Iron Maiden
Powerslave

THE REVIEW

In 1984, Iron Maiden scored their fifth winning strike with their fifth masterpiece, Powerslave, the perfect synthesis of the band's furious early approach and their exploration of new sounds. This time, the setting is ancient Egyptian (which would create some clashes between the band and Ronnie James Dio, who in the same year released Last In Line, an album that adopts the same setting), probably also due to the cinema of the time (Indiana Jones), cinema to which, from Piece Of Mind onwards, Iron Maiden seem increasingly inspired for their songs (Where Eagles Dare, for example)...

Another thing that characterizes the theme of their songs is History, and it is with a bit of History that the album opens, in the best possible way, with Aces High: the Battle of Britain (1940/41) comes to life in the lyrics as well as the music in this song, where you can feel the panic of the bombing and aerial duels with a frantic and frenzied rhythm that propels us into an open, airy, evocative chorus in which Dickinson gives his best. The splendid solos of the Smith and Murray duo complete a track that is absolutely one of the best ever written by the band.
2 Minutes To Midnight, which would become a staple in Maiden concerts, opens with a now-famous riff (but actually almost entirely stolen from Flash Rockin' Man by Accept) and continues with Dickinson's usual excellent voice, once again narrating war, this time nuclear war, with shocking and violent lyrics.
Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) is a good instrumental, preceding Flash Of The Blade, a track very underrated by the band and rarely performed live; a sharp riff on a single string introduces us to a violent and wickedly musical piece, which would be used by Dario Argento in his film Phenomena, but not in the lyrics, which are not very inspired.
The Duellist, inspired by Ridley Scott's film, is probably the weakest track on the entire album and seems to echo too much the structure of Where Eagles Dare.
Back In The Village brings us back to war again, but with less conviction than the two masterpieces that open this album, but it's not at all a bad track, which also contains a great Smith solo... now we're approaching the end... wind and howls, then a scream that dies in laughter, and Powerslave, the title track, begins. The sound is different, and increasingly distant from the streetwise ferocity of the early albums, as are the lyrics, which this time talk about the last hours of life of an Egyptian pharaoh. A representative track of the evolving Maiden sound, still direct and violent, but now closer to increasingly emphatic sound architectures and increasingly refined melodies.
After the impressive title track comes the most ambitious track ever written by the group, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, which seeks to set to music "The Ballad of the Ancient Mariner" by romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1797). The lyrics, written by a highly inspired Harris, are very close to the original, complete with literal quotes, and manage to convey without overlooking any detail the same emotions as the original by Coleridge. To fully appreciate the song, it is advisable to read the original first and then listen to it with the lyrics in hand; this way, it will be easier to appreciate a song that is nothing short of a not quite perfect assembly of at least three or four songs, complete with a central part recited by an off-screen voice, a song that could appear all too long and wordy in its thirteen minutes on superficial listening.

After this gem, we've finally reached the end of a masterpiece album, absolutely recommended to Metal lovers as a milestone (like each of the first seven Irons' albums) of the genre both for the music and the lyrics.