With around 120 books to his credit, along with countless reviews and many liner notes, Martin Popoff is likely the most prolific music scribe ever. But there is one band that is perhaps closer to his heart than all the others: Iron Maiden.
He’s already penned a few works about these titans of NWOBHM (that’s New Wave of British Heavy Metal for you punters) whose career now spans 50 years in 2025.
But he’s never produced something as massive, detailed or that will inspire as much religious fervor among hardcore fans as the appropriately titled Hallowed By Their Name: The Unofficial Iron Maiden Bible (670 pp., $59.99, Schiffer Publishing).
Telling the story of the band’s history, concerts, creative process, and each and every album in the discography (along with every current and former member’s solo efforts and side projects), this tome is more monstrous than band mascot Eddie with its hundreds of thousands of words.
Much of that is based on Popoff’s own firsthand interviews with all band members conducted from 1995-2004, though he quotes generously from other sources. There are plentiful pictures of the band along with voluminous record/DVD covers, posters, tickets, shirts, and all sorts of ephemera (remember the Ed Hunter video game?), most from the Dave Wright Archive.
Popoff’s infectious joy and appreciation of the music and members of Iron Maiden glows throughout. But that doesn’t mean they get a hagiographic free pass. The author definitely has his opinions about the lows of the band’s career and doesn’t mince words.
His extensive interviews with and commentary from artist Derek Riggs, the creator/chief painter of Eddie, are especially interesting as the character has morphed into various guises over the years (with or without Riggs’ involvement). This makes the living corpse/zombie arguably far better known than Megadeth’s Vic Rattlehead, Dio’s Murray, Motörhead’s Snaggletooth, or Anthrax’s The Not Man in terms of metal mascots.
Popoff also spreads his text across the band’s entire career, not just focusing heavily on the “classic run” of ‘80s albums The Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.
And while co-founding bassist Steve Harris—Iron Maiden’s de facto “leader”—still comes off as something of a mysterious or unplumbed figure, plentiful tales, opinions and remembrances emerge from other members. Especially the trio of vocalists, classic/current warbler Bruce Dickinson, and the more short-termed late Paul Di’anno and Blaze Blayley.
Also charted are the band’s shows and tours from their start in the dingy and near empty clubs of East London to mid-sized theaters to giant stadiums, and back again. The band will launch their golden anniversary tour later this year, still drawing massive crowds, especially in South and Latin America.
A hefty tome printed on quality, glossy paper with a cover that recalls an actual Bible, Hallowed By Their Name can be a complement (or competitor) for the band’s own official big book coming out this fall, the mostly photo-heavy Iron Maiden—Infinite Dreams: The Official Visual History. Though this one likely has the vast advantage in amount of text.
That Iron Maiden is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is enough to send Eddie and their dedicated fans on a murderous rampage. Though the induction of predecessors Judas Priest might open a crack in the Hall’s notoriously shut-to-heavy-metal door.
For more on Martin Popoff, visit MartinPopoff.com
For more in Iron Maiden, visit IronMaiden.com
