40 Years Ago: Stability Helps Iron Maiden Triumph on 'Powerslave'

In hindsight, there’s little doubt that Iron Maiden delivered a heavy metal landmark with their fifth album. But at the time Powerslave was released on Sept. 3, 1984, Iron Maiden had spent little time thinking about anything beyond the immediate task at hand.

Within weeks of wrapping up the triumphant World Piece Tour in December 1983, frontman Bruce Dickinson, guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, bassist Steve Harris and drummer Nicko McBrain were composing and fine-tuning new songs during a February spent on the isolated English Channel island of Jersey.

Between March and April, they left for Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas for principal recording with producer Martin Birch, followed by final mixing of the raw goods at New York City’s Electric Lady in May. As Iron Maiden shifted their attention to rehearsing for what turned out to be the most ambitious world tour yet, Powerslave became the first where they'd managed to maintain the same lineup for two consecutive albums.

Such an unfamiliar taste of stability undoubtedly helped to focus Iron Maiden’s creative process and took their mutual instrumental affinity to the next level.

The songs on Powerslave spanned the length and breadth of the group’s ability and imagination, alternating captivating bursts of concise metallic power with extended progressive experiments in equal measures. Before it was over, fans had been invited on a wild ride across history, literature and action fantasy.

Watch Iron Maiden's 'Aces High' Video

The Wide Lyrical Sweep of 'Powerslave'

Iron Maiden went inside the cockpit of a World War II flying ace for the exhilarating opener "Aces High," then back to ancient Egypt and into the golden slippers of Pharaoh for the magnificent title track. Powerslave also took listeners behind the face mask of Bruce Dickinson – a fencing enthusiast – for both "Flash of the Blade" and "The Duellists," and then into the Cold War-tormented everyday lives for "2 Minutes to Midnight" (the album's first single) and the paranoid chaos of "Back in the Village."

The result was a formidable lineup of future metal standards, which served a foundational role for Harris’ album-capping magnum opus "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Based on the epic work of the same name by 18th-century poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the song was meticulously expanded and arranged until it reached an astonishing, vinyl-busting 14 minutes of mega-metal glory.

Powerslave was then wrapped in evocative cover art created by longtime Iron Maiden artist and Eddie creator Derek Riggs, completing the album’s carefully developed audio/visual picture. The stage was set for the World Slavery Tour.