POWERSLAVE

Part three of the Iron Maiden greatest hits trilogy begins with the beloved concert classic Aces High and continues in a similar fashion with Two Minutes To Midnight. But does it mean that the band has finally managed to win me over with their music? The short answer (and judging from my rating) is yes, but please allow me to explain.

It's really not the lack of hits that made The Number Of The Beast and Piece Of Mind such underwhelming releases, instead it's the regular album tracks and the general lack of creative soul searching that made it seem as though Iron Maiden was stamping the same ground and would most likely never get any better than that. Luckily this wasn't so and Powerslave is a perfect example that will hopefully prove all naysayers wrong. If anything, this is probably the band's most consistent release of their entire career with all of these eight tracks featuring the stereotypical Iron Maiden cliches of the past but this time it works because of the longer instrumental passages, better material and a revived interest for progression. The latter might not be too obvious at first but the last two tracks make it a bit more obvious.

The Ancient Egyptian themed title track and 13+ retelling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Rime Of The Ancient Mariner are pretty much as good as this band will ever get for us, casual fans. While the rest of the material might not shine as bright, it still has just enough energy to make it an enjoyable ride leading to the two great compositions towards the end.

If you've still not heard a single Iron Maiden album then this is definitely a great place to start. The band would get even better with their next release, but I'll skip the details for the time being.

***** star songs: Rime Of The Ancient Mariner (13:36)

**** star songs: Aces High (4:29) Two Minutes To Midnight (6:00) Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) (4:13) Flash Of The Blade (4:02) The Duellists (6:07) Back In The Village (5:20) Powerslave (6:48)