"It was a time of turmoil. Writers had it in for us: 'Oh my God, haven’t you died yet? Don’t you know, grunge is here!'" The story behind the underrated Iron Maiden classic that helped keep them alive in the 90s

Iron Maiden sat at Barncroft Studios in 1995.

On August 28, 1993, Iron Maiden killed Bruce Dickinson. It was the final night of the Real Live Tour, and the singer had grown bored. He’d fronted The Beast for 12 years, through seven albums and countless blockbuster tours, but things had grown stagnant. Routine. Ordinary.

The adventurous exuberance that once spawned masterpieces like Powerslave and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son in the 1980s had dried up. In its place, newest records No Prayer For The Dying and Fear Of The Dark were shaky retreats to the NWOBHM formula initially abandoned after Killers. Recording sessions in such far-flung paradises as the Bahamas had been replaced by regular returns to Steve Harris’s home studio in Essex. Plus, on the road, the venues weren’t getting bigger anymore. So Bruce left – and he left in dramatic fashion.