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Trollheart · 10-18-2013, 02:37 PM

Okay, well as most of you know here I'm a huge Iron Maiden fanatic, and have already reviewed "The number of the Beast" here

http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1199777,

their debut self-titled here
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1140045,
"Brave new world" here
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1049293
and even "Virtual XI" here
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1101902 (a less than glowing review, I'll admit).

I've even written an entire section on them in my "Taking centre stage" series, back in 2011, here
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1105793,
and I would not be at all surprised to find me reviewing "Killers" before Metal Month wraps up.

But right now I'd like to take a look at one of their most famous and loved albums. Although it's true that "The number of the Beast" is my favourite of theirs, and is, as the section claims, one of the "Albums that changed my life" and awoke in my heart the delights of Heavy Metal, this must also go down as a very instrumental part of the

Powerslave --- Iron Maiden --- 1984 (EMI)

Any Maiden fan will tell you --- hell, any metal fan will tell you --- this was the album where Bruce and the boys really hit the pinnacle of their creativity. Sure, I love "Number of the Beast" and "Piece of mind" was a great album, and "Somewhere in time" had its moments, but nothing ever quite got it as perfectly on the nose as this, their fifth album overall and their third with Dickinson. After the immense commercial success of the prior two albums, they perhaps took a chance by having one with only eight tracks, one of which was almost fourteen minutes long, but though the singles from this album would not perform perhaps as well as had previous ones, it was a critical and fan favourite, with its varied themes and references to classic literature and history.

With its striking cover fans were left in no doubt that Eddie was back in power; having been depicted as a madman on the cover of the previous album he was now shown as a god being worshipped in ancient Egypt. With no lineup changes and the band seemingly happy to be playing together, this is one of the tightest performances Maiden have achieved on record. It opens with "Aces high", a tribute to the fighter pilots who fought the Battle of Britain during World War II and foiled Hitler's plans to invade England. Kicking off with the traditional twin guitar attack the band has become famous for, it's not long before Bruce screams in like a diving Spitfire himself, his voice never in better shape. Nicko McBrain on the drums sounds like shattering flak in the sky as the clouds light up with tracer fire. Like many of Maiden's songs it has a really great hook in the chorus, and of course a superb guitar solo as throughout the album Adrian Smith and Dave Murray good-naturedly struggle to one-up each other with the most fluid and effective solo. The tempo doesn't slow for a moment (this is an Iron Maiden album, after all!) as we hammer into "Two minutes to midnight", with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

With something more of a sense of boogie in it, it's somewhat less frenetic than the opener but still heavy as hell as Bruce yells "We oil the jaws/ Of the war machine/ And feed it with our babies!" There's a lengthy solo on it which is more like an instrumental break than just a guitar riff, and the song is followed by one of the few Maiden instrumentals of their career. There hasn't, at this point, been one since "Killers", and so far we've yet to hear another one as of the time of writing. It's of course a vehicle for Smith and Murray to show off what they can do, ably aided by the somewhat nuts Nicko, and "Losfer words (Big 'orra)" is good, but I would perhaps have preferred a full song. Still, what are you going to do? It does lead into the powerful "Flash of the blade", which allows Bruce to indulge, at least lyrically, his love of fencing. With a great rolling guitar intro it's mid-paced for Maiden, with guitars changing to grind mode as Dickinson begins the vocal, and the lyric pays I believe something of a nod back to "Sun and steel" from the previous album.

Not surprisingly, it's written by the vocalist, one of two on which he writes solo, though he does collaborate on two others. I must say though I find "The duellists", which comes after it, extremely similar in lyrical theme and yet it's Harris that writes this. It's almost as if he said to himself, well if Bruce can write a song about fencing and duelling, so can I! Trouble is, he's not nearly as good at it, and I say that knowing how great a lyricist Steve is, but Bruce has practical knowledge and experience of fencing, and though this is not the same song it is quite similar. It's almost "Tailgunner" to "Aces high", and I just don't see why two songs so near to each other in theme had to be on the same album? It is a great song though and Bruce excels himself on the vocal, with the boys racking out solo after solo.

Then we're looking back again, to the seminal "Number of the Beast" album, as we find ourselves "Back in the Village", a sequel to "The Prisoner" of course, from that album. It's a continuation in every way, as the protagonist tries to escape from the mysterious place in which he has found himself, knowing it's unlikely he ever will. A big barrage of guitar riffs opens the song, and it trips along at mega-fast speed on the back of McBrain's manic drumming. In structure and melody it's actually fairly close to "Aces high", showing up a slight flaw running through this album, classic though it certainly is. There are a few ideas which appear to be recycled through the album, and I'm not sure why that is. The title track then looms large with its dark voices, wind effects and spooky noises, as a dark evil laugh gets the song going, a definite eastern tinge to the melody as we hear the lament of a god who does not want to die: "Tell me why I have to be a powerslave?/ I don't want to die/ I'm a god, why can't I live on?" The song rattles along on the twin rails of Adrian Smith and Dave Murray's guitars, while Bruce revels in the dark persona of the pharaoh he portrays. Steve Harris keeps an ominous bassline going like a guard at the mouth of the tomb, maintaining watch for the return of the god.

