25 Years Ago: Iron Maiden Release ‘Fear of the Dark’

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Iron Maiden's Fear of the Dark. The band's ninth studio album was released on May 11, 1992.

Fear of the Dark would be the band's first album to be produced by band bassist and founder Steve Harris and it would be the last to feature singer Bruce Dickinson until his return in 1999. singles off the album included "Be Quick or Be Dead", "From Here to Eternity", and "Wasted Love". The title track, "Fear of the Dark" would become a favorite at Iron Maiden live shows. It would be the band's third straight album to top the U.K. albums chart. The album reached number 12 in the U.S. chart. The Fear of the Dark World Tour would see the band play The Ritz in NYC on June 8, 1992 and the band would make a return to headline the Monsters of Rock festival at Donnington Park.

AllMusic said that Fear of the Dark was "easily an improvement of 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 '80's."  While AllMusic may be right with their review, I still think this album rocked!