Killers (Iron Maiden album)


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 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.

Background

Killers is the only Iron Maiden album to feature two instrumentals. It was written almost exclusively by Steve Harris; only "Twilight Zone" and the title track are cowritten.
Bar "Murders in the Rue Morgue" and "Prodigal Son", the songs were written in the years prior to the recording of their debut album. None were recorded professionally until the Killers sessions, with the exception of "Wrathchild".
"The Ides of March" is near 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 second shortest song, "Wrathchild".

Track listing

Covers

The song "Wrathchild" was covered in 2003 by the English metal band Sikth and featured as a B-side on their single "Scent of the Obscene". The song was also covered in 2005 by female tribute band The Iron Maidens on their 2007 album Route 666, by Gallows on the 2008 tribute CD ' released by Kerrang! magazine, and by Six Feet Under on the reissue of their 1999 album Maximum Violence. "Wrathchild" was featured in the PlayStation 2 game '.

Personnel

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes.

Iron Maiden

Album

CountryChart Peak
position
AustriaÖ3 Austria Top 4020
FinlandThe Official Finnish Charts18
GermanyMedia Control Charts10
New ZealandRIANZ41
NorwayVG-lista19
SwedenSverigetopplistan11
United KingdomOfficial Albums Chart12
United StatesBillboard 20078
CountryChart Peak
position
GreeceIFPI Greece64
CountryChart Peak
position
SwedenSverigetopplistan44

Singles

Notes

Certifications