{"id":317,"date":"2025-07-08T12:43:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T12:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/?p=317"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:46:19","slug":"on-this-battlefield-no-one-wins-iron-maidens-construction-of-war-morality-and-the-sound-of-evil-in-the-new-wave-of-british-heavy-metal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/07\/08\/on-this-battlefield-no-one-wins-iron-maidens-construction-of-war-morality-and-the-sound-of-evil-in-the-new-wave-of-british-heavy-metal\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOn This Battlefield, No One Wins\u201d: Iron Maiden\u2019s Construction of War, Morality, and the Sound of Evil in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1. Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cYou\u2019ll take my life but I\u2019ll take yours too<\/em>\u201d1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

 \u2013 The opening line of Iron Maiden\u2019s The Trooper<\/em> (1983) encapsulates the band’s commitment to dramatising war as a site of fatal symmetry, moral ambiguity, and existential violence. As key figures in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), Iron Maiden constructed an aesthetic of \u201cevil\u201d not simply through lyrical themes or visual iconography, but through music itself: rhythm, harmony, and form operate as symbolic agents of chaos, destruction, and judgment. This essay examines how Iron Maiden sonically constructs war as a form of evil and how that construction, both musical and thematic, contributed to the NWOBHM\u2019s aesthetic legacy and the globalisation of heavy metal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While heavy metal\u2019s lyrical and visual engagement with themes of violence and rebellion has attracted some scholarly attention, the specific ways in which musical form and texture convey ethical critique remain comparatively underexplored. As Brown and Griffin note, heavy metal has been \u201cthe most consistently successful form of rock music and the most marginalized within the discourse of institutionalized rock culture,\u201d2<\/a><\/sup> often treated with critical disdain rather than serious inquiry. Scholars Schott and Brackett provide frameworks for reading metal as culturally subversive, while \u2014 though not peer-reviewd \u2014 master\u2019s theses such as Eeva Saarinen\u2019s offer detailed case studies of how bands like Iron Maiden negotiate the justification and condemnation of war. This essay builds on and synthesises these perspectives with close musical analysis, contributing an original reading of war as a sonic and symbolic construct of evil within Iron Maiden\u2019s music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War has long been embedded in metal as a structural and symbolic concern. In her analysis of metal lyrics, Saarinen notes that depictions of war often reveal a \u201cmoral evaluation of violence\u201d3<\/a><\/sup> and tend to frame conflict as a tragic inevitability or systemic failure.4<\/a><\/sup> For Iron Maiden, this framing is intensified by musical choices\u2014galloping triplet rhythms, Aeolian modal harmony, and layered, dissonant guitar textures\u2014that heighten the sense of relentlessness and grandeur. This \u201cheaviness,\u201d Jason Miller argues, is not merely sonic but philosophical, embodying \u201cradically different, sometimes incompatible, musical properties\u201d that destabilise resolution.5<\/a><\/sup> During the 1980s Satanic Panic in the United States, Iron Maiden were cited among bands accused of glorifying death, destruction, and Satanism.6<\/a><\/sup> As John Brackett observes, such accusations reflected broader anxieties about youth culture, moral decay, and the breakdown of religious authority.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By aligning the musical language of metal with the ethical and mythological weight of war, Iron Maiden shaped a global sonic aesthetic of evil\u2014one that transcended national context and embedded itself in the fabric of modern popular music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. War in Iron Maiden<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Iron Maiden\u2019s depictions of historical warfare\u2014particularly in The Trooper<\/em> and Paschendale<\/em> (2003)\u2014serve as more than dramatic retellings; they stage British military history as a site of both patriotic spectacle and existential collapse. Drawing from the Crimean War and the First World War respectively, these songs use specific historical events not to glorify combat, but to expose its ideological and moral contradictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the Gulf War,8<\/a><\/sup> in Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em> (1992), the band explores the psychological tension of soldiers confronting moral uncertainty:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cGod let us go now and finish what’s to be done<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth\u2026<\/em>\u201d9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The echo of the Lord\u2019s Prayer collapses the boundary between state violence and divine sanction. War here becomes a sacrament, cloaked in theological fatalism. The soldier’s moral conflict\u2014\u201cI try to visualise the horror that will lay ahead<\/em>\u201d10<\/a><\/sup>\u2014is overridden by an inherited ideological script. As Thomas Talbott notes, theological fatalism frames human actions as predetermined, even divinely authorised, undermining individual agency.11<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By combining martial imagery with lyrics that emphasise futility and death, and by linking these performances to British iconography,12<\/a><\/sup> Bruce Dickinson famously waves the Union Jack on stage during The Trooper<\/em> (see figure 1), the band constructs a complex portrayal of nationalism that is simultaneously enacted and undermined. In this sense, Iron Maiden transforms national myth into an ironic staging of imperial nostalgia, revealing a hollowness within heroism.13<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1.<\/strong> Theo Wargo, “Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden during OZZFEST 2005 at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel \u2013 July 26, 2005,” photograph, WireImage\/Getty Images, accessed April 26, 2025, https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/es-es\/gallery\/rg972593664\/mediaviewer\/rm2806225664\/<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet its lyrics undermine this display: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cOn this battlefield no one wins<\/em>,\u201d 14<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The narrator laments, exposing the senselessness of war even as it is performed as national myth.15<\/a><\/sup> This disjunction between lyrical content and performance gestures toward an ironic staging of imperial nostalgia.16<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paschendale<\/em>17<\/a><\/sup> intensifies this critique. Drawing on World War I imagery and evoking the anonymous soldier\u2019s grave, it offers a mournful vision of mechanised death. Bruce Dickinson has paired the song with readings of Wilfred Owen, linking the track explicitly to Britain\u2019s poetic tradition of war remembrance.18<\/a><\/sup> In Paschendale<\/em> the use of Wilfred Owen\u2019s war poetry, paired with mournful instrumentation and imagery-rich lyrics, challenges triumphalist readings of British military history and critiques the nationalist glorification of death in service of empire:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe bodies of ours and our foes<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

The sea of death it overflows<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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In no man’s land, God only knows<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Into jaws of death we go<\/em>\u201d.19<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Iron Maiden also critiques modern militarism. In 2 Minutes to Midnight<\/em> (1984), the Cold War\u2019s apocalyptic dread is portrayed through grotesque satire:20<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWe oil the jaws of the war machine and feed it with our babies<\/em>.\u201d21<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here, war is stripped of heroism, rendered instead as an ethical collapse and systemic atrocity. Unlike the band\u2019s historical retrospectives,22<\/a><\/sup> this track directly targets contemporary political structures through a rare commentary, implicating global powers in the manufacture of mass death. The single\u2019s cover art visually reinforces these themes, depicting Eddie, the Band\u2019s ever-changing mascot, as a grimacing, militarised executioner set against a backdrop of nuclear devastation\u2014a symbolic personification of Cold War annihilation (see figure 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 2.<\/strong> Derek Riggs, cover art for Iron Maiden, \u201c2 Minutes to Midnight.<\/em>\u201d 12\u201d single, EMI Records, 1984.