Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 14 April 1980 by EMI Records in the UK and Harvest and Capitol Records in the US. The North American version included the song "Sanctuary", released in the UK as a non-album single. In 1998, along with the rest of the band's pre-1995 releases, Iron Maiden was remastered with "Sanctuary" added in all territories. However, 2014 vinyl reissues, 2015 digital releases and 2018 CD reissues use the original track listing across the globe. It is the band's only album to feature guitarist Dennis Stratton. Although Iron Maiden have since criticised the quality of the album's production, the release was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number four on the UK Albums Chart and helping the band achieve prominence in mainland Europe. Background This is the band's only album produced by Wil Malone (credited as Will Malone), whom Iron Maiden have since claimed lacked interest in the project and effectively left them to produce most of the album themselves, which, according to bassist Steve Harris, was completed in just 13 days. Recording took place at Kingsway Studios, west London in January 1980, with the band taking time out from the 1980 Metal for Muthas Tour to complete the final mixes at Morgan Studios, northwest London in February. Before the sessions with Malone, the band made two attempts in December 1979 with two different producers while still a four-piece. Guy Edwards, the first, was dismissed as the band were unhappy with the "muddy" quality in his production, while Andy Scott was also dismissed after insisting Harris play his bass with a pick rather than his fingers. After these efforts, the band decided not to dismiss Malone as Harris described that they could "bypass him and [go] to the engineer". The group criticised the quality of the production, although many fans still preferred the raw quality of the sound recording. Although AllMusic stated that this style was "clearly drawing from elements of punk rock", Harris stated that the band despised everything about punk. This was also the only studio album with guitarist Dennis Stratton, who, having been brought in as a last-minute placement, was dismissed due to "musical differences" after the band's European tour in support of Kiss.