its a classic, its maiden, its awesome, nuff said.

Fantastic album/CD.

So sad for metal heads that do know know Iron Maiden with Paul Di'Anno.

Respect the classics man!

On to the second Iron Maiden album 'Killers' released in 1981. Dennis Stratton has been shown the door and in comes Adrian Smith. Adrian Smith and Dave Murray would form a powerful musical partnership and the addition of Adrian Smith would prove that now had another strong songwriter in the band, which would become more apparent in future releases.

Also this would begin a long partnership with producer Martin Birch who stay their producer til his retirement in the early 90's.

The addition of Adrian Smith proved to be a wise choice as the song Wraithchild' would prove. Smith and Murray gel perfectly and was much better fit than Stratton. The songs mostly written by Steve Harris tip his hand more toward his prog influences than the debt did and the diversity of the songs show that the band's ambition.

Paul D'ianno's vocals are spot on, singing with aggression and really helping the song's topics and characters come alive on such song as 'Killers' where you can feel his anger or 'Murders in the Rue Morgue' which captures the character in the songs paranoia. It is too bad Paul D'ianno remains so underrated.

Excellent album and again highly recommended.

The debut is in my top five Maiden albums and might just be their best one. I love the raw heavy metal sound on that record (I've never understood why a lot of people call it a punk sound, as the album sounds more like old fashioned British heavy rock than punk), a sound they lost during the Dickinson period. Every single song is great and despite what a lot of people seem to think, I´ve always thought of Dennis Stratton as a great guitarist and a great addition to the band. After all, he opted to add more harmony guitars and harmony vocals, like on Phantom Of The Opera. Ten out of ten record if you ask me.

Killers is another Maiden classic. All killer, no filler, with Killers, Purgatory, Murders In The Rue Morgue and Another Life being some of my favorite Maiden tracks. Smith is definitely a great guitarist, but I´ve always prefered Stratton´s more heavy rock sounding, blues based solos to Smith´s. Clive Burr is at the top of his game here and the interplay between the bass and drums is leaps and bounds better than on the selftitled (which says a lot, haha). Another ten out of ten album. Killers is the last perfect record by Maiden if you ask me, but hey, I'm not much of a Dickinson fan. More on that when we reach Number Of The Beast...

What I said last year about Killers;

Quote:

"This is the best Metal album up to that point in History". I thought about it more and more and that's what I maintain. In My Opinion, through 1981 there was not a better Heavy Metal album. I can't believe it's 27 years old and how good it is.

Killers is my favorite Maiden album hands down. Everything about it is perfect!

Of the two DiAnno albums, I prefer KILLERS... they were firing on all cylinders on this one.

I have the 2-disc Castle Records reissue of KILLERS from the mid '90s, which features the entire MAIDEN JAPAN album plus some other random b-sides and stuff on the bonus CD... including my fave DiAnno Maiden song, "Women In Uniform" ... dunno what it is about that song, but I just dig the hell out of it...

Killers was my first Iron Maiden album and was an immediate favorite. Even to this day if asked to choose only one Maiden album this would be it. Still my favorite album cover as well.

There isn't a single song on here that I don't like, fave tracks would be Genghis Khan (check out Clive Burr!), Wrathchild, Innocent Exile, Prodigal Son (although the riff is very similar to Ace Frehley's Fractured Mirror) and Drifter.

There's an "in your face rawness" to the sound of Maiden on this album that would continually decrease once Bruce Dickinson came on board. The later albums are very polished...Killers sounds like it wants to kill your Mother. (that's a good thing)

Paul DiAnno has described himself as a "former skinhead" before he joined Iron Maiden, and that he is/was a huge fan of punk rock... hence his punk-ish vocal delivery.

Which worked fine on those first couple of albums, but as Maiden started playing larger halls Paul didn't have the delivery needed to reach the fans way in the back rows of those Enormo-Domes. Thus, exit DiAnno, enter the Air Raid Siren.

crap, I missed the beginning of this thread!!

s/t: amazing album, all things considered with a no-name producer and small budget. My faves are "Phantom"(in my top 5 IM faves ever), Prowler, and Transylvania (I wish they'd do more instrumentals), and the rest of the album is great. Most fans might think it is the weakest track but I still love "Strange World", and it goes great right after Transylvania.

Killers: Having learned so much from their debut, they perfected their art on this album, not a weak spot on the whole record. This album is perfect! I cant pick a favorite because I'd hafta list every track. So much energy and skill, I cant help but wonder what they wouldve sounded like had Paul D'Ianno stayed with them. Maybe it was for the better that he left, or maybe not. I guess we'll never know.......

Clive Burr was the secret weapon on the first few Maiden records, I always preferred him to McBrain.

Killers is a GREAT album, it shows what Adrian started to bring to the plate. Dianno is my second favorite Maiden singer (Bruce being my favorite and Blaze in the toliet!!!). I got this album after Piece Of Mind and The Number Of The Beast.

The production was also much better than the debut, as mentioned, due to Martin Birch taking control as producer.

Great album, another one with a great raw feel to it. I can't say anything else except what's been said.

My friends, Killers just does not do it for me. Don't get me wrong, I do like it, but it is nowhere near as good as the self title.

I heard it about a month ago & it just does not keep me entertained/interested.

I guess the self title was just to strong to live up to.

I really need to give the albums without Dickinson a chance. I'm sure they're great but I guess that I just never wanted to listen to Maiden without him.

Hopefully this thread will fire me up to check those discs out.

Killers is great... I too am in the opinion of Clive Burr being a catalyst to what made Maiden great right out of the gate. Mc Brain is kinda Mc Same, though I give him credit for NEVER using double bass drums and actually playing everything on his kit quite alot during the course of a show.

Don't have this one. I need to buy it.

Killers is one of the best sophomore albums I'm aware of. Not a single weak song on it. The songs from this era of the band, they don't quite sound right sung by Dickinson. Not that Dickinson's take on Wrathchild is so terrible but it just doesn't have that edge that Di'Anno brought to it.

I love Killers. With all due respect to the masters, I hate when the Dickinson and McBrain Maiden try to play songs from the first 2 albums. They just don't sound right.

KILLERS had some great songs but I prefer listening them when Bruce sings them