Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls

Lari wrote:

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.

Uh, there's only 11 songs. Too many songs aren't the problem in this case.

It's going to suck. Iron Maiden should stop trying to be a progressive metal band, because it's just not their edge.

That album cover is atrocious, too.

Painkiller wrote:

It's going to suck. Iron Maiden should stop trying to be a progressive metal band, because it's just not their edge.

That album cover is atrocious, too.

Couldn't agree more!

Except that frankly at times I think they're trying to be a progressive "rock" band.

Maiden has had progressive tendencies since the 80s. If you look at where they moved from Number on, it's easy to see. From Number to Seventh Son, each album moves closer in the direction they would take on the reunion albums. No Prayer and Fear of the Dark, while they each have their moments (with the latter being superior to the first), were regressions in style. You might not like everything Maiden has done, you may hate the reunion albums, but they represent a progression in sound that can be seen in the Dickinson albums of the 80s. And to me they still sound like Maiden, which makes me quite happy.

I don't think Iron Maiden is "trying" to do anything or be anything other than "IRON MAIDEN". They are who they want to be, they write the kind of songs they want to write and they don't give a F*ck whether their old, stuck in the past, narrow-minded whiner fans like it or not.

Good for them! Screw the naysayers. I hope they continue to piss them off, cause it's endlessly entertaining.

I think you're the one who really gets his knickers in a twist around here. I wrote them off over a decade ago. I think this is comedic and I can't wait to see fanboys bending backwards to defend these tunes and force themselves to listen to this.

I know that they're doing what they want to do ... Which is morph closer the more progressive rock stuff they enjoyed in their youth. It is a progression/regression in the sense that it is a straight line and not an abrupt jump. I just happen to see it as a line down.

My knickers aren't in a twist, I'm just enjoying all the unintentional comedy...and this place is a goldmine.

I'm not a "fanboy", I didn't listen to Iron Maiden at all from like 1991 until 2005 when I started checking them out again. I liked the newer albums because I actually enjoyed them, not because it was Iron Maiden and I felt obligated to like them.

I also have no problem saying that No Prayer For The Dying completely sucks, 80% of Fear Of The Dark sucks and basically everything from the Blaze albums suck (except for the live versions with Bruce singing after the fact). I also think Brave New World is the weakest of the reunion albums, I think A Matter Of Life And Death blows it out of the water.

S.D. wrote:

I also think Brave New World is the weakest of the reunion albums, I think A Matter Of Life And Death blows it out of the water.  

I completely agree with this. A Matter of Life and Death is my favorite of the reunion albums.

A Matter of Life and Death is my favourite Iron Maiden album, period.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

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.

I don't understand the criticism as Maiden sounds incredible in the new albums. Big, but not stuffed. Raw. Alive. That's how I'd describe their recent albums. Matter of Life and Death wasn't even mastered. A very live sounding band. That's just a great record in every way. Surely some of that has to be because of Shirley /pun intended

Nothing released is above criticism. Iron Maiden is a sacred cow in metal, but in reality, they should be judged just as objectively as any other band, regardless of influence.

Who said anything about them being "above criticism"? You just pulled that one out of your ass.

Iron Maiden IS a progressive rock band and have been since the 2000 reunion. They are no longer just a heavy metal band. I love the post-reunion stuff. It's excellent in a different way. They no longer sound as metal as they once were, but the music is top notch.

And for some reason people forget that heavy metal and progressive rock started around the same time and are really sister styles. There is a lot of commonality between the genres, at least there was in the early 70s. I also think over the past 10 years they are moving closer together again. Many modern progressive rock groups will use little metallic sections for flavoring, metal is just another ingredient to throw into the mix.

John Madden wrote:

Iron Maiden IS a progressive rock band  and have been since the 2000 reunion. They are no longer just a heavy metal band. I love the post-reunion stuff. It's excellent in a different way. They no longer sound as metal as they once were, but the music is top notch.

Couldn't agree more. Long songs tend to bore me, but for whatever reason Maiden's longer tunes actually enthrall me. Top notch stuff for sure.

