosphere that most metal acts would never even contemplate at that time. At this point Maiden ramp up the pace and aggression once more and are introduced to one of Harris' enduring lyrical characters, Charlotte the Harlot of 22 Acacia Avenue fame. Although the middle section and it's attempt at pathos is a little bit of a misstep for me, the track is otherwise heavy metal heaven. Rounding off pretty much as we started with a snotty-sounding, snarling piece of metal ass-kickery Iron Maiden firmly plant their flag in the ground.

Obviously the band later went on to dominate the world of metal, at least for a while after Di'Anno was replaced by Bruce, but I think it is testament to Di'Anno's performances and vocal style that the two albums he performed on are still massive fan favourites and, in truth, I have never heard tracks from the first two albums performed better by Bruce than they were by Paul, although, to be fair, he may well have conversely struggled with tracks that Bruce featured on. So, while Iron Maiden at the point of their first album were still on a journey rather than having arrived at  a destination, there can surely be no arguing that it was a trip well worth any fan tagging along on. To call the album the birth of a heavy metal legend is no hyperbole and is a defining moment in metal history.