Fear Of The Dark

Fear of the Dark is the ninth studio album by English heavy metal band [a251595], released on 11 May 1992.

It was the last album with Bruce Dickinson in lead vocals (until his return in 1999) and the last to feature the work of producer Martin Birch (who retired after its release), also produced by Steve Harris.

"Be Quick or Be Dead", a fast tempo song in a heavier thrash style released as the album's first single.

"Wasting Love" was the group's first power ballad, which dates back to Dickinson's first solo album "Tattooed Millionaire"

"Afraid to Shoot Strangers", is a political song from the point of view of a soldier in the Gulf War, Dickinson would often introduce the song as an anti-war narrative.

"Fear Is the Key" is about the fear in sexual relationships resulting from AIDS. The song was written around the time when the band learned about the death of Queen singer Freddie Mercury.

"Weekend Warrior" is about football hooliganism.

According to the band's biographer, Mick Wall, the cover depicts Eddie, "as some sort of Nosferatu tree figure leering at the moon". It was the group's first not to be designed by artist Derek Riggs, whose contributions were rejected in favour of Melvyn Grant's.

According to Iron Maiden's manager, Rod Smallwood, the band began accepting contributions from other artists as "We wanted to upgrade Eddie for the 90s. We wanted to take him from the sort of comic-book horror creature and turn him into something a bit more straightforward so that he became even more threatening."

Following Fear of the Dark, Grant has produced several more covers for Iron Maiden, making him the band's second most-frequent artist after Riggs.

In 2022, in her music video LALISA' M/V, South Korean superstar Lisa from Blackpink sports a full outfit featuring a collage of Fear of the Dark artwork.

Reviews for the album were mixed, with AllMusic commenting that, while "easily an improvement over 1990's lackluster No Prayer for the Dying (both musically and sonically)", the release "still wasn't quite on par with their exceptional work from the '80s".

Sputnikmusic were more positive about the release, stating that "though many of the songs are still sub-par by their standards ... the band returns to the lofty heights that they enjoyed for the entirety of the 80's".

Billboard gave it a positive review on release, saying Dickinson's voice "shows no sign of wear and tear" and the guitar work "sounds fresh and crisp".

In October 2011, Fear of the Dark was ranked No. 8 on Guitar World magazine's top ten list of guitar albums of 1992.

Fear of the Dark became the third Iron Maiden album to top the UK Albums Chart.

It is the band's most successful record in North America after the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in 1991, with 438,000 copies sold as of 2008.