POWERSLAVE

I was way too late knowing the music of Iron Maiden until one day in 2000 (can you imagine, I knew the band decades after their glory days in 80s?!) when a local classic rock radio station M97 was airing an excellent tune I knew nothing to play - when I drove my car in Jakarta's congested main road. I called the radio station asking who played that excellent tune. The broadcaster told me "It's Iron Maiden . 'Flight of Icarus' from 'Piece of Mind' album". Oh man, the day after I chased the CD and I got it! Since then I was hooked to IrMa. Well, I think they are one of the best heavy metal bands in the world.

Well, heavy metal is heavy metal .. but . Iron Maiden is unique in sound especially the groove, the guitar solo and most importantly .. the bass playing style by Steve Harris which I think contributes a lot `to the total sound of the band, especially in creating differentiated groove. Bruce Dickinson voice is also nice but is not something peculiar from the music of IrMa as there are other lead singers better than him in heavy metal scene like Ronnie James Dio, David Byron (Uriah Heep) or Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin).

'Powerslave' is significantly different from 'Piece Of Mind', in terms of production even though both are equally heavy in rhythm and riffs. This album was critical milestone to the band's carer in metal world with such legendary tracks like 'Aces High', 'Two Minutes To Midnight', 'Rime of The Ancient Mariner', and the title track. As I have grown up with mainly progressive music augmented with some classic rock and heavy metal, I tend to put my attention more on the epic 'Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" which consumes the longest duration. There parts with repetition that sometimes make me a bit boring but I really love the drive and energy this track delivers. I can relate those of you who like the 70s music might want to compare this with Led Zeppelin's "In My Time of Dying" where the two have similar style and consume more than 10 minutes in track duration. Of course, I prefer "In My Time of Dying" but I can see that "Rime of The Ancient Mariner" is an excellent track that IrMa must have been so proud about it.

Nothing is truly prog with this album and this is a very good album for those of you like heavy metal music. The artwork of this album had been very popular in mid 80s, used by the young. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW