The title – fierce, the album cover – brutal. These would be a
\nprelude to Iron Maiden’s sophomore release, and it was obvious that
\nthe band was back and ready to raise hell all over again. With a
\nnew guitarist and a new energy, this effort would put the band on a
\nworld tour, and begin the rise to their rightful throne at the
\npinnacle of heavy metal music.<\/p>\n
\nKillers<\/i> kicks off with an instrumental, “The Ides of March.”
\nOne instantly notices the improved guitar. This would be because
\nformer guitarist Dennis Stratton was replaced by ex-Urchin
\nguitarist Adrian Smith. While I mean no disrespect to Mr. Stratton,
\nSmith was and is exponentially better.<\/p>\n
From there we go to one of Maiden’s biggest hits, “Wrathchild,”
\na timeless rocker about a vengeful man looking for the father who
\nabandoned him. It’s around this time that the listener, while
\ntaking a break from the furious rocking that is required for such a
\nsong, realizes that Steve Harris and company have learned from
\ntheir earlier mistakes.<\/p>\n
When compared to their eponymous release, everything seems a lot
\nmore improved. The guitar is more fluid while retaining a thrashier
\nsound, Di’Anno sounds more into it, and Harris’ famous bass lines
\nare at top form.<\/p>\n
Although the album is technically not a concept album, each song
\nseems to share a common theme: killing. Yes, even the
\ninstrumentals, which are aptly named “The Ides of March” (a day –
\nMarch 15 – in which Julius Caesar was assassinated) and “Genghis
\nKhan.”<\/p>\n
To me, the album hits its high point at track seven, with the
\ntitle track. It’s an absolutely ferocious track that makes “Phantom
\nOf The Opera” seem like a ballad. Everything from the brutal lyrics
\nmade all the more evil by Di’Anno’s sinister singing (“You walk
\nthrough the subway\/My eyes burn a hole in your back\/A footstep
\nbehind you\/He lunges prepare for attack”), to the brilliant dual
\nguitar attack of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. The band then slows
\nit down with the next track, a calm ballad called “Prodigal
\nSon.”<\/p>\n
However, it hits its zenith with the underrated ninth song,
\n“Purgatory,” one of the fastest, heaviest, utterly blood-curdling
\nsongs ever (if the band is reading this, I beg them, please play
\nthis song live!) and it doesn’t let up until the final note.<\/p>\n
In fact, out of all 11 songs on this record, the only weak point
\nwould be the last song, “Drifter,” which many fans claim to like,
\nbut I just can’t enjoy for some reason. But, to each their own.<\/p>\n
This would be the final full LP for lead singer Paul Di’Anno
\n(he’d do one other live mini-LP with the band,
\nMaiden Japan<\/i>), before he would leave due to throat problems.
\nWhile it’s never a time to crack out the champagne with a band
\nmember leaving (with exceptions, of course), he would be replaced
\nwith the greatest singer the world has ever known (journalist
\nneutrality be damned!). Still, when deciding which early Maiden
\nalbum to give a listen to, it should be
\nKillers<\/i> for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":26811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5725],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38087","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-iron-maiden","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38087"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38087"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}