Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls

Announcement:

The Book Of Souls - coming September 4th.
IRON MAIDEN’s eagerly awaited new studio album The Book Of Souls will be released globally on 4th September through Parlophone Records (Sanctuary Copyrights/BMG in the U.S.A.). It was recorded in Paris with their longstanding producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in late 2014, with the finishing touches added earlier this year. However, the band decided to delay its release so that vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who was recently given the all-clear from a tumour, would have time to recuperate sufficiently to join in the preparations for the album’s launch.
The stunning cover art was created by Mark Wilkinson who has worked with the band previously, and because this 11 track album has a total running time of 92 minutes, it is IRON MAIDEN’s first ever double studio album. There’s a broader split on the song-writing compared to previous Maiden records, with bassist and founder member Steve Harris contributing to seven of the tracks; 6 of them with Maiden’s guitarists and one sole composition. This is also the first time since 1984’s Powerslave that an IRON MAIDEN studio album also features two tracks written solely by Bruce Dickinson, one of which is the longest song Maiden has ever recorded! And also two Dickinson/Smith collaborations.
Steve comments,
“We approached this album in a different way to how we’ve recorded previously. A lot of the songs were actually written while we were there in the studio and we rehearsed and recorded them straight away while they were still fresh, and I think that immediacy really shows in the songs, they have almost a live feel to them I think. I’m very proud of The Book Of Souls, we all are, and we can’t wait for our fans to hear it, and especially to take it out on the road next year!”
Bruce continues,
“We’re really excited about The Book Of Souls and had a fantastic time creating it. We started working on the album in late summer 2014 and recorded it at Guillame Tell Studios in Paris, where we’d done the Brave New World album back in 2000 so the studio holds special memories for all of us. We were delighted to discover the same magical vibe is still alive and very much kicking there! So we immediately felt at home and the ideas just started flowing. By the time we’d finished we all agreed that each track was such an integral part of the whole body of work that if it needed to be a double album, then double its going to be!”
The full tracklisiting is:

Track listing:
Disc 1
1. If Eternity Should Fail (Dickinson) 8:28
2. Speed Of Light (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:01
3. The Great Unknown (Smith/ Harris) 6:37
4. The Red And The Black (Harris) 13:33
5. When The River Runs Deep (Smith/ Harris) 5:52
6. The Book Of Souls (Gers/ Harris) 10:27
Disc 2
7. Death Or Glory (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:13
8. Shadows Of The Valley (Gers/ Harris) 7:32
9. Tears Of A Clown (Smith/ Harris) 4:59
10. The Man Of Sorrows (Murray/ Harris) 6:28
11. Empire Of The Clouds (Dickinson) 18:01
Formats:
2CD deluxe hardbound book limited edition
2CD standard edition
Triple heavyweight black vinyl
High res audio (24-bit Mastered for ITunes and non-Mastered for iTunes)
Standard res audio (16 bit/ 44.1 kHz)

The Book Of Souls is the band’s 16th studio album since their eponymous debut in 1980 charted at #4 in the UK, in a career achieving sales of over 90 million albums worldwide. Their previous album, 2010’s The Final Frontier was Maiden’s most successful chart-wise to date, reaching Number One in 28 countries and was their highest chart debut in the U.S reaching #4 in the Billboard 200.
Due to Bruce’s illness the band had to delay touring plans but promise to be out on the road again early next year, giving time for Bruce to make a full physical recovery to be ready for the rigours of Maiden live performances.

My first impression is there's a good mix of shorter and longer material. Hopefully this means they have some more straightforward songs with the more progressive cuts.

Quote :

11 track album has a total running time of 92 minutes, it is IRON MAIDEN’s first ever double studio album

Hmmmm, sounds like a lot to digest. Hope it's a good one. Neat cover.

92 minutes. hahahaha.

What a pretentious band.