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significantly, the surrounding flags\u2014shown at half-mast\u2014belong to nations engaged in active conflicts during the 1980s, including the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain. Their lowering symbolises collective mourning for global militarism and highlights the moral degradation of national pride during the Cold War era.23<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through such songs, Maiden constructs war as a vehicle for exploring theological and moral evil, rooted in British history yet resonating globally. These narratives resist simple glorification, blending heroic myth with condemnation, and preparing the ground for war\u2019s sonic realisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Framing War as a Form of Evil<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While Iron Maiden\u2019s historical narratives highlight the ideological contradictions of national pride, Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em> shifts focus to the systemic mechanisms of modern warfare. The song presents the soldier\u2019s internal crisis as a critique of how military obedience collides with ethical uncertainty. This tension echoes debates within international law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, which attempt to civilise war through regulation, but often fail to address its moral realities. As Robin May Schott notes, the legal frameworks that attempt to civilise warfare often obscure its persistent moral failures.24<\/a><\/sup> It is precisely this disjunction that Maiden explores. Through its subdued melodic contours and the accompanying video\u2019s images of training and deployment, the song frames war not as heroic combat but as legalised, routinised atrocity\u2014demonstrating the band\u2019s broader engagement with heavy metal\u2019s aesthetics of transgression, a genre \u201cacknowledged as transgressive by fans and critics alike\u201d and fundamentally \u201ccounter to the mainstream.\u201d25<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.1. \u201cTrying to visualise the horrors that will lay ahead\u2026\u201d: Crimes, Conventions, and Systemic Violence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iron Maiden\u2019s Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em> presents a somber meditation on the ethical paralysis induced by systemic warfare. The lyrics expose a soldier\u2019s psychological torment: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Lying awake at night, I wipe the sweat from my brow<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

But it’s not the fear, ’cause I’d rather go now<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

Trying to visualize the horrors that will lay ahead<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

The desert sand mound a burial ground<\/em>“26<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

These lines evoke the soldier\u2019s internal struggle between obedience and moral doubt, a tension explicitly governed by the frameworks of international law, such as the Geneva Conventions. While the Conventions aim to regulate the conduct of war by protecting civilians and restricting methods of violence,27<\/a><\/sup> the lived reality of combat often reveals profound ethical contradictions. As Schott argues, \u201cviolence can be legitimate without being just,\u201d highlighting how legal permission frequently masks moral failure.28<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em> music video reinforces this critique, depicting scenes of soldiers training and mobilising within military bases (see Figure 3), evoking the normalisation of violence within state institutions. Through both sound and image, Maiden presents war as a systemic atrocity: legally sanctioned, yet spiritually corrosive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Figure 3.<\/strong> Iron Maiden. “Afraid to Shoot Strangers.<\/em>” Fear of the Dark<\/em>. EMI Records, 1992. Music video, 5:19. YouTube. Accessed April 28, 2025. https:\/\/youtu.be\/0c9iYZdsZMM<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.2. \u201cYou\u2019ll Take My Life But I\u2019ll Take Yours Too\u201d: Philosophical and Ethical Dimensions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em> critiques systemic violence, The Trooper<\/em> examines the philosophical collapse of moral clarity on the battlefield. Based on the Charge of the Light Brigade (see Figure 4), the song frames combat as inevitable, mutual destruction: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“You’ll take my life, but I’ll take yours too<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

You’ll fire your musket, but I’ll run you through<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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So when you’re waiting for the next attack<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

You’d better stand, there’s no turning back<\/em>” 29<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

These lyrics epitomise the cyclical futility of armed conflict, undermining romanticised notions of battlefield heroism.30<\/a><\/sup> Just War Theory posits that war can be morally legitimate only if it satisfies strict conditions such as proportionality, right intention, and just cause.31<\/a><\/sup> However, Iron Maiden\u2019s depiction of war in The Trooper<\/em> leaves little room for these ideals. The narrator advances inexorably towards death\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“The bugle sounds, the charge begins<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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But on this battlefield, no one wins<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The smell of acrid smoke and horses’ breath<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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As I plunge into a certain death<\/em>32<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2014suggesting an absence of rational purpose beyond obedience. Eeva Saarinen observes that many heavy metal narratives portray soldiers as victims of political forces beyond their control,33<\/a><\/sup> a reading The Trooper<\/em> exemplifies. In presenting the battlefield as an arena of indiscriminate slaughter rather than righteous action, Iron Maiden destabilises traditional frameworks for moral warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 4.<\/strong> Iron Maiden. “The Trooper.<\/em>” Piece of Mind.<\/em> EMI Records, 1983. Music video, 0.01. YouTube. Accessed May 10, 2025. https:\/\/youtu.be\/X4bgXH3sJ2Q?si=fgXmN9DZSf-UZwSD<\/a>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.3. \u201cWoe to You, Oh Earth and Sea\u2026\u201d: Cosmic and Moral Significance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond philosophical critiques, Iron Maiden extends their exploration of war into the realm of cosmic evil. The Number of the Beast<\/em> (1982) opens with a chilling invocation from the Book of Revelation (12:12-13, 13:18): <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Woe to you, oh earth and sea<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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For the Devil sends the beast with wrath<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Because he knows the time is short<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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For it is a human number<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Its number is six hundred and sixty-six<\/em>“34<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In this narrative, war and destruction are not the result of political decisions, but manifestations of supernatural, inevitable doom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lauro Meller notes that Iron Maiden often intertwine historical realities with mythological and theological frameworks to heighten the stakes of human conflict.35<\/a><\/sup> In The Number of the Beast<\/em>, violence is framed not as a human error but as part of an apocalyptic destiny: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Torches blazed and sacred chants were praised<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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As they start to cry, hands held to the sky.<\/em>“36<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here, war becomes ritualised and mythologised, reinforcing the band’s portrayal of conflict as an existential and universal evil. Iron Maiden draws upon a lineage of apocalyptic thought that resonates through religious and popular culture by elevating war beyond a political form of evil into a mythic one. As previously explored, Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em> also references these themes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cGod let us go now and finish what’s to be done<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Thy Kingdom come, thy shall be done on earth<\/em>\u201d.37<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Further underscoring the band\u2019s, while perhaps unintentional, alignment with theological fatalism\u2014where violence is not merely condoned but cast as inevitable, even divinely sanctioned, echoing the logic that \u201cthe future is already fixed in every detail and that no one has the power to act otherwise than he in fact does.\u201d38<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.4 \u201cThe Ritual Has Begun\u201d: Cultural Evil and the Metal Aesthetic<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although theological themes permeate Iron Maiden\u2019s lyrics, their engagement with evil is ultimately aesthetic and cultural. Heavy metal’s long association with satanic imagery, particularly during the 1980s “Satanic Panic,”39<\/a><\/sup>  reflects not literal endorsement but symbolic transgression. As Helen Farley notes, album covers were \u201cresplendent with demons\u201d and themes of the occult were used primarily to shock rather than signify sincere belief\u2014\u201cteenage rebellion became as easy as buying a Black Sabbath record.