The Number of the Beast

Album · Released 22 March 1982

The Number of the Beast

Bruce Dickinson's voice gives The Number of the Beast a sense of scale that the guitars are happy to match. He can sound commanding, alarmed or unexpectedly vulnerable, often within the same song. Iron Maiden use that range to turn their stories into more than excuses for a galloping riff. The clearest example arrives at the end. Hallowed Be Thy Name begins with a condemned man's fear and gradually builds towards an urgent sequence of guitar…