At the delicate age of 10, I was converted into a fanboy by the magnum opus of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, “Powerslave” by IRON MAIDEN. I had not yet been to a rock concert, so I couldn’t really appreciate the band for releasing a live album the next year. While “Live After Death” has since gained classic status in my books as a spectacular live album, the younger version of me dismissed the endeavor as pure unadulterated garbage. Lucky for me, the band put out a new studio album on September 29th, 1986 – and for a young heavy-metal rascal, “Somewhere in Time” turned out to be every bit as stunning as that 1984 monolith. For some reason, however, this album does not seem to be just as popular amongst MAIDEN fans as some of those other 1980s endeavors that are widely regarded as the band’s peak performances – and save for “Wasted Years,” the band itself tends to have ignored these songs in their setlists over the years. In retrospect, this album appears to be something like a transitional album between the classic IRON MAIDEN sound and the later, more progressively tinged sound that was first introduced on the follow-up endeavor, “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son” (1988). It was also the first IRON MAIDEN album to feature synths, which was nothing short of a sacrilegious thing to do in the heavy-metal circles at the time. It factored quite a lot into the album’s more atmospheric feel, overall. Meanwhile, thrash-metal bands were rushing out of the gates with remarkably punchier new albums, like METALLICA with their iconic classic-to-be, “Master of Puppets.” So, IRON MAIDEN‘s new album was not welcomed particularly well by the metal community at the time. Still, far from being candy-ass synth-pop as some old-school brigades have dubbed the album, it is a solid selection of great tracks. Let me elaborate…
For one thing, guitarist Adrian Smith shines on this album. Not only were three out of the four best songs on the album penned by him – “Wasted Years,” “Sea of Madness,” and “Stranger in a Strange Land,” respectively – but also his guitar solos in the other songs were among his all-time best. As per the band’s longtime tradition, there are ample occasions of paying homage to the twin-guitar trailblazers THIN LIZZY, UFO, and WISHBONE ASH. Then, the band had also developed a habit of referencing well-known literary works by their song titles. This time, “Loneliness Of A Long Distance Runner” was a no-brainer reference to Alan Sillitoe’s dystopian 1959 novel, but “Stranger In A Strange Land” was a bit more nuanced a matter. There is a novel by the same name, written by Robert A. Heinlein, but as far as I understand, the lyrics have very little to do with the book. Lastly, the cover art, what with those futuristic Blade Runner vibes, could be a reference in and of itself.
And speaking of futuristic stuff… The album opener, “Caught Somewhere in Time,” is a song about the Devil attempting to convince the protagonist to sell his soul in exchange for the ability to travel back in time. The main riff resonates with a nice, Phrygian air, which could trigger subtle flashbacks of the Egyptian vibes of “Powerslave,” even. The song is an underrated gem and another worthy addition to the long line of spectacular openers that IRON MAIDEN used to have on their albums in the 1980s. It leads nicely to one of the most iconic guitar motifs ever written in the realm of heavy metal. If you were a kid in the 1980s, don’t tell me you never had a go with this riff on your dad’s old acoustic guitar? The song has become a monolithic classic for a bloody good reason, so I’m not going to dissect it any further.
“Sea of Madness,” however, is another forgotten gem that needs to be shown some love. The main riff is one of the most unique the band has ever written, and the chorus is just out of this world – Bruce Dickinson‘s vocal delivery, in particular. By contrast, the chorus in “Heaven Can Wait” is a bit annoying, which makes you kind of wonder why the band put these two songs together in the tracklist – to balance things out, perhaps? Then, despite the fact that this is one of those songs Steve Harris didn’t write for the album, his bass groove is diabolically delicious. Back in the vinyl era, I used to place the needle back at the start of Side A at this point, because… well, yeah, “Heaven Can Wait” is a pretty decent song otherwise, but the chorus has a habit of getting under your skin in all the wrong ways.
And speaking of the vinyl era, the B-side of “Somewhere in Time” sounded remarkably different, in terms of mood, compared to the compact riffers on Side A. While the songs are almost equal in length on both “sides,” the latter half of the album feels as though slowing things down quite a bit. For some reason, “Deja Vu” is often dubbed as a filler track, but in my books it’s nothing like it: instead, it picks up the pace rather nicely in between those mid-tempo songs. When I was a kid, it was the only song on Side B that I actually liked. Later, I have grown to appreciate the riffworks in both “The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner” and “Stranger in a Strange Land.” Neither of the songs is very long, but they have a somewhat epic feel about them. Maybe it stems from the more moderately grinding riffs and the literary nature of the lyrics.
“Alexander the Great” scoops the prize for being the epic closer this time. The song is a sprawling account of this legendary and mythical character of antiquity – and while it stalls a bit, here and there, to be honest, it has some very inspiring moments, just as well. I believe the song has never been played live to this day, for some reason. Maybe the processed and layered sound that characterized this album might prove a tad difficult to reproduce live, even in this day and age when the band has an extra hand in the guitar department. The rumor also has it that Bruce Dickinson is not exactly a fan of this particular album. It was written after the band’s exhausting World Slavery Tour, and Dickinson had originally suggested writing an acoustic album in order to allow the band to take a breather of sorts. His name does not pop up in the album’s songwriting credits, so I guess it is a tell-tale sign of what the band thought of his idea. Well, I’ve never seen IRON MAIDEN live, and if there ever was a period when I would have liked to see them in action, it was somewhere along the way between “Somewhere in Time” and “Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son.” So, when I finish constructing my state-of-the-art time machine, you know what I’m a-gonna do…
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Caught Somewhere in Time
- Wasted Years
- Sea of Madness
- Heaven Can Wait
- The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- Deja Vu
- Alexander the Great
Lineup
Bruce Dickinson – vocals
Steve Harris – bass
Adrian Smith – guitars
Dave Murray – guitars
Nicko McBrain – drums
Label
EMI (UK / Europe) / Capitol Records (US)