\u201d40<\/a><\/sup> This aligns with John Brackett\u2019s argument that bands like Iron Maiden were targeted because they challenged dominant moral frameworks, using shock aesthetics to expose cultural anxieties.41<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anton LaVey\u2019s Satanic Bible<\/em> frames Satan not as a metaphysical entity but as a symbol of rebellion, individualism, and exposure of societal hypocrisies.42<\/a><\/sup> Within this symbolic system, Maiden\u2019s depictions of war serve as critiques of the illusions of honour, righteousness, and national glory. Songs like These Colours Don\u2019t Run (2006)<\/em>43<\/a><\/sup> and The Longest Day (2006)<\/em>44<\/a><\/sup> stage war not as a noble struggle but as a tragic ritual, stripping away the comforting myths that traditionally justify violence.45<\/a><\/sup> This resonates with LaVey\u2019s assertion that \u201cthe victors write the history books \u2014 and glorify their cause and demonize the defeated,\u201d46<\/a><\/sup> suggesting that narratives of military heroism are constructed to sanctify violence after the fact. Through the sonic, visual, and narrative dimensions of their work, Iron Maiden embed war into heavy metal\u2019s broader aesthetic of confronting, performing, and ritualising evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4. Sonic Construction of Evil \u2013 Rhythm, Harmony, and Musical Form<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While Iron Maiden\u2019s lyrics and iconography construct war as morally ambiguous and mythically charged, the band\u2019s musical language reinforces this vision through sonic means. The NWOBHM soundscape is not simply an aesthetic background\u2014it becomes a vital medium through which themes of fatalism, violence, and transgression are articulated.47<\/a><\/sup> In particular, Iron Maiden\u2019s rhythmic drive, modal harmony, and structural density work together to sonify the chaos and inevitability of conflict, contributing to a broader musical aesthetic of moral destabilisation.48<\/a><\/sup> As found by Spracklen, \u201cextreme metal music uses sonic violence and sensory overload to evoke a sense of transcendence and loss of control,\u201d positioning sound itself as a ritualised experience of chaos and disorientation that disrupts normative emotional responses and frames of meaning.49<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.1. Rhythm:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the \u201ctrademark\u201d50<\/a><\/sup> features of Iron Maiden\u2019s sound is the “galloping” rhythm, typically based on driving triplets or swung sixteenth notes (see Figure 5), \u201cwhich by 1988, had become a heavy metal trope,\u201d51<\/a><\/sup> Heard in The Trooper<\/em> and Aces High<\/em> (1984),52<\/a><\/sup> this rhythmic motif mimics the relentless forward motion of cavalry charge or mechanical assault, evoking a momentum that feels both exhilarating and uncontrollable.53<\/a><\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 5.<\/strong> Rhythmic transcription of Iron Maiden\u2019s \u201cThe Trooper<\/em>.\u201d Source: Wissam R. Abboud, The Musical Language of Heavy Metal: A Study of Form, Rhythm, Modes, and Harmonic Structure<\/em> (MA thesis, Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2018), 53.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.2. Harmony<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harmonically, Iron Maiden frequently employs Aeolian and Phrygian modal vocabularies\u2014scales \u201cwidely used to color expressions of pain and lament.\u201d54<\/a><\/sup> These modal choices destabilise the tonal centre and resist harmonic closure. As Nicole Biamonte found in her study including Iron Maiden songs, \u201cthe positions of Phrygian and Locrian as the flatmost modes of major, as well as their semitones and tritone above the tonic, serve in these songs to enhance the characteristically dark affect of heavy metal.\u201d55<\/a><\/sup> In Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>, shifting modal inflections reinforce the soldier\u2019s existential ambivalence, never allowing the listener to settle. 2 Minutes to Midnight<\/em> begins with grinding, dissonant power chords that announce violence in sound before it appears in words, marking tonal disturbance as a stand-in for geopolitical horror.56<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4.3. Structure<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formally, Iron Maiden structures their songs to delay catharsis. Aces High<\/em>, in particular, resists conventional verse-chorus form through tempo changes, alternating clean and distorted textures, and contrasting vocal deliveries.57<\/a><\/sup> These episodic structures map directly onto the psychological fragmentation of the narrator, reinforcing the idea that war disorients identity and moral logic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even timbre and texture serve expressive functions. Twin guitar leads over Aeolian progressions, as is tradition in the NWOBHM,58<\/a><\/sup>  generate a sense of heightened drama, while Dickinson\u2019s operatic vocals59<\/a><\/sup> intensify themes of conflict and ritual.60<\/a><\/sup> In The Number of the Beast<\/em>, a spoken prophecy from Revelation opens over eerie ambiance, followed by an explosive riff in 5\/4 that collapses into fast 4\/4\u2014a rhythmic ritual of apocalypse. This metric instability signals the summoning of evil not only lyrically, but musically, positioning rhythm as both omen and assault.61<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These sonic strategies are not ornament\u2014they are ideological. Iron Maiden\u2019s musical textures collapse aesthetic distance and immerse the listener in war\u2019s affective reality. Through rhythm, harmony, and form, the band constructs an aural theatre of moral disorder, in which evil is neither abstract nor purely narrative\u2014it is felt. This musicality enacts the band\u2019s broader critique of warfare and aligns them with heavy metal\u2019s aesthetic of symbolic, theological, and existential transgression.62<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5. NWOBHM & Perceptions of Evil<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Iron Maiden\u2019s ambivalent portrayal of war\u2014neither triumphalist nor pacifist\u2014has left a lasting mark on heavy metal\u2019s aesthetic and ideological development. Within the NWOBHM, their fusion of historical narrative, theological imagery, and musical intensity established a blueprint for articulating evil as complex, symbolic, and systemic.63<\/a><\/sup> This legacy shaped later subgenres in distinct but interconnected ways. In this context, the broader metal genre has raised profound moral questions: if Satanism is being used to fight evil, could it become the \u2018good\u2019? Can one evil fight another evil? And can these bands, still small in the grand scheme of popular culture, make an impact on such entrenched institutions?64<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Slayer adopted Iron Maiden\u2019s emphasis on moral ambiguity and channelled it into more explicit political critique.65<\/a><\/sup> Tracks like Slayer\u2019s Mandatory Suicide or Metallica\u2019s One amplify Maiden\u2019s vision of mechanised violence, adding sonic aggression and lyrical urgency to protest war\u2019s dehumanising effects.66<\/a><\/sup> Power metal, by contrast, evolved Maiden\u2019s mythic framing of conflict, transforming war into a site of heroic destiny. Bands like Sabaton or Blind Guardian retained Maiden\u2019s epic musical scope but often reimagined war as a moral crucible rather than a site of collapse.67<\/a><\/sup> In black metal, the apocalyptic and anti-theistic undercurrents of The Number of the Beast find resonance in the genre\u2019s occult aesthetics, where cosmic violence is not condemned but ritualised.68<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across these styles, Iron Maiden\u2019s influence is not merely musical but philosophical. Their construction of war as an existential, mythic, and sonic evil helped define heavy metal\u2019s cultural image as morally subversive, \u201camongst other things, challenging ways to respond to the boundaries of the body…to the limits of morality.\u201d69<\/a><\/sup> Crucially, this association does not arise from glorification but from deep engagement with repressed cultural anxieties\u2014violence, guilt, justice, and the limits of human meaning. However, as Karl Spracklen argues, Iron Maiden also \u201cconstruct hegemonic masculinity and Britishness from the mythic milieu… serving its hegemonic interest, whether they are conscious of that fact or not.\u201d70<\/a><\/sup> This suggests that while their work may challenge moral boundaries, it can also reinforce imperial and gendered ideologies, complicating any straightforward reading of their music as purely subversive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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6. Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Iron Maiden\u2019s portrayal of war as evil unfolds across legal, ethical, mythological, and sonic registers. Their multi-dimensional construction destabilises simple readings of violence and embeds heavy metal with a powerful symbolic language. By confronting uncomfortable truths rather than avoiding them, Iron Maiden not only shaped NWOBHM\u2019s aesthetic legacy but also transformed how war\u2014and evil\u2014are imagined in modern popular culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footnotes:<\/h2>\n\n\n
