Piece Of Mind is probably my most favorite Iron Maiden album after Brave New World. However, many die-hard Maiden fans call it a good album-not their very best. Overall, the album is rock-solid. It really serves as an appetizer before you devour the excellent classic PowerSlave.
However, the songs that make my spinal cord tingle are The Trooper and Still Life. The Trooper transports me back in time to Balaclava (Back to the 25th of October 1854 to be precise) where I can actually visualize the British Cavalry charging against the Russian Army. I swear, sometimes when I close my eyes and listen to the song, I can actually smell ’’Acrid smoke and horse’s breath’’ as I see myself perched on a horse plunging to my ’’Certain death’’. Every line of the song comes alive before me as finally, ’’Without a tear I draw my parting groan’’. Trust me, it is as though I was a soldier who actually participated in the battle and I actually feel his pain as he dies! The song is so, so powerful!!....(shudder).
Before I can barely recuperate from the pain of participating and dying in a war (Seriously, how many people have died in a war and lived to describe how it felt?), I am subjected to the strange suffering of the protagonist of Still Life. Why he sees the people in the water and why he thus suffers is not known to me. But this song has the same magical touch to it. I feel as though I am the one crying out loud for help...until I finally decide to end my ordeal by ’’Joining them at the bottom of the pool’’.
Wow! If these two songs alone do not justify the cost of the album, then may the heavens open up and may I be struck by lightning...right here, right now!
Oh, there are seven more songs on this album that are really, really good...featuring the trademark Maiden riffs, melodies, solos, vocals....I can go on forever.
If you are a self-respecting heavy metal fan, then you must get this album NOW. Enjoy!