And so the NWOBHM continues, with the first Iron Maiden album (zombie/demon mascot Eddie making his debut there on the cover). This album has Paul Di’Anno on vocals, not pilot and fencer Bruce Dickinson. As with Judas Priest, Iron Maiden are double guitars – Dave Murray and Dennis Stratton in this case.
Right out of the gate, the Iron Maiden sound is different to Judas Priest. The two guitars on the opening track Prowler mix fast wah-wah rhythm with rapid hammering of triads up the fretboard, faster and higher than the grungy Judas Priest sound and more like their American counterparts (but also following in the footsteps of Ritchie Blackmore rather than Tony Iommi).
Iron Maiden mix in some slower tracks too, like the slow ballad-y Strange Days, or Remember Tomorrow that moves, Nirvana-like, between slow quiet parts and harder, rockier parts. Phantom Of The Opera is a lengthy track that goes a little prog with timing and mood changes, but without getting too irritatingly clever about it.
Stratton was more into the kind of soaring guitar solos of these slower tracks, while the band as a whole wanted to go heavier. Meanwhile producer Wil Malone was trying to make the production rougher and more punky (or, according to some of the band, just wasn’t interested, which is kind of punk in its own way). Once you know this, you can hear the tension in the music, pulled between the harder punkier sounds and the more arty guitar-based rock, and from this the band actually find an interesting middle ground.
There’s also a sense that we shouldn’t get too used to this style, though. Stratton and Di’Anno will get replaced, and the production style will also change – it's a little like one of those TV shows where the first season has different writers or main cast, and a different style to the rest of it.
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