Powerslave: Album Discussion

SinisterMinisterX said:
It's a real stretch for Alexander. I don't buy the argument that placing a song at a specific point in history makes it about time. It's about Alex. To say it "deals with time" is really pushing it IMO.
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SIT begins with the prospect of the future, and ends with the prospect of the past. It's not so much the song itself, it's just how it ties into the album.
 
I could buy that actually. Still a bit of a stretch though, I doubt they had that in mind when writing it.
 
Rime Of The Ancient Mariner 10
Aces High 10
Flash Of The Blade 10
Powerslave 10
The Duellists 10
Back In The Village 9
Losfer Words (Big 'Orra) 9
2 Minutes To Midnight 8

Average: 9,5
 
This is an extremely high quality album.
Much better than all that preceded it and those two that were directly after it.

This album has no weak tracks. The guitaring is excellent, singing great, drumming interesting, and song composition just fantastic and the overall energy and sound quality is supurb.
Even all these years later, this album is just such a pleasure to listen to all the way through.
Strongest song - Powerslave
Weakest song - Rime of the ancient mariner

I'd love more of this album to be played live, especially:
The Duelist
Flash of the blade
Losfer words

Now days though, I do value creativity very highly, so I have Final Frontier above this album and AMOLAD getting close.
But as a go-to album, this is it!
 
frus said:
Wut
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Powerslave album, although it is a very good album is kinda similar to all the other Maiden albums around that period.
Final Frontier and AMOLAD are very different beasts. Maiden have progressed and are more will to try different things. I can't quite say there is anything pushing boundaries on Powerslave.
 
Number 6 said:
Wut
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Rime is not Maiden's best epic
Red and Black
Infinite dreams
Revelations
Hallowed
Phantom
Alexander
Wild wind
Longest day
all leave it in the dust.

Rime is very repetitive, very. and its slow bits go for too long. My wife fell asleep in the middle of the song when we went to an IM concert.
Anyway, the song is OK, it's just on a great album full of better songs.
 
frus said:
From one another? Yes.
AMOLAD is great, but TFF is the greatest rehash ever. Certainly wouldn't put it in the same sentence with "creativity"
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I really did like AMOLD when it came out. It was very different from the previous Maiden albums, so I was pretty exited about what would come next
I consider TFF as taking AMOLD to the next level.
Starblind is fantastic. A very off kilter timing, nothing like Maiden have ever done before. The Talisman, once you strip of the yucky intro is a great song, very unique. When the wild wind blows.
Hmm, anyway I don't see a rehash anywhere on that album.
 
Powerslave pushes a lot of boundaries in metal and is one of the most creative ‘80s albums. All of Maiden’s previous works were leading up to it.

This band wrote a song that included the line “10 ME109s out of the sun”. I think the only other band that could pull this off is Sabaton, and even then...

The next few showcase the bands many interests - anti-war, polished music in the form of an instrumental, sword fighting (x2), and British TV.

Then Bruce showcases an interest in Egyptian culture, and Steve raps it all up with the single song that forever changed the landscape of heavy metal - Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Sure, there were literary metal songs before it, and the genre already had its fair share of epics, but Rime took it to a new level and it has never been topped. Never. I’d make a strong argument that it is the greatest metal song of all time.

Powerslave pushed boundaries on the sole strength of ROTAM, and even besides that, no other album from them has ever showcased their creativity in such a way. It’s a fun album, everyone is bringing their best to the table and it is a masterpiece and milestone in metal history. Of course I have my own personal favorites, but from an unbiased standpoint, the only other metal album that’s greater is Slayer’s Reign in Blood. That’s another story...

In short: Powerslave is Maiden’s best.
 
Diesel 11 said:
Powerslave pushes a lot of boundaries in metal and is one of the most creative ‘80s albums. All of Maiden’s previous works were leading up to it.

This band wrote a song that included the line “10 ME109s out of the sun”. I think the only other band that could pull this off is Sabaton, and even then...
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I wouldn't consider writing the lyrics to a song and having a line about ME109s is an example of musical creativity.
People sing about all sorts of stuff.

Diesel 11 said:
The next few showcase the bands many interests - anti-war, polished music in the form of an instrumental, sword fighting (x2), and British TV.
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Yeah sure, they often sing about war, sword fighting, planes, movies, tv shows.

Diesel 11 said:
Then Bruce showcases an interest in Egyptian culture, and Steve raps it all up with the single song that forever changed the landscape of heavy metal - Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
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Forever changed the landscape of heavy metal?? That's a bold statement.
Which "other band" songs were influenced by Rime? and in what way?
What is unique about that particular song?

Diesel 11 said:
Sure, there were literary metal songs before it, and the genre already had its fair share of epics, but Rime took it to a new level and it has never been topped. Never. I’d make a strong argument that it is the greatest metal song of all time.
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Are you talking about the musical aspects, the song structure, the harmonies, the melodies, the riffs, the choice of Mode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_(music), the key, the time signature, the instruments used?
Or just that this song topic was based on a poem? Have people not written lyrics based on poems before?

