Interesting chords/key/musical ideas in maiden songs

N

naranja

Ancient Mariner
This might not be of interest to people who don't know anything about music theory but I suspect even those people know Maiden have a very specific sound of 3 chords

E C D

Or it can be the same chord sequence played in another Key like A F G.

And of course their other favourite nowadays is E C G D.

Anyway, what are some some different or interesting chord sequences, key changes or general music ideas in their catalogue?

My thoughts-

Deja Vu being mostly in F (minor I think) is very different for them, even if it's familiar chord sequences just in a different place.

Don't Look to the eyes of a stranger being in G#. I suspect Steve deliberately tried to write in a different key to accommodate Blaze with this one.

Three songs on AMOLAD using what seemed to be the "in" new chord sequence for the boys at the time. E C A F. I don't recall them using that a lot before this album, but parts of Brighter than a thousand suns and Breeg use it. The third song I can't recall, it may be the Legacy or Lord of Light.

Lord of the flies jumping up from E to F# from the intro to the verse is very cool and gives it energy.

Paschendale cycling through different chord changes during the solos, I think it cycles though C#, G# and into D at one point.
 
I don't know if somebody mentioned this before, but I always thought it's cool and progy thing they did on Senjutsu/Stratego: the way the songs compliment eachother gotta be intentional:
1) name itself is tactics and strategy/strategist
2) they really feel like 1 song listening to them one after another
3) "bridge" riff before Adrian's outro solo in Senjutsu and "breakdown" riff after Janick's solo in Stratego are almost the same melodies, with slight variations - Senjutsu one is fast in a more slow song and Stratego one is slow in a more fast song.
 
A couple of cool moments in a mostly pretty forgettable song: Dave using the Devil's Interval in The Man of Sorrows, going from C down to F# in the verses. Then the mellow outro, though I don't know what key it's in or if it uses any interesting chords.

I also really like the "ascending" riff in Empire of the Clouds that starts at around 7:18. It begins in G major, then the melody and chords start climbing up to and end in E minor. I'm not sure if it'd count as a quick set of key changes or some kind of chromaticism, though it moves up in whole tones rather than semi-tones.
 
One of the most unique song in terms of chord structure/key is The Prophecy. It changes up constantly with the chorus being in something like Eb.

 
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