10 Hidden Details You Never Noticed In Iron Maiden Songs

The closing track of The Book of Souls, the 18-minute opus "Empire of the Clouds" is one of the most complex and expertly crafted in all of Iron Maiden's discography. Not only is it their longest track to date, but it is also one that evolves constantly, at times being a sombre psalm and, at others, feeling anarchic and unpredictable.

Composed entirely by front-man Bruce Dickinson, the track is one that narrates the events of one day: the 5th October, 1930, which saw the airship R101 (at time the biggest zeppelin ever built) crash on its maiden voyage in France, killing 48 people in the process.

Both the music and the lyrics of the track narrate the day of the 5th October as it happens, beginning with the airship's launch and ending with its crash. As a result, the opening and closing movements of the song are tranquil, piano-driven pieces (to signal normality and then a tragic aftermath respectively), while the body of the song and its heavy nature imply the vicious storm in which the R101 was taken down.

While this is common knowledge and can be interpreted by merely paying attention to the track, what may surprise Maiden fans is the lengths the band went to (especially Dickinson and drummer Nicko McBrain) to to create something as massive and visceral as "Empire of the Clouds".

For the airship crash itself, one of the most intriguing elements is that Nicko ran a violin bow along the edge of a gong in order to recreate the intense terror of the R101's collision with the ground. When Bruce first heard the sound, he declared "That's it! That's the sound of an airship dying!"

As an experience, "Empire of the Clouds" is one so jam-packed with curious details that it honestly could get its own "Hidden Details" list. If you want to learn more about the composition and recording of this immense song, Dickinson and McBrain's "Maiden Voyage" interview (attached above) is a behind-the-scenes preview that definitely deserves to be heard.