Iron Maiden Album: “Powerslave”

Im going to start by saying this album is in my top 5 favorite cds and i have over 100.

1. Aces High: This starts the album off with a bang. The guitar riffing is fast, high pitched, and adrenline pumping, not a very heavy song, but still metal and just as good.There is also a great solo by Dave Murray. You'll like this song if you like faster, higher pitched, metal songs. 10/10

2. Two Minutes to Midnight: This was Maidens highest single of this album and for good reason, it has a cool riff and a very catchy chorus. Bruce dickinson does a pretty good vocal performance on this song. The guitar riff is much like Ted Nugent's Stormtrooping. 10/10

3. Losfer Words (Big Orra):This was Maidens last instrumenatal,

4. Flash of the blade: The song starts out with a unusual riff that sound like it could be part of a Ozzy Osbourne guitar solo.

5. The Duellists. Starts off with more heavy guitar riffing. Steve Harris plays his bass great in this song, providing a good backup sound in the chorus and the guitar solo that follows. Some parts of this song are very heavy, other parts are filled with melody, and in some parts there is both. There is an excellent guitar bridge and solo. 9/10

6. Back in the Village: It's a decent song but it pales in comparison to all the other songs, it has a really wierd sounding main riff. When the guitar solo starts at 2:30 the song gets really good with good riffs and a guitar solo. 7/10 but 9/10 for the solo

7. Powerslave: This is the secound best song on the album, the opening guitar riff is fast, galloping, and vicous sounding. Then it gets even better during the chorus when the riff changes into something even nastier and faster then the opening one. After the secound chorus the song complety mellows out into a slow beatiful guitar solo, this goes on for a minute then the drums kick in and in launches a fast, powerful, absoluty rocking guitar solo, with Steve Harris's Bass loudly playing along in a catchy little rhythm during the solos.

8. Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The album ends with one maidens finest songs ever. Every single memmber of the band shines on this song, there are more good guitar riffs in this song then on any 10 Nu-Metal albums, nevermind make that 20 albums, i kinda forgot how bad nu-metal is. This song is complety fasicnating and still amazes me. The whole album is worth the price just for this 14 minute epic masterpiece.

Sorry if you didn't understand me or i rambled on, but i just love this album, buy it!

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and one other thing listen to wrathchild (the reviewer below me.) he is absoluty right about everything he said, screw king diamond and all that satanic sh*t.

This is a prime example of what every album should be. There is not a weak point on this entire album. It starts off with Aces High, which in my opinion is their greatest opener and one of their best songs ever. With its fast paced drum beat, dueling guitars, and the high pitched wail of Bruce Dickinson, it makes for the perfect opening to this album. Steve Harris bass work as always is incredible, and it can actually be heard which is not true in most metal bands. 2 Minutes to Midnight is a catchy tune with a great chorus which can be stuck in your head for days. Losfer Words is a nice little instrumental which displays the musical talent of each of the members. Flash of the Blade and The Duellists are both great songs, both with incredible guitar harmonies of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. The title track, Powerslave, is themed in Ancient Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs, and the guitar riff goes great with the theme. Powerslave also has one of the best solos ever. The album closes with the 13 minute epic, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, also another Maiden classic. From beginning to end, this album is flawless.

Ah, what's to say that hasn't yet been said? When you look up metal in the dictionary, you'll see Maiden right next to it. And if you don't, then buy a revised copy. This is the definitive sound of everything that ever has been and everything that ever will be metal. Put simply, Maiden are legends, and Powerslave is one of their best efforts. Incredible riffing, mindblowingly complex drumming, killer solos, and that incredible power surge of Bruce Dickinson - this band has a sense of scale, and that scale is big. I can't even try to pick individual highlights, but the last song, the epic "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is pure genius! Certain parts of that song give me chills like no other. To wrap this short review up (and I know Maiden deserve a longer one), go out, buy Powerslave, crank up the stereo, and have yourself a good time. Really, it can't offer anything less. Not that we'd expect it to anyways.

10/10

PS - Sharon Osbourne, her stupid daughter, "Big Dave" and that lame excuse for a band Bury Your Dead can all jump off a bridge for all I care. No one f**** with Maiden and gets away with it! Up the Irons, cuz Ozzfest is now dead!

THE BAND: Steve Harris (bass), Bruce Dickinson (vocals), Dave Murray (guitar), Adrian Smith (guitar), Nicko McBrain (drums).

THE DISC: (1984) 8 tracks clocking in at approximately 51 minutes. This is their 5th album in 5 years. Recorded at Compass Point in Nassau, Bahamas. The disc contains an 18-page booklet with a brief intro, lyrics, band pictures and thank you's. All songs written by Harris and/or Dickinson (with Smith co-writing one). The enhanced CD features a nice multimedia section for your PC - including 2 videos ("Aces High" and "2 Minutes To Midnight"), the band's catalogue of albums, band history, family tree, itinerary from the '84-'85 World Slavery Tour, and more. Digitally remastered in 1998. Cover art by the one and only Derek Riggs.

COMMENTS: It's hard to top this release from Iron Maiden. In my opinion, it sits up on that same lofty shelf with "Number Of The Beast" and "Piece Of Mind". "Powerslave" was Maiden's 3rd monster album in a row and it solidified them as the best metal act of the time. The title track is a classic and it's one of my favorite Dickinson penned tunes, ever. The 13+ minute "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" is a marathon of a song, and perhaps the band's all-time exemplary magnum opus. "Aces High" and "2 Minutes To Midnight" were two of the band's higher ranking chart hits - and simply fast paced classic Maiden tunes. "Losfer Words" is a hard hitting instrumental (their first since "Genghis Khan" from their "Killers" album in 1981). The only song I give less than a perfect score is "Back In The Village" (a good song, but the least memorable on such a flawless album). I've been to many concerts and one of the stand-outs is Maiden at Radio City Music Hall in NYC (January '85)... 4 sold-out nights in a row (would have been 7 nights had Bruce not been sick). If I'm reaching for some classic old-school longhaired metal, or one of my favorite Iron Maiden albums, "Powerslave" is absolutely one of the first ones I choose. The band was never better than they were here on "Powerslave". Great disc.

As a loyal listener of lighter artists such as the Beatles and U2, I had never dreamed of listening to heavy metal. Then one day when I was browsing the music titles at my local Wal-Mart, something strange came over me. I picked up the Iron Maiden CD "Powerslave" and decided to give it a try. After listening to it in its entirety on my car stereo, I was shocked. The music was unsurprisingly wild, but the lyrics were intelligent, the lead guitar solos intricate, and the bass playing galloped strongly and steadily. The downside to "Powerslave" is most of the songs are similar in style. But songs like "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Minutes to Midnight," and "Losfer Words" make "Powerslave" a worthy buy and Iron Maiden and I an odd couple.