Nice introspective guitar solo in the middle as the whole thing slows down, then the solo changes to a fast metal one (possibly the two lads taking turns, I don't know) as it takes off again, thundering towards its conclusion with a big hammerpunch at the end. At just over seven minutes this would be the longest track on the album were it not for the closer. Closely modelled on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epic poem of the same name, "The rime of the Ancient Mariner" runs for a total of almost fourteen minutes, twice as long as "Powerslave". It starts with a galloping guitar intro as Bruce sings the opening verses, slightly modified for the lyric, telling the tale of the unlucky sailor who kills the albatross and thus brings a curse down on his fellow crewmen, their ship becalmed in strange seas.

The most effective and memorable part of the song is in the midsection, where Steve Harris's bass takes over, pulsing like a slow heartbeat, and the sounds of creaking timbers and the wash of the still sea paints a deathly scene as the mariner watches his friends die before him as Death extracts his toll, but he does not die himself. Bruce's voice intoning the verse is like a pronouncement of doom upon the head of the Ancient Mariner, as he wonders what will happen to him. By now we're halfway through the song and on the back of guitar it begins to pick up again, Harris's bass still carrying the tune until Bruce screams in triumph as the albatross falls off the mariner's neck and the ship begins to move, the wind starting to blow again, taking him in the direction of home. A fine solo from one or the other (impossible to say which) covers the ninth minute of the piece and takes it into the tenth, then in the eleventh it returns to the original melody from the beginning of the song. A real triumph, the longest Maiden song ever written, a fan favourite and a storming way to close a brilliant album.

TRACKLISTING

1. Aces high
2. Two minutes to midnight
3. Losfer words (Big 'orra)
4. Flash of the blade
5. The duellists
6. Back in the village
7. Powerslave
8. The rime of the Ancient Mariner

Just another of the many reasons why Iron Maiden rose to, and remain at, the top of the heavy metal tree. This album is a true classic, an amazing achievement and a real crosssection of what this band is capable of. Scoffing at the erroneously wideheld belief that metal bands only sing about women, beer, motorbikes and fighting, Maiden showed the power and breadth of their songwriting skills on this album, and that they could stand toe to toe with the best of them. They introduced culture into the lives of fans who had, probably, in the main, not been exposed to or interested in it before. Hordes of headbangers who before this album had no idea who Samuel Taylor Coleridge was, and cared less, now sing at the top of their lungs lines from a poem written in the nineteenth century. How's that for progress?

Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Maiden

10-18-2013, 02:37 PM	#1965 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	Okay, well as most of you know here I'm a huge Iron Maiden fanatic, and have already reviewed "The number of the Beast" here http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1199777, their debut self-titled here http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1140045, "Brave new world" here http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1049293 and even "Virtual XI" here http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1101902 (a less than glowing review, I'll admit). I've even written an entire section on them in my "Taking centre stage" series, back in 2011, here http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1105793, and I would not be at all surprised to find me reviewing "Killers" before Metal Month wraps up. But right now I'd like to take a look at one of their most famous and loved albums. Although it's true that "The number of the Beast" is my favourite of theirs, and is, as the section claims, one of the "Albums that changed my life" and awoke in my heart the delights of Heavy Metal, this must also go down as a very instrumental part of the Powerslave --- Iron Maiden --- 1984 (EMI) Any Maiden fan will tell you --- hell, any metal fan will tell you --- this was the album where Bruce and the boys really hit the pinnacle of their creativity. Sure, I love "Number of the Beast" and "Piece of mind" was a great album, and "Somewhere in time" had its moments, but nothing ever quite got it as perfectly on the nose as this, their fifth album overall and their third with Dickinson. After the immense commercial success of the prior two albums, they perhaps took a chance by having one with only eight tracks, one of which was almost fourteen minutes long, but though the singles from this album would not perform perhaps as well as had previous ones, it was a critical and fan favourite, with its varied themes and references to classic literature and history. With its striking cover fans were left in no doubt that Eddie was back in power; having been depicted as a madman on the cover of the previous album he was now shown as a god being worshipped in ancient Egypt. With no lineup changes and the band seemingly happy to be playing together, this is one of the tightest performances Maiden have achieved on record. It opens with "Aces high", a tribute to the fighter pilots who fought the Battle of Britain during World War II and foiled Hitler's plans to invade England. Kicking off with the traditional twin guitar attack the band has become famous for, it's not long before Bruce screams in like a diving Spitfire himself, his voice never in better shape. Nicko McBrain on the drums sounds like shattering flak in the sky as the clouds light up with tracer fire. Like many of Maiden's songs it has a really great hook in the chorus, and of course a superb guitar solo as throughout the album Adrian Smith and Dave Murray good-naturedly struggle to one-up each other with the most fluid and effective solo. The tempo doesn't slow for a moment (this is an Iron Maiden album, after all!) as we hammer into "Two minutes to midnight", with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. With something more of a sense of boogie in it, it's somewhat less frenetic than the opener but still heavy as hell as Bruce yells "We oil the jaws/ Of the war machine/ And feed it with our babies!" There's a lengthy solo on it which is more like an instrumental break than just a guitar riff, and the song is followed by one of the few Maiden instrumentals of their career. There hasn't, at this point, been one since "Killers", and so far we've yet to hear another one as of the time of writing. It's of course a vehicle for Smith and Murray to show off what they can do, ably aided by the somewhat nuts Nicko, and "Losfer words (Big 'orra)" is good, but I would perhaps have preferred a full song. Still, what are you going to do? It does lead into the powerful "Flash of the blade", which allows Bruce to indulge, at least lyrically, his love of fencing. With a great rolling guitar intro it's mid-paced for Maiden, with guitars changing to grind mode as Dickinson begins the vocal, and the lyric pays I believe something of a nod back to "Sun and steel" from the previous album. Not surprisingly, it's written by the vocalist, one of two on which he writes solo, though he does collaborate on two others. I must say though I find "The duellists", which comes after it, extremely similar in lyrical theme and yet it's Harris that writes this. It's almost as if he said to himself, well if Bruce can write a song about fencing and duelling, so can I! Trouble is, he's not nearly as good at it, and I say that knowing how great a lyricist Steve is, but Bruce has practical knowledge and experience of fencing, and though this is not the same song it is quite similar. It's almost "Tailgunner" to "Aces high", and I just don't see why two songs so near to each other in theme had to be on the same album? It is a great song though and Bruce excels himself on the vocal, with the boys racking out solo after solo. Then we're looking back again, to the seminal "Number of the Beast" album, as we find ourselves "Back in the Village", a sequel to "The Prisoner" of course, from that album. It's a continuation in every way, as the protagonist tries to escape from the mysterious place in which he has found himself, knowing it's unlikely he ever will. A big barrage of guitar riffs opens the song, and it trips along at mega-fast speed on the back of McBrain's manic drumming. In structure and melody it's actually fairly close to "Aces high", showing up a slight flaw running through this album, classic though it certainly is. There are a few ideas which appear to be recycled through the album, and I'm not sure why that is. The title track then looms large with its dark voices, wind effects and spooky noises, as a dark evil laugh gets the song going, a definite eastern tinge to the melody as we hear the lament of a god who does not want to die: "Tell me why I have to be a powerslave?/ I don't want to die/ I'm a god, why can't I live on?" The song rattles along on the twin rails of Adrian Smith and Dave Murray's guitars, while Bruce revels in the dark persona of the pharaoh he portrays. Steve Harris keeps an ominous bassline going like a guard at the mouth of the tomb, maintaining watch for the return of the god. Nice introspective guitar solo in the middle as the whole thing slows down, then the solo changes to a fast metal one (possibly the two lads taking turns, I don't know) as it takes off again, thundering towards its conclusion with a big hammerpunch at the end. At just over seven minutes this would be the longest track on the album were it not for the closer. Closely modelled on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epic poem of the same name, "The rime of the Ancient Mariner" runs for a total of almost fourteen minutes, twice as long as "Powerslave". It starts with a galloping guitar intro as Bruce sings the opening verses, slightly modified for the lyric, telling the tale of the unlucky sailor who kills the albatross and thus brings a curse down on his fellow crewmen, their ship becalmed in strange seas. The most effective and memorable part of the song is in the midsection, where Steve Harris's bass takes over, pulsing like a slow heartbeat, and the sounds of creaking timbers and the wash of the still sea paints a deathly scene as the mariner watches his friends die before him as Death extracts his toll, but he does not die himself. Bruce's voice intoning the verse is like a pronouncement of doom upon the head of the Ancient Mariner, as he wonders what will happen to him. By now we're halfway through the song and on the back of guitar it begins to pick up again, Harris's bass still carrying the tune until Bruce screams in triumph as the albatross falls off the mariner's neck and the ship begins to move, the wind starting to blow again, taking him in the direction of home. A fine solo from one or the other (impossible to say which) covers the ninth minute of the piece and takes it into the tenth, then in the eleventh it returns to the original melody from the beginning of the song. A real triumph, the longest Maiden song ever written, a fan favourite and a storming way to close a brilliant album. TRACKLISTING 1. Aces high 2. Two minutes to midnight 3. Losfer words (Big 'orra) 4. Flash of the blade 5. The duellists 6. Back in the village 7. Powerslave 8. The rime of the Ancient Mariner Just another of the many reasons why Iron Maiden rose to, and remain at, the top of the heavy metal tree. This album is a true classic, an amazing achievement and a real crosssection of what this band is capable of. Scoffing at the erroneously wideheld belief that metal bands only sing about women, beer, motorbikes and fighting, Maiden showed the power and breadth of their songwriting skills on this album, and that they could stand toe to toe with the best of them. They introduced culture into the lives of fans who had, probably, in the main, not been exposed to or interested in it before. Hordes of headbangers who before this album had no idea who Samuel Taylor Coleridge was, and cared less, now sing at the top of their lungs lines from a poem written in the nineteenth century. How's that for progress? Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Maiden __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-25-2013 at 01:01 PM.