Playing gigs in the East End of London in the late-’70s, heavy-metal band Iron Maiden dream of conquering the world. They do.
To many members of Generations Alpha and Z, Iron Maiden are likely the band whose banging tune ‘The Trooper’ made for iconic graduation-day music during the final episode of Stranger Things. Others — over 18, at least — might know them for the frenzied riffs that accompany Ralph Fiennes’ satanic freak-out in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. But if you really want to get The Number (Of The Beast) on one of the biggest outfits in heavy metal, this dynamic documentary is a fine start.
Directed by Malcolm Venville (44 Inch Chest, documentary miniseries Theodore Roosevelt), Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition will also please hardcore fans, placing their extended-family, through-thick-and-thin relationship with the band front and centre as it opts for a chronological trawl. It’s all here, even if, at 106 minutes, it’s a whistle-stop tour: bassist Steve Harris forming Maiden in 1975, as an alternative to punk; vocalist Paul Di’Anno fired two albums in because his rock ’n’ roll lifestyle impeded Harris’, well, burning ambition; new vocalist Bruce Dickinson powering the terminal-velocity years of ’82-’88 (five albums, non-stop touring, global success — despite minimal airplay); Dickinson, burnt out, leaving in ’93, then rejoining in ’99, post-grunge; Dickinson’s recovery from throat cancer in 2015; drummer Nicko McBrain’s stroke in 2023…
Some viewers might feel that Venville’s chronicle plays it too coy […] but Maiden’s brand has always been professionalism and decency.
Some viewers might feel that Venville’s chronicle plays it too coy — Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster goes far deeper and uglier — but Maiden’s brand has always been professionalism and decency. A shy, down-to-earth bunch when they’re not shredding it on stage, they eschew the spotlight, letting zombie-like mascot Eddie, created by artist Derek Riggs, hog their album covers. It’s the same here: Maiden offer their voiced thoughts but aren’t interviewed on camera; Eddie stalks his way through the ace animated sequences that punctuate electrifying footage and impassioned talking heads, including Chuck D, Lars Ulrich and super-fan Javier Bardem.
If there’s a theme, it’s that music provides escape and community. Maiden were forged during the Winter Of Discontent, amid strikes, inflation and unemployment, and one startling sequence sees the band take their 1984 world tour to Poland, behind the Iron Curtain. It’s here, as thousands of oppressed fans lose their shit in front of a wall of armed guards, that Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition goes up to 11.
A high-energy doc that does a tidy job of spanning 50 action-packed years. We suggest you don’t run to the hills but your nearest cinema instead.