  1. \u00a0Iron Maiden, The Trooper<\/em>, on Piece of Mind<\/em>, EMI Records, 1983. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  2. \u00a0Andy R. Brown and Christine Griffin, \u201c\u2018A Cockroach Preserved in Amber\u2019: The Significance of Class in Critics\u2019 Representations of Heavy Metal Music and its Fans,\u201d The Sociological Review<\/em> 62, no. 4 (2014): 724, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1467-954X.12181<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  3. \u00a0Eeva Saarinen, \u201cFrom War Pigs to Unsung Heroes: The Criticism and Justification of War in Metal Lyrics\u201d (MA thesis, University of Turku, 2013), 33, https:\/\/www.utupub.fi\/bitstream\/handle\/10024\/90867\/saarinen2013gradu.pdf?sequence=2<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  4. \u00a0Ibid., 59. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  5. \u00a0Jason Miller, \u201cWhat Makes Heavy Metal \u2018Heavy\u2019?,\u201d The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism<\/em> 80, no. 1 (2022): 71, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jaac\/kpab065<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  6. \u00a0John Brackett, \u201cSatan, Subliminals, and Suicide: The Formation and Development of an Antirock Discourse in the United States during the 1980s,\u201d American Music<\/em> 36, no. 3 (2018): 272, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5406\/americanmusic.36.3.0271<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  7. \u00a0Ibid., 288. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  8. \u00a0Iron Maiden Bulgaria, \u201cAfraid to Shoot Strangers,\u201d Iron Maiden Bulgaria<\/em>, accessed May 10, 2025, https:\/\/www.ironmaiden-bg.com\/web\/index.php\/fear-of-the-dark-songs-en\/2277-afraid-to-shoot-strangers-song-info-en<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  9. \u00a0Iron Maiden, Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>, on Fear of the Dark<\/em>, EMI Records, 1992. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  10. \u00a0Ibid. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  11. \u00a0Thomas Talbott, \u201cTheological Fatalism and the Problem of Moral Responsibility,\u201d Religious Studies<\/em> 29, no. 1 (1993): 63, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0034412500015405<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  12. \u00a0Hannu M\u00e4kinen, The Changing Image of War according to the Lyrics and Imagery Used by Iron Maiden<\/em> (Pro Gradu thesis, University of Oulu, 2014), 64, https:\/\/oulurepo.oulu.fi\/bitstream\/handle\/10024\/39716\/nbnfioulu-201405291597.pdf?sequence=1<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  13. \u00a0Arturo Mora-Rioja, \u201c\u2018We Are the Dead\u2019: The War Poets, Metal Music and Chaos Control,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 7, no. 2 (2021): 300-301, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00050_1<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  14. \u00a0Iron Maiden, The Trooper<\/em>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  15. \u00a0Caitlin McAlister, Heavy Metal Historiography: Historical Subject Matter in the Music of Iron Maiden <\/em>(MA thesis, Penn State University, 2020), 27-28, https:\/\/etda.libraries.psu.edu\/catalog\/17728cxm2093<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  16. \u00a0Karl Spracklen, Metal Music and the Re-Imagining of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation<\/em> (Bingley: Emerald Publishing, 2020), 68. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  17. \u00a0Iron Maiden, Paschendale, on Dance of Death<\/em>, EMI Records, 2003. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  18. \u00a0Arturo Mora-Rioja, \u201c\u2018We Are the Dead\u2019: The War Poets, Metal Music and Chaos Control,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 7, no. 2 (2021): 300, \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  19. \u00a0Iron Maiden, Paschendale<\/em>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  20. \u00a0M\u00e4kinen, The Changing Image of War, 25. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  21. \u00a0Iron Maiden, 2 Minutes to Midnight<\/em>, on Powerslave<\/em>, EMI Records, 1984. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  22. \u00a0Lauro Meller, “Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part I): From the Cavemen to the Vikings,” Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Can\u00e7\u00e3o<\/em> 3 (January-June 2013): 198-204, https:\/\/rbec.ect.ufrn.br\/data\/_uploaded\/artigo\/N3\/RBEC_N3_A14.pdf<\/a>. ; Lauro Meller, “Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War,” Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Can\u00e7\u00e3o<\/em> 4 (July-December 2013): 190\u2013201, https:\/\/rbec.ect.ufrn.br\/data\/_uploaded\/artigo\/N4\/RBEC_N4_A14.pdf<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  23. \u00a0M\u00e4kinen, The Changing Image of War, 64. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  24. \u00a0Robin May Schott, \u201cJust War and the Problem of Evil,\u201d Hypatia<\/em> 23, no. 2 (2008): 123, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1527-2001.2008.tb01189.x<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  25. \u00a0Esther A. Clinton, review of Heavy Metal: Controversies and Countercultures<\/em>, edited by Titus Hjelm, Keith Kahn-Harris, and Mark LeVine, Volume! La revue des musiques populaires<\/em> 9, no. 2 (2012): 233, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4000\/volume.3481<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  26. \u00a0Iron Maiden, Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  27. \u00a0Geneva Conventions, August 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  28. \u00a0Schott, \u201cJust War and the Problem of Evil,\u201d 123. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  29. \u00a0Iron Maiden, The Trooper<\/em>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  30. \u00a0Oleg Smirnov, Holly Arrow, Douglas Kennett, and John Orbell, \u201c\u2018Heroism\u2019 in Warfare,\u201d The Journal of Politics<\/em> 69, no. 4 (2007): 928, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1468-2508.2007.00599.x<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  31. \u00a0Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations<\/em> (New York: Basic Books, 1977), 21-22. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  32. \u00a0Iron Maiden, The Trooper<\/em>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  33. \u00a0Saarinen, From War Pigs to Unsung Heroes, 34-25. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  34. \u00a0Iron Maiden, The Number of the Beast<\/em>, on The Number of the Beast<\/em>, EMI Records, 1982. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  35. \u00a0Lauro Meller, \u201cHistorical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War,\u201d 195. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  36. \u00a0Iron Maiden, The Number of the Beast<\/em>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  37. \u00a0Iron Maiden, Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  38. \u00a0Talbott, \u201cTheological Fatalism and the Problem of Moral Responsibility,\u201d 63, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0034412500015405<\/a>. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  39. \u00a0Jeffrey S. Victor, Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend<\/em> (Chicago: Open Court, 1993),162-163. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  40. \u00a0Helen Farley, Demons, Devils and Witches: The Occult in Heavy Metal Music, <\/em>in Demons in the World Today<\/em>, ed. Paul E. Szarmach (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2009), 82-83. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  41. John Brackett, \u201cSatan, Subliminals, and Suicide: The Formation and Development of an Antirock Discourse in the United States during the 1980s,\u201d American Music<\/em> 36, no. 3 (2018): 285. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  42. \u00a0Anton Szandor LaVey, The Satanic Bible<\/em> (New York: William Morrow Paperbacks, 1992), 30-33. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  43. \u00a0Iron Maiden, These Colours Don\u2019t Run<\/em>, on Virtual XI<\/em>, EMI Records, 1998. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  44. \u00a0Iron Maiden, The Longest Day<\/em>, on A Matter of Life and Death<\/em>, EMI Records, 2006. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  45. \u00a0Peter Elliott, \u201cA Matter of Life and Death: Iron Maiden\u2019s Religio-Political Critique,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 4, no. 2 (2018): 295, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms.4.2.293_1<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  46. \u00a0Ibid., 35. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  47. \u00a0Robert McParland, Myth and Magic in Heavy Metal Music<\/em> (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2018), 47 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  48. \u00a0McAlister, Heavy Metal Historiography: Historical Subject Matter in the Music of Iron Maiden<\/em>, 20-23 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  49. \u00a0Karl Spracklen, “\u2018It\u2019s a Dirty, Soothing Secret Magic\u2019: Individualism and Spirituality in New Age and Extreme Metal Music Cultures,<\/em>” in Popular Music and Society<\/em> 31, no. 1 (2008): 74. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0261143018000697<\/a>. ;\u00a0 Meller, “Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War,” 199. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  50. \u00a0Wissam R. Abboud, The Musical Language of Heavy Metal: A Study of Form, Rhythm, Modes, and Harmonic Structure<\/em> (MA thesis, Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2018), 53. http:\/\/ir.ndu.edu.lb\/123456789\/1210<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  51. \u00a0Nolan Stolz, Experiencing Black Sabbath: A Listener\u2019s Companion<\/em> (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), 142. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  52. \u00a0Iron Maiden, Aces High<\/em>, on Powerslave<\/em>, EMI Records, 1984. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  53. \u00a0Meller, “Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War,” 199. