PIECE OF MIND

Iron Maiden

Prog Related

3.80 | 675 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Rune2000
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator

Part two of the so called Iron Maiden album trilogy, Piece Of Mind is another album filled with familiar hits like Where Eagles Dare, Flight Of Icarus and The Trooper, but is it really all that the fans make it out to be? Let's dive in and see!

The biggest change, this time around, is the fact that the band have managed to fully utilize Bruce Dickinson's vocal style and use it to their advantage on each of these nine tracks. This is also the first of the many album's featuring Nicko McBrain on drums, thus completing the classic Iron Maiden lineup that would last for the remainder of the decade. Things just couldn't be any better... too bad that I don't share the same perception of this album.

The best way to summarize this record is by calling it Iron Maiden playing it safe. The band literally never leaves their comfort zone throughout this entire album. Everything is just so cozy and annoyingly predictable that I honestly get bored while listening to the material. Why call an album something as thought provoking as Piece Of Mind when it's everything but that! The only track that actually has the potential of breaking outside the generic formula is the Dune-inspired mini epic To Tame A Land, but even this composition manages to waste a lot of it's expanded 7+ minute time frame by stomping on the same old ground as always. Let's just say that Rime Of The Ancient Mariner it is not.

I really don't feel like wasting too much time on describing this release since the fans are already well familiar with it's contents while everyone else could do much better by picking up the two Paul Di'Anno-era albums or the two albums that proceeded Piece Of Mind. Yes, Steve Harris does another outstanding job and the Murray/Smith dual guitar action is getting tighter by the minute, but what is it all for when the material is so thin and uninspired? A definite improvement over The Number Of The Beast but not that much more.

**** star songs: Where Eagles Dare (6:11) Revelations (6:48) Flight Of Icarus (3:51) The Trooper (4:11) Still Life (4:53) To Tame A Land (7:27)

*** star songs: Die With Your Boots On (5:29) Quest For Fire (3:42) Sun And Steel (3:26)

Rune2000 | 3/5 | 2011-10-12

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Share this IRON MAIDEN review

Social review comments () BETA

Review related links

Send comments to Rune2000
Report this review (#549036)
Buy IRON MAIDEN music online with PA partners
Show all IRON MAIDEN MP3/Stream
Go to IRON MAIDEN page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
Go to Piece Of Mind page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
Search the Forum for IRON MAIDEN related discussions