S.D. wrote:

Who said anything about them being "above criticism"? You just pulled that one out of your ass.

A bit of forced hyping here:

S.D. wrote:

I don't think Iron Maiden is "trying" to do anything or be anything other than "IRON MAIDEN".  They are who they want to be, they write the kind of songs they want to write and they don't give a F*ck whether their old, stuck in the past, narrow-minded whiner fans like it or not.  

Good for them!  Screw the naysayers. I hope they continue to piss them off, cause it's endlessly entertaining.

Also, the fact that you're calling people like me "old, stuck in the past, narrow-minded whiners" shows that you're kind of taking dissenting views personally.

I will be there on September 4th throwing my money at the cashier because I am a fanboy! And I really don't get out much anymore.

At least they don't release the two discs a year apart and call them separate albums.

S.D. wrote:

I don't think Iron Maiden is "trying" to do anything or be anything other than "IRON MAIDEN".  They are who they want to be, they write the kind of songs they want to write and they don't give a F*ck whether their old, stuck in the past, narrow-minded whiner fans like it or not.  

Good for them!  Screw the naysayers. I hope they continue to piss them off, cause it's endlessly entertaining.  

1000% agree!!!!

S.D. wrote:

My knickers aren't in a twist, I'm just enjoying all the unintentional comedy...and this place is a goldmine.  

I'm not a "fanboy", I didn't listen to Iron Maiden at all from like 1991 until 2005 when I started checking them out again.  I liked the newer albums because I actually enjoyed them, not because it was Iron Maiden and I felt obligated to like them.  

I also have no problem saying that No Prayer For The Dying completely sucks, 80% of Fear Of The Dark sucks and basically everything from the Blaze albums suck (except for the live versions with Bruce singing after the fact). I also think Brave New World is the weakest of the reunion albums, I think A Matter Of Life And Death blows it out of the water.  

AMOLAD is tied for my fav Maiden album with PoM

My thoughts:

To say I am excited for this release is the understatement of the year..... had a HUGE smile on my face all day. Can't wait to hear what they have come up this time. Had no idea the release announcement was today....... they really kept it quiet. They seem to want to go out with a bang (if this is truly the end, as many think it may be.)

Long songs? So what - bring it on!

Cover is cool, would have liked to see more.

Title track of the album written by Janick Gers? Last time that happened was Dance Of Death, which turned out to be one of the new Maiden classic songs (and a FANTASTIC live track.)

Adrian Smith writing the shorter songs? And two co-written with just Bruce? Hasn't happened since the 80's.

2 songs written by Bruce? And one is the longest track every recorded by the band.....

The album seems to be a mix of 1/2 shorter and 1/2 long songs.

Kevin Shirley? don't mind his mixes..... but his 5.1 mixes blow away his stereo mixes. Rock In Rio, En Vivo mixes are fantastic. The Dance of Death 5.1 mix is 100 times better than the stereo mix.

The other thing I notices is that they are using the original Maiden font for this release (the R, N, M, M extend below the "lines") which they haven't used on any of the post-reunion studio albums (they have used it for the history tours, but not the new album tours.)

I will be pre-ordering as soon as I can (deluxe edition of course and maybe the vinyl too)

Can't wait!!!!!!

S.D. wrote:

I also have no problem saying that No Prayer For The Dying completely sucks, 80% of Fear Of The Dark sucks and basically everything from the Blaze albums suck  

I don't agree with you there. There is some good stuff on there, although it's definitely spotty.

S.D. wrote:

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...

Well, now I know who you are on the Hoffman board, because you said the same thing over there.

S.D. wrote:

And for some reason people forget that heavy metal and progressive rock started around the same time and are really sister styles.  

Who forgot this?

I really don't have a problem with them playing prog rock if they didn't do it so poorly.

Let's face it, a lot of prog rock is just so BORING. And this is coming from a guy who really loves a lot of it.

I will buy it gladly and I have no issue with 92 minute album