Iron Maiden
Maiden Voyage

Among the countless namesakes circulating in the music world today, I present to you one particularly connected to the world of metal: in the mid-60s in England, a group was formed by Barry Skeels, Steve Drewett, Chris Rose, and Alan Hooker, devoted to music that encapsulated progressive, blues, hard rock elements and hints of what, years later, would become a phenomenon called doom metal. The group in question goes by the name of Iron Maiden which, as I hope has become clear, has absolutely nothing to do with Steve Harris's iron maiden, although in this case, too, we are faced with a band of undeniable artistic qualities.

The line-up that recorded the album we'll discuss now included in its ranks: Drewett on vocals, Thoms on guitar and backing vocals alongside Skeels on bass and Paul Reynolds on drums.

Before reaching the first album, I believe also the only one, called “Maiden Voyage,” these old-timers had to go through a lot, in fact, even though it was ready as early as 1970, due to the closure of the label they had to wait until 1998 to see their work finally published.

Despite the music flowing in a sometimes relaxed manner, at some moments it even seems cheerful, the album presents extremely dark lyrics such as those of “God Of Darkness” which tells of the devil’s coming into the world.

The album opens with “Falling,” a track markedly tinged with American blues and linked to zeppelinian influences. The song's chorus, which pedantically repeats “you must falling down,” slightly accentuates the sense of darkness expressed by the lyrics. The guitar solo by Mr. Chris Rose is excellent, demonstrating not only extreme technical skill but also a groove that many guitarists today can only dream of; praise is also due for the bass work, extremely well-crafted and prominent, which not only draws a substantial but discreet rhythmic base with the drums but also manages to compose melodic lines of absolute importance, giving the composition even greater depth; what follows is “Ritual”, decidedly more inspired by 70s progressive rock, but always with an eye to the hard rock soul, making everything a bit wilder. This “Ritual” seems to emerge from a mix between the less dark Black Sabbath and the less baroque King Crimson, resulting in something really good.

The brief “Ned Kelly” reconnects to the blues/hard rock of the first piece, but is more direct and less elaborate, based once again on exemplary guitar work. The lyrics remain “catastrophic,” not denying the impression of wanting to shock the listener.

And so we arrive at the suite (if it can be called a suite) of the album: a composition over twelve minutes long called “Liar,” in which our musicians play at being Led Zeppelin, with a not exactly perfect result: there are, in fact, too many allusions to songs such as “Whole Lotta Love,” especially concerning the melodic part. Despite not being a bad piece, it still represents a missed opportunity as, with all this time available, they could have created something more original and less derivative.

Introduced by bass notes, to which the lead guitar joins, with a background of harmonica that gives the song a western flavor, this “CC Ryder” turns out to be, unlike the previous episode, one of the album's highlights, thanks to the extremely cadenced rhythm, but also due to Drewett revealing himself as a singer both technically and expressively gifted. The eight minutes and twenty-six seconds of “Plague” instead tread back into territories closer to the dark rock of Sabbath’s realm, with constant (prophetic) hints at what would become the doom movement. Breaking this extremely somber atmosphere, emphasized by the guitar lines and the voice, is Reynolds this time with his drums clearly inspired by the progressive tradition, with some hints at a more typical jazz style.

“Ballad Of Martha Kent” is, as the title suggests, the ballad of the album, even though calling it a ballad is almost daring because a certain tension is still perceivable in the music and the extremely sorrowful and sad vocal lines. The album closes with the hardest piece of the entire platter: “God Of Darkness”, one of the first prototypes of that music which would later be reprised by Black Sabbath and all that movement that would make dark music its flagship (and I am also referring to much more modern bands such as Venom and the like).

Now, one should ponder for a moment why, even back then, some record companies preferred to turn their gaze towards less deserving bands (I am certainly not referring to the sacred monsters, but to people who perhaps had their moment of glory, albeit brief) and leave in the shadows a truly exceptional work which, if considered, could have gone big in my personal opinion.

Dedicated to all those who loved (and I’m sure there are quite a few among you) "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath.