10 Metal Songs That Are Ridiculously Long

There’s a case to be made that most metal music has to be categorized as both before and after Iron Maiden. Although Maiden can’t really claim to have started a new offshoot of metal or anything like that, hearing them coming from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a game changer for anyone who heard it, having a far more epic scope and one of the greatest singers in the genre with Bruce Dickinson behind the mic. Once the classic lineup fell into place, it was time to see just how epic they could take things.

Coming right at the end of Powerslave, Rime of the Ancient Mariner is one of the closest that Maiden has come to making something more than just notes on a page, looking to tell the famous poem by Coleridge in song. While the song starts with your traditional Iron Maiden staples like the galloping rhythm from Steve Harris, there’s a lot more to unpack just beyond reciting the poem over some epic backdrop.

When you get to the middle section of the song and everything starts to slow down, the different guitar figures are enough to make your hairs stand on end, as you get subtle bits of narration alongside music that sounds like you’re being pulled ever so slightly down to the underworld. Once you get to the end of the 13 minutes, it feels like you’ve really been taken on a journey and have finally come to a point of rest. And so concludes one of the single greatest British Literature classes you will ever listen to.