When I was younger, I never went through a heavy metal phase. It is one of the more promient streotypes in the media to have the newly rebeleous teenager draped in skull and crossbones playing the anthems of AC/DC, Slayer and the rest. While it does have truth in it and there are plenty of teenagers, as well as preteens, who can tell you the virtues of Tommy Iommi, when I first listened to music I veered off into the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Streophonics and (shudders) The Feeling. My teenage years passed with no metal other than a few early Rush LPs and Back In Black.
Iron Maiden were always on the radar but it wasn't until the year 2010 when I brought an album by them. 'The Number of The Beast' 2 for £10 purchased alongside Jason Mraz's 'We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things' (hey, a girl was involved!) so things weren't off to a flying start! I had learnt 'Run To The Hills recentely on guitar. Those first unison bends and the 'galloping' effect of the verses gave me plenty of enjoyment as well as being a bloody hard song to play! Well I was certainly in for a treat with the album and 'The Number Of The Beast', 'The Prisoner' and 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' all became favorites of mine! The world of Iron Maiden was now wide open for me, added alongside a growing amount of heavy metal in my collection.
Powerslave was one of the first albums I checked out afterwards. Whereas 'The Number of The Beast' can be regarded as their explosion into superstardom, 'Powerslave' is the album they began to make strides. While Bruce Dickinson was the new guy on the Beast album, he is most definitely a permenant fixture for this album. And what can you say? He does a brilliant job as ever. There is power in his voice and him belting out '2 Minutes to Midnight' ourght to be able to get up the laziest of souls. "The smell of resined leather. The steely iron mask. As you cut and thrust and parried at the fencing master's call." is delivered with a real sense of agression. This isn't the lads off down the chip shop, this is a group which means buisness!
Right from the get go 'Aces High' is thrown at the listener. If a song about people falling from the sky in few tons of twisted metal doesn't get the heart pumping then there might be a reason you're lieing in that morgue. The musical chops are there and it is blisting piece of speedy metal, an incredibly British opener in the vein of 'Brighton Rock'. It isn't all Bangers N Mash though and preserving their Britishness doesn't take first place over what else they may have to say. 'Powerslave', one of the 2 hit songs alongside '2 Minutes To Midnight', is about the ancienct eygyptians and their afterlife passing rights. Could there be a tiny hint that Iron Maiden are arcknoladging that there top of their game and awaiting the "one to suceed me"? Maybe not but what is certain is this song kept me hooked for over 6 minutes. As many pop songs can leave a listener bored in half that time, any band who pulls off a song for that amount of time deserves the attention they are given.
As a guitarist myself, it is without question I would be drawn to the guitars on this album. This album has them in the lorry full and plenty of songs I would love to play. The playing is very veried too. The finger picking (or bending? hard to tell) at the start of 'Flash Of The Blade' makes for an exciting intro. The instrumental 'Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)' is 4 minutes of metal magic, the solo's sound as fresh as the day it was recorded and the switching of the emphasis from the drums, bass and guitars means I missed out on hearing every detail right away Needless to say you will be rewarded with further listens.
The grand finale is, for no better word to describe it, ambitous. Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner put to the music of an 80's speed metal band. It holds itself together surprisingly well although doesn't hold a candle to some of their previous final tracks. Still "Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink" is something we needed backed by one of the better metal bands. This isn't terrority which most of their contemparoies would have stepped into.
While not including a tour de force such as as 'Hallowed Be Thy NAme', Powerslave is great collection metal anthems and rightly one of the first steps someone should take into the Iron Maiden discography.
There goes the siren that warns off the air raid
Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak
Out for the scramble we've got to get airborne
Got to get up for the coming attack.
Jump in the cockpit and start up the engines
Remove all the wheel blocks
there's no time to waste
Gathering speed as we head down the runway
Gotta get airborne before it's too late
Running, scrambling, flying
Rolling, turning, diving, going in again
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Run, live to fly, fly to live, Aces high
Move in to fire at the mainstream of bombers
Let off a sharp burst and then turn away
Roll over, spin round and come in behind them
Move to their blindsides and firing again
Bandits at 8 o'clock move in behind us
Ten ME-109's out of the sun
Ascending and turning out spitfires to face them
Heading straight for them I press my guns.
