Most depressing Maiden material

Yeah I know that. That's why I questioned it, because the discussion was about how the British doom scene exploded in the 90s and possibly influenced Steve Harris and the making of The X-Factor. Not the history of Doom Metal in general, which I'm well aware of :D

Well, you see, it all dates back to the Second Age of Middle-earth. Dark Lord Sauron was searching for a permanent dwelling place and found himself drawn to the fiery mountain of Orodruin in Mordor. Around towns and villages the mountain went by another, more common name: Mount Doom. And so it was, that Sauron forged the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. When Sauron was ultimately defeated, he lost the One Ring for eons and eons. The first person to discover the mighty power of the ring was Tony Iommi, who immediately placed it upon the ring finger of his right hand and felt its destructive power as the ring turned his fingertips to ash! But Iommi soldiered on, using modified thimbles to serve as fingertips, where he once again placed the One Ring forged in the fires of Mount Doom and channeled its power to give birth to doom metal.
 
Well, you see, it all dates back to the Second Age of Middle-earth. Dark Lord Sauron was searching for a permanent dwelling place and found himself drawn to the fiery mountain of Orodruin in Mordor. Around towns and villages the mountain went by another, more common name: Mount Doom. And so it was, that Sauron forged the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. When Sauron was ultimately defeated, he lost the One Ring for eons and eons. The first person to discover the mighty power of the ring was Tony Iommi, who immediately placed it upon the ring finger of his right hand and felt its destructive power as the ring turned his fingertips to ash! But Iommi soldiered on, using modified thimbles to serve as fingertips, where he once again placed the One Ring forged in the fires of Mount Doom and channeled its power to give birth to doom metal.
Then David Coverdale invented balls, in 1974, but that's another story... :)
 
You know, I think this is really about Bruce. The man just doesn't do depressing very well.
 
Somewhere in Time has some rather dark and deep songs to it and seems like an overall feeling of someone being lost or hopeless lyrically speaking. Sea of Madness, Stranger, Wasted, Loneliness and even Deja Vu have feelings of hopelessness and being lost. Caught Somewhere in Time is dark to an extent. Infinite dreams could be a saddening song too I suppose as is No Prayer for the Dying.
 
When they found them, had their arms wrapped around each other
The tins of poison laying nearby their clothes
The day they both mistook an earthquake for the fall out,
Just another when the wild wind blows...

I remember how shocked i was when WtWWB ended, with Bruce saying that like a whisper. Outside of the X-Factor, this is one of the most sad parts that i've heard in a Maiden song, specially when you consider WtWWB as a narrative.

AMOLAD is strong, heavy and pessimist, but i wouldn't say that is depressing. BoS...i don't know, i just consider it as a mature record, not as sad as TXF or pessimist as AMOLAD
 
"Virus" for some reason is a depressing song, especially the mellower parts of the song
"Fear Is The Key" is also somewhat of a depressing song due to the lyrics and Bruce seems to be going through the motions with his vocal performance.
 
Aside from TXF and a couple others, Maiden doesn't really do gloomy/depressing well (that's a good thing in my book - there are plenty of other bands that I would rather go to for that vibe). I think @mckindog hit the nail on the head w/Bruce - anything the man sings makes me want to grab a whip and swing Indiana Jones style across a river to go grab some hidden treasure or something...
 
Depressing but "in a good way":
"Strange World" (with such lyrics as "Living here, you'll never grow old")
"No Prayer for the Dying"
"Fortunes of War"
"2 a.m"
last verse of "When the Wild Wind Blows

Depressing in a bad way:
"Blood on the World's Hands" (probably the most depressive... incidentally it is one of their worst songs ever in my opinion)
"The Unbeliever" (the "All my life, I've run away" part just sounds like a musical yawn)
"Age of Innocence" (the same subjective comment as above goes for this one too, and the lyrics also have a lot to do with that)
Pretty much all of AMOLAD, especially the instrumental sections of "These Colours Don't Run" and "FTGGOG". Soaking the power chords in keyboard layers has a lot to do with that feeling.
 
There are a couple of songs on TBOS that are quite dark, or even depressing. If Eternity Should Fail, Tears of a Clown and The Man of Sorrows.
 
I find TBOS quite dark in general, that's why I think the cover art suits it. There's some weighty stuff in there.
 
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