IRON MAIDEN - POWERSLAVE (1984)

Powerslave é o quinto álbum de estúdio da banda inglesa de Heavy Metal Iron Maiden.  Lançado em 3 de Setembro de 1984, foi produzido por Martin Birch (que trabalhou com Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rainbow, entre outros) e gravado no famoso Compass Point Studios, em Nassau, nas Bahamas.

Além da temática do antigo Egito, o álbum traz grandes clássicos da banda. “2 Minutes To Midnight” é presença garantida em praticamente todos os shows da banda após o lançamento do álbum. Outra clássica é “Aces High”, a qual é precedida pelo famoso discurso de Winston Churchill "We shall fight on the beaches", quando executada ao vivo. A música trata das batalhas aéreas travadas durante a segunda guerra mundial entre a RAF (Reino Unido) e a Luftwaffe (Nazista).

Além dessas, Powerslave traz a épica canção com mais de 13 minutos, “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner”, baseada no poema de mesmo nome de Samuel Taylor Coleridge. A canção era executada na íntegra na turnê que se seguiu ao lançamento do álbum, a famosa “World Slavery Tour”.

Esta turnê é tida pela própria banda como a mais “massacrante” que o Maiden já realizou. Ela começou em agosto de 84 e terminou em julho de 1985. É de alguns shows nos Estados Unidos e em Londres que foram retiradas as gravações do também clássico álbum ao vivo “Live After Death”. Foram 193 shows em 331 dias. Em 2008, Steve Harris chegou a afirmar em entrevistas que o ritmo massacrante de shows quase acabou com a banda. Foi durante a turnê que o Iron Maiden veio pela primeira vez ao Brasil, apresentando-se no Rock In Rio original.

Formação:
Bruce Dickinson - Vocal
Steve Harris - Baixo
Adrian Smith - Guitarra
Dave Murray - Guitarra
Nicko McBrain - Bateria

Faixas:

01 - ACES HIGH (S. Harris)

There goes the siren that warns of the air raid

Then comes the sound of the guns sending flak

Out for the scramble, we've got to get airborne

Got to get up for the coming attack

Jump in the cockpit and start up the engines

Remove all the wheelblocks, there's no time to waste

Gathering speed as we head down the runway

Got to get airborne before it's too late

Running, scrambling, flying

Rolling, turning, diving

Going in again

Running, scrambling, flying

Rolling, turning, diving

Run,

Live to fly, fly to live, do or die

Won't you

Run, live to fly, fly to live

Aces high

Move in to fire at the mainstream of bombers

Let off a sharp burst and then turn away

Roll over, spin round to come in behind them

Move to their blindsides and firing again

Bandits at 8 o'clock are moving behind us

Ten ME-109's out of the sun

Ascending and turning, our spitfires to face them

Heading straight for them I press down my guns

02 - 2 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT (A. Smith/ B. Dickinson)

Kill for gain or shoot to maim
But we don't need a reason

The Golden Goose is on the loose

And never out of season.

Blackened pride still burns inside

This shell of bloody treason

Here's my gun for a barrel of fun

For the love of living death.

The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,

The glamour, the fortune, the pain,

Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,

Don't you pray for my soul anymore.

2 minutes to midnight,

The hands that threaten doom.

2 minutes to midnight,

To kill the unborn in the womb.

The blind men shout let the creatures out

We'll show the unbelievers,

The Napalm screams of human flames

Of a prime time Belsen feast...YEAH!

As the reasons for the carnage cut their meat

and lick the gravy,

We oil the jaws of the war machine

and feed it with our babies.

The body bags and little rags of children

torn in two,

And the jellied brains of those who remain

to put the finger right on you

As the madmen play on words and make us all

dance to their song,

To the tune of starving millions

to make a better kind of gun.

The killer's breed or the Demon's seed,

The glamour, the fortune, the pain,

Go to war again, blood is freedom's stain,

Don't you pray for my soul anymore.

Midnight...Midnight...Midnight...is all night

03 - LOSFER WORDS (BIG' ORRA) -  (S. Harris)

Instrumental

04 - FLASH OF THE BLADE (B. Dickinson)

As a young boy chasing Dragons

with your wooden sword so mighty.

You're St. George or you're David and you always

killed the beast.

Times change very quickly,

And you had to grow up early,

A house in smoking ruins and the bodies

at your feet.

You'll die as you lived

In the flash of a blade,

In a corner forgotten by no-one.

You lived for the touch

For the feel of the steel,

One man, and his Honour.

The smell of resined leather

The steely iron mask

As you cut and thrust and parried at the

fencing master's call.

He taught you all he never knew

To fear no mortal man

And now you'll wreak your vengeance in the

Screams of evil men.

05 - THE DUELLISTS (S. Harris)

He threw down the glove you made the mistake

Of picking it up now you're gone

The choosing of guns or fighting with swords

The choice of weapons is done

He'll tear you apart as soon as you start

You know you don't have a chance.

OH...OH...Fight for the Honour

Fight for the Splendour

 Fight for the Pleasure

OH...OH...Fight for the Honour

Fight for the Splendour

Fight for your Life!

