The songs "2 Minutes to Midnight" and "Aces High" were released as singles. Its cover artwork is notable for its Ancient Egypt theme. That theme, taken from the title track, was carried over to the album's supporting tour, the World Slavery Tour. This began in Warsaw, Poland, on 9 August 1984; it is widely regarded as being the band's longest and most arduous tour to date, and led to the live album Live After Death.
Powerslave is notable as the band's first album to feature the same personnel as their previous studio release. This lineup would remain intact for two further studio releases. It is also their last album to date to feature an instrumental piece, and the only one until Senjutsu (2021) in which longtime member and guitarist Dave Murray does not have a songwriting credit.[a]
Background, writing and recording
Following the conclusion of their highly successful World Piece Tour in December 1983, during which Iron Maiden headlined large venues and arenas in the US for the first time in their career,[1] the band took three weeks off in January 1984, before regrouping at Le Chalet Hotel in Jersey where they rehearsed for six weeks.[2][3][b] As with Powerslave's predecessor Piece of Mind (1983), this was where most of the album's writing took place; the band then began recording it at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas.[5]
Once finished, the band undertook another short break while the album was mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York, before reconvening in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to rehearse for the World Slavery Tour.[6] The tour began in Poland in August 1984 and ended in California in July 1985.[7] The stage set echoed the album cover, including monumental pedestals several stories high, atop which the musicians appeared at times during the show.[8] The set amply filled even the gigantic proscenium of Radio City Music Hall. The tour was the first time a heavy metal band had taken a full set behind the Iron Curtain, visiting Poland and Hungary, a landmark achievement at the time.[7] It continued into South America – the first time the band had toured there – where they played to an estimated audience of 350,000 at the inaugural Rock in Rio as special guests of the band Queen.[9] The Live After Death album and video, recorded over four nights at Long Beach Arena in LA and Hammersmith Odeon in London,[10] were also released; these respectively peaked at No. 2 and No. 1 in the UK charts.[11]
In total, the tour was eleven months long and touched 28 countries.[7]Powerslave debuted at No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart, as a result of their record company EMI's third Now That's What I Call Music! pop compilation.[7][11][12] Eventually, Iron Maiden's fifth studio album achieved No. 1 in the UK and No. 12 in US.[13]
"Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)" was Iron Maiden's fourth instrumental track and the first they released after "Genghis Khan" (from Killers, 1981); it also was their first instrumental track released since both Bruce Dickinson and Nicko McBrain joined the band. As it happened with "Transylvania", the band originally intended to write lyrics for it, but could not find any fitting theme; after having listened to the music, they agreed upon leaving it as it was, and gave it its title as a pun.[18][19]
Dickinson's "Flash of the Blade" was inspired by his passion for fencing,[20] while the closing track of Side A, "The Duellists", was inspired to Harris by the 1977 British historical dramafilm of the same name.[16] "Back in the Village", written by Smith and Dickinson, is a sequel to the 1982 song "The Prisoner" and is based on the British science fiction TV series The Prisoner.[20] The album title track, "Powerslave", is narrated from the point of view of an Egyptian pharaoh wondering why he has to die, he who was considered a god by his people, and was written by Dickinson as a partial allegory of his life as a rock-star.[14] The track was chosen as the album's title track and provided the theme for both the cover artwork and the stage decorations.[14]
The album's closer and longest track, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", is an abridgment of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem of the same name.[20] Bassist and songwriter Steve Harris recalled how, under time pressure, the piece was written in a relatively short space of time.[9] Drawing heavily from Coleridge's 1815–16 gloss to his own poem,[8] the song directly quotes two passages, the former including the famous lines: "Water, water everywhere – nor any drop to drink".[21] At over thirteen minutes long, the track contains several distinct sections with differing moods and would become a fan favourite.[22] During the 2008–09 Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, guitarist Dave Murray, Dickinson and Harris cited the song as their favourite to play live.[23]
Powerslave received favorable reviews and accolades and was ranked at number 38 on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" in 2017.[29] According to both Nicko McBrain and Adrian Smith, Powerslave began making Iron Maiden famous "very fast, very quickly", such as in Brazil, where hundreds of fans waited outside hotels and restaurants for the band.[9]
In 2024, Iron Maiden celebrated the album's 40th anniversary with a limited edition Zoetrope vinyl.[30]
^"The History of Iron Maiden: Part 2 – Live After Death". Live After Death (DVD). EMI Records. 4 February 2008. Event occurs at 1:30. ASINB0010X7TJ6. After a brief Christmas break, the band reconvened at le Chalet Hotel on Guernsey,
^Wall, Mick (2004). Iron Maiden: Run to the Hills, the Authorised Biography (3rd ed.). Sanctuary Publishing. p. 252. ISBN1-86074-542-3.
^Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 166. ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
^"Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "Powerslave".