Diesel 11 said:
Powerslave pushed boundaries on the sole strength of ROTAM, and even besides that, no other album from them has ever showcased their creativity in such a way.
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What creativity in particular on this album or song?
It's pretty similar to previous Maiden albums (IMO).

Diesel 11 said:
It’s a fun album, everyone is bringing their best to the table and it is a masterpiece and milestone in metal history.
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I agree that it is a fun album, and I agree that each band member performs very well on the album. I'm not sure if it is a masterpiece (would need to understand the definition of "masterpiece" being used here. I can't see how Powerslave album is a milestone in metal history. It's a natural progression of all other Maiden albums up until that point. Black Sabbath's first album was a milestone, JPs and Maiden's first albums were milestones to lesser degrees, introducing duel harmonies, and Maiden for time signature changes etc.

Diesel 11 said:
Of course I have my own personal favorites, but from an unbiased standpoint, the only other metal album that’s greater is Slayer’s Reign in Blood. That’s another story...
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Your personal opinion on these, and your music tastes are completely biased. Mine are too.
Reign in Blood is a terrible album. Musically it presents very short simple songs, very little melodies, very little harmonies, the lead breaks are frantic and don't really explore any emotions other than frantic chaos. It's fast and angry, I'll give it that. But music is much more than just being fast. But, you know. This is just my opinion. Not some unbiased fact.
 
I get all your points, but I'm sticking to what I said, or most of it anyway.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner changed metal forever because it turned the tide in the favor of the metal epic, and henceforth they would always be in its shadow. Not only that, but through Rime, the metal epic is now a staple of the genre.

Powerslave is a masterpiece because it presents a band at the peak of their musical career in terms of songwriting, playing, etc. It's also a very pure metal album, and it's a great one to introduce people to the genre with.

As for Reign In Blood, that album changed the landscape forever. Personal opinions aside, without Reign In Blood, what's considered metal today would be completely different. It inspired people to push forward in the heaviness category, which would lead to the uber popular umbrella genre "extreme metal". Not only that, it's a damn fine record.
 
The Reign In Blood songs are exceptionally short purely because they're played faster. Musically (regarding structure), it's not much different from your other 4, or even 5 minute songs. You can't take points away from an album because songs are, lengthwise, short. They're all about 2 minutes long, but there's a lot going on in each of those 2 minutes.
 
Diesel 11 said:
As for Reign In Blood, that album changed the landscape forever. Personal opinions aside, without Reign In Blood, what's considered metal today would be completely different. It inspired people to push forward in the heaviness category, which would lead to the uber popular umbrella genre "extreme metal". Not only that, it's a damn fine record.
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My opinion of what is metal today, more reflects what I listen to, rather than what others listen to.
I don't really listen to extreme metal.
The only growly stuff I like is Sepultura with Max. I'still into Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween, Megadeth, but have come into Within Temptation, Nightwish, Delain. I also like Pantera (not so much the voice, but like the music), Ghost ain't bad. Avenged Seventh fold is OK, Shihad it good. But I personally wouldn't carry the Metal flag along the extreme metal stuff. To me that is at the boundaries of metal rather than the defining part of it.
Without Slayer, and without Reign in Blood, most of what I call metal would be strongly intact.

But I can understand that if you are really into the growly, screamy and fast chaotic stuff then Slayer might just be seen as a major influence.

Anyway, not trying to argue with you. Just trying to understand someone else's perspective.
 
MindlessPieces said:
But I can understand that if you are really into the growly, screamy and fast chaotic stuff then Slayer might just be seen as a major influence.
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I'm not that much into the growly, screamy and fast chaotic stuff as well, but there's really no denying that Slayer is a major influence, no matter what. Not sure what you're getting at.
 
Number 6 said:
The Reign In Blood songs are exceptionally short purely because they're played faster. Musically (regarding structure), it's not much different from your other 4, or even 5 minute songs. You can't take points away from an album because songs are, lengthwise, short. They're all about 2 minutes long, but there's a lot going on in each of those 2 minutes.
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I do think longer songs gives the possibility to do much more. But yeah, length isn't a reflection necessarily on what is going on in between start and finish.
Personally, I'm into melodies and harmonies. I like singers that sing melodies, I like solos that present emotions and the such. Playing fast doesn't (IMO) allow for much subtleties such as vibrato, bends and such. Slayer's solo's for the most part just seem frantic to me. I certainly preferred their slower stuff like Skeletons of society, or into the abyss, or dead skin mask.

But it comes down to tastes, I've just not really understood the appeal to Slayer.
 
Number 6 said:
I'm not that much into the growly, screamy and fast chaotic stuff as well, but there's really no denying that Slayer is a major influence, no matter what. Not sure what you're getting at.
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Just saying that Slayer isn't an influence (or doesn't seem to be an influence) of the metal bands that I listen to.
 
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