No Prayer for the Dying

Artist : Iron Maiden

No Prayer for the Dying is the eighth studio album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The album marks the band's first line-up change since 1983, guitarist Adrian Smith left the band during the pre-production phase, unhappy with the musical direction the band was taking. Smith does have one co-writing credit on this album, for "Hooks in You." Smith was replaced by Janick Gers, who had previously worked with singer Bruce Dickinson's first solo-album, Tattooed Millionaire, and had previously worked with Fish and Ian Gillan.

The album departed from the synth-heavy, progressive style of the band's previous two albums in favor of a more "stripped down" straight forward rock style, and ushered in a change of vocal style for Bruce Dickinson from the operatic sound of the '80s to a raspier way of singing. No Prayer for the Dying is the only Iron Maiden studio album to date without a song exceeding six minutes in length. The album was also the band's first for Epic Records in the U.S. after the band left Capitol Records but was sold through EMI for all territories outside the United States. Despite promising initial U.S sales, the album did not chart as well as previous Iron Maiden albums, and was the band's first not to turn Platinum in the U.S.

No Prayer for the Dying produced Iron Maiden's only number one single to date, "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter", originally written and recorded by Dickinson alone for the A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child movie soundtrack. The version that appears on No Prayer for the Dying was rerecorded by the band as a whole. "Holy Smoke" and "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" were released as singles, with the latter reaching the #1 position in the UK charts.

No Prayer On The Road was the tour supporting the album.

Following Bruce Dickinson's departure from Iron Maiden in 1993, songs from No Prayer for the Dying have been largely ignored at live performances. "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter" was the only song played on a post-1993 set list, appearing on the band's 2003 Summer tour.

This is the last studio album to date to feature Eddie in his regular form.