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  54. \u00a0Richard W. Young Jr., Modes in Heavy Metal Music<\/em> (Master\u2019s thesis, Stephen F. Austin State University, 2024), 33, https:\/\/scholarworks.sfasu.edu\/etds\/539<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  55. \u00a0Nicole Biamonte, Modal Function in Rock and Heavy Metal Music<\/em>, in L\u2019analyse musicale aujourd\u2019hui<\/em>, ed. Mondher Ayari, Jean-Michel Bardez, and Xavier Hascher (Universit\u00e9 de Strasbourg, 2012), 10, https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/1826046\/Modal_Function_in_Rock_and_Heavy_Metal_Music<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  56. \u00a0Karl Spracklen, \u201c\u2018Yours is the Earth and Everything That\u2019s in It, and \u2013 Which Is More \u2013 You\u2019ll Be a Man, My Son\u2019: Myths of British Masculinity and Britishness in the Construction and Reception of Iron Maiden,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 3, no. 3 (2017): 413, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms.3.3.405_1<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  57. \u00a0Stephen S. Hudson, \u201cCompound AABA Form and Style Distinction in Heavy Metal,\u201d Music Theory Online<\/em> 27, no. 1 (2021), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.30535\/mto.27.1.5<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  58. \u00a0Jamie Boddington Jordan and Jan-Peter Herbst, “Harmonic Structures in Twenty-First-Century Metal Music: A Harmonic Analysis of Five Major Metal Genres,” Metal Music Studies<\/em> 9, no. 1 (March 2023): 28, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00093_1<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  59. \u00a0Alexsandro R. Meireles and Beatriz Raposo de Medeiros, \u201cAcoustic Analysis of Voice Quality in Iron Maiden\u2019s Songs\u201d (paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody, Pozna\u0144, Poland, June 2018), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.21437\/SpeechProsody.2018-4<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  60. \u00a0Anastasia Siopsi, \u201cImages of War in Opera,\u201d Open Journal for Studies in History<\/em> 3, no. 2 (2020): 25-34, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.32591\/coas.ojsh.0302.01025s<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  61. \u00a0Farley, Demons, Devils and Witches: The Occult in Heavy Metal Music<\/em>, 95-96 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  62. \u00a0Nicolas B\u00e9nard, \u201cWar Images in Metal Music: Between Fascination and Denunciation,\u201d Soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em> 117, no. 3 (2012): 115-116, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3917\/soc.117.0113<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  63. \u00a0J\u00f6rg Scheller, \u201cApopcalypse: The Popularity of Heavy Metal as Heir to Apocalyptic Artifacts,\u201d Arts<\/em> 12, no. 3 (2023): 120, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/arts12030120<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  64. \u00a0Andrew Thomson, \u201cRight Hand Up, Left Hand Down: The New Satanists of Rock n\u2019 Roll, Evil and the Underground War on the Abject,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 7, no. 1 (2020):49, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00031_1<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  65. \u00a0Petr Kocina, \u201cThe Good, the Bad and Metallica: Philosophical Reflections on the Concept of Evil in the Music of One Heavy Metal Band.\u201d Ars Pro Toto – Science & Art Journal<\/em> 1, (2021): 20, https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/354402567<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  66. \u00a0Ibid. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  67. \u00a0Reinhard Kopanski, \u201c\u2018Auschwitz Awaits\u2019: Different Readings on Sabaton\u2019s \u2018The Final Solution\u2019 (2010) and the Question of Irony,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 6, no. 3 (2020): 347, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00022_1<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  68. \u00a0Michelle Phillipov, \u201cExtreme Music for Extreme People? Norwegian Black Metal and Transcendent Violence,\u201d in Heavy Metal: Controversies and Countercultures<\/em>, ed. Titus Hjelm, Keith Kahn-Harris, and Mark LeVine (Sheffield: Equinox, 2013), 155. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  69. \u00a0Keith Kahn-Harris, \u201cEngaging with Absence: Why Is the Holocaust a \u2018Problem\u2019 for Metal?\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 6, no. 3 (2020):411, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00025_1<\/a>.\u00a0 \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>
  70. \u00a0Spracklen, \u201c\u2018Yours is the Earth and Everything That\u2019s in It, and \u2013 Which Is More \u2013 You\u2019ll Be a Man, My Son\u2019: Myths of British Masculinity and Britishness in the Construction and Reception of Iron Maiden,\u201d 416. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Figures<\/strong>:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Figure 1.<\/strong> Theo Wargo, “Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden during OZZFEST 2005 at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel \u2013 July 26, 2005.” Photograph. WireImage\/Getty Images. Accessed April 26, 2025. https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/es-es\/gallery\/rg972593664\/mediaviewer\/rm2806225664\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Figure 2.<\/strong> Derek Riggs, cover art for Iron Maiden, 2 Minutes to Midnight, 12″ single, EMI Records, 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Figure 3.<\/strong> Iron Maiden. “Afraid to Shoot Strangers.” Fear of the Dark. EMI Records, 1992. Music video, 5:20. YouTube. Accessed April 28, 2025. https:\/\/youtu.be\/0c9iYZdsZMM.\u200b<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Figure 4.<\/strong> Iron Maiden. “The Trooper.<\/em>” Piece of Mind.<\/em> EMI Records, 1983. Music video, 0.01. YouTube. Accessed May 10, 2025. https:\/\/youtu.be\/X4bgXH3sJ2Q?si=fgXmN9DZSf-UZwSD<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Figure 5. <\/strong>Rhythmic transcription of Iron Maiden\u2019s \u201cThe Trooper.\u201d Source: Wissam R. Abboud, The Musical Language of Heavy Metal: A Study of Form, Rhythm, Modes, and Harmonic Structure (MA thesis, Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2018), 53. http:\/\/ir.ndu.edu.lb\/123456789\/1210<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    References:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Abboud, Wissam R. The Musical Language of Heavy Metal: A Study of Form, Rhythm, Modes, and Harmonic Structur<\/em>e. MA thesis, Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2018. http:\/\/ir.ndu.edu.lb\/123456789\/1210<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    B\u00e9nard, Nicolas. \u201cWar Images in Metal Music: Between Fascination and Denunciation.\u201d Soci\u00e9t\u00e9s 117, no. 3 (2012): 113-128. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3917\/soc.117.0113<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Biamonte, Nicole. Modal Function in Rock and Heavy Metal Music<\/em>. In L\u2019analyse musicale aujourd\u2019hui<\/em>, edited by Mondher Ayari, Jean-Michel Bardez, and Xavier Hascher. Universit\u00e9 de Strasbourg, 2012. https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/1826046\/Modal_Function_in_Rock_and_Heavy_Metal_Music<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Brackett, John. \u201cSatan, Subliminals, and Suicide: The Formation and Development of an Antirock Discourse in the United States during the 1980s.\u201d American Music<\/em> 36, no. 3 (2018): 271-302. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5406\/americanmusic.36.3.0271<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Brown, Andy R. and Griffin, Christine. \u201c\u2018A Cockroach Preserved in Amber\u2019: The Significance of Class in Critics\u2019 Representations of Heavy Metal Music and its Fans,\u201d The Sociological Review<\/em> 62, no. 4 (2014): 719-741. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1467-954X.12181<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Clinton, Esther A. Review of Heavy Metal: Controversies and Countercultures<\/em>, edited by Titus Hjelm, Keith Kahn-Harris, and Mark LeVine. Volume! La revue des musiques populaires<\/em> 9, no. 2 (2012): 233\u2013235. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4000\/volume.3481<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Elliott, Peter. \u201cA Matter of Life and Death: Iron Maiden\u2019s Religio-Political Critique.\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 4, no. 2 (2018): 293-307. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms.4.2.293_1<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Farley, Helen. Demons, Devils and Witches: The Occult in Heavy Metal Music<\/em>. In Demons in the World Today<\/em>, edited by Paul E. Szarmach, 81-95. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Hudson, Stephen S. \u201cCompound AABA Form and Style Distinction in Heavy Metal.\u201d Music Theory Online<\/em> 27, no. 1 (March 2021). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.30535\/mto.27.1.5<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden. 2 Minutes to Midnight<\/em>. On Powerslave<\/em>. EMI Records, 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden, Aces High<\/em>, on Powerslave<\/em>, EMI Records, 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden. Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>. On Fear of the Dark<\/em>. EMI Records, 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden. “Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>.” Fear of the Dark<\/em>. EMI Records, 1992. Music video, 5:19. YouTube. Accessed April 28, 2025. https:\/\/youtu.be\/0c9iYZdsZMM.