30 years old.

How does it hold up as a Maiden album?

Would any of the songs on the album replace a song in the classic concert set list?

And why the two different covers when they remastered it a decade later?

I purchased it on day one on cassette.

How can you not purchase it after “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son”?

I had a tape deck that used to chew tapes up so I demanded my Dad let me use his pristine Toshiba cassette player.

He said “no”, because he believed that tapes with heavy metal music would somehow wreck his tape deck.

I went to Mum to smooth him over and that didn’t work, but I had a plan.

When he was at work, I would use his tape deck. But Dad was smart. He caught on.

He woke me up early when he was leaving for work and told me that it’s okay to use his tape deck because he had a feeling that I would use it while he’s at work as that’s exactly the same thing he would do.

I already heard the lead off single in “Holy Smoke” and the “flies round shit, bees around honey”.

So I pressed play.

And “Tailgunner” started.

How good is the bass playing on it?

That whole intro is built by Steve Harris and his four fingers.

“No Prayer For The Dying” is super underrated with the powerful ending around “God give me the answer to my life…”

“Public Enema Number One” has lyrics relevant to what’s happening today.

In the cities in the streets / there’s a tension you can feel / the breaking strain is fast approaching / Guns and riots.

The politicians gamble / and lie to save their skins / and the press get fed the scapegoats / Public enema number one

“Fates Warning” feels like it could have come from the “Somewhere In Time” album. Check out that harmony solo.

“Mother Russia” sounds like it came from the “7th Son” album but it felt unfinished.

“Bring Your Daughter” was a hit.

And all the other songs had some good sections.

I labeled the album, the worst of the Bruce Dickinson era at the time.

And then they released “Fear Of The Dark” and I kept that viewpoint.

Then Bruce left and Blaze came in.

Then Bruce came back and they released a shitload of albums from “Brave New World” to “The Book Of Souls”.

And I still have that view point even though I believe that “The Book Of Souls” could have used some John Kalodner editing.

But I enjoy listening “No Prayer”. I can’t explain it.