Rolling, turning, diving
Rolling, turning, diving, goin' again
Run, live to fly, fly to live, do or die
Run, live to fly, fly to live, Aces high.
Kill for gain or shoot to maim
We don't need a reason
The Golden Goose is on the loose
And never out of season
Blackened pride still burns inside
The shell of bloody treason
Here's my gun for a barrel of fun
For the love of living death
The killer's breed or the demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune, the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
Don't you pray for our soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
The blind men shout,
"Let the creatures out
We'll show the unbelievers."
Napalm screams of human flames
For a prime time Belsen feast ... yeah!
As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat and lick the gravy
We oil the jaws of the war machine and feed it with our babies.
The killer's breed or the demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune, the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
Don't you pray for our soul anymore
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
[Solo]
The body bags and little rags of children torn in two
And the jellied brains of those who remain to put the finger right on you
As the madmen play on words and make us all dance to their song
To the tune of starving millions to make a better kind of gun.
The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,
The glamour, the fortune, the pain,
Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain
Don't you pray for my soul anymore.
2 minutes to midnight,
The hands that threaten doom.
2 minutes to midnight,
To kill the unborn in the womb.
As a young boy chasing Dragons
with your wooden sword so mighty,
You're St. George or you're David and you always
killed the beast
Times change very quickly
And you had to grow up early
A house in smoking ruins and the bodies at your feet
[Chorus:]
You'll die as you lived
In a flash of the blade
In a corner forgotten by no-one
You lived for the touch
For the feel of the steel
One man, and his Honour.
The smell of resined leather
The steely iron mask
As you cut and thrust and parried at the
fencing master's call
He taught you all he ever knew
To fear no mortal man
And now you'll wreak your vengeance in the
Screams of evil man.
He threw down a glove you made the mistake
Of picking it up now you're gone
The choosing of guns or fighting with swords
The choice of weapons is gone
He'll tear you apart as soon as you start
You know you don't have a chance
[Chorus:]
OH...OH... Fight for the Honour
Fight for the Splendour
Fight for the Pleasure
OH...OH... Fight for the Honour
Fight for the Splendour
Fight for your Life!
Ready to start the duel begins
the best man wins in the end
A lunge and a feint, a parry too late
A cut to the chest and you're down
Seeing the stain then feeling the pain
Feeling the sweat on your brow
[Chorus:]
The fighting resumes, a silence looms the
Swordsman move 'gainst each other
A cut and a thrust, a parry, a blow
a stab to the heart and you're down
The Angel of Death hears your last breath
Meanwhile the reaper looks on
OH...OH... Fought for the Honour
Fought for the Splendour
Fought for the Pleasure
OH...OH... Fought for the Honour
Fought for the Splendour
Fought to the Death
Into the Abyss I'll fall - the eye of Horus
Into the eyes of the night - watching me go
Green is the cat's eye that glows -
In this Temple
Enter the risen Osiris - risen again.
[Chorus:]
Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don't wanna die, I'm a God,
Why can't I live on?
When the Life Giver dies,
All around is laid waste,
And in my last hour,
I'm a Slave to the Power of Death.
When I was living this lie - Fear was my Game
People would worship and fall -
Drop to their knees.
So bring me the blood and
Red wine for the one to succeed me,
For he is a man and a God -
And He will die too.
[Chorus:]
Now I am cold but a ghost lives in my veins,
Silent the terror that reigned -
Marbled in stone
A Shell of a man God preserved -
For thousand ages,
But open the gates of my hell -
I'll strike from the grave
[Chorus:]
Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don't wanna die, I'm a God,
Why can't I live on?
When the Life Giver dies,
All around is laid waste,
And in my last hour,
I'm a Slave to the Power of Death.
Slave to the Power of Death...
Slave to the Power of Death...
Hear the rime of the Ancient Mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
Stay here and listen to the nightmares
of the Sea
And the music plays on, as the bride passes by
Caught by his spell and
the Mariner tells his tale.
Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
To a place where nobody's been
Through the snow fog flies on the albatross
Hailed in God's name,
hoping good luck it brings.