\u200b<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden, These Colours Don\u2019t Run, <\/em>on Virtual XI<\/em>, EMI Records, 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden, The Longest Day<\/em>, on A<\/em> Matter of Life and Death<\/em>, EMI Records, 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden. The Number of the Beast<\/em>. On The Number of the Beast<\/em>. EMI Records, 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden. The Trooper<\/em>. On Piece of Mind<\/em>. EMI Records, 1983.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Iron Maiden Bulgaria. \u201cAfraid to Shoot Strangers.\u201d Iron Maiden Bulgaria<\/em>. Accessed May 10, 2025. https:\/\/www.ironmaiden-bg.com\/web\/index.php\/fear-of-the-dark-songs-en\/2277-afraid-to-shoot-strangers-song-info-en<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Jordan, Jamie Boddington, and Jan-Peter Herbst. “Harmonic Structures in Twenty-First-Century Metal Music: A Harmonic Analysis of Five Major Metal Genres.” Metal Music Studies<\/em> 9, no. 1 (March 2023): 27-58. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00093_1<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Kahn-Harris, Keith. \u201cEngaging with Absence: Why Is the Holocaust a \u2018Problem\u2019 for Metal?\u201d Metal Music Studie<\/em>s 6, no. 3 (2020): 395-414. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00025_1<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Kocina, Petr. \u201cThe Good, the Bad and Metallica: Philosophical Reflections on the Concept of Evil in the Music of One Heavy Metal Band.\u201d Ars Pro Toto – Science & Art Journal <\/em>1, (2021): 18-22. https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/354402567<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Kopanski, Reinhard. \u201c\u2018Auschwitz Awaits\u2019: Different Readings on Sabaton\u2019s \u2018The Final Solution\u2019 (2010) and the Question of Irony.\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 6, no. 3 (2020): 337-357. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00022_1<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible<\/em>. New York: William Morrow Paperbacks, 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    M\u00e4kinen, Hannu. The Changing Image of War according to the Lyrics and Imagery Used by Iron Maiden<\/em>. Pro Gradu thesis, University of Oulu, 2014. https:\/\/oulurepo.oulu.fi\/bitstream\/handle\/10024\/39716\/nbnfioulu-201405291597.pdf?sequence=1<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    McAlister, Caitlin. Heavy Metal Historiography: Historical Subject Matter in the Music of Iron Maiden<\/em>. MA thesis, Pennsylvania State University, 2020. https:\/\/etda.libraries.psu.edu\/catalog\/17728cxm2093<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    McParland, Robert. Myth and Magic in Heavy Metal Music<\/em>. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meireles, Alexsandro R., and Beatriz Raposo de Medeiros. \u201cAcoustic Analysis of Voice Quality in Iron Maiden\u2019s Songs.\u201d Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody<\/em>, Pozna\u0144, Poland, June 2018. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.21437\/SpeechProsody.2018-4<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meller, Lauro. \u201cHistorical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part I): From the Cavemen to the Vikings.\u201d Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Can\u00e7\u00e3o 4<\/em> (January-June 2013): 198-204. https:\/\/rbec.ect.ufrn.br\/data\/_uploaded\/artigo\/N3\/RBEC_N3_A14.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meller, Lauro. \u201cHistorical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War.\u201d Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Can\u00e7\u00e3<\/em>o 4 (July-December 2013): 190-201. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Miller, Jason. \u201cWhat Makes Heavy Metal \u2018Heavy\u2019?\u201d The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism<\/em> 80, no. 1 (2022): 70-82. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jaac\/kpab065<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Mora-Rioja, Arturo. \u201c\u2018We Are the Dead\u2019: The War Poets, Metal Music and Chaos Control.\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 7, no. 2 (2021): 299-315. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00050_1<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Phillipov, Michelle. \u201cExtreme Music for Extreme People? Norwegian Black Metal and Transcendent Violence.\u201d In Heavy Metal: Controversies and Countercultures<\/em>, edited by Titus Hjelm, Keith Kahn-Harris, and Mark LeVine, 152\u201365. Sheffield: Equinox, 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Riggs, Derek. Cover art for Iron Maiden, “2 Minutes to Midnight.” 12″ single. EMI Records, 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Saarinen, Eeva. \u201cFrom War Pigs to Unsung Heroes: The Criticism and Justification of War in Metal Lyrics.\u201d MA thesis, University of Turku, 2013. https:\/\/www.utupub.fi\/bitstream\/handle\/10024\/90867\/saarinen2013gradu.pdf?sequence=2<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Scheller, J\u00f6rg. \u201cApopcalypse: The Popularity of Heavy Metal as Heir to Apocalyptic Artifacts.\u201d Arts<\/em> 12, no. 3 (2023): 120. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/arts12030120<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Schott, Robin May. \u201cJust War and the Problem of Evil.\u201d Hypatia<\/em> 23, no. 2 (2008): 122-140. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1527-2001.2008.tb01189.x<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Siopsi, Anastasia. \u201cImages of War in Opera.\u201d Open Journal for Studies in History<\/em> 3, no. 2 (2020): 25-34. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.32591\/coas.ojsh.0302.01025s<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Smirnov, Oleg, Holly Arrow, Douglas Kennett, and John Orbell. \u201c\u2018Heroism\u2019 in Warfare.\u201d The Journal of Politics<\/em> 69, no. 4 (2007): 927-940. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1468-2508.2007.00599.x<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Spracklen, Karl. \u201c\u2018It\u2019s a Dirty, Soothing Secret Magic\u2019: Individualism and Spirituality in New Age and Extreme Metal Music Cultures.\u201d Popular Music and Society<\/em> 31, no. 1 (2008): 57-72. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0261143018000697<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Spracklen, Karl. Metal Music and the Re-Imagining of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation<\/em>. Bingley: Emerald Publishing, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Spracklen, Karl. \u201c\u2018Yours is the Earth and Everything That\u2019s in It, and \u2013 Which Is More \u2013 You\u2019ll Be a Man, My Son\u2019: Myths of British Masculinity and Britishness in the Construction and Reception of Iron Maiden.\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 3, no. 3 (2017): 405-419. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms.3.3.405_1<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Stolz, Nolan. Experiencing Black Sabbath: A Listener\u2019s Companion<\/em>. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Talbott, Thomas. \u201cTheological Fatalism and the Problem of Moral Responsibility.\u201d Religious Studies<\/em> 29, no. 1 (1993): 41-58. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0034412500015405<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Thomson, Andrew. \u201cRight Hand Up, Left Hand Down: The New Satanists of Rock n\u2019 Roll, Evil and the Underground War on the Abject.\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 7, no. 1 (2020): 43-60. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00031_1<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Victor, Jeffrey S. Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend<\/em>. Chicago: Open Court, 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Walzer, Michael. Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations<\/em>. New York: Basic Books, 1977.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Wargo, Theo. “Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden during OZZFEST 2005 at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel \u2013 July 26, 2005.” Photograph. WireImage\/Getty Images. Accessed April 26, 2025. https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/es-es\/gallery\/rg972593664\/mediaviewer\/rm2806225664\/<\/a>.Young, Richard W., Jr. Modes in Heavy Metal Music<\/em>. Master\u2019s thesis, Stephen F. Austin State University, 2024. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 539. https:\/\/scholarworks.sfasu.edu\/etds\/539<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    How Iron Maiden sonically constructs war as a form of evil and how that construction, both musical and thematic, contributed to the NWOBHM\u2019s aesthetic legacy and the globalisation of heavy metal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, The Trooper<\/em>, on Piece of Mind<\/em>, EMI Records, 1983.\",\"id\":\"4394911d-a8eb-41c4-95ae-1409562d9c60\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Andy R. Brown and Christine Griffin, \u201c\u2018A Cockroach Preserved in Amber\u2019: The Significance of Class in Critics\u2019 Representations of Heavy Metal Music and its Fans,\u201d The Sociological Review<\/em> 62, no. 4 (2014): 724, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1467-954X.12181<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"797de2c6-9802-4897-a498-dc692d8a4056\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Eeva Saarinen, \u201cFrom War Pigs to Unsung Heroes: The Criticism and Justification of War in Metal Lyrics\u201d (MA thesis, University of Turku, 2013), 33, https:\/\/www.utupub.fi\/bitstream\/handle\/10024\/90867\/saarinen2013gradu.pdf?sequence=2<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"1f0c0a57-02aa-414a-8159-903779646072\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Ibid., 59.