The Essential Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

To be fair, any career-spanning retrospective of a band that's been around for nearly 30 years is going to contain a few duds, but to include nearly a whole disc's worth is unforgivable, especially when the era it's chronicling is not nearly as dire as the tracks would suggest. Iron Maiden are one of the few surviving New Wave of British Heavy Metal acts to not only hold on to their fan base, but to continuously put out new material that doesn't demolish the impact of the band's heydays. Both Judas Priest and Maiden brought in new lead singers for a while (bad idea), then came to their senses, re-formed, and most recently put out pretty great records -- Angel of Retribution and Dance of Death, respectively. While the second disc of Sanctuary Records' The Essential Iron Maiden piles on the hits from 1980s Paul Di'Anno-led self-titled debut straight through to 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son without missing a beat, it misses the mark on the first, which focuses on the group's (already spotty enough) later years. The two Blaze Bayley releases aside, 1990s No Prayer for the Dying, 1992's Fear of the Dark, 2000s Brave New World, and 2004's Dance of Death had some essential material on them, but the compilers seem to have just chosen songs at random -- there is no need for anyone to have to hear "Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter" again -- resulting in a truly missed opportunity. The liner notes are nice enough and the inclusion of "Iron Maiden" from the upcoming live record/DVD Death on the Road is impressive, but there really isn't anything essential about the whole affair. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide