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Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind



8.8 | 2285 votes |
Release date: 16 May 1983
Style: New wave of British heavy metal

Owners:

2854 have it
108 want it
3 trade it


Disc I
01. Where Eagles Dare
02. Revelations
03. Flight Of Icarus
04. Die With Your Boots On
05. The Trooper
06. Still Life
07. Quest For Fire
08. Sun And Steel
09. To Tame A Land

Disc II [1995 reissue bonus disc]
01. I Got The Fire [Monstrose cover]
02. Cross-Eyed Mary [Jethro Tull cover]

Top 20 albums of 1983: 2
Top 200 albums of all time: 100
Featured in "Getting Into: Iron Maiden"

Additional info
Produced by Martin Birch.
Mixing by Bruce Buchhalter.
Engineering by Martin Birch, Bruce Buchhalter, Denis Haliburton & Frank Gibson.
Cover art & photography by Derek "Dr. Death" Riggs, Rod Smallwood, Simon Fowler, Robert Ellis & Ross Halfin.

The first title of this album was Food For Thought but it was changed to Piece Of Mind.

Staff review by
Pierre Tombale
Rating:
9.0
This album could also be called: The Hidden Treasures Of Iron Maiden. I guess it is one of the most underestimated albums of this band, maybe of all I know. But there is more to it than meets the eye (or better the ear) in the first place. Of course it contains 'The Trooper' and 'Flight Of Icarus' which are both well-recognized songs, since they are both live-classics and great studio tunes, but that is far too less to judge the whole album.

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published 12.11.2003 | Comments (19)

Guest review by
ScreamingSteelUS
Rating:
8.2
Iron Maiden's Piece Of Mind is the first Metal album I remember hearing. I don't know how old I was, but when Nicko McBrain opened up "Where Eagles Dare" with a maelstrom of percussion, I thought it was the most brutal thing in existence. Even now, I still consider it one of Maiden's best (and heaviest) songs. With other classics like "The Trooper" and "Flight of Icarus," Piece Of Mind certainly makes for a an appropriate introduction to the genre.

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published 27.09.2012 | Comments (7)

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Comments: 54   Visited by: 1932 users
27.02.2014 - 17:04
Rating: 9
Hex_Omega
Gem Seeker
The most overrated album from the 'classic' era. The Trooper is one of my favourite Iron Maiden songs though.
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20.02.2015 - 16:19
Rating: 7
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by deadone on 03.06.2014 at 07:58

There's some great stuff on this album - Revelations, Flight of Icarus, The Trooper, Die With Your Boots On, To Tame A Land and.....Sun and Steel.


Yes I like that cheesy little number.


I like part ''when dinosaurs walk on earth''
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05.09.2015 - 13:45
Rating: 9
Toxik

Written by Bad English on 20.02.2015 at 16:19

Written by deadone on 03.06.2014 at 07:58

There's some great stuff on this album - Revelations, Flight of Icarus, The Trooper, Die With Your Boots On, To Tame A Land and.....Sun and Steel.


Yes I like that cheesy little number.


I like part ''when dinosaurs walk on earth''

And the middle of the song it's pretty good actually.
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21.06.2016 - 21:53
Rating: 8
majormalfunction

I've always considered this one to be among their the weaker releases. The last three songs are almost always victims of the skip button , Flight Of Icarus has never been a favourite of mine and The Trooper is way overplayed (with that said, it's still an immortal classic!). The remaining four tracks however are excellent heavy metal. The mini epics When Eagles Dare and Revelations are probably my favourites, but Die With your Boots and Still Life are pretty much at the same level. You just got to love that pre-chorus in Die With Your Boots on!
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10.10.2016 - 15:02
Rating: 8
Joppe
Steelemeister
I guess most of us can agree that tracks #7 and #8 (I personally add #3 here too, decent song, but ruined by chorus) should be cut from the album, should be never heard again and should be replaced with something worth listening. Other songs can stay as they are classics/decent heavy metal pieces (If I mention some personal highlights here, they are: "Revelations", "The Trooper" and "To Tame A Land"). I won't lower the score for that the album has weak ass production on guitar sound that has no balls, not the end of the world, but just sayin.

This is rated as 2nd best album in '83, but I say, based on my experience, that there are plenty of more consistent metal albums in '83, in heavy metal too, you can take my word for it.
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10.10.2016 - 20:36
Rating: 9
Azarath
Free as a.. Fish
"Sun and Steel" is the weakest song here (that cheery chorus seems at odds with the rest of the album), but "Quest for Fire" would be missed dearly.
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10.06.2017 - 16:46
Rating: 10
Antares8001

Maybe that's just me being a huge fan of Frank Herbert's Dune, but I think To Tame a Land is a criminally underrated track.
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10.06.2017 - 20:46
Rating: 8
Polaria

Since you resurrected that thread, don't forget the album's evil twin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KKA_NRHow
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Life is all the pain we endeavour.
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10.06.2017 - 23:55
Rating: 7
Mountain King
K i K o
8.9? You must be kidding me. 7 is a fair score for such an album.
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11.06.2017 - 00:19
Rating: 8
Polaria

Written by Mountain King on 10.06.2017 at 23:55

8.9? You must be kidding me. 7 is a fair score for such an album.

Well you can't really know the impact of the album when it was released 34 years ago since you weren't born. People are rating it based on that impact and not compared to the shitload of metal albums released since 1983.
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11.06.2017 - 14:05
Rating: 7
Mountain King
K i K o
Written by Polaria on 11.06.2017 at 00:19

Written by Mountain King on 10.06.2017 at 23:55

8.9? You must be kidding me. 7 is a fair score for such an album.

Well you can't really know the impact of the album when it was released 34 years ago since you weren't born. People are rating it based on that impact and not compared to the shitload of metal albums released since 1983.

I wasn't born but I am well aware of the albums that were release back then and the world would do fine without "Piece Of Mind" in my opinion just like a couple of other Maiden albums. I am definitely not comparing it to the albums nowadays but rather to its predecessor and to other classic albums release at that point (Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Queensryche etc...). I don't how you got to the conclusion that I am comparing it with "shitload of metal albums released since 1983". Have you checked some of my reviews and lists on Metal Storm? If you did then you wouldn't have made such a claim. I understand that you're a Maiden and Bruce Dickinson fan but let's be honest, some Maiden albums are way overrated and in my opinion "Piece Of Mind" is one of them...
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11.06.2017 - 18:44
Rating: 8
Polaria

Written by Mountain King on 11.06.2017 at 14:05

Written by Polaria on 11.06.2017 at 00:19

Written by Mountain King on 10.06.2017 at 23:55

8.9? You must be kidding me. 7 is a fair score for such an album.

Well you can't really know the impact of the album when it was released 34 years ago since you weren't born. People are rating it based on that impact and not compared to the shitload of metal albums released since 1983.

I wasn't born but I am well aware of the albums that were release back then and the world would do fine without "Piece Of Mind" in my opinion just like a couple of other Maiden albums. I am definitely not comparing it to the albums nowadays but rather to its predecessor and to other classic albums release at that point (Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Queensryche etc...). I don't how you got to the conclusion that I am comparing it with "shitload of metal albums released since 1983". Have you checked some of my reviews and lists on Metal Storm? If you did then you wouldn't have made such a claim. I understand that you're a Maiden and Bruce Dickinson fan but let's be honest, some Maiden albums are way overrated and in my opinion "Piece Of Mind" is one of them...


Gosh you're infering way too many things from my comment.

I was merely pointing out that the people who have lived the release of the album would likely have a different opinion about it than those of us who got to listen to the album years after its release and got to compare it with the shitload of metal albums released in the meantime .

It has nothing to do about my opinion on the album nor the quality of your reviews and lists.

I guess I have to expand my comment as follows: Well you can't really know the impact of the album when it was released 34 years ago since you weren't born. People are rating it based on that impact and not compared to the shitload of metal albums released since 1983, otherwise they may well have rated it lower.

Written by Mountain King on 11.06.2017 at 14:05

I understand that you're a Maiden and Bruce Dickinson fan but let's be honest, some Maiden albums are way overrated and in my opinion "Piece Of Mind" is one of them...


While it's true that Iron Maiden stay amongst my favourite artists, I wouldn't say I am a current fan as my interest in them has strongly decreased since 2006. I'd rather say that I am a fan of NWOBHM these days and the only Iron Maiden album I still listen in full is Killers. I haven't listened to The Final Frontier and hardly to the Book of Souls.
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Life is all the pain we endeavour.
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11.06.2017 - 18:50
Rating: 7
Mountain King
K i K o
Written by Polaria on 11.06.2017 at 18:44

Written by Mountain King on 11.06.2017 at 14:05

Written by Polaria on 11.06.2017 at 00:19

Written by Mountain King on 10.06.2017 at 23:55

8.9? You must be kidding me. 7 is a fair score for such an album.

Well you can't really know the impact of the album when it was released 34 years ago since you weren't born. People are rating it based on that impact and not compared to the shitload of metal albums released since 1983.

I wasn't born but I am well aware of the albums that were release back then and the world would do fine without "Piece Of Mind" in my opinion just like a couple of other Maiden albums. I am definitely not comparing it to the albums nowadays but rather to its predecessor and to other classic albums release at that point (Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Queensryche etc...). I don't how you got to the conclusion that I am comparing it with "shitload of metal albums released since 1983". Have you checked some of my reviews and lists on Metal Storm? If you did then you wouldn't have made such a claim. I understand that you're a Maiden and Bruce Dickinson fan but let's be honest, some Maiden albums are way overrated and in my opinion "Piece Of Mind" is one of them...


Gosh you're infering way too many things in my comment.

I was merely pointing out that the people who have lived the release of the album would likely have a different opinion about it than those of us who got to listen to the album years after its release and got to compare it with the shitload of metal albums released in the meantime .

It has nothing to do about my opinion on the album nor the quality of your reviews and lists.

I guess I have to expand my comment as follows: Well you can't really know the impact of the album when it was released 34 years ago since you weren't born. People are rating it based on that impact and not compared to the shitload of metal albums released since 1983, otherwise they may well have rated it lower.

Written by Mountain King on 11.06.2017 at 14:05

I understand that you're a Maiden and Bruce Dickinson fan but let's be honest, some Maiden albums are way overrated and in my opinion "Piece Of Mind" is one of them...


While it's true that Iron Maiden stay amongst my favourite artists, I wouldn't say I am a current fan as my interest in them has strongly decreased since 2006. I'd rather say that I am a fan of NWOBHM these days and the only Iron Maiden album I still listen in full is Killers. I haven't listened to The Final Frontier and hardly to the Book of Souls.

I see. Personally I could never listen to any of their albums in one take. I have a few favorite songs from each album, and I tried to re-listen to them many times and my opinion hasn't changed a lot. I guess the main problem to me is Bruce Dickinson. Their music is good, specially those harmonies back in the 80's were outstanding but Bruce isn't the best singer out there.
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23.12.2017 - 07:15
Rating: 8
DeathMetal

Falls off at the last three tracks for me. They're good, but not good enough to put on my mp3 or anything like that. First half kills though.
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23.09.2018 - 03:18
Rating: 7
Jack_Torrance

Most overrated maiden album imo
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15.05.2020 - 13:33
Rating: 8
Metal Rasputin

My least favorite of the classic Maiden albums from the pre-Prayer era. Something here just doesn't click, like they tried to slow things down a bit and many songs here feel like they lack some energy. Die With Your Boots On is my least favorite song here, the chorus and the build-up just don't sound right to me.
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29.01.2021 - 18:46
Rating: 8
nonZero

01. Where Eagles Dare - 9/10
02. Revelations - 8/10
03. Flight Of Icarus - 8.5/10
04. Die With Your Boots On - 8.5/10
05. The Trooper - 10/10
06. Still Life - 8/10
07. Quest For Fire - 8/10
08. Sun And Steel - 8/10
09. To Tame A Land - 8/10

Overall: 8.4/10

Their most overrated album IMO
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04.04.2021 - 16:59
Rating: 7
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
It's an album of two halves for me, Where Eagles dare, The Trooper, Revelations and Flight of the Icarus are great songs that I can play over and over again. Die with your boots on was ok but I hated the chorus. I was less impressed on the second half of the album, not that the songs are bad I just don't find the second half of the album that memorable. It's a problem which I find with most Iron Maiden albums, as much as I like them, their albums just lack consistency.
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04.04.2021 - 17:07
JoHn Doe

I don't think this album is neither overrated or inconsistent, it's got only one weak song - Quest for Fire. Other than that, great songs IMO.
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23.09.2021 - 07:21
Rating: 8
CobiWan1993
Secundum Filium
I just revisited this album and I think a problem I have with it is how slowed down the songs are in comparison with the albums before and after it. Bruce also sounds a bit more strained on here compared to other albums from the classic era (he's even more so in the 90s) and he doesn't quite have the same spark or effortless ferocity of The Number of the Beast, this stuck out to me on songs like Flight of Icarus for example. There are great songs of course like Where Eagles Dare (a superb way for then-new drummer Nicko McBrain to introduce himself to the world), Revelations, The Trooper, To Tame A Land, etc., but also a few clunkers like Sun and Steel which sounds like a pretty mediocre retread of The Trooper. It will always hold sentimental value with me for being my first Maiden album and perhaps the first metal album I've ever owned, but I'm just trying to be objective with how I view it. A very good, solid album with some hiccups and maybe a somewhat dry, sterile production compared to how positively electrified they sounded on their previous album.
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23.09.2021 - 11:50
gavdann

Back in 1986 this was the first "heavy" album I ever bought (unless you count Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet")

I had a loose recommendation of the band from a friend but tbh I bought it on a whim because the artwork stood out the most to me and it has that glorious gatefold sleeve.

It probably sits just behind The Number of the Beast as my favourite Bruce era Maiden LP but in my mind there's not a lot to separate the first three Bruce albums. Even the best Maiden albums have their fair share of slightly weaker tunes.
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22.04.2022 - 21:49
Rating: 8
Vinther1991

It is a great classic Maiden album. It feels more like an actual album, than the previous three, which were more collections of songs. Here the songs flow really nicely together. There are some filler tracks, Quest for Fire in particular. But most of the stuff here is just great. Where Eagles Dare and Die with Your Boots on are underrated gems imo. The Trooper, Flight of Icarus and Revelations are rightfully beloved. To Tame a Land holds its own among the Iron Maiden epics, even if it doesn't quiet reach the hights of say Sign of the Cross, Hallowed be Thy Name or Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
There best album up to that point, but it got eclipsed by its follow-up.
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22.04.2022 - 23:51
Rating: 8
Redel

Has always been a somewhat difficult Maiden album for me. Of course some classic songs here (Flight of Icarus, The Trooper, Die with yourBoots on, Revelations). But most of the other songs never really clicked with me I guess. Also for me, least favourite of their classic albums.
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26.07.2022 - 09:48
Rating: 8
dingobattler

No real outstanding songs other than the trooper. At the very least, the whole album is listenable, but on the downside, all you're looking forward to is The Trooper. The ballard Revelations helps break up the pace greatly and keep things interesting. They played it safe the whole album.

If the band continued down this road, they wouldn't be half as big or famous, because like it or not, bands live and die by their hits.

Their weakest album in their golden era.
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