\",\"id\":\"839a67a6-5747-4ad1-8238-d42830b61562\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Jason Miller, \u201cWhat Makes Heavy Metal \u2018Heavy\u2019?,\u201d The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism<\/em> 80, no. 1 (2022): 71, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jaac\/kpab065<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"a03d8ff8-4e07-4ca2-9f25-fac010343e68\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0John Brackett, \u201cSatan, Subliminals, and Suicide: The Formation and Development of an Antirock Discourse in the United States during the 1980s,\u201d American Music<\/em> 36, no. 3 (2018): 272, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5406\/americanmusic.36.3.0271<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"8d2f91c1-f2bf-4497-8758-6e231e46e73d\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Ibid., 288.\",\"id\":\"3dd7b480-c225-4aac-b9b0-6a089bf31c39\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden Bulgaria, \u201cAfraid to Shoot Strangers,\u201d Iron Maiden Bulgaria<\/em>, accessed May 10, 2025, https:\/\/www.ironmaiden-bg.com\/web\/index.php\/fear-of-the-dark-songs-en\/2277-afraid-to-shoot-strangers-song-info-en<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"8b9511df-61dd-4704-ba56-6b557513bd25\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>, on Fear of the Dark<\/em>, EMI Records, 1992.\",\"id\":\"41e4debe-da6c-49c0-a63b-5ad3e926cd08\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Ibid.\",\"id\":\"fd18bba4-a2e2-489e-bcc8-34ae11d27149\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Thomas Talbott, \u201cTheological Fatalism and the Problem of Moral Responsibility,\u201d Religious Studies<\/em> 29, no. 1 (1993): 63, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0034412500015405<\/a>.\",\"id\":\"ce51d272-56b4-457f-bc29-8f1127b200fb\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Hannu M\u00e4kinen, The Changing Image of War according to the Lyrics and Imagery Used by Iron Maiden<\/em> (Pro Gradu thesis, University of Oulu, 2014), 64, https:\/\/oulurepo.oulu.fi\/bitstream\/handle\/10024\/39716\/nbnfioulu-201405291597.pdf?sequence=1<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"62c0d2e3-84b9-4df3-8687-6fa31f1cec4a\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Arturo Mora-Rioja, \u201c\u2018We Are the Dead\u2019: The War Poets, Metal Music and Chaos Control,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 7, no. 2 (2021): 300-301, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00050_1<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"a6c79367-dbbb-4381-b781-535002670f66\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, The Trooper<\/em>.\",\"id\":\"b431870a-3efe-444d-ade3-073567d7e5c2\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Caitlin McAlister, Heavy Metal Historiography: Historical Subject Matter in the Music of Iron Maiden <\/em>(MA thesis, Penn State University, 2020), 27-28, https:\/\/etda.libraries.psu.edu\/catalog\/17728cxm2093<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"d0f05131-498d-49a5-8dbb-73cda4a134b1\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Karl Spracklen, Metal Music and the Re-Imagining of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation<\/em> (Bingley: Emerald Publishing, 2020), 68.\",\"id\":\"cfc625bb-cacb-4d26-93b3-3a9fd4caa220\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, Paschendale, on Dance of Death<\/em>, EMI Records, 2003.\",\"id\":\"2ae37651-43e4-4a67-9bd8-c0d6d151b59a\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Arturo Mora-Rioja, \u201c\u2018We Are the Dead\u2019: The War Poets, Metal Music and Chaos Control,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 7, no. 2 (2021): 300,\",\"id\":\"5195410d-b980-433d-9bfa-aeacb437d150\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, Paschendale<\/em>.\",\"id\":\"63575621-855c-41e9-b355-0364e08b31b6\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0M\u00e4kinen, The Changing Image of War, 25.\",\"id\":\"6836f068-ee49-4b09-8371-983e0559f859\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, 2 Minutes to Midnight<\/em>, on Powerslave<\/em>, EMI Records, 1984.\",\"id\":\"22cecc68-0303-4811-946e-e92704587967\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Lauro Meller, \\\"Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part I): From the Cavemen to the Vikings,\\\" Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Can\u00e7\u00e3o<\/em> 3 (January-June 2013): 198-204, https:\/\/rbec.ect.ufrn.br\/data\/_uploaded\/artigo\/N3\/RBEC_N3_A14.pdf<\/a>. ; Lauro Meller, \\\"Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War,\\\" Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Can\u00e7\u00e3o<\/em> 4 (July-December 2013): 190\u2013201, https:\/\/rbec.ect.ufrn.br\/data\/_uploaded\/artigo\/N4\/RBEC_N4_A14.pdf<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"b5d56063-7698-4223-9184-0dd7a8f29159\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0M\u00e4kinen, The Changing Image of War, 64.\",\"id\":\"99e13c53-f85f-426b-be35-d81b7d537151\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Robin May Schott, \u201cJust War and the Problem of Evil,\u201d Hypatia<\/em> 23, no. 2 (2008): 123, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1527-2001.2008.tb01189.x<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"7e18a817-27cc-47c3-a21e-9c947bc74f3c\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Esther A. Clinton, review of Heavy Metal: Controversies and Countercultures<\/em>, edited by Titus Hjelm, Keith Kahn-Harris, and Mark LeVine, Volume! La revue des musiques populaires<\/em> 9, no. 2 (2012): 233, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4000\/volume.3481<\/a>.\",\"id\":\"7abaa546-8e37-49db-a30a-5066c8d721c8\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>.\",\"id\":\"6322da7e-b09e-4b11-aef8-cac612c62346\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Geneva Conventions, August 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S.\",\"id\":\"4dc59102-b612-41bd-80fd-b7d65b793e15\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Schott, \u201cJust War and the Problem of Evil,\u201d 123.\",\"id\":\"8f565cb4-ad14-450e-9826-d2ce5a4d5bcb\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, The Trooper<\/em>.\",\"id\":\"4cb2ecac-771f-4e4b-b6dd-24fb44f6dc20\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Oleg Smirnov, Holly Arrow, Douglas Kennett, and John Orbell, \u201c\u2018Heroism\u2019 in Warfare,\u201d The Journal of Politics<\/em> 69, no. 4 (2007): 928, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1468-2508.2007.00599.x<\/a>. \",\"id\":\"0921a898-bcb1-4d4e-bfa2-628b721b780a\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations<\/em> (New York: Basic Books, 1977), 21-22.\",\"id\":\"3dbadc38-f73e-4829-a4ef-1c2b36181c4d\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, The Trooper<\/em>.\",\"id\":\"a21438ae-d558-4e87-afd4-4ab7377ba306\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Saarinen, From War Pigs to Unsung Heroes, 34-25.\",\"id\":\"9c123b18-7705-488f-8d92-727effad91ee\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, The Number of the Beast<\/em>, on The Number of the Beast<\/em>, EMI Records, 1982.\",\"id\":\"83d3a269-fd27-459e-a68f-a24b52eb8348\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Lauro Meller, \u201cHistorical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War,\u201d 195.\",\"id\":\"1134f437-9727-4c33-8a98-1ca5fc9cde56\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, The Number of the Beast<\/em>.\",\"id\":\"21eac5ed-8907-4863-8650-920a546cc911\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, Afraid to Shoot Strangers<\/em>.\",\"id\":\"3789e9c2-1c83-4d90-99f9-804abf7bfb2d\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Talbott, \u201cTheological Fatalism and the Problem of Moral Responsibility,\u201d 63, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0034412500015405<\/a>.\",\"id\":\"5c2b74be-e1c2-4347-9862-2bb8d87d6211\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Jeffrey S. Victor, Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend<\/em> (Chicago: Open Court, 1993),162-163.\",\"id\":\"0ed1d941-59c3-40a9-b087-e83b0d3f8de9\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Helen Farley, Demons, Devils and Witches: The Occult in Heavy Metal Music, <\/em>in Demons in the World Today<\/em>, ed. Paul E. Szarmach (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2009), 82-83.\",\"id\":\"e9b79a8a-b1ab-4f3b-9122-232babc4c5f6\"},{\"content\":\"John Brackett, \u201cSatan, Subliminals, and Suicide: The Formation and Development of an Antirock Discourse in the United States during the 1980s,\u201d American Music<\/em> 36, no. 3 (2018): 285.\",\"id\":\"ec97f719-cc4e-4929-b427-a253059ff3f4\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Anton Szandor LaVey, The Satanic Bible<\/em> (New York: William Morrow Paperbacks, 1992), 30-33.\",\"id\":\"3caabac7-9134-412f-9e11-a9e17fafe796\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, These Colours Don\u2019t Run<\/em>, on Virtual XI<\/em>, EMI Records, 1998.\",\"id\":\"d87a5236-5cd4-4f52-9c79-44d655506dfc\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, The Longest Day<\/em>, on A Matter of Life and Death<\/em>, EMI Records, 2006.