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Fear of the Dark is the ninth studio album released by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Released on 12 May 1992, it was the final studio album to feature Bruce Dickinson as lead vocalist before he left the band. Dickinson felt that Maiden had run its course and pursued his solo career. He was succeeded by Blaze Bayley, formerly of Wolfsbane for two studio albums until Dickinson returned to Iron Maiden in 1999. Despite being Maiden's third (and last as of 2006) number one charting album in the UK, fan reviews are fairly critical of this album. Many fans believe it lacks creativity and that Bruce Dickinson's voice was far weaker than in his past. The title track, however, became one of the band's most popular live numbers and the album as a whole was an improvement over "No Prayer for the Dying" if not up to the standard set in the 1980s. The title track was apparently inspired by Steve Harris's childhood fear. "From Here to Eternity" is often considered the fourth song in the Charlotte the Harlot saga. The album cover is the first from Iron Maiden not to be designed by artist Derek Riggs. This caused controversy from long-time fans, as the artistic style had changed, and Eddie's now had a different appearance. He appears on the cover as part of a tree as opposed to normally being humanoid. In an interview with MTV, Bruce Dickinson said they had asked three different artists to design the cover, and they picked the best one. Melvyn Grant's illustration was chosen over the one Riggs submitted. Melvyn Grant has since drawn two more album covers for Iron Maiden, and the cover for their single "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" making him the second most-used artist for Eddie after Riggs. The album featured a certain degree of experimentation, with "Be Quick or Be Dead" sounding more like Thrash Metal, Wasting Love being the first single release of a power ballad (a rare thing for Iron Maiden to write) and Maiden's only truly romantically themed song, "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" was the band's most political song since "2 Minutes to Midnight". The album featured for the first time the writing of Janick Gers, no songs by Adrian Smith and featured more keyboard work than the previous few albums (and less synthetic guitars/bass) which may have something to do with the different sound. Keyboards were sometimes used instead of harmonies to produce a sound less like a rehash of old albums, noteably on the song From Here to Eternity. "Be Quick or Be Dead", "From Here to Eternity", "Wasting Love" and a live version of the title track were released as singles. This album featured the song From Here to Eternity - the last in the Charlotte the Harlot saga as of 2006.
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