The Number of the Beast (1982)
The Number of the Beast is a 1982 heavy metal album by Iron Maiden.
Iron Maiden's third album is the one that made them titans. Bruce Dickinson arrives on vocals with an operatic wail that reshaped the band, powering through Steve Harris's galloping bass and twin-guitar leads. Released in 1982, it runs from the sprint of 'Run to the Hills' to the horror-movie theatrics of the title track, all built on literary and historical dread rather than pure noise. It was also drummer Clive Burr's final record with the group. Loud, melodic, and comfortable with the occult imagery on its cover, it set the template for British heavy metal.
Quick answers
What is The Number of the Beast about?
Iron Maiden's third album is the one that made them titans. Bruce Dickinson arrives on vocals with an operatic wail that reshaped the band, powering through Steve Harris's galloping bass and twin-guitar leads. Released in 1982, it runs from the sprint of 'Run to the Hills' to the horror-movie theatrics of the title track, all built on literary and historical dread rather than pure noise. It was also drummer Clive Burr's final record with the group. Loud, melodic, and comfortable with the occult imagery on its cover, it set the template for British heavy metal.
When was The Number of the Beast released?
The Number of the Beast was released in 1982.
Who made The Number of the Beast?
The Number of the Beast is by Iron Maiden.
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A few thoughts on The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden built this record on history and horror, so its best cross-media matches share that appetite. God of War channels the same brutal, mythic grandeur into Norse legend. Vikings delivers the war and blood-soaked saga Harris loves to write about. For the beast on the sleeve, the 1976 film The Omen makes 666 genuinely frightening.
Mythic battles and occult dread across games and history
The Number of the Beast pairs galloping riffs with literal 666 antichrist imagery and real historical violence. The Omen supplies that same antichrist dread from its cover art, God of War and Doom hand you actual gods and demons to fight, Vikings and The Last Kingdom dramatize the shield-wall battles the record evokes, and 300 turns a last stand into the same larger-than-life myth.
True stories of survival, discipline and doing the hard thing anyway
The Number of the Beast turns Iron Maiden's galloping bass and twin guitars toward literary and historical dread. Into Thin Air, Fear No Evil and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass tell their own true stories of surviving conditions built to break a person, Gorin no Sho distills a warrior's discipline into a lasting code, and Just Kids traces the grit behind building something out of nothing.
Action games that turn real history into stadium-sized adventure
The Number of the Beast turns real historical violence, like the genocide behind 'Run to the Hills,' into stadium-sized drama, the same trick these games pull off. Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, Black Flag and III drop you into the Renaissance, pirate seas and the American Revolution as an active participant, while Uncharted's trilogy chases the same kind of globe-trotting, myth-adjacent adventure through jungles and ruins.