First of all may I just say "MAI-DEN! MAI-DEN!"
Good summing up of the album and yet I find it hard to see it as inferior to FotD. That has some great tracks on it but then its being the last Dickinson album of the 90s and the awful duo that followed give it a somewhat shiver of revulsion whenever it's mentioned. If you were to take half the songs off both albums I think you'd have a very strong Maiden release. My tracklisting for "No prayer for the fear of the dark" would be:
1. Tailgunner
2. Hooks in you
3. Afraid to shoot strangers
4. Holy smoke
5. Bring your daughter
6. Judas my guide
7. Fear of the dark
and maybe one or two others.
Each album on its own has flaws but I think you could jettison the naff tracks and come up with a truly killer (hah!) album.
Something that would get you through the dark wilderness of the Blaze Bayley years. Shiver...