Iron Maiden: Homage to the Classic Debut Album by the Seminal Heavy Metal Band

The self-titled first album that Iron Maiden released in 1980 was the result of five years of groundbreaking songwriting, numerous line-up changes, and the graft and endurance of an ongoing schedule of pub gigs that had cemented their following and made them one of the hottest draws in London long before they'd even scored a record contract. Iron Maiden captured the energy of the punk rock explosion (without the pretension that surrounded so much of the movement in London at that time) and combined it with the composing sophistication that had come to be associated with the better bands within the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM).

This complexity of arrangement and delivery is well evinced by the record's centerpiece, "Phantom of the Opera", a sprawling metal masterpiece of numerous time and tempo changes that was to inaugurate a signature tradition for bassist and songwriter Steve Harris: the multi-layered epic, a highlight of every Iron Maiden record to follow their first.

Less conceptually ambitious but equally hard-hitting gems include "Prowler" (whose demo version was voted #1 on the Heavy Metal Chart at London's prestigious Soundhouse), the anthemic "Running Free" (which the band performed live on Britain's Top of the Pops!), "Sanctuary", and "Iron Maiden" itself - still, after all these years, the showstopper or encore choice for all of the band's concerts.

One of Iron Maiden's most overlooked classics is the slow and plodding, somewhat eerie "Strange World". Poetic and suitably otherworldly in atmosphere, the song showcases an elegant vocal by singer Paul Di'Anno and some soulful and fiery soloing by guitarist Dave Murray.

"Remember Tomorrow" is a kind of hybrid of the spacey feel of "Strange World" and the sheer aggression of "Sanctuary" and "Prowler". One of Paul Di'Anno's few lyrical contributions to the band, the song is at times haunting and other times pure visceral assault. The twin guitar dueling in its middle section defined another major component of Maiden's sound: the two-guitar harmonies and interplay.

Throw the fierce instrumental "Transylvania", and Murray's down and dirty "Charlotte the Harlot", and what you have is headbanging nirvana for a generation revolting against the hippie ditties of a decade before. Iron Maiden energized the emerging heavy metal scene like a shot of adrenaline. In its wake, many bands were to follow suit with a "faster and heavier" ethic, but very few of them were able to combine speed and distortion with deft playing and tunefulness like Iron Maiden did so extremely well.

If Iron Maiden was released today, it would still be hailed as a classic example of working-class kids producing an intoxicating mix of energy and sophistication - and probably send many a NuRocker scurrying back to their day jobs at the K-Mart.