Quote :

It was recorded in Paris with their longstanding producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley

(looks at watch, taps foot, waits impatiently for S.D. to mention how much he hates Kevin Shirley's production and wishes Maiden had worked with someone else for a change.... )

I keed, I keed.

But seriously folks....bring it on. It's Maiden for cryin' out loud.. Of course we'll all buy it.

Blind buy for me. I'm psyched.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

It was recorded in Paris with their longstanding producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley

(looks at watch, taps foot, waits impatiently for S.D. to mention how much he hates Kevin Shirley's production and wishes Maiden had worked with someone else for a change.... )

I keed, I keed.

But seriously folks....bring it on. It's Maiden for cryin' out loud.. Of course we'll all buy it.

I'm with S.D. on that one. I'd love to see them part ways with Kevin Shirley. I don't think he's done them any favors, sonically.

Man, that's a lot of music. Naturally, I'll be buying it.

92 minutes?? This is truly getting out of hand. And I thought the Priest album was a top example of redundancy.

Here's what'll happen: I'll separate the long from the short and make two playlists. I'm sorry, but at 92 minutes, sequencing be damned.

I agree about Kevin, why they stick with the guy makes no sense to me. 92 minutes of his production is going to be the ultimate experience in listener's fatigue.

Everyone complaining about the (awesome) Slayer art should be moaning about this. A lazy profile of Eddie in tribal paint against a black background? Really??

Lastly, on a positive note, I'm sure the music will range from good to great. Although we gotta expect a couple of clunkers at that running time.

92 minutes. Good god.

I really don't see what the big deal is with the album being 92 minutes. It has been 5 years since their last album, so they had a lot of material compiled. In the 1980s they released 1 album per year, add up the running time of 5 albums from that era...

42:01 of the 92 minutes is three songs.

Witchfinder wrote:

42:01 of the 92 minutes is three songs.  

So? I have no attention span deficiencies.

MAIDEN!!!!!!!!

S.D. wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

42:01 of the 92 minutes is three songs.  

So?  I have no attention span deficiencies.  

Eliminate those three songs and the running length is unremarkable.

I have no problem w/ Kevin Shirley's mixes. His tones are raw and "in the room" sounding. His mastering gets a little hot. But there's a reason Maiden, Journey, Mr. Big & others go to him over and over...he makes rock bands sound like rock bands.

Maiden!!! Looking forward to it. Should be good.

I'm relieved that it is not a concept album. I have no problem with an album being 92 minutes as long as it isn't one long narrative, with a bunch of interludes and 0:32 dialogues or what have you scattered throughout.


I'm hoping to catch them on tour supporting this as well. I respect Maiden for making the album they are touring on the focal point of their setlist rather than just picking one or two to throw in amongst the greatest hits.

I'm kinda wondering if the first disc is a concept part of it though. The reason I say that is because the song titles seem on that one seem to fit the whole "book of souls" concept rather than the second disc.

cool..I really liked the Final Frontier and I am looking forward to this..

Kevin Shirley's mixes sound like flat Coke. Bizarre EQ choices, flat, lifeless soundstage and entirely too much harsh mid-range. They are perfectly suited for a 1973 Ford F-150 pickup AM radio.

But he worked with Dream Theater who are one of Steve Harris's heroes.

corplhicks wrote:

92 minutes. Good god.

The more, the better. Do people actually listen to albums in their entirety, in one go?

The beauty of a long album is you can skip, mix, match and get different sounding record everytime you spin it. And even if there's a track or three you don't like, it doesn't matter, you probably still have plenty of good stuff you do like. And you have more deep cuts, songs that you "re-discover" after years of not paying attention to them.

Plus, just think of the trouble you save in not having to try and find all those limited editions and b-sides and re-releases with bonus tracks, so you can have it all anyway.

I'll take a 92 minute long album straight up, thank you very much.

No worries about the length for me, they've done long songs before that are great. And i'm too tone deaf to even know what S.D. is talking about. It's not like it's Metallica's St. Anger mix.