Jimmy Kay and Alan Dixon review and celebrate the 40 year anniversary of one of Iron Maiden's most loved albums by fans Killers
Killers is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was first released on 2 February 1981 in the United Kingdom by EMI Records and on 6 June in the United States by Harvest and Capitol Records. The album was their first with guitarist Adrian Smith, and their last with vocalist Paul Di'Anno, who was fired or quit after problems with his stage performances arose due to his alcohol and cocaine use.]Killers was also the first Iron Maiden album recorded with producer Martin Birch, who went on to produce their next eight albums until Fear of the Dark (1992).
Killers is the only Iron Maiden album to feature two instrumentals. It was written almost exclusively by Steve Harris;[9] only "Twilight Zone" and the title track are cowritten.
Bar "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (based on the story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe)[10] and "Prodigal Son", the songs were written in the years prior to the recording of their debut album.
No songs were recorded professionally until the Killers sessions, with the exception of "Wrathchild" (a version recorded in 1979 was featured on the Metal for Muthas compilation).
"The Ides of March" is nearly identical to "Thunderburst", by fellow British NWOBHM band Samson, who featured a pre-Maiden Bruce Dickinson on vocals; however, "The Ides of March" was written during the brief time in 1977 in which future Samson drummer Thunderstick was a member of Iron Maiden. While Harris took sole credit for "The Ides of March", "Thunderburst" is credited to Harris and all four members of Samson's Head On line-up, Bruce Bruce, aka Bruce Dickinson, Chris Aylmer, Paul Samson, and Thunderstick, aka Barry Purkis.
Killers spent eight weeks on the UK chart. The North American edition, which came out a few months later, was initially released on Harvest Records/Capitol Records and subsequently on Sanctuary Records/Columbia Records. The song "Twilight Zone" was added to the album.
The Killer World Tour featured the band's first US shows, beginning at The Aladdin, Las Vegas, in support of Judas Priest. Subsequently, "Wrathchild" is the only regularly played track from the album, appearing in almost all their tours.
"The Ides of March" is Maiden's shortest song and serves as an intro to their fourth-shortest song, "Wrathchild". Wikipedia
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