The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden, 1982)

Once again, the mighty Iron Maiden returns to these pages, this time with the undisputed classic, The Number of the Beast. Like a few other albums previously featured or discussed, this is a third album. While Maiden never experienced a mass firing a la Atomic Rooster or Guns N Roses (at least not since the 1970's, before the first album), this album was released in the midst of a slow transformation from the lean, mean NWOBHM band into the classic metal monster that would dominate the rest of the decade. Even before the first album, the band experienced incremental transitions. Doug Sampson, an early drummer, appears on exactly one song ("Burning Ambition"). Guitarist Dennis Stratton then joined along with Sampson's replacement, Clive Burr, but was out of step with the rest of the group and sent packing following the "Women In Uniform" single in 1981, replaced by Adrian Smith. Vocalist Paul Di'Anno was getting increasingly reckless as the band grew in fame and bassist/man-behind-the-curtain Steve Harris ousted him followed their second album, Killers. Enter former Samson vocalist Bruce Bruce (now using his real last name, Dickinson) and things really began to change. Although Dickinson has no songwriting credits, his influence is all over the album and probably was only omitted from the credits for contractual reasons. Furthermore, the band had exhausted their cache of original material that had served them well for their first two albums, so it was time to get down to business, write some new stuff, and use the talents of newcomers Dickinson and Smith to the fullest.

Musically, the album stands alone, bearing little resemblance to Killers, but less structured than its successor Piece of Mind and the albums that were to follow. "Invaders" leads off and probably hearkens back the their earlier material more than any of the other tracks (not too surprising as it is itself a re-working of the old B-side, "Invasion"). Most of the other tracks, however, tack in an entirely new direction. "Children of the Damned" and the concert-classic "Hallowed Be Thy Name" are far deeper musically and lyrically than anything from the previous albums. Songs like "The Prisoner" and the title track blaze with a channeled aggression of a band still hungry to show its stuff. Oddly, their crowing achievement didn't even make it to the final album. Inexplicably, the limp "Gangland" made the cut, while the astonishing "Total Eclipse" did not. Supposedly "Gangland" was included on the album to furnish Clive Burr with his only writing credit, but he also is a co-writer of "Total Eclipse" so that doesn't make any sense. My 1995 2-disc edition, which includes both songs, erroneously listed Paul Di'Anno as a co-author, which made me think maybe they just didn't want their old singer getting royalties from the album. Whatever the case, the 1998 remastered version has both tracks, with "Total Eclipse" holding the penultimate slot.

In true third album fashion, more transition followed, with Clive Burr bowing out and the band finally reaching a period of stability in what most consider to be its definitive form, unchanged until 1990. Steve Harris had finally assembled the band that he was confident would conquer the world, at least for the 1980's!