I will follow up this post later with a "...This is now." rebuttal, but well, some of you might not want to read this.
That was then......So Powerslave came out shortly after I turned 16. I thought myself, even at that age, a Heavy Metal expert!
I was already into new bands like Metallica and Queensryche, with music so fresh and exciting.
I was also already a huge Iron Maiden fan, who were my favorite band along with UFO.
Anyway, when Powerslave came out, obviously the first thing I noticed was the Epygtian theme. Like when I think a screenwriter has run out of ideas, the old fall back is to have one of the characters turn unfaithful. When a Metal band is out of ideas, they go Egyptian.
Ok, but it's Maiden, this is going to be great innit?
First track was a standard fast paced track. I guess it was cool and all, but it felt clichéd and formulaic. Yawn.
OK, the next track is the new single. Oh, and in 1984, what was all the rage? War and the nuclear bomb. Maiden singing about war was nothing new, but again, it felt clichéd again. Plus in 1984, this is what, now the 5th song that starts out with the same used up riff. So now Iron Maiden is now ripping off Riot, Accept, Saxon, and Dio? Really? The musical break was decent, but it felt very predictable.
I felt they should've renamed Losfer Words as Losfer Ideas. How can a band release such a monster like Transylvannia, and then follow it up with this piece of crap?
Next is Flash and The Duallist. Yes, it's already well documented that Bruce likes fencing. But these tracks are just not strong enough. Not even close.
Oddly, the only song I really liked right away was Back In The Village.
The title track, I originally felt was contrived and forced. I thought it was ok but I still felt like I knew every twist and turn before they took it.
And then Rime. I cannot tell you about the endless interviews I saw and read about how they did this super long song, and no metal would ever have the balls to do such a thing. Puleeze. And it doesn't really go anywhere. A very predictable mellow part 2/3rds of the way through. The song really has one pace and that's all it has.
I was very let down by Powerslave and the only thing that made it worthwhile was the Rainbow's Gold B-Side, which was better than anything else on the album.