Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Iron Maiden
Label: EMI Records
Released: 1982
Alongside Metallica’s Master of Puppets, The Number of the Beast is probably the best-known metal record of all time. There’s no critic or chart that wouldn’t slot it into the top spots. The Number of the Beast is also the first record without Paul Di’Anno, who left the band, or rather got fired, after the 1981 tour because of ever-worsening problems with alcohol and drugs. Paul’s spot wasn’t easy to fill, but Di’Anno was replaced, outdone and overshadowed by former Samson frontman Bruce Dickinson. Still one of the best metal vocalists around, the “air raid” siren brought a more polished, technically demanding, operatic singing style to the band, one that earned him a place among the greatest vocalists of all time. That’s exactly what helped Iron Maiden completely abandon the NWOBHM sound that still dominated Killers and start playing traditional heavy metal with The Number of the Beast. For the first time in the band’s career, The Number of the Beast truly delivers that real “trademark” Iron Maiden sound they’re still playing today. Although The Number of the Beast brings some really outstanding tracks, the eternal trio of The Number of the Beast-Run to the Hills-Hallowed Be Thy Name, plus the fantastic Children of the Damned, 22 Acacia Avenue and The Prisoner (and the rest are hardly trash either), it still has to be said that the record is a bit overrated. Iron Maiden can deliver much better. Still, this is an extremely good record that stands as one of the greatest milestones in music.
The unstoppable merry-go-round of heavy metal gets spinning with the hard-hitting Invaders, which right away introduces us to the album’s dark themes. Invaders confronts us with the fear and horror of an attack by merciless Viking warriors, from spotting the Viking longships (drakkars) approaching the shore to the final bloody showdown from which the fearless Vikings, of course, walk away victorious. Great Britain in particular had a ton of trouble with Viking raids between the ninth and eleventh centuries, so it’s no wonder Iron Maiden picked the Vikings as the conquerors in the lyrics. The song’s power and energy overshadow a rather average chorus, and with his fantastic vocals Bruce already eclipses Di’Anno in the very first moments of the record. Invaders is also the song that kicked off the band’s series of battle songs, and I’ll mention just the best-known one – The Trooper.
Children of the Damned, an excellent song with a dark, melancholic atmosphere, retells the story of the film of the same name from 1963. The cult chiller tells the story of six children with supernatural abilities. United Nations scientists move them to London to decide their fate, but someone other than the army takes the reins. The miracle children rebel against it, which leads to an inevitably tragic ending. The atmosphere of this incredible, sorrowful song, with a sense of loss and tragedy hanging in the air, is fantastically built by the alternation of acoustic and electric guitar, and it’s wrapped up by a phenomenal solo that recreates the eerie climax of the lyrics, with the last surviving child on the pyre. Because of its similar mood, Children of the Damned can be compared to Remember Tomorrow. Dickinson is simply dazzling vocally, and he says himself that Black Sabbath’s Children of the Grave had a strong influence on how he sang this one. Without a doubt one of the most recognizable songs of the Maidens.
One of the band’s most overlooked songs is definitely The Prisoner. Strange, since it’s reportedly even one of Adrian’s favorite songs. The Prisoner is based on the cult English series of the same name, which captivated viewers in the seventies, including Smith and Harris, who cite it as one of their favorite shows. They paid tribute to it with an excellent, fast track in which Burr drums one of the best performances of his career with Maiden, but the drums are nothing compared to Adrian’s incredible solo and the infectious chorus. It’s interesting how the band got the opening dialogue that opened every episode of the 17-part series. They already had the recording of the opening dialogue, but to use it they needed permission from the series’ producer and lead actor, Patrick McGoohan. The job naturally fell to the band’s manager, the usually calm and cool Rod Smallwood, whose heart reportedly sank into his boots in front of the great actor. McGoohan answered Rod’s request in a cool, actorly style: “What did you say the group’s called again?” “Iron Maiden,” Smallwood replied. “A rock band, you say… do it!”
On 22 Acacia Avenue, we meet again with the famous practitioner of the oldest trade, Charlotte. 22 Acacia Avenue is light years better than the first part of the series about the prostitute Charlotte. With its incredibly complex structure, varied sections and excellent lyrics, it’s made its way into the band’s greatest classics. Interestingly, the first version of the track was written by Adrian with his band Urchin (and at the tender age of eighteen… one more proof of Adrian’s genius!), and Harris happened to hear it at one of the gigs and, when Adrian joined Maiden, suggested they build it up and put it on the record.
