1 Phantom of the Opera

Honed to furious perfection through years of slog on the London pub circuit, the songs on Iron Maiden's self-titled 1980 debut album ushered in a new and more pointedly aggressive era for heavy metal, with bassist and de facto leader Steve Harris's fearsome determination and idiosyncratic playing style driving everything breathlessly forward. Inextricably linked with visions of Daley Thompson thundering down a track while advertising Lucozade, Phantom of the Opera was the first Maiden song to hint at Harris's love of 70s prog, but its clattering rhythms and agile tempo shifts were anything but self-indulgent. Lean, lithe, smart and inventive, Phantom screamed Maiden's uniqueness from the rooftops.

2 Hallowed Be Thy Name

Perhaps the ultimate Iron Maiden song, not least because it provided them with a dramatic set-closer for the best part of three decades after its first appearance on 1982's seminal The Number of the Beast, Hallowed Be Thy Name brilliantly encapsulates everything that the metal legends do best. Soaring vocal melodies courtesy of then new recruit Bruce Dickinson, a taut and precise but effortlessly groove-driven rhythmic undercarriage, sublime twin-lead guitar harmonies from Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, and an unfussy but poetic lyric recounting the final musings of an accused man contemplating his date with the gallows, Hallowed is one of heavy metal's undisputed masterpieces.

3 The Trooper

Another ageless classic that is permanently etched into the minds and hearts of all diehard metal fans, The Trooper, from 1983's Piece of Mind, is a textbook example of Iron Maiden's legendary "gallop", and one of the few classic rock anthems to eschew the need for a proper chorus. Instead, a wordless "woah oh oh" refrain and a generous helping of those unmistakable guitar harmonies, coupled with Harris and drummer Nicko McBrain's irresistibly synchronised momentum, gave birth to one of many Maiden songs to deftly evoke the sights, sounds, smells and horrors of the battlefield.

4 Powerslave

Maiden purists may tend to favour the 13-minute sprawl of the band's reading of Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner that brought 1984's Powerslave to an epic conclusion, but the album's title track is the true connoisseur's choice. Powerslave conjures the eerie atmospheres of cobwebbed Pharaohs' tombs and oppressive shadows cast by ancient gods, but it also showcases a band at the height of their songwriting powers. The gloriously intricate middle section contains more ideas in three minutes than most bands muster in their entire careers, and guitarist Murray's sublime solo must surely rank as one of the most magical moments in metal history.

5 Sea of Madness

In 1986, Somewhere in Time heralded an increased level of creative input for Maiden guitarist Smith, resulting in a broadening of the band's musical palate that has almost certainly contributed to their subsequent longevity. Sea of Madness has been somewhat overshadowed by anthemic single Wasted Years and perennial live favourite Heaven Can Wait, but this is one of the great unsung gems in the Maiden catalogue: a dark, brooding and brutish song with an impossibly grandiose chorus, it could easily have added to the band's impressive list of top 10 singles. And, on a slightly more superficial level, it rocks like a bastard.

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6 Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

When Iron Maiden reintroduced the title track from their revered 1988 album to their set list a couple of years back, the sound of grown men and women shrieking with joy could be heard all over the planet. Partly due to the immense success that the album itself enjoyed on its release, but also due to the fact that Maiden have never quite improved upon its grandiloquent blend of metallic bluster and prog-rock ingenuity, this 10-minute behemoth remains one of the most cherished epics in the band's vast canon. Worth hearing for Dickinson's knowingly preposterous mid-song voiceover alone.

7 Sign of the Cross

Dickinson quit Iron Maiden in 1993 and was replaced by Wolfsbane frontman Blaze Bayley – a controversial choice and one to whom critical opinion has not been overly kind. In truth, Bayley's tenure coincided with a temporary diminishing of Harris's compositional powers, but Maiden still produced a smattering of gems along the way. The opening track from 1995's flawed but sturdy The X Factor is another towering epic that bulges at the seams with spine-tingling dynamics and abstruse rhythmic detours. Many fans favour the version of the song sung by Dickinson, who rejoined in 1999, which can be found on 2002's Rock in Rio live album. Either way, this is a magnificent dose of pomp and power.

8 Paschendale

Inspired by the Battle of Passchendaele in the first world war, Smith's most significant contribution to 2003's Dance of Death album once again proved how skilled Maiden are at writing songs about war without descending into mawkish sentiment or witless Boy's Own bravado. Deceptively complex and yet imbued with a genuinely affecting emotional oomph, Paschendale became the centrepiece of the band's Dance of Death live show; its explosive gait and elegant orchestral backdrop make it one of Maiden's most vigorously cinematic moments. Heavy metal with a big heart and exquisite clarity of vision.

9 The Longest Day

Ostensibly a companion piece to Paschendale, this grim but gripping account of the Normandy landings of 1944 – inspired, of course, by the 1962 film of the same name – is perhaps the darkest moment on Maiden's darkest album, A Matter of Life and Death. A record so self-evidently strong that its creators boldly performed it in its entirety while touring to promote it, AMOLAD could easily have been an exercise in wartorn overkill, but Maiden were on blazing form throughout. As with many of their greatest songs, The Longest Day marries an intricate arrangement to a colossal, instantly memorable chorus, with numerous masterful guitar solos adding colour to the lyrics' brutal but reflective rendering of a soldier's inner monologue.

10 Coming Home

Although generally disinclined to head into ballad territory, Maiden's sentimental streak has always lurked in the shadows. It found its most refined expression on 2011's The Final Frontier, an album that boasted numerous monumental epics and moments of strident bombast, but which reached an apex of efficacy on this misty-eyed paean to night flights back to Blighty. Dickinson's other career as an airline pilot certainly added to Coming Home's believability, but with the frontman on the vocal form of his life, and his comrades sounding more harmonious and vital than ever, this was wonderful confirmation that the greatest bands defy the passing of time by maintaining a firm grip on the magic that first brought them to our attention.