IRON MAIDEN / Powerslave (1984)

Powerslave opens with all guns firing, and ends even stronger. In-between are some classics and some lesser known tracks that don't make it onto Best of... compilations but are nevertheless constructed with the same love and care as the hits that do. The production is astonishing; it sounds as good today as it did in '84.
The album is most notable for having the ambitious 13+ minute track, Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a retelling of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem of the same name. It takes the listener on a journey of shifting moods and poetical allusions. If you're really lucky. they'll play it live the next time you see them.

Songs of Note: Aces High; Rime of the Ancient Mariner

4 slain and risen out of 5