“If we’re stuck with stories about Satan, it’ll mean that people will never understand us”: How Iron Maiden pushed metal to its most colossal, then pushed a bit further, to make Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Iron Maiden in 1985.

There’s big, there’s huge, then there’s whatever the fuck Rime Of The Ancient Mariner is. In translating the epic Romantic poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to heavy metal form, Iron Maiden ended up testing the limits of the genre. The song filled up almost 14 minutes with its soaring highs and creaking, spoken-words lows, ending 1984 album Powerslave on one of the grandest notes the band have ever reached.

As with most of the musically intrepid things Maiden have done, Rime… was the brainchild of bassist, founder and lead songwriter Steve Harris. Just nine years after he started the band, ’Arry was known for exploring seemingly un-metal things in his lyrics. Songs inspired by sci-fi saga Dune, Gaston Leroux novel The Phantom Of The Opera and a fictional East London sex worker were already part of his repertoire.