Iron Maiden's "Dark Years" Part One- No Prayer for the Dying. Rating: 3.5/5
In 1990, Iron Maiden were at a crossroads. Longtime contributing songwriter and guitarist, Adrian Smith had quit the band over "musical differences". The band was doing studio sessions on what was to be "No Prayer for the Dying" and Adrian had had enough. He also had a solo project "A.S.A.P. which had released its debut album (may do a review on this as well, not sure). But either way, things weren't the same for Maiden. Steve Harris in particular had decided to go back to his roots, and Iron Maiden's as well, in doing a more "raw" back to basics album. Smith wasn't satisfied with this (especially after the phenomenal Seventh Son of a Seventh Son), so this factors in the story as well. Smith was then replaced by former White Spirit and Bruce Dickinson (solo) guitarist Janick Gers, and his placement caused controversy (which strangely, continues to this day). But we can also look at the history of metal to find more answers to what was...