1982-1989: Heavy Metal Megastar
Work on the next album was accompanied by dilemmas regarding the artistic direction the band should take. Bruce Dickinson
tried to push through the idea of releasing a double studio album,
with the second disc containing strictly acoustic material. This idea
was met with the disapproval of his colleagues, which the singer
perceived as a personal failure and stopped engaging in the process of
creating new material. This time (alongside with Steve Harris), the leading
composer was Adrian Smith, who influenced the sound of the group's new album. Published in October 1986, with a futuristic cover illustration of Somewhere in Time, it featured compositions in the same style as before, with one
difference - the band used guitar synthesizers for the first time. The
album enjoyed enormous popularity, reaching position 2 in the UK and 11
on the Billboard 200 bestseller list in the USA, selling over two million copies in the United States, and almost 5 million copies worldwide.
