Attention: true story. At the time of release of this album, I was living on Riverside Drive and further down the street lived a complete metalhead whom I was fairly friendly with. He lived at number 664 and we used to call him "The Neighbour Of The Beast" and use to rile him with it. But In Canada, the street address numbers generally jump by 6 or 8 at a time so there was not 666, so the beast became a squirrel up his tree which was always offered some sacrifice, the axe offered and planted in the ground and candles were often seen burning in his honour. I think that not many squirrels had such loving care as Lucifer (as we had called him) did. Silly young progheads ;-) !!!! Count me as one of those that was completely shattered when DiAnno got the boot, but one must recognize that his replacement was a fitting one. Maiden had one of the most impressive metal voices around. Dickinson "Air Raid Siren" is definitely the classic sound of Maiden and only the first hour fans can say otherwise. But let's face it, it is with this third album (and two hilarious B&W footage video-clips receiving constant MTV rotation) and Dickinson that Maiden acquired a whole new dimension (at least in terms of audience).

Actually I was not that big a fan of this album, as it was confirming the slick production of the previous Killers album. But the two hits, Run To The Hills and the title track were so often played, along with Children Of The Damned also receiving regular airplay, while the above-mentioned friends were always raving about Hallowed Be Thy Name (the only remotely prog track on this album, IMHO) and Acacia Avenue (another metalhead buddy was living on 22 Willow Street ;-), that shunning exposition to the album was hopeless.

Overall , I can only say that TNOTB only differs from Killers by the singer's voice, the rest not changing much. They were on the upswing, so there were absolutely no reasons to change anything. History will prove them right.

After their brilliant debut album, IM set out for the proverbial difficult second album, but securing the production help of Martin Birch (a reference since the early Purple days). Alas what was supposed to be their master move also proved to be a bit of a nail in their coffin. Yes, Maiden made themselves a huge name on this album. Yes, the album is one of the (or THE) best of the NWOBHMB phenomenon. Yes this is a typical and referential Maiden album. But my complaint with this album and its successors is that this album is over-produced to my tastes. Don't get me wrong here. The album is not really over-produced as such compared to the other metal albums of the era, but when comparing it with the superb and immediacy of their debut (which might seem under-produced to the metal masses and the professionals), this album is way too slick and "passe-partout". Gone are the progressive and singular sounds of the debut album (the same kind of sound that you find on Priest's Sad Wings, on Rainbow Rising and Sabbath's H&H), the longer tracks (we have 11 tracks on this album and this leaves few space for progression and interplay) and in comes the typical 80's metal sound, albeit in its finest possible form. Right from their instrumental intro Ides Of March, preceding the fantastically violent Wrathchild, the album is on a 100MPH cruising speed, where the different songs align right one after the other and there are few surprises. This hardly means that there are no strong tracks, though: the afore-mentioned Wrathchild, Innocent Exile and the wild title track, but there are also a bunch of average one too. Funny that Birch's production made Maiden sound Purplish at times (Rue Morgue). But by the end of the album, are we ever glad it is over. One of the better ingredients of Maiden, outside their superb bassist, is that their twin lead attack is very much a collaborating effort where both Smith and Murray are not busy outdoing each other as is often the case with other guitar heroic-induced groups.

So this second album received regular and frequent rotation on my turntable when I had it on loan, but I never went out to buy it, which actually should give you a good idea why it is not getting a higher rating. Just not really essential for the proghead as it is for the metalhead. As for the remastered edition, there are a few freebies but for computer only.

From all of the NWOBHMB, Iron Maiden was the only one I appreciated, and this was mainly due to the extraordinary debut they recorded. And even if the imagery they developed right from the start is a little embarrassing for an adult, one must say that this form of marketing did them wonders for the next three decades, as they were instantly recognizable between hundreds of band. Maybe what differentiated them from others where their more prog lyrics subject, not really adopting the numbing dumbness of their contemporary bands like Motorhead or Saxon. This album's construction is quite brilliant for a debut alternating short hard (and more basic) tracks such as Prowler, Running Free (poking fun at disco fiends) etc. with the longer more dramatic Remember Tomorrow (and its subtle climates), the climatic Phantom of The Opera and impressive bass-induced Strange World. Yes, the bass: this is probably the main ingredient that made Maiden unique; Steve Harris is clearly the leader and the main inspiration, but unlike in future albums, he has some hard competition with DiAnno's vocals (which I always found the ultimate IM voice). Listen how the instrumental Transylvania gives perfectly way to the superb power ballad of Strange World with some awesome DiAnno to top it all of. And you just know where Klaus Mheine & Co got their inspiration for their golden power ballads.

