TIMEWARP: Piece of Mind - Iron Maiden

 Two people called out my musical sacrilege when I fully admitted I had never heard Iron Maiden. By their covers and display, I easily assumed they were some realm of metal in which would never appeal to me. I have never been a heavy metal type - but I love a good concept. Which is what a particular person explained to me about the content of Iron Maiden's work, actual literature or historical events. So my interest was piqued and I decided I would find an Iron Maiden album to listen to and review. 

I could have chosen Power Slave considering it was the one most were discussing and also within the peak of their career, but I diverged to Piece of Mind as it was apparently inspired by other forms of art which the band enjoyed. Movies, literature, and essays mostly inspired by war and the trenches. I decided to see what Iron Maiden could do. I certainly do not have the same knowledge of the legacy of Iron Maiden as many do, so bear with me if you feel I missed something in the story.

The album begins with "Where Eagles Dare", which was my first impression ever of Iron Maiden and I fully admit it was nothing as I expected. The vocalist almost has a Rush/Journey type of feel when I was expecting some sort of screamer rock. I had to immediately realign my expectations. The song itself seems to reference the bravery of soldiers within the trenches, which is easily commendable. The effects seem very realistic and well done for the time as well. The instrumentals were strong with it. 

The album shifts to "Revelations", taking words from G.K. Chesterton. While most today use actual audio of something like this, I found it very cool he actually SANG it. It adds more power to the song itself. Also, this knocks down my mother's original comparison to AC/DC with Iron Maiden, because they've shown already they can adjust their instrumentation more. (No insult to AC/DC lovers out there, they were never my thing. More Back to Black for you!) I was not quite prepared for the strong religious imagery within an album of some of the bands perceived as satanic in the past. It seems like a historical take upon the fall of man and the finding of truth. I can't knock that in any form. It sticks with me a lot more than the starting track did.

When I saw the next song title as "Flight of Icarus", I realized we were moving to Greek lore. I remembered this as Zayn Malik's "Icarus" was also a bit inspired, but more with the dark side of the story than the flight. As you know be aware, Icarus ends up falling in the water and drowning. The song has a powerful delivery, and without the history attached could definitely be a song that gets you pumped before a big event or a workout. 

I was a bit more surprised by the next title being "Die With Your Boots on". This sort of "death" is an honorable death putting up a fight. I didn't find this song as poignant or strong as the others and the others background vocals took away from it a bit for me. 

The next moves to Lord Tennyson, an old poet who I remember have to read in high school. Nevertheless, the song is called "The Trooper" and it returns to their strengths from the earlier songs. The extra background vocals work much better for this song and the lead singer's voice falls more naturally in place. I also love the guitar hook for this one a little too much. 

The next song, titled "Still Life", a song that apparently rose a little controversy at the beginning with have some words you can only understand backwards. This was meant to be a counter to the statements of people calling them "satanic". Nevertheless, this is possibly the most beautiful song on the album. It follows the realm of a power ballad more so than the others. The song has a great deal of conviction in delivery, albeit the vocal choices are not perfect. I think this actually enhances the song. Enough to give you chills. 

I feel like "Quest for Life" gets a little unfair treatment in this sense because it felt like such a drop down from "Still Life". The lyrics do not have a strong appeal, albeit historically well written. I don't like the melody being sung with the music very much either for this one.

We shift to "Sun and Steel", another reference to warring soldiers but does not feel as poignantly written as "The Trooper". It is musically better than "Quest for Life" but I think if I chose one of the two, I would end up with "The Trooper" as they have similar concepts. 

The album closes with a very strong track, "To Tame a Land". Originally meant to be called "Dune", based off the science fiction novel, the author refused to allow it and did not allow them to use a quotation from the book in the song either. Also Iron Maiden forced me to read a plot summary of the book so I knew what the lyrics were referencing in some way, albeit from an outside perspective it seemed almost another in the "Revelations" type of meaning. Iron Maiden is great if you want a short school lesson too! 

Lyrics: 7/10 - They fall flat on a few songs, but other songs are very captivating word wise and have well deserved recognition. 

Music: 6/10 - Some of the music they use becomes a bit redundant, but not too much. They vary up enough you can tell there's a new song. Sometimes I feel the music and the melody did not work together which took down my music score slightly.

OVERALL: 6/10. Not near as bad as I expected Iron Maiden to be. I cannot see myself revisiting the album in entirety but I can see myself revisiting some of the songs for sure. "Still Life", "Revelations", and "The Trooper" are definitely my take aways from the album. 

Did you love this one? Do you have a different perspective? Let me know!