Iron Maiden's Reviews

Piece Of Mind

(Average Rating: 9.24 out of 10)

Not the worst Maiden album, the most irritatingly over-rated

(Rated this album with 6 out of 10)
Reviewed by Chris Burton from TONBRIDGE, KENT England

This was a very important album in Iron Maiden's career. It was their cause for such huge success in the USA (and their first headlining tour of the country was for this album), it is highly regarded as their greatest by quite a few fans of the band and it was the first Iron Maiden album to feature their "classic" line-up (Dickinson, Murray, Harris, Smith, McBrain). However, for some reason, I have never got into it. Iron Maiden are my favourite band ever (maybe tied with Dream Theater) and I love so much of their stuff, but I can't get into this at all. I've owned it for a few years now and I have listened to it a lot, trying to like it, but I just don't.

For me, many of the songs seem to lack energy. Flight Of Icarus and Still Life seem to plod along without much substance, for faster songs Die With Your Boots On and Sun And Steel failed to impress, To Tame A Land is one of the weakest epics the band have ever written, and Quest For Fire just sucks. It is one of the worst songs they've ever done.

However, Maiden would be hard pressed to release an album without any highlights at all (with their best albums like Number Of The Beast and Somewhere In Time all the songs are fantastic). Where Eagles Dare is a fierce opener, The Trooper is a blistering rocker and Revelations is one of the bands most incredible songs. However, even a blind chicken can find a few grains of wheat in a farmyard, so I wouldn't say it was worth buying the album for those songs considering that better versions can be found on live compilations anyway.

All in all, I was incredibly disappointed with this album. For the most part, it lacks either energy or substance, is plagued by filler and is completely overshadowed by other, superior releases from the band. However, by all means listen to it and decide for yourself. After all, many people think it is one of the bands best.

Buy this album on Amazon at $16.98