Iron Maiden couldn't put a foot wrong in the 80s. From their star-making early efforts that crowned them kings of NWOBHM to chart-topping successes with Number Of The Beast and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, they emerged from the decade as one of metal's most successful bands. The 90s? Not so much.
Even the most ardent Maiden fan will concede that Maiden's second decade was a much more mixed bag than their first. But while the Blaze Bayley years - and albums - have some detractors (and more than a few defenders), there's one album towards the end of Bruce Dickinson's first tenure in the band that seems to almost universally get a kicking: No Prayer For The Dying. The question is...why?
The story of its conception is well-worn. Maiden took a year off in 1989, but rather than revitalising metal's most iconic band, it deepened internal divisions. Guitarist Adrian Smith departed, and with Bruce Dickinson starting to flex his solo muscles, you didn't need to be Mystic Meg to see the writing was on the wall that he was also getting itchy feet.
Even so, Maiden were still a formidable creative force. Most criticisms of No Prayer will focus on the idea that going back to basics somehow robbed the band of some songwriting magic. While I'm not about to argue the songs on this album are on par with The Trooper, Run To The Hills or Flight Of Icarus, there's a refreshing directness to the music Maiden were making at this point, cutting out the fluff to make something aggressive and to-the-point.
Speaking of which: Bruce's vocals. Our operatic overlord is hardly pulling a Sid Vicious on No Prayer... but there is a menace to his rasp that really speaks to Maiden aiming for something more street-level. At its very best, that results in Holy Smoke - a galloping Maiden-at-their-best anthem that spits and snarls in ways Maiden seldom have since, taking aim at televangelists with venomous lines like "I've lived in filth, I've lived in sin/And I still smell cleaner than the shit you're in."
But, there's still shades of the epic grandeur inherent to Maiden too. The title-track is a brilliant showcase for how Janick fit into the Maiden mould, while the kick-off of Fates Warning feels like a continuation of the hale force of The Clairvoyant from their previous record, albeit with the added benefit of Bruce's grit-toothed snarl.
Of course, the biggest story for No Prayer was that it gave Maiden - and metal as a whole - their first ever number one single in the UK. Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter was kicked together by Bruce Dickinson and Janick Gers as a contribution to the soundtrack for the fifth instalment of A Nightmare On Elm Street. When Steve Harris heard the song, he recognised its worth and asked Bruce to hold it off his solo debut so Maiden could re-record it instead.
Yes, it's hammier than a hog roast at a Porky Pig family reunion, but that doesn't stop Bring Your Daughter... being an absolute metal classic. The knowing, tongue-in-cheek lyrics and high camp horror aesthetic is perfectly in keeping with the country that had spawned Hammer Horror, and the track remains an utterly irresistible anthem, howls of "Let her go!" oh-so-satisfying to join in on.
It would be ludicrous to suggest No Prayer doesn't have its downsides, but its most obvious sin seems to be that it broke a mythology Maiden had been building for a decade up to that point. Much like Motörhead's Another Perfect Day - another album which was critically reviled but deserves reappraisal - No Prayer.... represented Maiden pushing themselves in the face of adversity.
Approached with earnestness and a general sense of trying to shake things up, No Prayer is a triumph over any band or album who've quietly acquiesced to formulas in the decades since its release. Its not perfect, but good fucking God is it satisfying to hear a big band taking swings.
Iron Maiden's Infinite Dreams book is out now via Thames & Hudson. The Run For Your Lives 2026 World Tour resumes next summer, with Maiden playing Knebworth on July 11. For the full list of dates, visit their official website.
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