SOMEWHERE IN TIME

Somewhere in Time is the first Iron Maiden album to incorporate the use of synthesized guitars, softening the power of their traditional double guitars. This earned them some criticism from their most radical fans, who did not see with good eyes that the group tested new proposals that were less harsh than those typical of heavy metal. But Steve Harris and the rest of the band always recognized their musical influences, and hence the nods to the progressive genre have been constant in their discography. Somewhere in Time is a demonstration of this. Without neglecting its essence, since after all, they are a group with a metal root, they give us songs of remarkable quality related to prog-rock.

To especially highlight the more than 8 minutes of the extraordinary and epic Alexander the Great, an evocation of the Macedonian king and conqueror, in my opinion, one of the best songs in the Iron Maiden discography, which has failed to transcend more than it deserved, probably due to the initial suspicion that the album got, in addition to the fact that they never played it live. Other great songs are the painful Stranger In a Strange Land and its deep, melancholic guitar solo, and the dynamic Wasted Years and The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner.

The rest of the songs, like the galloping, Caught Somewhere in Time or Heaven Can Wait, are closer to their traditional heavy metal style.

Time has given Somewhere in Time a much fairer place than the one it had at its release, recognizing its value as a work of a very good level, despite the differences with their previous albums.