Ranking Rock/Metal Albums: #3. Iron Maiden- The Number of the Beast(1982)

The mighty Iron Maiden makes its debut in Episode 3 of my series dedicated to rock and metal albums with 'The Number of the Beast', Bruce Dickinson's introduction to the band, so here is my ranking of the songs:

8. Invaders- 7(OK)

7. Gangland- 7

6. Run To The Hills- 8.5(very good)

5. The Number of the Beast- 9(great)

4. The Prisoner- 9

3. Children of the Damned- 9

2. 22 Acacia Avenue- 9.5(fantastic)

1. Hallowed Be Thy Name- 10(stellar)

OVERALL RATING: 8.62

'Hallowed Be Thy Name', a 7-minute long masterpiece with mind-blowing guitarwork and the fabulous voice of Bruce Dickinson impersonating a man who is meditating on his life as he  is about to be sent to the gallows, is simply Maiden at its finest hour and one of my favorite tunes of all time. 

'22 Acacia Avenue' occupies the second place maybe because it's more complex and interesting than the two well-known singles of the album, the title track and 'Run To The Hills', while ' Children of the Damned', a slower, ballady, beautiful track, also managed to reach of my top 3 ahead of the aforementioned hits, which, along with 'The Prisoner', are obviously not bad either. On the contrary, they are catchy tunes with singalong choruses that also got high ratings from me.

There are, however, two tracks, 'Invaders' and 'Gangland', which I don't find bad, but which don't excite me either. It was quite hard for me to decide which one of these two tracks should take the last spot, but I finally chose 'Invaders' because I think it was a weaker chorus than 'Gangland'.

To summarise, 'The Number of the Beast' is definitely a classic Iron Maiden album, just like basically all their works from the 80s, and even if it has a couple of less impressive songs, I still enjoy it a lot and I frequently listen to it with great pleasure!