Achilles Last Stand

"Achilles Last Stand"[a] is a song by the English rock group Led Zeppelin released as the opening track on their seventh studio album, Presence (1976).

Guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant began writing the song during the summer of 1975 and were influenced by Eastern music, mythology, and exposure to diverse cultures during their travels.

At roughly ten-and-a-half minutes, it is one of the group's longest studio recordings[b] and one of their most complex, with interwoven sections and multiple, overdubbed guitar parts.

[8] North African and Middle Eastern music had inspired earlier Led Zeppelin songs, such as "Friends", "Four Sticks", "No Quarter", and "Kashmir".

[12] The title is an ironic reference to Plant's August 1975 automobile accident, in which he severely injured his ankle,[13] as Achilles was brought down by an arrow to his calcaneal tendon.

[14]"Achilles Last Stand" opens with Page's Moroccan-influenced solo guitar arpeggios, which Led Zeppelin biographers have described as haunting and mysterious.

[29] Swan Song Records released Led Zeppelin's seventh studio album Presence on 31 March 1976, with "Achilles Last Stand" its opening track.

In a 1976 review of Presence, Rolling Stone journalist Stephen Davis wrote: "'Achilles Last Stand' could be the Yardbirds, 12 years down the road.

The format is familiar: John Bonham's furiously attacking drum is really the lead instrument, until Jimmy Page tires of chording under Plant and takes over.

"[34] In a more negative view, Jon Young of Spin lambasted the song in his 1991 Led Zeppelin Boxed Set review: "Nothing could be less satisfying than ten minutes of 'Achilles Last Stand,' a simultaneously abrasive and boring ordeal.

[37] In a retrospective review of Presence (Deluxe Edition), Andrew Doscas of PopMatters described "Achilles Last Stand" as the band's "last true epic".