In my article “Compound AABA Form and Style Distinction in Heavy Metal,” which was just published in Music Theory Online 27.1, I make the argument that metal music has a normative, default song form, that is used in the overwhelming majority of songs in the genre’s historical core styles.

This form is called “compound AABA.” “Compound” means that each A has several sections, usually including Verse and Chorus. After two As (or two Verse-Chorus cycles, if you want to think about it that way), there is usually a contrasting “B” section, which in metal and hard rock often has a guitar solo.

While many people (see the article) argue that what separates metal from pop music is that metal doesn’t have any formulaic conventions, that simply isn’t true. That isn’t to say that metal bands aren’t highly creative with their song forms; but many of them do creative things while clearly still participating in this convention of compound AABA form.

One song that draws on this convention in a unique way is Iron Maiden’s “Transylvania,” from their debut album Iron Maiden (1980). Iron Maiden wrote some of the most variable and creative song forms of any metal artist from the early 1980s. But this one song in particular features a compound AABA form that hardly departs from the convention at all. The twist? There are no vocals, so you might have missed the “Verse” and “Chorus” structure.

Technically, it’s the AAB variant of compound AABA, where the A section (Verse & Chorus) doesn’t return after the Bridge / Guitar Solo. (See section 2.8 in my article.) This is a well-established variant of the form; you might know from some of Metallica’s famous ballads like “Fade To Black” or “One.”

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden (1980)

Track 5. "Transylvania" (instrumental)
0:00 Buildup Intro

        Starts with one guitar, plus "punches" from the rest of the band.
0:21 "Verse 1"
	Riff A, Riff B, Riff A, Riff B
0:51 "Chorus"
1:06 "Verse 2"
1:21 "Chorus"
	
1:35 "Bridge" -- new buildup (one gtr, + punches); much faster
1:46 Melodic Break (twin lead guitar melodies)
1:56 Guitar Solo
2:31 New Buildup
2:49 Guitar Solo 2
3:24 Vamp until cadential ending figure
	(sustains cymbal roll into next song)

For music theory nerds, the very existence of a wordless verse-chorus form is actually kind of an exciting idea. Normally, verses and choruses are usually defined by the fact that the chorus has the same lyrics every time, but the verse has different lyrics every time. This song is proof of Trevor de Clercq’s argument (see his dissertation) that verse and chorus and all other sections are defined relationally, not by any absolute properties. That is, what defines a verse and a chorus is the relationship those two sections have to each other: alternating with each other, the verse building up to a louder and more singable chorus. The fact that it’s possible to hear this song as a compound AABA form with a clear verse-chorus pair is proof that form sections like verse and chorus are not defined by specific internal qualities of the sections like whether or not the lyrics repeat (or even whether they have lyrics at all), but by the relationships between these sections.