\",\"id\":\"e48d5e09-18f3-423d-b93f-5695da1dd407\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Peter Elliott, \u201cA Matter of Life and Death: Iron Maiden\u2019s Religio-Political Critique,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 4, no. 2 (2018): 295, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms.4.2.293_1<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"c1942b6c-d594-4d67-9374-2d3f454679eb\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Ibid., 35.\",\"id\":\"dce3faf0-1800-4de8-8b8b-bedda881a6ed\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Robert McParland, Myth and Magic in Heavy Metal Music<\/em> (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2018), 47\",\"id\":\"58d8291e-bc54-40ee-87ca-31642ca86ed4\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0McAlister, Heavy Metal Historiography: Historical Subject Matter in the Music of Iron Maiden<\/em>, 20-23\",\"id\":\"61eaf561-8dfd-4557-8db8-3ed95c1aa0ad\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Karl Spracklen, \\\"\u2018It\u2019s a Dirty, Soothing Secret Magic\u2019: Individualism and Spirituality in New Age and Extreme Metal Music Cultures,<\/em>\\\" in Popular Music and Society<\/em> 31, no. 1 (2008): 74. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/S0261143018000697<\/a>. ;\u00a0 Meller, \\\"Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War,\\\" 199.\",\"id\":\"816d56aa-bc57-4087-9a3b-07dddce00cf0\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Wissam R. Abboud, The Musical Language of Heavy Metal: A Study of Form, Rhythm, Modes, and Harmonic Structure<\/em> (MA thesis, Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2018), 53. http:\/\/ir.ndu.edu.lb\/123456789\/1210<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"90ba0ff8-a132-449b-b237-cce9c2fc9fd8\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Nolan Stolz, Experiencing Black Sabbath: A Listener\u2019s Companion<\/em> (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), 142.\",\"id\":\"4d7814d7-bb67-42ef-b42d-8407c14c0725\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Iron Maiden, Aces High<\/em>, on Powerslave<\/em>, EMI Records, 1984.\",\"id\":\"3b6c8648-6831-4ade-b341-504528bba62c\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Meller, \\\"Historical Themes in Iron Maiden Songs (Part II): From the Inquisition to the Second World War,\\\" 199.\",\"id\":\"6c18b608-57d9-498b-8e44-4d0223d017fa\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Richard W. Young Jr., Modes in Heavy Metal Music<\/em> (Master\u2019s thesis, Stephen F. Austin State University, 2024), 33, https:\/\/scholarworks.sfasu.edu\/etds\/539<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"e9511ea8-ef66-4ce3-aa9d-ba184c577583\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Nicole Biamonte, Modal Function in Rock and Heavy Metal Music<\/em>, in L\u2019analyse musicale aujourd\u2019hui<\/em>, ed. Mondher Ayari, Jean-Michel Bardez, and Xavier Hascher (Universit\u00e9 de Strasbourg, 2012), 10, https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/1826046\/Modal_Function_in_Rock_and_Heavy_Metal_Music<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"8536a13b-6898-45c7-8b97-e0be78799e6b\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Karl Spracklen, \u201c\u2018Yours is the Earth and Everything That\u2019s in It, and \u2013 Which Is More \u2013 You\u2019ll Be a Man, My Son\u2019: Myths of British Masculinity and Britishness in the Construction and Reception of Iron Maiden,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 3, no. 3 (2017): 413, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms.3.3.405_1<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"3d1ead7f-13e1-4628-a777-06c227fbbf1e\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Stephen S. Hudson, \u201cCompound AABA Form and Style Distinction in Heavy Metal,\u201d Music Theory Online<\/em> 27, no. 1 (2021), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.30535\/mto.27.1.5<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"12b22883-ca34-4490-8862-e0a49d16bd35\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Jamie Boddington Jordan and Jan-Peter Herbst, \\\"Harmonic Structures in Twenty-First-Century Metal Music: A Harmonic Analysis of Five Major Metal Genres,\\\" Metal Music Studies<\/em> 9, no. 1 (March 2023): 28, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00093_1<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"77486026-1363-4063-af12-cc59c47892b2\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Alexsandro R. Meireles and Beatriz Raposo de Medeiros, \u201cAcoustic Analysis of Voice Quality in Iron Maiden\u2019s Songs\u201d (paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody, Pozna\u0144, Poland, June 2018), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.21437\/SpeechProsody.2018-4<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"204f0a60-af6c-4e21-8498-3ce4a8101fe8\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Anastasia Siopsi, \u201cImages of War in Opera,\u201d Open Journal for Studies in History<\/em> 3, no. 2 (2020): 25-34, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.32591\/coas.ojsh.0302.01025s<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"82a34e7e-b42f-40cc-85b3-33fe9a19c380\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Farley, Demons, Devils and Witches: The Occult in Heavy Metal Music<\/em>, 95-96\",\"id\":\"cbfdb8df-f444-4bc8-82d8-2599c90816b0\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Nicolas B\u00e9nard, \u201cWar Images in Metal Music: Between Fascination and Denunciation,\u201d Soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em> 117, no. 3 (2012): 115-116, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3917\/soc.117.0113<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"5af6a373-a018-48d6-8057-a1499d38adfc\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0J\u00f6rg Scheller, \u201cApopcalypse: The Popularity of Heavy Metal as Heir to Apocalyptic Artifacts,\u201d Arts<\/em> 12, no. 3 (2023): 120, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/arts12030120<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"4849d0b3-d613-4e5c-a26e-e9cfe27cc401\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Andrew Thomson, \u201cRight Hand Up, Left Hand Down: The New Satanists of Rock n\u2019 Roll, Evil and the Underground War on the Abject,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 7, no. 1 (2020):49, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00031_1<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"39cb0da1-d1f9-4455-a72a-9d2b44707b61\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Petr Kocina, \u201cThe Good, the Bad and Metallica: Philosophical Reflections on the Concept of Evil in the Music of One Heavy Metal Band.\u201d Ars Pro Toto - Science & Art Journal<\/em> 1, (2021): 20, https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/354402567<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"9dbbbcfb-0c6e-4953-9104-21f1036448fd\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Ibid.\",\"id\":\"94be3fa6-b4e3-42f0-bf69-075d3a7b0bb4\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Reinhard Kopanski, \u201c\u2018Auschwitz Awaits\u2019: Different Readings on Sabaton\u2019s \u2018The Final Solution\u2019 (2010) and the Question of Irony,\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 6, no. 3 (2020): 347, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00022_1<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"622410f9-40e5-4f25-99ab-d82dca7f8a41\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Michelle Phillipov, \u201cExtreme Music for Extreme People? Norwegian Black Metal and Transcendent Violence,\u201d in Heavy Metal: Controversies and Countercultures<\/em>, ed. Titus Hjelm, Keith Kahn-Harris, and Mark LeVine (Sheffield: Equinox, 2013), 155.\",\"id\":\"92bc94d1-3071-4ba7-bf17-830d4e94d582\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Keith Kahn-Harris, \u201cEngaging with Absence: Why Is the Holocaust a \u2018Problem\u2019 for Metal?\u201d Metal Music Studies<\/em> 6, no. 3 (2020):411, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1386\/mms_00025_1<\/a>.\u00a0\",\"id\":\"552ba225-3713-4cc8-b798-fe5d5b22aaa8\"},{\"content\":\"\u00a0Spracklen, \u201c\u2018Yours is the Earth and Everything That\u2019s in It, and \u2013 Which Is More \u2013 You\u2019ll Be a Man, My Son\u2019: Myths of British Masculinity and Britishness in the Construction and Reception of Iron Maiden,\u201d 416.\",\"id\":\"4430f632-580d-4b19-9c7d-7a07ce04b605\"}]"},"categories":[1],"tags":[26,27,17],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-history","tag-metal-studies","tag-nwobhm"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dickinson.jpg",780,520,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dickinson.jpg",780,520,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dickinson.jpg",780,520,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dickinson-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dickinson-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"large":["https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dickinson.jpg",780,520,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dickinson.jpg",780,520,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/dickinson.jpg",780,520,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Izzy Grady","author_link":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/author\/izzytheadmin_6534540\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Research<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"How Iron Maiden sonically constructs war as a form of evil and how that construction, both musical and thematic, contributed to the NWOBHM\u2019s aesthetic legacy and the globalisation of heavy metal.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/satansells.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}