Album
No Prayer for the Dying
No Prayer for the Dying is Iron Maiden's eighth studio album, released in the UK and Europe on 1 October 1990 through Capitol Records. It marks a change in the line-up: Janick Gers joins on guitar in place of Adrian Smith, who left during pre-production, unhappy with the direction the music was taking. Smith still appears on one song, "Hooks in You", the third chapter in the band's "Charlotte the Harlot" saga. Gers had already worked with Bruce Dickinson on his solo debut, Tattooed Millionaire, and with Ian Gillan, Fish and White Spirit.
Reviews were generally mixed to negative, yet the record climbed to No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It also holds "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter", the band's only UK Singles Chart No. 1. For anyone following Maiden's story, it is the album that shows the band adjusting to a new guitarist at the start of the 1990s.
No Prayer for the Dying: tracklist, credits and charts
10 tracks · 44:07Tracklist
- 1TailgunnerBruce Dickinson and Steve Harris4:15
- 2Holy SmokeBruce Dickinson and Steve Harris3:49
- 3No Prayer for the DyingSteve Harris4:23
- 4Public Enema Number OneBruce Dickinson and Dave Murray4:13
- 5Fates WarningSteve Harris and Dave Murray4:11
- 6The AssassinSteve Harris4:18
- 7Run Silent Run DeepBruce Dickinson and Steve Harris4:35
- 8Hooks in YouBruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith4:07
- 9Bring Your Daughter… to the SlaughterBruce Dickinson4:44
- 10Mother RussiaSteve Harris5:32
- Produced by
- Martin Birch
- Recorded at
- Barnyard (Essex, England)
- Recorded
- June–September 1990
- Mixed by
- Martin Birch, Chris Marshall
- Engineered by
- Martin Birch
- Label
- Capitol Records
- Length
- 44:07
Line-up
- Janick Gers · electric guitar
- Steve Harris · electric bass guitar
- Michael Kenney · keyboard · guest
- Nicko McBrain · drums (drum set)
- Dave Murray · electric guitar
- Bruce Dickinson · lead vocals
Singles
- “Holy Smoke” · 10 September 1990
- “Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter” · 24 December 1990
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 1990–1991 | 2 |
| US Billboard 200 · 1990–1991 | 17 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) · 1990–1991 | 2 |
| Irish Albums (The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) · 1990–1991 | 4 |
| Norwegian Albums · 1990–1991 | 4 |
| Swedish Albums · 1990–1991 | 6 |
| German Albums · 1990–1991 | 7 |
| Swiss Albums · 1990–1991 | 11 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 1990–1991 | 13 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums · 2019 | 14 |
All 20 charts
| Italian Albums (Musica e dischi) · 1990–1991 | 15 |
| Spanish Albums (AFYVE) · 1990–1991 | 15 |
| New Zealand Albums · 1990–1991 | 17 |
| Austrian Albums · 1990–1991 | 19 |
| Hungarian Albums · 1990–1991 | 21 |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 1990–1991 | 23 |
| Canadian Albums (RPM) · 1990–1991 | 27 |
| French Albums (SNEP) · 1990–1991 | 28 |
| Dutch Albums · 1990–1991 | 31 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2019 | 118 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| Canada | Platinum |
| Italy | Gold |
| United Kingdom · 1990 | Gold |
| United States | Gold |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
70.0
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
3.3k
ListenBrainz listeners
133k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
18k
Deezer fans (all editions)
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Also released on 1 October
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Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz; also seen: 1990-10-08 (wikidata)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 1 October 1990 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 1 October 1990 | |
| Wikidata | 8 October 1990 | |
| US release | 1990 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 1 October 1990 | earliest UK or European date |
24 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | CA | Capitol Records | 077779514229 | other |
| 1990 | XE | — | 077779514212 | other |
| 1990 | JP | EMI | 4988006651043 | other |
| 1990 | XE | EMI | 0077779514229 | other |
| 1990 | US | Epic | 07464469052 | other |
| 1990 | XE | EMI | 077779514229 | other |
| 1 October 1990 | GB | EMI | original | |
| 1 October 1990 | GB | EMI | 077779514229 | original |
| 9 October 1995 | US | Castle Records | 600234011027 | other |
| 3 November 1995 | GB | EMI United Kingdom | 724383587629 | other |
| 1998 | GB | Raw Power | 602923013527 | other |
| 1998 | FR | EMI | 724349686502 | other |
| 1998 | XE | EMI | 724349686502 | other |
| 14 September 1998 | GB | EMI | 724349686502 | other |
| 2002 | US | Metal-is Records | 696998621626 | other |
| 26 March 2002 | US | Metal-is Records | 696998621626 | other |
| 6 September 2006 | JP | EMI | 4988006846838 | other |
| 2015 | XW | Sanctuary Records | other | |
| 2015 | XW | Parlophone | 0825646129157 | other |
| 19 May 2017 | XW | Parlophone | 190295524159 | remaster |
| 19 May 2017 | XW | Sanctuary Records | 4050538463729 | remaster |
| 19 May 2017 | XE | Parlophone | 0190295852351 | remaster |
| 19 May 2017 | US | BMG | 075597937589 | other |
| 29 March 2019 | XE | Parlophone | 0190295567682 | other |
Cover art sources
itunes · native: native 1650x1650
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| itunes ✓ | 1650×1650 | native: native 1650x1650 |
| deezer | 1200×1200 | upscaled |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |
| coverartarchive | 600×600 | upscaled |