And the ship sails on, back to the North
Through the fog and ice and
the albatross follows on
The mariner kills the bird of good omen
His shipmates cry against what he's done
But when the fog clears, they justify him
And make themselves a part of the crime.
Sailing on and on and North across the sea
Sailing on and on and North 'till all is calm
The albatross begins with its vengeance
A terrible curse a thirst has begun
His shipmates blame bad luck on the Mariner
About his neck, the dead bird is hung.
And the curse goes on and on and on at sea
And the thirst goes on and on for them and me
"Day after day, day after day,
we stuck nor breath nor motion
As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean
Water, water everywhere and
all the boards did shrink
Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink."
[SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)]
There, calls the mariner
there comes a ship over the line
But how can she sail with no wind
in her sails and no tide.
See... onward she comes
Onwards she nears, out of the sun
See... she has no crew
She has no life, wait but there's two
Death and she Life in Death,
they throw their dice for the crew
She wins the Mariner and he belongs to her now.
Then ... crew one by one
They drop down dead, two hundred men
She... She, Life in Death.
She lets him live, her chosen one.
[NARRATIVE]
"One after one by the star dogged moon,
too quick for groan or sigh
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang
and cursed me with his eye
Four times fifty living men
(and I heard nor sigh nor groan),
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
they dropped down one by one."
[SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)]
The curse it lives on in their eyes
The Mariner he wished he'd die
Along with the sea creatures
But they lived on, so did he.
And by the light of the moon
He prays for their beauty not doom
With heart he blesses them
God's creatures all of them too.
Then the spell starts to break
The albatross falls from his neck
Sinks down like lead into the Sea
Then down in falls comes the rain.
Hear the groans of the long dead seamen
See them stir and they start to rise
Bodies lifted by good spirits
None of them speak
and they're lifeless in their eyes
And revenge is still sought, penance starts again
Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on.
Now the curse is finally lifted
And the Mariner sights his home
Spirits go from the long dead bodies
Form their own light and
the Mariner's left alone
And then a boat came sailing towards him
It was a joy he could not believe
The Pilot's boat, his son and the hermit
Penance of life will fall onto Him.
And the ship it sinks like lead into the sea
And the hermit shrives the mariner of his sins
The Mariner's bound to tell of his story
To tell his tale wherever he goes
To teach God's word by his own example
That we must love all things that God made.
And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man
And the tale goes on and on and on.
. _________________ .
I owe $100,000 and wasted 4 years of my life.
Well, thank you so very much, it's great 2 know I have fans.
(EDIT: Abusive comments have been removed. Please remember the site rules. albummaster) _________________ .
I owe $100,000 and wasted 4 years of my life.
Thanks for this - i ordered Powerslave and Somewhere In Time off amazon last week, so i'm really looking forward to hearing them both now! _________________ "Bunch of opinionated, hipster twats!"
I'm proud of you Outlaw. Gary isn't really the greatest fan of this album on here. The only reason he has it as #6 and I only have it as #8 is that he hasn't taken time to listen to At Fillmore East and The Wild, the Innocent...
The only error in your post is that it should say 100/100, nothing else.
ok, i posted this earlier in the album thread, but i'm interested to hear other people's opinions (especially Gary's - being the biggest IM fan on here):
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Admitedly i had high expectations for this album, the guitar work overall is very impressive, but the vocals were a little weak for me, at times even a little cheesy. They saved the best for last though - the last 2 tracks are awesome, with Powerslave being my favourite on the album, with the epic Rime Of The Ancient Mariner being a very close second. I'm going to give this another listen sometime, but as of now i think 7th Son is still the better album. I've also got Somewhere In Time to listen to later so i'm hoping that will be better..
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holy shit! Straight away this album blew me away. Sounds much more gutsy than Powerslave, and although it was the first Iron Maiden album to feature synths, they're not overwealming and add a bit of atmosphere to each song. The whole album is just brilliant, and dare i say it, even better than 7th Son!
Well done
i've listen to Somewhere in Time again since original post, and i've definitely decided it's actually better than 7th Son. _________________ "Bunch of opinionated, hipster twats!"
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