CLASSIC METAL: Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind REVIEW

Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind: A++

SL's Pick for the Best Metal Album of All-Time

Have you ever thought about your own funeral? I know, very morbid. But I've always wondered about people who have particular pieces of music played at their funeral --- you heard it first here, I'm thinking of "Piece of Mind" arranged for pipe organ --- or what the fROCk, play the damn CD --- how's that for last wishes?

Where do I begin with this? For my long time readers, you all read my piece on my Formative Years. This album by Iron Maiden has shaped so much of what little I have of musical tastes, and has showed me what a complete album, a true masterpiece, can be like, no matter the genre

For you Maiden history buffs, this is the first Nicko album, and wow, does the new kid know how to pound skins. This is also the album where the interplay of bass gallop and the guitar work are just perfect.

It always fascinated me that I liked every track on the album. There are a handful of albums that I can say that about, one that immediately comes to mind is Ride the Lightning by Metallica, but the list is a short, short few.

When I think about why it is that I like every track on this album, each track does what it is supposed to. No ramblings about potential, just execution. From the opening drum tracks of guitar driven "Where Eagles Dare" all the way through to "To Tame a Land", this album had the best mix of all the Maiden albums of gallop, melody, thematic atmosphere, and great lyrical imagery

"Where Eagles Dare", WOW! --- how many times does an album just grab you by the neck from its very first track and say pay attention to me! This is your brilliant guitar driven, power metal epic opener that Maiden has tried on a few of their albums as openers. None quite stand up to this one for its precision, melody, and just rock out/air guitar inducing attention grabbing

"Revelations", I have always wondered why this one gets neglected in terms of performance in Maiden live sets. I think they have put in back in the set for this year's tour, so COME TO HAWAII, DAMMIT! It is a brilliant, melodic, evil slowburn that builds and builds and builds, then explodes into full gallop

"Flight of Icarus", I always go back and forth with thinking that this may be my favorite Maiden song --- this one got push as a single on MTV back in the day, and the video has been redone by those Camp Chaos animation guys, and yeah its hella cool --- this one is the power metal epic tale of ambition gone horribly awry, this one is your rhythm section driven Maiden masterpiece, with Nicko and Steve Harris just giving a great dynamic vibe to it, and the guitar solo is just once in a lifetime, it matches so perfectly with the flight theme

"Die With Your Boots On" and "The Trooper", back to back the two of the most famous Maiden gallops. Only "Run to the Hills" off NOB comes remotely close. These two just rock so hard, and are so perfectly crafted in terms of interplay between riffs and rhythm, it was note taking time for all the power metal bands which follow in this vein. The opening for "The Trooper", if you don't like that, you're not metal --- it's also very fun to singalong too and have fun losing your voice in the process

"Still Life", very much like "Revelations" in terms of evil vibe, but this time the lunacy of the storyteller is palpable. This is the underrated track on this album in your reviewer's opinion. You can totally feel the insanity creeping in, it's a real fantastic example of building atmosphere in a song. Air guitar supreme on the soloing and melodies in this one.

"Quest for Fire", another solid one, exceptional in its use of really good imagery in the lyrics. The music is a bit more plodding but I think that that's the atmosphere that best conveys the subject or message of the song. Again, simply brilliant guitar work.

"Sun and Steel", this one is a minor galloper. It gets across very solidly as a nice galloping rocker, but really doesn't measure up to "Boots" and "Trooper" which are also on the album. Good track, though, more guitar melodies and great solo work to add to an already strong album

"To Tame a Land", another one of Maiden's epics in the spirit of "Mariner" or "Phantom", this time about Frank Herbert's Dune --- these epics are always great in their dynamics and ability to create atmosphere. Admittedly this and "Sun" may be the comparatively weakest tracks on the album, but then again, the whole album is so strong that these two don't stand out like a sore thumb

For those of you Maiden fans that prefer "Number of the Beast", I just have to say that that CD grabbed my attention intermittently with real showstoppers. "Piece" just puts the whole enchilada together without the dead spots in my interest. Top to bottom, it is paced well, and the performances are the most dead-on righteous of any Maiden album

It was a labor of love to listen to Piece again, all metal fans should have this album in their collection. "Piece" is truly one of the essential pieces to the history of the metal genre.