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Iron Maiden - Powerslave CD (album) cover

POWERSLAVE

Iron Maiden

 

Prog Related

4.15 | 848 ratings

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bonestorm
5 stars There was a time when I spent my summers picking fruit under the harsh glare of the Australian sun. These consisted of very early mornings, heat, humidity, sunburn, and tiny paychecks. I'd arrive home in the dark of the night, tend to my wounds, and then grab a few hours sleep and prepare to do it all again.

Being a kid, it was the only job I could get, and the only way to earn some spending money.

Iron Maiden holds an unfavourable memory from those times. In those days I was not a Maiden fan, and the friend who gave me a lift to and from the farm took particular delight in blasting Dicko and co at an ear-splitting volume as we sped away of an afternoon. His car stereo was utterly terrible, and suffice to say the only thing it really output at that volume was something akin to white noise. After toiling out in the sun all day, and with a raging headache coursing through my eyeballs more often than not, this was the last thing I wanted to experience.

And so, for me, Iron Maiden became firmly categorized in the 'do not ever listen to this band again' genre.

Fast forward to a number of years later, and I heard Maiden under far more salubrious conditions. I very quickly dispensed with my former predisposition and eventually embraced most of their catalogue.

My favourite of all their albums is Powerslave. It really is an album that has everything. There's classic metal numbers such as "Aces High" and "Two Minutes to Midnight", an epic in the form of "Powerslave" and a prog masterpiece in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The musicianship is phenomenal. There are so many classic riffs that it's hard to believe they all fit on one album.

Bruce Dickinson is in fine form with some great ideas on every track. When many contemporaries were singing about sex, drugs or the devil, Dicko gives us fighter pilots, ancient Egypt and a song based around a seafaring poem. It's a refreshing change.

Steve Harris gallops along with the precision we've come to expect, and the duo of Murray and Smith, a major factor in the golden years of the band, give us amazing lead breaks and a plethora of classic metal riffs. The lead on the title track "Powerslave" in particular includes some of my favourite lead moments from any band.

Iron Maiden did all this in a period where they were cranking out an album and accompanying world tour just about every year. One wonders how they generated such energy and creativity on such a schedule.

bonestorm | 5/5 |

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