Teenage Lobotomy

By 1983 Iron Maiden were on the brink of eclipsing their nearest rivals. They had supported Judas Priest in America only the year before, but if the Priest were all about trebly guitars and high pitched screams then Maiden were all about the bottom end.

Piece Of Mind sounds earthy, with a bass-heavy atmosphere of real ale and honest sweat toil, whereas Screaming For Vengeance was brash, metallic, crisply lager-esque. The guitars on Piece Of Mind growl, and Bruce Dickinson’s voice on this album has a more mellow timbre than Halfords. Confident, muscular and with endless tenacity and enthusiasm, Iron Maiden were about to strike out as headliners across the world thanks to this album.

It’s common for fans to wax lyrical about the start to the album. Where Eagles Dare, featuring the audacious introduction by new drummer Nicko McBrain, was endearingly ambitious in every respect. Song structure, time signature, vocal lines and instrumental section; all were a cut above any previous Side One-Track One on an Iron Maiden record. Then there’s Revelations, the first Maiden song to be officially penned by Dickinson, which uses space and melody in a manner only hinted at on previous releases.

In fact Piece Of Mind is probably the most accessible album of the First Dickinson Era. Flight Of Icarus, Die With Your Boots On, The Trooper, Sun And Steel and Still Life all have FM-friendly harmony vocals on each chorus and the guitar lines are also surprisingly singable. Icarus was the first single, somewhat derided for its slothful pace and commercialism but still surprisingly welcome whenever it pops up on the MP3 player or radio. Boots is a phenomenally enjoyable gallop and yet far more complex than that suggests, while Still Life starts as a cosy little ballad of narcissism and culminates in fatal madness. Both are undeniable classics of heavy metal.

But it’s the musicianship as much as the songwriting that makes this a great album. The guitarists trade passionate solos and inventive harmonies, while Steve Harris acts as counterpoint as much as he underpins the rhythm. Dickinson has such a preponderance of gruff brawny power and so much character, in what might possibly be his peak performance to date, that it is impossible to imagine anyone else singing these songs with any validity. Dickinson himself has never bettered the chest-beatingly manly studio version of The Trooper, and has since been guilty of bellowing for effect where once he sang with venomous passion.

All this fervent creativity was only possible due to the technical ability of the new brown-haired boy on the drumkit. The ‘what-can-we-do-today’ attitude that came of having such skill at hand meant that songs like To Tame A Land were possible. If Dickinson nailed down the soul of Piece Of Mind then McBrain had a monopoly on its heartbeat.

There were only eighteen months separating Maiden Japan and Piece Of Mind. Iron Maiden had gone from the edge of oblivion to becoming world-beaters in a year and a half, and now had two of the best albums of all time under their belts as well.