No Prayer for the Dying

No Prayer for the Dying is the eighth studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It is their first album to feature Janick Gers on guitar, who replaced Adrian Smith. Smith left the band during the pre-production phase, unhappy with the musical direction it was taking; and had also worked with Ian Gillan,

Although it received generally mixed to negative reviews, the album peaked at No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart and contains the band's only UK Singles Chart No. 1, "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter".

Background

thumb|165px|left|Guitarist [[Janick Gers replaced Adrian Smith during the album's preproduction stages.]]

The album departed from the keyboard- and synthesiser-saturated progressive rock direction of the band's two previous studio outings (1986's Somewhere in Time and 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son) in favour of a more "stripped down," straightforward style, reminiscent of the band's earlier material, which ushered in a change of vocal style for Bruce Dickinson from the operatic sound of the 1980s to a raspier way of singing.

The album also departed from literary lyrical themes in favour of more political content, with songs focusing on religious exploitation (such as in the record's first single, "Holy Smoke") and social concerns ("Public Enema Number One"). No Prayer for the Dying is the only Iron Maiden studio album to date without a song exceeding six minutes in length and the second one to contain profanity in the lyrics, the debut album being the first to do so. It was also the band's first release with Epic Records in the US, after the band left Capitol Records, but was sold through EMI for all territories outside the US. Despite charting well in most countries, particularly in the UK where it debuted at No. 2,

Following Dickinson's departure from Iron Maiden in 1993, songs from No Prayer for the Dying have been largely ignored at live performances. "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" was the only song played on a post-1993 setlist, appearing on the band's 2003 summer tour.

Album cover

No Prayer for the Dying does not follow the continuity of previous album covers, as Eddie no longer exhibits either his lobotomy or cyborg enhancements.

Three versions of the cover exist. The original 1990 version has Eddie bursting from his grave and grabbing a gravedigger (with the likeness of the band's manager, Rod Smallwood) by the neck. However, Smallwood disliked the figure and asked artist Derek Riggs to remove him from the cover for the 1998 re-release, although the original artwork is used on the disc itself. Additionally, an inscription was added to the plaque on the tomb, which Riggs had initially left blank to allow the band to add their own words; the inscription reads "After the Daylight, The Night of Pain, That is not Dead, Which Can Rise Again." The picture disc LP shows Eddie firing a weapon made of four machine guns (a reference to the album's opening track, "Tailgunner"). It has the original cover on side two.

The album title may have been inspired by the 1987 film A Prayer for the Dying.

Critical reception

The album received generally mixed to negative reviews, with AllMusic commenting that "the songwriting wasn't up to snuff when compared to such classics as Killers or Number of the Beast" and "as a whole doesn't measure up to the hits." except where noted.

Iron Maiden

Bruce Dickinson – vocals
Dave Murray – guitar
Janick Gers – guitar
Steve Harris – bass
Nicko McBrain – drums

Additional musicians

Michael Kenney – keyboards

Production

Martin "The Bishop" Birch – producer, engineer, mixing
Mick McKenna – assistant engineer
Les Kingham – assistant engineer
Chris Marshall – assistant mixing engineer
Derek Riggs – cover illustration
Ross Halfin – photography
Hugh Gilmour – art direction, design (1998 edition)
Sarah Polglase – project manager (1998 edition)

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! Chart (1990–1991)

! Peak<br />position

! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)

| align="center"| 3

!scope="row"| French Albums (SNEP)

| align="center"| 28

!scope="row"| Irish Albums (The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry)

| align="center"| 4

!scope="row"|Italian Albums (Musica e dischi)

| style="text-align:center;"|15

!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| align="center"| 13

! scope="row"| Spanish Albums (AFYVE)

| align="center"| 15