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| title | eleventyNavigation | album_name | album_tracks | album_length | album_year | album_link | album_link_provider | dateCreated | dateChanged | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Somewhere in Time |
|
Somewhere in Time | 8 | 51 min 40 sec | 1985 | https://www.discogs.com/release/21168847-Iron-Maiden-Somewhere-In-Time | Discogs | 2024-02-17 | Last Modified |
Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time. What a masterpiece of an album.
Caught Somewhere in Time is a brilliant start to any album, and even more so in this case, as Steve Harris has said before that he'd never use a synth in his music. Ah, how times have changed between him saying that and this album releasing. The first riff introduces the listener to the newly added and just before mentioned synths, shortly before exploding into the classic Iron Maiden sound we all know and love.
Wasted Years immediately follows up with a recognizable and now all-time classic Iron Maiden riff written by the one and only Adrian Smith. You hear the track once, and you'll have it stuck in your head for a while. Even non-Iron Maiden fans will know the chorus to this song as it's quite radio friendly for a heavy metal track.
Now to my biggest surprise; Sea of Madness. I've heard so much good stuff about this track, but I never really gave it a chance. I cannot recall why that is the case, but listening to the whole record at once confirmed to me that it had every right to be on this album and to be re-listened to many times in the future.
After that comes another relatively new discovery for me; Heaven Can Wait. Much like Sea of Madness, I never really listened to it, until the setlist for last year's "The Future Past Tour" was announced. Although the start is kind of slow, the energy and ease of the chorus makes for one of my favorite tracks live. It might not outdo some classics like Hallowed Be Thy Name, Fear of the Dark or The Trooper in terms of the energy it has live, but it's still one of the most memorable parts of last year's live show in my opinion.
In the middle we have The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, my favorite track on the album. It has everything Iron Maiden does: catchy melodies to no end, Steve Harris' signature bass gallop, blazing fast double-guitar harmonies, great drum accents by Nicko McBrain and a great highlight on Bruce Dickonson's theatrical singing.
Next up, Stranger in a Strange Land. One of my earliest musical memories. The bass intro followed up with the guitar melody is one of my favourite snippets of Iron Maiden music and the whole thing sounds great as a single track, it does however slow the album down quite a bit. For me, this isn't too bothersome, as The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner ends on a slow-ish note as well, but I would have preferred the album to be keep it's energy throughout without this sudden stop. In my opinion, it would have fit better beteeen Caught Somewhere in Time and Wasted Years.
Second to last on the thing, Deja-Vu, a wonderful, maybe heavily underrated track. The guitar solo / instrumental section between 1:56min and 3:27min is my absolute favourite on the record. Apart from the melodies, I really enjoy Nicko McBrain's drum fills combined with the tempo and clearly distinction between Adrian Smith's and Dave Murray's guitars. It's always a treat to hear when they exchange solos.
Lastly, Alexander the Great. A legendary track that suprisingly had it's live debut in last year in 2023's "The Future Past Tour". Starting with a catchy riff combined with a military-esque drum pattern, then drifting into a history lesson about one of the most famous people in humanity's history, this song has it all. The solo / instrumental section between 3:54 and 7:09 (wow that's long) was a close contender for favourite of this album, but Deja-Vu was just barely better in my opinion.
I personally would rate this album an almost perfect 9.5 out of 10. The missed 0.5 points comes from the slow-down at Stranger in a Strange Land, but other than that, this is one of my all-time favourite albums to ever be created.