PIECE OF MIND

Clive Burr left due to personal issues and ended up trading places with Nicko McBrain in the band Trust. Nicko's arrival signified that the classic IRON MAIDEN lineup was complete and he more than had the chops to add yet another layer on an already impressive sound making them one of the best and most successful heavy metal bands in history. Eddie went insane from hanging out with Satan too much and had to be institutionalized and kept in a padded cell.

PIECE OF MIND picks up where the previous album left off and continues with similar inspirations including....

Literature: "To Tame A Land" from "Dune," "The Trooper" from "Charge Of The Light Brigade."

Film: "Where Eagles Dare," and "Quest For Fire."

Mythology: "Flight Of Icarus" and "Revelations."

There is also a backwards hidden message on "Still Life" which they included to freak out those who were constantly accusing them of being Satanists. The recording is actually a backwards rendition of Nicko McBrain uttering "What ho said the t'ing with the three 'bonce', do not meddle with things you don't understand...", followed by a belch.

This is one of my all time favorite albums. The album is absolutely phenomenal in how it flows from one track to the other keeping it varied, keeping it intense and stimulating not only your headbanging needs but also your intellectual appreciation for well-crafted lyrics. The chemistry of this band is nothing short of magical.

The ONLY complaint I have about this album is in the song "Quest For Fire" where Bruce operatically insists that dinosaurs walked the Earth at the time man was questing for fire. This chronological faux pas has been a pet peeve of mine since the day I first heard this, yet an extremely minor blemish on an otherwise magnificent masterpiece of metal that just happened to be my very first IRON MAIDEN album.