Iron Maiden - Powerslave
1984 EMI

Track Listing:
1.  Aces High
2.  2 Minutes To Midnight
3.  Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) [Instrumental]
4.  Flash Of The Blade
5.  Duellists
6.  Back In The Village
7.  Powerslave
8.  Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Bruce Dickinson
Guitars:  Dave Murray, Adrian Smith
Bass:  Steve Harris
Drums:  Nicko McBrain

Website:  www.ironmaiden.com

Horatio's Rating:  A
Average Album Rating:  A

Horatio's Review:
I received an e-mail the other day from a punter called Foley asking why I hadn't reviewed 'Piece Of Mind' or 'Powerslave'.  I replied to him that some wanker had stolen my copies of them back in the late nineties and hocked them off to a second hand record store run by a bloke named Brian Hickey.  To review an album, I told Foley, I need to hear it while I'm writing about it.  Then I stopped and realized I'd heard both albums more than a thousand times and could download them in an hour.  To think I'd need to hear 'Aces High' to review it.  Many fans consider this to be Maiden's last classic, a whole five years into their recording career.  Aside from 'No Prayer For The Dying', it might be.  Hard to blame Maiden, it was their fifth album in as many years and the wear and tear of the road was beginning to take its toll.

'Powerslave' has a far different feel than 'Piece Of Mind', not as polished production-wise, but equally as heavy.  This cemented the band as the biggest metal act in the world with instant classics such as 'Aces High', 'Two Minutes To Midnight' and the title track.  The track which steals the show however is the raging 'Back In The Village', one of Maiden's hardest cuts and seemingly one of the most forgotten.  This one needs to be unearthed for future live shows to breathe life back into a stale act.  Metal could get no heavier than the main riff to 'Powerslave', a piece of class which made the majority of metal acts in '84 look foolish.  The thirteen minute epic 'Rime Of The Ancient Mariner' might have been too much looking back, and the filler of instrumental 'Losfer Words', 'Duellists' and 'Flash Of The Blade' was disconcerting, even if they weren't as bad as Priest's filler. 

Somehow Maiden lost their Midas touch following the 'Slave On The Road' tour.  The magic that existed in their first five albums disappeared on 'Somewhere In Time'.  How I cannot tell you, but you sense that initial magic had slipped away.  'Powerslave' was the last time Maiden had that feeling of urgency, the sense that one was in the midst of a metal machine that would never be equaled.  I thought they had recovered it in 1990, but that was a false dawn.  Instead Maiden peaked too early, but not before they had left an indelible mark.  I guarantee in 1984/85 you could have walked the halls of any U.S. high school and encountered a metal head in a tight black Maiden shirt.  'Powerslave' is a classic in that regard, that it bridged the gap for a generation of metalheads, while musically still proving why the band was on top.  Heavy metal played to perfection.
Horatio's Rating:  A

Also be sure to read:
Iron Maiden - A Real Dead One Quick Reviews by Horatio
Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death by Horatio
Iron Maiden - Fear Of The Dark by Horatio
Iron Maiden - Killers by Horatio
Iron Maiden - No Prayer For The Dying by Horatio
Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast by Horatio
Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time by Horatio
Iron Maiden - The X Factor Quick Reviews
Iron Maiden - Virtual XI by Horatio