Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind

My absolute favourite Iron Maiden album is Piece Of Mind. This was the album that cemented the classic Iron Maiden line up of Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson and Nicko McBrain. As well as the first Maiden album to make me turn my head and go "Holy shit, Dickinson has a voice that could only have been personally handed to him by God." Religious views aside, I do believe that his voice came from Heaven. It could possibly be The Choir Of Angels all put into one man's voice. However, let me move on.

Is this my favourite album because it is Maiden's best? That's a matter of opinion. Typically Number Of The Beast is considered their best, and I tend to agree with that. However, this album has my two favourite songs, plus a bunch of others I love. I must acknoweldge this album does have a bit of filler, which is why it isn't as good as Number.

The album opens with Where Eagles Dare, which believe it or not I would consider a weak start to the album. It's a decent tune, but pretty stock for Maiden.

From there it moves into Revelations. This song is actually better live than it is on the album. It's odd how slowly this albums starts up. It's almost like the band said "Let's put all the shite at the beginning of the album, so when it starts going they can't stop listening."

If I'm listening to just this album, I normally skip straight to track 3 and then continue from there. Why track three? It's my favourite Iron Maiden song.

Let me start by saying that I don't know if there is an Adrian Smith/Maiden song I don't like. However, Flight Of Icarus does not have just Adrian (my favourite Iron Maiden guitarist) writing, but also Bruce Diskinson has a credit as well.

Now the story is simple enough. It's about the flight of Icarus. Not that you'd be able to figure that out from the title or anything. However, for those that don't know what that story is about, the fastest way to learn is by listening to this song. So, stop reading this and go listen to the song on Youtube or something, then come back when you know the story.

Now, musically speaking the guitar work in this song gets me off. One of the reasons it's so magnificent is that while being an Iron Maiden song, it's still uniquely different in its delivery. For starters, the gallop isn't there.

I do believe this is Bruce's best vocal performance to date. The super length held note for "Fly" at the 3:02 marker is an orgasm for the ears. Of all the songs I need to see Maiden performe live, this is the highest on my list. Sadly, Bruce doesn't seem to try risking it much anymore.

After that it's on to Die With Your Boots On, which is a bit typical, but still totally kicking. I also only call it typical, because it's just so awesomely stock Iron Maiden. Plus how can you argue with lyrics like "No point asking when it is, / No point asking who's to go, / No point asking what's the game, / No point asking who's to blame. /'cos if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die, / 'cos if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die, / If you're gonna die, die with your boots on. / If you're gonna try, just stick around, / Gonna cry, just move along, / If you're gonna die, you're gonna die."

Now if you are kind of paying attention you might think that Die With Your Boots On is supposed to go with the next song.

Let me start by saying there are only two songs I like more than The Trooper. I've already mentioned one, and the other, Running Free, which isn't on this album. First off, this is the quintessential Iron Maiden gallopping riff song. The insane gallop that only Steven Harris can so perfectly play is what this entire song is all about. Then the lryical content is real fun, especially the simple chorus of "Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh" repeated twice. Why such a simple chorus? With a verse like "You'll take my life but I'll take yours too / You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through / So when your waiting for the next attack / You'd better stand there's no turning back / The bugle sounds the charge begins / But on this battle field no one wins / The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath as I plunge on into certain death", a couple of"Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh's" is all you need.

I mentioned in the past that to this day I always think that Still Life is called Peace Of Mind. I can't offer a logical reason for this except for that the words Still Life appear nowhere in the song, but the words Peace Of Mind do. It's like they didn't want to make this a title track. I also like the little bit of vocal effects they use in the studio version. It's not much, but it's effective.

Quest For Fire is another great stock song. This one sounds a bit like a leftover from the albums Iron Maiden or Killers, but not a bad left over. Just one of those songs that wasn't finished and then was forgotten about for a while. It has that vibe and groove found especially on the first album. I also have to mention that Iron Maiden is one of the best story telling bands, and this song goes right along with that. A Metal Opera about cavemen questing for fire. Simply beautiful.

Sun And Steel is a bit filler. It's okay, but I find it about as weak of a song as the first two on this album, which leads into the last track from the album. To Tame A Land, directly inspired by Dune, has a sound that eventually would become the Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son album, only five years earlier. Not a song that I care for much, but it's still a fantastic song, like many Iron Maiden epics are.

As I said in the beginning, this is not Maiden's best album, It's just my favourite. How could it not be, it has Flight Of Icarus and The Trooper, plus a bunch of other good stuff. This is the type of album that's great for when you just need to listen to an album with some intellectual substance behind it.

7/10 - content

8/10 - production

10/10 - personal bias