Customer Reviews on Amazon.com

1. 5 of 7 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By A Customer

   Maiden's worst to date 22 October, 1999

   Format:Audio CD

   Funny that I go see my favorite bands for the first time on their worst releases{Kiss}includedOn their HITS tour,but the tours just ruled. Well anyway this was Maiden's most unfocused effort to date. Janick Gers replaced Smith but who cares. He doesn't save this stinker. Bruce totally seems uninterested here which makes it worse. And by the way the videos were completely cheap. Check it out if you don't believe me.
2. 2 of 4 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Christopher Ross

   If you like Iron Maiden then don't buy this album! 1 February, 2001

   Format:Audio CD

   As a huge Iron Maiden fan I have all of their albums and have enjoyed almost every single one--even their new stuff which seems to have disappointed many old fans. The "almost" is due to No Prayer For the Dying. Even the songs that were made singles--supposedly because they stand out--are mediocre at best, and "holy smoke" sounds more like it was made by a pop band than a metal legend. Musically No Prayer For the Dying is really out of place among their albums: it doesn't sound like Seventh Son/Fear of the Dark, and obviously doesn't fit with post-Bruce Dickinson Maiden. Instead, this seems to have been made by an imposter band, and doesn't have the heaviness or energy of their other albums. Out of the hundreds of songs Maiden have made, the only songs I can honestly say I couldn't stand at all are almost all on this album. If, however, you have heard Holy Smoke and really liked it, then I guess you should buy this, since that song epitomizes the rest of the album--and not in a good way in my mind. If you have recently discovered Maiden and want to buy all of their stuff, I sincerely recommend passing on this album, the odds are you will be hugely disappointed if you buy this.
3. 3 of 6 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Donald Cohrt Jr.

   maiden's career low 20 February, 2001

   Format:Audio CD

   this is there worst album. all the songs sound like they were rushed through, like they didn't think about the material, they just did it. adrian agreed that they didn't work on songs enough. he was right.jannick gers can't hold a candle to adrian smith."holy smoke" is a lame attempt to trash evangelists. in 1990 that topic was an old hat. slayer did that 2 years ago with the far superior "read between the lies", as well as countless other bands."mother russia" is steve's worst epic ever. it sounds like like they just didn't care anymore. they pulled out of this slump after that.fear of the dark was alot better than this crap. lets hope that maiden don't ever sink this far again
4. 3 of 6 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Gergellor

   A PRAYER FOR IRON MAIDEN... 20 April, 2000

   Format:Audio CD

   I'm a Maiden fan. Not a stupid one, admiring the musicians, thinking they are Gods, but admiring their metal music, their freedom of compositions, their charismatic live performance. So, when I bought this album, I felt betrayed. And it was only the first of a sucession of decisions taken by the band, that would leave fans astonished in times to come... Ok, Adrian Smith had left the band. It was a sad blow, but who could ever assume that the replacement, Janick Gers, would be so bad? With his acceptance, gone were the great duo guitar-solos, gone wer the carefully constructed solos that Smith used to compose. Then, Steve Harris assumed production. WHo could have guessed that him, the father of Maiden, would screw up the production, making a raw album sounding like a garage recording? Then, the songs. Horrrible, uninspired. "BRING YOUR DAUGHTER.." is disgusting, "HOOKS IN YOU" is a sad reminiscence of what Bruce and ADrian intended to lead Maiden. After this album, another bad suprises to fans, like horrible singer Blaze Bayley and the awful albuns "X-FACTOR" and "VITUAL ELEVEN". Well, skip this one.
5. 3 of 6 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Mike

   Was a Die Hard Fan until this one 20 February, 2000

   Format:Audio CD

   Okay, I'm not sure what happenned here I bought this one though and tried really hard to "get into" it. This was the album that made me realize that my love for "Iron Maiden" The Band, was not as strong as my Love for "Iron Maiden" the music. This album is a huge step down from thier traditional sound. They totally break thier promise which I read years earlier in a tour book of I.E. "trying to avoid the AC-DC sound". They went from the intelligent lyrics, and sound of 7th son to this almost sell out sound.
6. 3 of 7 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By dkavanagh@webaudits.net

   An all time career low point 19 December, 2000

   Format:Audio CD

   This album is absolutely appalling. By any other act at the time it would have been deemed passable, but by the high standards set by Maiden it is an absolute turkey. There is not one track which comes even close to anything else on any previous Maiden album. I don't know what went wrong here but the entire band sound like imposters!! I was dumbstruck by how bad it was when I first bought it. I have been a Maiden fan for two decades and this CD was the nadir for me. Thankfully things have improved greatly since. Take heed and avoid this CD like you would a case of the black death.
7. 0 of 2 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Pitchulo Dun Dun

   ONE STAR IS TOO MUCH 15 August, 2001

   Format:Audio CD

   I don't give it zero star because it's Maiden who is playing. I mean, sometimes I have doubts that is Maiden playing, so boring, ludicrous and energyless is their performance in this album. THe debut of Janick Gers was something to be forgotten, but it was not his fault since he does not contribute with songs here. All the songs are loser here, a real achievment for songwriters of the calibre of Harris, Dickinson and Murray.
8. 0 of 2 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By M. Fonseca

   I DON'T THINK IT WAS MAIDEN WHO RECORDED THIS... 7 March, 2001

   Format:Audio CD

   DOn't worry, pals. Probable it wasn't Maiden who recorded this garbage, on of the worst metal albuns I've heard. Probably Steve and company were very tired and hierd some clones to do the job for them !! Thanks God Adrian Smith didn't feature in this "thing" ... Everything is cheap here: arguing that they were going back to their "raw music" tradidition, Maiden released a record without no production at all, no feelingm, where one of the songs "Holy Smoke", is so bad but is considered the best of the album !!!! The new guitarrist, Janick Gers, was a bad choice to replace Smith. He can't play solos, amazing ... the whole album sounds fake.
9. 0 of 2 people found this review helpful

   on  Amazon.com

   By Poverty

   SAD DEBUT FOR GUITARRIST JANICK GERS ... 25 August, 2000

   Format:Audio CD

   After " SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON", guitarrist Adrian SMith left the band due to musical differences. He believed that Maiden should continue evolving their sound, but Harris thought not. So he left, and the path was open for the creation of four consecutive disgraceful albuns released by Maiden in the 90's. The band only found its way again when Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned in 1999. In this "NO PRAYER", we have lousy songs, that were seldom ( or never) performed by the band live again after the tour.
10. 2 of 6 people found this review helpful

    on  Amazon.com

    By Pitchulo Dun Dun

    Beginning of the problems... 16 August, 2002

    Format:Audio CD

    I can clearly see what Steve Harris was thinking after the classic Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. Maiden was going towards a very progressive path, and had reached its limit in this field. It was time for a change. And by change, in this case, Harris tought of a back to basics approach: raw and straight to the point.
    We all know now that Adrian Smith did not agree with that, and was replaced by Janick Gers, a guy that really can play raw. Basically, that's all he can do.

    But what people did not know is that the "raw" sound pursued by Harris would result in the worst set of songs ever recorded by Maiden up to that point. They, without exception, have absolutely no merits. The album included one their worst songs ever, BRING YOUR DAUGHTER TO THE SLAUGHTER. HOLY SMOKE is also poor, MOTHER RUSSI is a ludicrous attempt to write an epic song in the veins of Rime and Alexander.
    As for the new guitarrist, he can't be blamed for that, because he did not write any of them.