This debut album is still one of my fave metal albums (along with Priest's Sad Wings, Sabbath's Heaven and Hell, Rainbow Rising) and in my heart, this scorchers was never bettered by the band. Call me nostalgic, but this is an incredibly-paced album and although not their best played, it certainly holds their best enthusiasm and does it ever show. Yes iron Maiden is one of my guilty pleasures still nowadays, but guilty maybe, embarrassing a tad, but shameful, no way!! Maiden ruled in this youth's heart but for not that much longer

With Ozzy now out for good, the band had to think about its future with Wazrner Bros pushing the group for their tenth album. Torn between LA and England, the group eventually ended up in France in their tax-exiles (so the H&H album was partly recorded at Criteria studios in the UK and Studio Ferber in France), but personal problems also plagued Butler and prompted him to head back home to sort his problems (see later in the review).

Produced by Martin Birch (but not wearing the usual Birch Purple-sound), Black Sabbath's comeback album is one of the most impressive and influential albums of the 80's, as the group headed a Heavy Metal Revival, with Judas Priest (British Steel) and Motorhead's ascension to fame as well (Ace Of Spade), just in front of a wave of new groups that will be called NWOBHOB; Having secured RJ Dio on vocals (and bass), the group started rehearsing, with Geoff Nichols on bass (as well), because Geezer Butler was busy in his divorce case. Once the original bassist returned (therefore wiping out any legend that he didn't play on H&H), Geoff Nichols remained with the group but concentrated on whatever keyboards sounds were needed. Dio's new ideas mixed Iommi's writings created the new fresh approach ion the album, and the album's general ambiance is a huge part of its success.

Starting on the hit single Neon Knights (one of Sabbath's most up-tempoed tracks ever), the group charged heavily on the dramatics, developing to goosebump levels on the longer Children Of The Sea, the H&H title track and Lonely Is the Word tracks. With another two shorter tracks like the "anthem" Die Young and the abrupt Wishing Well, H&H is a stunning metal album, and strangely enough one of the last one (chronologically and historically-speaking) this writer will really consider highly. Butler's usual superb bass playing is still a very important feature, but Ward's drumming is a bit less mightier than in his early days. Superb closing track in Lonely Is The Word, as well.

While I wouldn't call H&H a progressive album per se, it certainly became the emblem of a new era for metal music, even if (IMHO) it's never been bettered by any metal group since.

After their first two stupendous albums, Sabs slightly altered their formula, shortened their tracks (none above 5 minutes), and sacrificed instrumental interplay in favour of tighter songwriting and further rifferama galore. A bland single sleeved artwork, announced the changes, but the main difference is that this album has a real production (as opposed to the two previous' relative absence of it, being much rawer) and IMHO, this actually hurts their creativity. But obviously this writer is in a minority as MOR became their best-seller and most influential album (along with Paranoid) and inspired generations of metal songwriters. By now, their move into a LA house and their gloomy semi-Satanist music and heavy drug use was attracting thousands of freaks at their concerts, including Hell's Angels crowned heads asking the band for audience and giving them their official stamp of approval. The drug use was even seeping inside the studios as Iommi spent entire days on end on this album.

Tight songwriting such as the Cannabis anthem Sweat Leaf (starting with a smoker's cough for intro) is Sabbath's signature for this album. But if the group had a blurred vision of the world, they had the occasional glimpse of insight as indicated by the other giant track of the album Children Of The Grave, addressed to their fans and their offcast behaviours, which was not the band's wishes. You can hear the Sabs hanging out on a sort of formula with Solitude being the obligatory slow track (as Planet Caravan and Sleeping Village had been), but there are the surprising acoustic tidbits Embryo and Orchid as well.

But to this reviewer, I can only think and cite another reviewer that said that Iommi was churning out the riffs by the ton with the warmth and care of a high-speed Xerox machine. I think that this album and Vol 4 (originally intended to be named Snowblind, but vetoed by the record company) reflect this quite well. As Butler and Iommi said later MOR was the beginning of their downfall through heavy drugs with Osbourne's erratic behaviour and Ward's Hepatitis lasting 6 months and a few cancelled tours.