The title track is probably, along with Fear of the Dark, the one that’s best known to the wider masses. No wonder, since it’s an eternal classic that kicks off with a creepy biblical quote (which isn’t actually used quite correctly), with excellent riffs in the middle of the track and Bruce screams so high you’d think they couldn’t be coming from human vocal cords. The song’s lyrics, loosely based on the horror film Omen II (1978) and on a nightmare of Steve Harris’s, were, where else but in puritanical America, misinterpreted yet again, and the band was immediately branded devil worshippers and Satanists. If those narrow-minded Yanks had looked a little more closely at the cover of the record and the single The Number of the Beast, they’d have seen that it’s not the Devil we should be afraid of after all… One more curiosity: for the opening speech, the band wanted to hire the cult B-horror actor Vincent Price, but he demanded a whopping 25,000 pounds from them. Maiden then heard about a theater actor who read horror stories on a radio station and wanted him to deliver the quote in the style of Vincent Price… and we got one of the most recognizable intros ever!
Run to the Hills is another of the most media-recognizable songs, and unfortunately already so overplayed that it’s almost impossible to listen to the record without skipping the track. If Maiden hadn’t run it into the ground like that, Run to the Hills would surely have made it among the classics too, since it contains the great “trademark” Harris bass gallop, which mimics the galloping of horses. Lyrically it’s also quite an interesting piece, as it’s made up of two views of the wars for the American West – the first from the side of Native Americans, the second from the side of the “palefaces”.
With Gangland we get the first example of Clive Burr’s songwriting skills… sadly, it didn’t work out for him, since Gangland is a thoroughly average track, probably even the weakest on the record. Gangland isn’t a bad song as such, but a track with a mafia theme is below par by Maiden standards.
With Total Eclipse, Clive proved himself more, since it’s an extremely overlooked track that only got its rightful place on the 1998 reissue. A song with apocalyptic content about the end of the world, with its dark theme it fits in superbly with the rest of the tracks.
The album closes the way the next three records by the band end – with an incredible epic track. The Number of the Beast wraps up with the hard-to-describe Hallowed Be Thy Name. For many, this is the best song Maiden ever wrote, and I’d even argue it’s one of the best tracks, period. If I had to write a list of songs you simply have to hear before you die, Hallowed Be Thy Name would probably take first place. Honestly, the only way to describe this song is with the words pure brilliance. The magical atmosphere created by the incredible guitar intro to the sound of church bells, Bruce’s out-of-this-world interpretation of the fantastic lyrics, which capture the thoughts of a man sentenced to death by hanging in the last moments of his life, and a sinfully good instrumental part that dominates the second half of the song – one of the band’s peaks. Hallowed Be Thy Name is a track you simply can’t get sick of, and after countless listens it still gives you goosebumps.
With The Number of the Beast, Iron Maiden reaped worldwide fame and crowned themselves kings of heavy metal. The Number of the Beast is an immortal record that, even now, 25 years after its release, sounds as fresh as if it had been recorded yesterday. It’s fast, melodic and jam-packed with tracks that lodge themselves in your memory. It launched a few eternal classics, both for the band and for heavy metal, and became one of the most influential records in music history. There’s no list of the best metal records without The Number of the Beast somewhere near the top. Even the problematic bad boy Paul Di’Anno confirms that The Number of the Beast really is that good: when it came out, he called it a masterpiece and said his vocals couldn’t have pulled it off. But the best is still waiting around the corner…
Lineup
Bruce Dickinson – vocals
Steve Harris – bass guitar
Dave Murray – lead and rhythm guitar
Adrian Smith – lead and rhythm guitar
Clive Burr – drums
Production
Martin Birch
Track list
1. Invaders 03:24
2. Children of the Damned 04:36
3. The Prisoner 06:03
4. 22 Acacia Avenue 06:38
5. The Number of the Beast 04:51
6. Run to the Hills 03:54
7. Gangland 03:49
8. Hallowed be Thy Name 07:13
