Music Monday: Powerslave by Iron Maiden

Powerslave by Iron Maiden

Here stands one of the magnum opus of 80's British Metal. This is an album of sheer beauty, epic wonder, and kick ass metal! For some strange reason, Iron Maiden get labeled as extreme satanic metal which is just odd. It is one of the nerdiest bands ever. I mean, who the hell writes a 14minute metal adaptation of Samuel Coleridge Taylor's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The music, much like the cover art has an Egyptian, mid-eastern quality to it that melds well with metal. This is especially effective on the title track, which contains one of the hardest-hitting, awesome, galloping guitar riffs of the 80's. The album starts with a one-two punch of two of the most popular, anthemic tracks, "Aces High" and "Two Minutes to Midnight." The instrumental, "Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)", despite the terrible title shows off Maiden's chops like none other. Though it lack a lot of the punk influence that made their earlier albums classics of the genre. They fill this void with prog rock to great results. The epic closer, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" for better or worse, helped laid the tracks from future Prog-metal bands such as Dream Theater . An essential for any metal fan.