I know I was hinting about it all throughout last month, but I wasn’t exactly beings subtle about it. Can you blame me though!? Right up there with Thrash Metal, Power Metal is one of my favorite sub-genres in all of metal. The soaring vocals, the loud & sometimes hokey instrumentation, and the fantasy-oriented lyrics create a music style that’s very over the top, but at the same time gets the audience heavily involved, and creates what I can only describe as a “Happy” vibe. From June all the wall until August all things Power Metal will be talked about & reviewed. For this month, I’ll be review albums that each contained an important component to the formation of this glorious sub-genre. For today’s album, let’s take a look at the vocal blueprints of Power Metal. There was only one band that gained the honor. One band with a lasting legacy. One band that still has relevance here in the modern day, and will likely never fade away from the metallic spectrum. The band in question......is Iron Maiden.
Ah yes, Iron Maiden. From 1980 all the way to 2015, these pillars of The New Wave of British Heavy Metal have crafted some of the most iconic albums in all of metal. How fortunate that the album I’m looking at today happens to have the word “Power” in it’s title. Even if it didn’t, the music contained within is more than worthy of being called a progenitor of Power Metal. So dust off your time machine, and travel back to the time of the ancient pharaohs. This is a look at the classic Powerslave, so let the review begin!
Background
After the conclusion of their successful World Peace Tour in December of 1983, the band took 3 weeks off in January of 1984 before they regrouped in Jersey (England). As with their previous record, this was where most of the album's writing took place before the band began recording at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas. Recalling that under such a short space of time, Steve Harris said that Rime of the Ancient Mariner was written relatively quickly, and was inspired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem of the same name. The song directly quoted two passages from the poem, it also contains different moods & sections, and it was due to this variety that the song would become a fan favorite.
Once the writing was finished, the band took another short break while Powerslave was mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York, before reconvening in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to rehearse for the World Slavery Tour. It would begin in Poland of August 1984, and would end in California by late 1985. The stage setup was an impressive sight: mirroring the sandy album cover, there were columns, an Egyptian album cover, pyro, and a imposing mummified hydraulic Eddie that would move around all throughout the show. The set was so impressive, it even managed to fill up the iconic Radio City Music Hall in NYC. During the tour for Powerslave, they did their first ever show behind the Iron Curtain, as they visited Hungary & Poland, which was incredible for the time. It would continue into South America, where they would play for the first time to an estimated audience of 300,000 at the inaugural Rock in Rio as special guests to the band Queen.
Released on September the 3rd of 1984, Powerslave was received very favorably upon it’s release. It reached number 21 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, but in the United Kingdom it made all the way to number 2 on their official albums chart. In the years since it’s release, many other music sources continued to heap rightfully earned praise upon the album. Allmusic gave it 4 ½ out of 5 stars, which a review from 2006 over on Sputnikmusic gave it a full 5 out of 5. Over on the website Metal Archives, Powerslave has lavish piles of praise tossed upon it, with only 1 review giving it a 60 out of 100.
Basic Description
Awesome!
Like I said above, each of the albums this month focus on one particular aspect of Power Metal’s formations. For the starting album, it was highly important that we took a look at the vocals behind what would eventually become Power Metal. Though their original singer Paul Di’Anno was great in his own right, in my personal view, Bruce Dickenson is Iron Maiden. Possessing a vocal range possibly even greater than Paul, Bruce can go from soaring angel all the way to a more humble tone at the drop of a hat. His voices never loses clarity however, and you’re always able to hear what he’s singing. Power Metal vocalists must be capable of changing not only the volume of their voice, but the pacing as well, and in my view Bruce Dickenson is the audio face of Power Metal’s most early days!
The rest of the band is no slouch either on Powerslave! Nicko McBrain, despite the ridicule he sometimes receives, does a great job on the drums. Steve Harris is a wizard on the bass guitar, and the twin guitar duo of Dave Murray & Adrian Smith have a thunderous yet controlled output on their axes. Coupled with the vocal output from Bruce, and the end result is nothing short of 1980s Heavy Metal magic!
Best Track
Dear god, this is a hard thing to ask! With the exception of just 1 song (Maybe 2 if you’re picky, but I’ll get to that in a bit), every song on Powerslave is 100% 1980s metal gold! From the energetic Aces High, to the nuclear protest track 2 Minutes To Midnight, to the Egyptian-infused title track, Maiden crafted an incredible record that’s still popular among fans of the band to this very day. It’s so hard, as I like each & every single song contained within Powerslave. There’s fast songs, slow songs, and songs that are in between. Without wasting anymore words, let me just say that every song (Minus the bad one) on Powerslave is worthy of listening to.
Worst Track
Back In The Village is perhaps the only bad song on Powerslave. It goes through the motions of something like Aces High, but due to Bruce’s surprisingly lackluster voice, it makes the whole song strangely forgettable. Once could chalk it up to the fact that Flash of the Blade & The Duellists came before, and those tracks had some intense vocals. One could say because of that, maybe Bruce’s vocal work could be weak on Back In The Village, but others could say that perhaps Maiden was coasting a little when it came to this track. I have a feeling it’s the latter more than the former.
Back In The Village
A dishonorable mention goes to the concluding track Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, but that’s more to do with it’s running time than anything else. Seriously, 13 minutes & 14 seconds!? In 1984!? I don’t think anybody was ready for a metal song that long, especially when Heavy Metal was still trying to find it’s footing a little in the early 80s. To be fair, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner would be eclipsed by Empire Of The Clouds from their 2015 release The Book Of Souls, which plays for an immense 18 minutes & 1 second. In hindsight, 13 minutes doesn’t look so bad, don’t you agree?
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Other
If you’d like to take a listen to Powerslave, there’s a link below:
Powerslave
Overall Impression & Rating
Powerslave is a fantastic offering from the British lords known as Iron Maiden. If Back In The Village wasn’t on here, I would have gladly given this a perfect 10! Sadly, I gotta be objective, and 1 bad song can blemish an album. Even with that said, one cannot deny the gloriousness of this record! It’s lasting legacy was a template for other bands in the 1980s, and for many bands beyond. Bruce Dickenson’s voice is on point on this record, and laid the groundwork for vocalists that walk the Power Metal path. Even if you’re only remotely interested in Iron Maiden, I’d highly suggest Powerslave as your starting point. You won’t regret it!
Powerslave gets a 9 out of 10.
So that marks the first review of Power Metal Pandemonium, showing off a legend of a band & their contribution to the genre’s distinct vocal style. In 2 weeks time you’ll see another legend, and hear their contribution to Power Metal’s iconic instrumental style. In the meantime, I think a return to the Nexus is in order. See you tomorrow!
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