IRON MAIDEN — Powerslave (review)

IRON MAIDEN — Powerslave album cover Album · 1984 · NWoBHM Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Stephen
With big praises everywhere, "Powerslave" seemed so untouchable, sitting comfortably on the top mind of almost every Maiden fans all over the earth, but to me, most of the time, this album is judged solely based on the first two tracks and the epic closer. "Aces High" needs no introduction, the air raid siren, soaring vocal, and the thunderous harmonic guitars are just mind-boggling, one of their perfect offering, simply flawless. "2 Minutes 2 Midnight" is catchy as hell, you hear this track once, and it will haunt you for years, to re-sing that melody every morning you awake is very easy.

And let's jump to the closing track, "Rime of The Ancient Mariner", an attempt to revive Samuel Taylor Coleridge's classic poem, is the first over-10 minutes Maiden track ever made, a progressive side of the band with big riffs and wonderful uptempo part, despite of the cheesy spoken section, is totally lovable.

But to be honest, looking at the rest five tracks, I can only sense the slight appeal at the title track and "Back In The Village". "Losfer Words" is a very decent instrumental track which largely forgettable. "Flash of The Blade" and "The Duellists" has some cracking moment but I found it hard to appreciate and mesmerize the songs, and both of them came down to another very decent heavy metal tracks. With only 8 tracks presented and almost half of them are fillers, I don't see a reason to join the 5-stars wagon, but "Powerslave" remains an important catalogue to have, especially for those three tracks alone. Dickinson's voice is at his peak, even though still no sign of slowing down after 20 years, it's a thrilling experience to see how easy he reach those high notes back and forth. A good release!
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