You guys have just helped me to put my finger on exactly why I really dislike No Prayer for the Dying. It *does* sound like an album of Iron Maiden B-sides. And that's just the problem. Because for as much as I've heard some people call Iron Maiden a "comic book" band, I could NOT disagree with that description more.
When Iron Maiden started out, no one was laughing. Eddie's persona was one that was cool, but in a very eerie, creepy, macabre kind of way. By the time Powerslave came out, Killers was the lowest selling album, but it had the most iconic cover. THAT was Eddie. To many people, it was just as scary as it was cool. But the nature of the songs was actually quite serious. Do you know how many metal fans actually picked up A BOOK because of Iron Maiden? They sold Poe to a whole new generation! But it wasn't just literature. Social subjects, life and death, pain and madness, war, superstition...all of these were subjects to fantastic Iron Maiden songs, and they were actually well written in a fashion that you could contemplate and take seriously. But their B-sides let you know that they did have a sense of humor. It was nice to know that, "Hey. We thought we'd let our fans in on some of our silly moments. This isn't a REAL Iron Maiden album/song...this is a wink and a nod, just us having a bit of a piss..enjoy it!" Those were the Iron Maiden B-sides. The behind the scenes stuff. The goofing off...not the serious Maiden. And that's OK for a B-side.
So No Prayer kindof felt like the guys saying, "Nah! We were just having you on. We never were serious at all! Joke's on you!"
Suddenly, the eerie, spooky, creepy, psychotic Eddie was now "old weird Uncle Eddie" who pops out his glass eye and plays "gotcher nose" with a dislocated thumb. The whole album just feels like one big long 50 minute joke.
Say what you want about Fear of the Dark. It may not be a great Iron Maiden album, but at least it sounds like they were at least trying to write a *serious* Iron Maiden album...