Ready to start the duel begins

the best man wins in the end.

A lunge and a feint, a parry too late

A cut to the chest and you're down

Seeing the stain then feeling the pain

Feeling the sweat on your brow.

The fighting resumes, a silence looms the

Swordsmen move 'gainst each other

A cut and a thrust, a parry, a blow,

a stab to the heart and you're down

The Angel of Death hears your last breath

Meanwhile the reaper looks on.

Fought for the Splendour

Fought to the Death

06 - BACK IN THE VILLAGE - (A. Smith/ B. Dickinson)

Turn the spotlights on the people,

Switch the dial and eat the worm,

Take your chances, kill the engine,

Drop your bombs and let it burn.

White flags shot to ribbons,

The truce is black and burned,

Shellshock in the kitchen,

Tables overturned.

Back in the village again,

In the village,

I'm back in the village again.

Throwing dice now, rolling loaded,

I see sixes all the way.

In a black hole, and I'm spinning

As my wings get shot away.

Questions are a burden

And answers are a prison for oneself

Shellshock in the kitchen

Tables start to burn.

No breaks on the inside,

Paper cats and burning barns,

Theres a fox among the chickens,

And a killer in the hounds.

Questions are a burden

And answers are a prison for oneself

Shellshock in the kitchen

Tables start to burn.

But still we walk into the valley

And others try to kill the inner flame

We're burning brighter than before

I don't have a number, I'M A NAME!

07 - POWERSLAVE (B. Dickinson)

Into the Abyss I'll fall-the eye of Horus

Into the eyes of the night-watching me go

Green is the cat's eye that glows-

in this Temple

Enter the risen Osiris-risen again.

Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave

I don't wanna die, I'm a God,

why can't I live on?

When the Life Giver dies,

all around is laid to waste.

And in my last hour,

I'm a slave to the Power of Death.

When I was living this lie-Fear was my game

People would worship and fall-

drop to their knees.

So bring me the blood and red wine

for the one to succeed me,

for he is a man and a God-

and He will die too.

Now I am cold but a ghost lives in my veins,

Silent the terror that reigned-

marbled in stone.

A shell of a man God preserved-

a thousand ages,

But open the gates of my Hell-

I will strike from the grave.

08 - RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER (S. Harris)

Hear the rime of the Ancient Mariner

See his eyes as he stops one of three

Mesmerizes of one of the wedding guests

"Stay here and listen to the nightmares

of the sea!"

And the music plays on, as the bride passes by

Caught by his spell, and the Mariner tells his tale

Driven south to the land of the snow and ice

To a place where nobody's been

Through the snow fog flies on the albatross

Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings

And the ship sails on, back to the north

Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on...

The mariner kills the bird of good omen

His shipmates cry against what he's done

But when the fog clears, they justify him

And make themselves a part of the crime

Sailing on and on and North across the sea

Sailing on and on and North 'til all is calm

The albatross begins with its vengeance

A terrible curse, a thirst has begun

His shipmates blame bad luck on the Mariner

About his neck, the dead bird is hung

And the curse goes on and on and on at sea

And the thirst goes on and on for them and me...

Day after day, day after day

We stuck nor breath nor motion

As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean

Water, water, everywhere, and all the boards did shrink

Water, water, everywhere, not any drop to drink!

"There", calls the Mariner

"There comes a ship over the line!"

"But how can she sail with no

Wind in her sails and no tide?"

See... onward she comes

Onward she nears, out of the sun

See... she has no crew

She has no life! "Wait but there's two!"

Death, and she life in Death

They throw their dice for the crew

She wins the Mariner

And he belongs to her now

Then, crew one by one

They drop down dead, two hundred men

She... she, Life in Death

She lets him live, her chosen one...

"One after one, by the star dogged moo,

Too quick for groan or sigh

Each turned his face, with a ghastly pang

And cursed me with his eye

Four times fifty living men

And I heard nor sigh nor groan

With heavy thump, a lifeless lump

They dropped down, one by one..."

The curse, it lives on in their eyes

The Mariner, he wished he'd die

Along with the sea creatres

But they lived on, so did he

And by the light of the moon

He prays for their beauty, not doom

With heart he blesses them

God's creatures, all of them too

Then, the spell starts to break

The albatross falls from his neck

Sinks down like lead, into the sea

Then down in falls, comes the rain...

Hear the groans of the long dead seamen

See them stir and they start to rise

Bodies lifted by good spirits

None of them speak, and they're lifeless in their eyes

And revenge is still sought, penance starts again

Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on

Now the curse is finally lifted

And the Mariner sights his home

Spirits go from the long dead bodies

Form their own light and the Mariner's left alone

And then a boat came sailing towards him

It was a joy, he could not believe

The pilots boat, his son and the hermit.

Penance of life will fall onto him

And the ship, it sinks, like lead, into the sea

And the hermit shrieves the Mariner of his sins

The Mariner's bound to tell of his story

To tell his tale wherever he goes

To teach God's word by his own example

That we must love all things that God made

And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man

And the tale goes on and on and on...