ARTIST: Iron Maiden
TITLE: Killers
YEAR RELEASED: 1981
CHART ACTION: #78 US, #12 UK
SINGLES: Twilight Zone (#31 UK), Purgatory (#52 UK)
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Wrathchild, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Killers
LINEUP: Paul Di’Anno, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Steve Harris, Clive Burr
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: A move away from the punk influence, and more into classic heavy metal territory, this album exposes Di’Anno’s ill-fit as a metal vocalist.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Having changed a guitarist (adding Adrian Smith), Iron Maiden’s second album was more in the now-classic New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) vein, with only a few punk influences (thanks to Di’Anno).
Steve Harris’ songs are getting more complex and could use a vocalist to really nail and punch the songs through the air. Di’Anno wasn’t it. He was fine for a song like “Murders in the Rue Morgue” but a songs like “Wrathchild” and “Killers” needed a soaring vocalist. That wasn’t him.
Even with the Di’Anno issue, the rest of the Iron Maiden pieces were there. Next time…next time.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: The US version added the UK single “Twilight Zone” – and the Australian version added another single (a cover of a song by the Aussie band Skyhooks called “Women in Uniform”).
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: See above
GRADE: B: A better sounding album, but Di’Anno’s vocals are a worse fit here than their debut.