'No Prayer for the Dying' established 'Maiden's 90's decline. Influential guitarist and song writer 'Adrian Smith' left prior to this release and 'Bruce Dickinson's' mind is blatantly on his solo career, as he turns in an average vocal performance by his standards. 'Janick Gers' is brought in to fill 'Smith's' boots and although he does a decent job, there's definitely something missing in the song writing. Production wise this is pretty mediocre, 'Maiden' albums are usually blessed with a top notch job, but this seems lacking and overall gives the album a rushed feel.

First up is 'Tailgunner' a track well in the mould of 'Aces High', regrettable though it's not really in the same league, the instrumental break is noteworthy but overall a repetitive affair further let down by the lightweight chorus. Improvements are made with the first single release 'Holy Smoke' a punchy rocker, graced with some decent if not comical lyrics, whilst benefiting from some solid driving rhythm and a very respectable instrumental break- reached No.3 in the UK charts. Next up is the title track, which has a more traditional 'Somewhere in Time' / 'Seventh Son' feel, after subtle beginnings picks up into a lively rocker fuelled by some excellent instrumentation and a better performance from 'Bruce Dickinson'. Less impressive is the awkward sounding 'Public Enema Number One', the laboured chorus is pretty painful and all told, saved only by the strong melody and guitar work. Slight improvements are made with the more traditional sounding 'Fates Warning', lyrically it doesn't really excite me, but the rhythm work and guitars are again strong. Don't know what went wrong with 'The Assassin', this doesn't even sound like 'Maiden', the repetitive boring chorus is sloppy and totally disappointing- One of their worst. Back on track is 'Run Silent, Run Deep' which is a typically themed track and is bolstered by their trademark gallop, overall has a 'Powerslave' feel and is definitely one of the better cuts present- in fact 'Dickinson' turns in his best effort here. 'Hooks in You' follows and is co-written by 'Adrian Smith', there's plenty of promise shown in this third instalment of the 'Charlotte the Harlot' tale, but ultimately it's lacking, especially that of the incessant chorus, in fact 'Bruce' must sing the word "Hooks" over fifty times. Much better is the chart busting 'Bring your Daughter to the Slaughter', yes it did reach No.1 in the UK and although 'Maiden' has penned better tracks, this middle finger to the music industry is a quality fist raiser. Finally we are gifted the usual 'Maiden' epic this time around it charts the Russian split from Communism and is titled 'Mother Russia', nice concept but sounds like recycled material from 'Somewhere in Time' and 'Seventh Son', there's some nice parts but regrettably doesn't come close to classics like 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner' or the more recent 'Dance of Death' or 'Ghost of the Navigator'.

Perhaps I've been a bit harsh here, but there's so many quality 'Maiden' albums this one doesn't get a look in on my CD player.