The legends them selves Iron Maiden have gained millions of fans over the years with their distinct sound & uncanny ability to put out great albums one after another. Their fifth album "Powerslave" is probably their best. Sporting only 8 songs, the band more then makes up for that with the length and quality of their music.

THE MEN BEHIND THE BEAST:

STEVE HARRIS: The curly haired Maiden bassist happens to be one of the best songwriters of all time. He writes music centered around his basslines most of the time and has a knack for writing especially long pieces of music. As a bassist he is amazing.

DAVE MURRAY: One half of the legendary guitar sound that is instantly recognisable as Iron Maiden. Dave and Adrian Smith are so in sync with each others playing that together they create the highly addictive Maiden sound. Dave has a fairly laid back personality and gets along well with his bandmmates.

NICKO McBRAIN: The highly energetic, joker of the band. His energy comes accross in his drumming. He is without a doubt on the more talented end of '80s drummers. Though still up for a good time he has calmed downed slighty over the years, maybe even grown up a little.

ADRIAN SMITH: The second half of the Iron Maiden tag team guitarists. Like Dave, he is fairly laid back and takes a perfectionist type approach to working on songs which has earned himself the nickname "Willie Orwontee" amongst his band mates.

BRUCE DICKINSON: The voice behind the magic that is Iron Maiden. He adds to that instantly recognisable sound and completes the list of ingredients needed to make a multi million album selling band.

Throughout the years the band line up has changed every now and again, such as Adrians departure in the early 90s. These days the band has re formed with its full line up(the one outlined above) and also a new guitarist has been added. That makes 3 lead guitarists in Maiden. Pretty amazing.

The PowerSlave album was released in 1984 following a string of successful albums such as Number Of The Beast, and proved in typical Iron Maiden fashion to out do the success of the previous albums.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ALBUM "POWERSLAVE": "Aces High" and "2 Minutes To Midnight" kick off the album and kick it off well going on to be two of the most popular Maiden songs ever. "Aces High" is just a musical work of art. The bass is outstanding in this one as is all the music. Vocals are fast and frantic and really shine with the trademark Maiden sound. "2 Minutes To Midnight" is probably the most popular Maiden song out there. It has to be heard to understand why it was so big. "PowerSlave", the title track starts off with a very distinctive guitar piece which runs with the song well.

"Rime Of The Acient Mariner" is an old poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge with one of Steve Harris's best music pieces ever. It's a long song, over 13 minutes, but you don't get sick of it, you only get caught up in it appreciate the bands talent. "Losfer Words", the instrumental. This is my personal favourite instrumental ever. It's like a well planned out "jam session".

OTHER SONGS NOT TO BE MISSED: "Flash of The Blade" & "Duellists" are two excellent songs that shouldn't be missed by any rock fan. They both capture that "Maiden" sound as well as any song on the album. Like just about every Maiden song, this is a music masterpiece which is a joy to hear.

SONGS THAT MISSED THE MARK: "Back In The Village" is a decent song and that doesn't really make it "miss the mark" it's just a bit behind the standards of the rest of the album. It's on a album filled with classics and I just feel that it falls short of the rest.

MOTLEY KID'S FINAL VERDICT: With no songs that are must skip material, and every song that is atleast good & just about every song being a classic this is an album that should be in any rock purists collection.

As always,

Rock On


The Motley Kid

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening