Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Iron Maiden - Powerslave (1984)

Maiden finally hit their true pace from ‘Piece Of Mind’ onwards.  At the point of me first hearing ‘Powerslave’ it struck me just how it sounded like a band who were five albums into their career should sound.  All the structures that had been improving since the debut continued to evolve on ‘Powerslave’ culminating in the epic ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ of course.  For the most part though the majority of the songs are concise and memorable with only the aforementioned album closer taking on any grand length.  

The sense of epic really came to the fore on ‘Powerslave’, the artwork coupled with the lyrical content added a real sense of poise to the Maiden offerings of the mid-eighties.  Not to say that the immediacy of their sound was gone.  Far from it. The way the opening the track drills into your brain, convincing the listener that they are sat in the cockpit of one of the very fighter planes being described.  The grit of ‘2 Minutes to Midnight’ and the dashing riffage of ‘Flash of the Blade’ and ‘Back in the Village’ bring a real sense of consistency and cohesion to the album.

It still isn’t perfect of course.  ‘Losfer Words’ and ‘The Duellists’ are the odd ones out here, with neither track bringing anything to the album.   But overall ‘Powerslave’ is probably the first time since the debut into the sophomore of there being some actual consistency from album to album.