Myth and Magic in Heavy Metal Music by McParland Robert

Author:McParland, Robert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Published: 2018-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

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Iron Maiden

Mythology and the Ancient Mariner

It is one of the goals of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden to animate people’s imaginations. So vocalist Bruce Dickinson and drummer Nikko McBrain have said. To that end, the band’s primary songwriter, Steve Harris, has turned for song concepts to science fiction and to Greek mythology, as well as to war stories, dystopias, and the eerie reflections on death that are typical of many heavy metal bands. Book of Souls (2015) is a double album with provocative song titles like the “If Eternity Should Fail” and “Empire of the Clouds.” Behind all of this is a fascination with myth. When bassist Steve Harris and guitarist Dave Murray formed the band they named it after Alexandre Dumas’ The Man in the Iron Mask and a medieval torture device. They quickly moved from their Soundhouse Tapes EP toward mythological subjects. Harris turned to science fiction novels and films, history, and occult fantasy. This imaginative embrace of myth, history, and science fiction would extend across multiple gold or platinum albums.

Formed through the dreams and ambitions of Steve Harris, Iron Maiden’s adventure began when they were offered a record contract in 1976, if they were willing to “go punk.”1 However, in the early days of the band, with vocalist Paul Di Anno, there was an innovative sound that broke with British punk and Iron Maiden went their own way. They adopted the Faustian heavy metal attitude that Philip Basche began to document in Heavy Metal Thunder. Iron Maiden, with Sanctuary (1980), Killers (1981), and The Number of the Beast (1982), took a turn toward power chords, lyrical leads, motivic development, Gothic mysticism, and horror.

Mythical references were worked into Iron Maiden’s songs. For example, Iron Maiden’s song on the flight of Icarus retells the ancient story of flight. In the myth, wings were made by Daedelus so that he and Icarus, his son, could escape from King Minos. Daedelus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun and the wings lifting Icarus upward melted and he fell into the sea. In Iron Maiden’s song, Daedelus watches from the ground after urging his son to “fly and touch the sun.” He has sent Icarus toward disaster. On the cover of the album on which the song appears wings are torched by the band’s mascot, Eddie.

Iron Maiden’s songs were initially sung by vocalist Bruce Dickinson. They are arguably the most literate or literary of heavy metal bands and their lyrics and concepts continue to draw enthusiastically upon fantastic literature. In many Iron Maiden songs Steve Harris turns the bass guitar into a lead instrument, while dual guitar leads meet Dickinson’s signature wailing vocals. Their first album, Iron Maiden (1978), offers a musical version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). “Murders of the Rue Morgue,” on Killers (1981), adapts Edgar Allan Poe. “Children of the Damned” on The Number of the Beast (1982) adapts a John Windham story title.

The mythological tendency persists throughout the band’s creative work. “Total Eclipse” describes an environmental disaster and the end of the world.

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