SOMEWHERE IN TIME

As a big Iron Maiden fan, I fell prey to the excitement upon its' release, & listened to it regularly. But looking back, it was the sign that the peak had been reached with Powerslave, and as a group, Maiden had released their masterpieces, & would live to unsuccessfully match them, with the adoption of a more modern sound contributing to the sense that the original fire was gone & replaced with veteran competency. With the addition of synths in the mix, which was the rage in those days ( Def Leppard & Mutt Lange were a "successful example of that sort of production philosophy), Maiden lost some of the edge. The songwriting was still up to the challenge, but pop elements started appearing. IMHO, if they had kept the rawer sound, this album could be a match for the previous run of excellent intelligent metal albums that Maiden had built on. No fault or blame to be layed at their feet; as with any group, you want to "maximise" or "keep" your sound modern, but with time, one could see the best being in past. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son would confirm it, and by that time, the songs were no longer there, or at least not the consistency to sustain an album worth of music. As a sidebar, it must be said that among metal or "prog" metal groups, they were one of the only ones to keep their integrity & not cave in to "commercial" demands (see Judas Priest - Turbo). So in brief, the classic period has ended, the spiral down started, and they stayed in the "majors" the same way that Sabbath, Purple, & Priest did - the back catalog of great music, & the fact that no one else among the new acts could really match them, live or on disc.