Iron Maiden-No Prayer For The Dying (1990)

In 1990, Iron Maiden experienced their first setback with their eighth album, "No Prayer For The Dying", which signaled a certain creative exhaustion on the part of the British band. However, "No Prayer For The Dying" cannot be considered a bad album; the problem lies in the fact that it lacks the usual musical hallmarks of their previous releases, it must be said, considered masterpieces of heavy metal. An important, though not crucial, factor was the change of guitarist. Adrian Smith was no longer with the band, and although he was never one of the main songwriters, his instrumental presence was fundamental to the group's final sound. His replacement was Janick Gers, a very good guitarist, and it would be unfair to blame him for the mediocrity of this new work. Unlike all their previous albums, none of their classic songs appear here, although it does contain some stellar moments such as the complex "Mother Russia" or the concentrated energy of the powerful "Tailgunner". However, the rest suffers from a certain predictability and indolence, as seen in the mediocre hard rock tracks "Holy Smoke", "Bring Your Daughter", and "Hooks In You", the dynamic "No Prayer For The Dying", and the respectable heavy rock "Run Silent Run Deep". The alarming lack of epic scope and the usual grandiloquence would creatively relegate this album to obscurity compared to everything they had done up to that point, although commercially it would once again achieve considerable success, selling over a million copies worldwide still far below their previous releases.