The self-titled album started it all. The Number Of The Beast, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son and many beyond are the chart-toppers. And Brave New World brought the band back in a blaze of glory. However, for countless connoisseurs out there, Powerslave is the best Iron Maiden ever got.
Granted, The Beast’s fifth album wasn’t as history-making or ceiling-shattering as much of their other ’80s work, but so many of its songs have persisted for 40-plus years now. Aces High is a pulse-pounder, weaving through riffs just as quickly and nimbly as the fighter jets Bruce Dickinson howls about. On the other end of the spectrum, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner pushed the legends to unprecedented grandeur with its near-14-minute length. In between, from 2 Minutes To Midnight to the menacing title track, everything is all killer, no filler.
To celebrate four decades of this fan-favourite, Metal Hammer has released its newest issue with a limited-edition cover dedicated to Powerslave, available only in Tesco. Inside is an extensive feature on the story of the album, too. We’ve also taken it upon ourselves to rank every track on this spotless classic from worst to best. It was an arduous task, but well worth it – if only for the chance to re-experience everything that makes Maiden “Maiden”, condensed into 51 minutes.
8. The Duellists
Something had to draw the short straw, didn’t it? There may not be a bad song on Powerslave, but The Duellists is the least impressive of the bunch. Musically, it’s your standard Maiden chug-a-thon, maintaining the same gallop throughout. The excitement levels aren’t helped by the song’s placement in the track listing, either: its slot after Flash Of The Blade, a more high-octane cut with the same theme of sword fighting, makes it feel like diminishing returns. Thankfully, Bruce’s voice goes all out – rising from fast, ranting verses to bold, ‘whoa’ing choruses – and stops us from tapping the skip button.
7. Losfer Words (Big ’Orra)
Maiden are no strangers to instrumentals, and they bring the format to its best when they go all-out. Genghis Khan from Killers, for example, flaunts the Londers’ chops with its series of tight riffs and transforming time signatures. On the other hand, Losfer Words (Big ’Orra) is structured like a song with singing on top. It’s invigorating, thanks in equal part to the speed of the thing and that flamboyant lead guitar line as a hook, but it’s also missing something. The ‘verses’ could do with more melody, and there’s never a moment that drops jaws with its technicality.
6. Back In The Village
While making The Number Of The Beast, Bruce and guitarist Adrian Smith tapped into their nostalgia for sci-fi series The Prisoner to pen the track of the same name. Back In The Village is that beloved’s less iconic successor, ditching the samples and accelerating to a far thrashier speed. Adrian and Dave Murray’s winding guitars – especially at the outset and during that tapping, soloing mid-section – are the runaway highlight here. However, that hook (“Back in the village! Again in the village! I’m back in the village again!”) is a sturdy one, making this a more-than-worthy addition to one of Maiden’s essential releases.
5. Flash Of The Blade
Is Flash Of The Blade Maiden’s most underrated song? If it isn’t, it’s certainly up there. That tapping riff is the missing link between Van Halen and Avenged Sevenfold, while Bruce’s lyrics only further the exhilaration. “You’re St George or you’re David and you’ll always kill the beast!” he cries, before crescendoing with, “You’ll die as you lived! In a flash of the blade!” Despite the obvious excellence, though, Maiden have never performed this anthem live. Maybe it’s too demanding, or maybe the band have too many hits to make room. Either way, this needs to get aired before they call it a day.
4. 2 Minutes To Midnight
2 Minutes To Midnight is one of the Maiden songs: a top 20 hit, a live mainstay, and a fixture in numerous compilations. Just one listen to this apocalyptic standout’s chorus will reveal why. “2 minutes to midnight!” Bruce roars, pointing to the face of the Doomsday Clock during the Cold War. “The hands that threaten doom!” Arenas worldwide have screamed that hook, which is masterfully built up to by a bouncing verse and a vocally dynamic pre-chorus. It should feel sacrilegious to rank something so successful mid-table, but that shows just how stacked with amazing songs Powerslave is.
3. Powerslave
A track so rich with powerful imagery that it gave Powerslave not only its title, but its lush cover art as well. Backed by riffs that turn the soundscape of The Mummy into ominous metal, Bruce descends past the Eye Of Horus into the Egyptian underworld. “Tell me why I have to be a powerslave! I don’t wanna die, I’m a god, why can’t I live on?!” he wails, somehow conveying dread and bombast at the same time. Factor in a dark prog bridge, powered by Steve Harris’ booming bass, and you get one of Maiden’s most tonally fascinating tracks.
2. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
You know the intrigue, darkness and prog overtones we just discussed mentioned Powerslave? Amplify those by 10,000 and you get Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. Maiden’s widescreen triumph retells Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem, narrating the same themes of liminality and respect for nature via thumping metal. The ambition alone is respectable, but what makes Rime… magical is its shifting movements, from mid-paced stomps to quick strides and then a moody crawl. The song’s rebuilding, where Bruce’s intensifying voice and Steve’s pulsing bassline lead the charge, may be its greatest moment. But, let’s be honest: it’s all pretty fucking great.
1. Aces High
Aces High could make a sloth break into a sprint or a worm benchpress a house. It’s that empowering. From start to finish, Powerslave’s opener is adrenaline in audio, diving through multiple powerhouse riffs, with Steve’s bass and Nicko McBrain’s drums charting the course. Is it any wonder why this high-speed burst launched every show on Maiden’s blockbuster World Slavery tour? Then regained that role 30 years later during Somewhere Back In Time? If its intensity, virtuosity and melody don’t make you want to hop into that fighter plane alongside the narrator, check your pulse. You may well be dead.
You can get Metal Hammer’s new issue with an exclusive Powerslave cover at Tesco stores up and down the UK now.
