It is metal but I'd say with some progressive flavor.
shareThey were definitive heavy metal in the seventies and eighties. If that's not the case anymore, it's because the definition of metal has changed since then.
shareI love Black Sabbath, but that's another band that never really felt metal to me. However, I do find them heavier than Iron Maiden.
shareI do and consider them the best metal band of all time. Hell, people have called Bon Jovi metal of some type, so Maiden definitely qualifies.
shareBon Jovi metal? Who are these people so I can throw a pie in their face?
shareTheir breakout albums “Slippery When Wet” and “New Jersey” we’re both marketed and labeled as Hair Metal when they were released in the 80s. Their later albums were marketed differently, starting with Keep The Faith, as a hard rock albums.
shareI think that was just their attempt to avoid the fact that hair metal sucks.
shareI still see them as heavy metal but I could see how a fan of deathcore or thrash metal would not consider Iron Maiden to be metal. A friend convinced me that hair metal bands of the eighties are actually hard rock bands. Iron Maiden also made changes to their music over the years as they experienced lineup changes. A couple of the links below have different categories of METAL.
https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/141030/
https://producerhive.com/ask-the-hive/types-of-metal-music/
Iron Maiden is one of those bands that walk the line of metal and hard rock. They definitely fall in the category of NWOBHM, but I don't find most of those bands metal. I think it's an 80s thing.
shareRatt were a hair metal band whose debut EP was closer to being heavy metal than a band like Poison or Warrant.
shareRatt's sound changed when Robbin Crosby started to struggle with drugs. Robbin Crosby came up with a lot of fast metal riffs while DeMartini was more of a blues rock guitarist. I liked Ratt during the 80's since they had more hard rock songs instead of the sappy ballads of Poison and Warrant. Poison and Warrant also had plenty of rockers but they had more sappy ballads.
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