IRON MAIDEN — Piece Of Mind (review)

IRON MAIDEN — Piece Of Mind album cover Album · 1983 · NWoBHM Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Pekka
And so is born the classic Iron Maiden line-up, as Clive Burr departs due to health problems and in comes the since ever-present madman Nicko McBrain. The new guy gets a proper introduction as he gets to start the album with a furious flurry of drum fills before the first track kicks in, showcasing an even more metallic sounding band.

Maiden had exploded with The Number of the Beast especially in the United States, and soon of course faced the trouble of trying to follow up an international hit album. The result doesn't completely live up to the standards set by its predecessor, but the band was still young, enthusiastic and overflowing with great riffs and melodies. The track started by the drum intro is Where Eagles Dare, and it's a great way to open the album with its heavy riffing, soaring vocals and machine gun drum breaks. The following track Revelations was a mystery to me for a couple of years until I heard it at a 2003 Bruce Dickinson solo concert and was blown away by its versatility, atmosphere and brilliant melodies. Since then it's been one of my favourite Iron Maiden tracks.

The Trooper is obviously the most well known of the album's tracks, and as much as I think it's overplayed, slaughtered and whatnot, it's always a great pleasure to listen to, especially live with some new three guitar harmonies. Still Life is a forgotten gem that I'd love to hear live one day, but no chance of that happening I'm afraid. (A funny thing is that when I was six years old and in my daycare place, just having my first contacts with Metallica and Alice Cooper, one of the tapes there had this funny mumbling part recorded in two speeds of the turntable. We used to laugh a lot when listening to it, and some ten years later I realized that it was the intro to Still Life.) The fifth and final highlight of the album is the epic closer To Tame a Land, originally intended to be titled Dune after its source of inspiration. The track suffers a tad from the same problem that plagues the later album closer Alexander the Great, too many words in one line to form a flowing melody, but nevertheless it's a great piece of epic Maiden from the days when seven minutes was epic instead of average length.

The remaining four tracks (with the possible exception of the lyrics in Quest for Fire...) are very strong by any standards except the ones Maiden were setting themselves in the early 80s. A great metal album, but still quite far from their highest peaks.
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