New Iron Maiden album?

Fingers crossed:

https://blabbermouth.net/news/iron-maiden-is-rumored-to-have-completed-work-on-new-studio-album/

I'll check it out but......

Automatic purchase. Take my money now.

I just hope they go back to some old school and make some songs less than thirty minutes this time. Be nice if they change things up a bit, because the albums since Brave New World are all pretty much copy and paste formula.

^^^ What he said.

I wonder where a new Maiden album would rank on our ratings threads?

Troublezone wrote:

I wonder where a new Maiden album would rank on our ratings threads?

Wouldn't you need to hear it first? Like, to compare.

Lari wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

I wonder where a new Maiden album would rank on our ratings threads?

Wouldn't you need to hear it first? Like, to compare.

I was joking

As much as I love Maiden, the last few albums haven't done much for me. Book of Souls in particular was a sleeping pill.

Wrecked Neck wrote:

I just hope they go back to some old school and make some songs less than thirty minutes this time. Be nice if they change things up a bit, because the albums since Brave New World are all pretty much copy and paste formula.

I agree. We need an old school album again. I loved Book of Souls, but it was way too long for me to digest.

Gilbert wrote:

Wrecked Neck wrote:

I just hope they go back to some old school and make some songs less than thirty minutes this time. Be nice if they change things up a bit, because the albums since Brave New World are all pretty much copy and paste formula.

I agree. We need an old school album again. I loved Book of Souls, but it was way too long for me to digest.

Yeah me too, and I have always loved long songs. But I guess a full album full of them is a bit too much, even for me.

If it's good it doesn't matter if it's three 20-minute songs or twenty 3-minute songs.

I pace myself so I don't get turned off / tuned away. It's been over four years since Book of Souls. Four years to listen to 90 minutes of music. You can probably handle 20 minutes per year.

Lari wrote:

If it's good it doesn't matter if it's three 20-minute songs or twenty 3-minute songs.

I pace myself so I don't get turned off / tuned away. It's been over four years since Book of Souls. Four years to listen to 90 minutes of music. You can probably handle 20 minutes per year.

Unfortunately most people don’t have your patience. I think people like balance.

Lari wrote:

If it's good it doesn't matter if it's three 20-minute songs or twenty 3-minute songs.

I pace myself so I don't get turned off / tuned away. It's been over four years since Book of Souls. Four years to listen to 90 minutes of music. You can probably handle 20 minutes per year.

I've listened to it several times. Next to Brave New World it's probably the most listened to Maiden album out of all the post reunion albums. My problem is I like to listen to albums from start to finish, so it's hard to commit to one that's an hour and a half long.

From the way the dj's on Ozzy's Boneyard talk, this is already in the can and ready to go. I really hope it's better than the last few as they have been good but not great. This has a chance of being their last studio album, so I hope they crush it the way Priest did with Firepower. Strat all guns blazing and never look back.

At it's highest points, Book of Souls sounds to me like Killers-era Maiden with Dickinson vocals. It had a dirtiness to it that appeals to me in those first two IM records.

But it suffered because of the more epic tracks. If they had tightened it up to a solid 9-track single LP but retained the loose feel some of the songs have, it would have ranked for me as among their best probably.

Similarly, Metallica's Hardwired...There is a solid breakneck modern thrash album buried in there among all the unnecessary stuff.

Though I should note, I do like some of the longer songs on Souls quite a bit. They just mess up the flow for me.

^^That's actually a good summation of how I feel about BoS.

There's a whole tsunami of modern New Wave of Traditional Metal bands so I know Maiden could get back to that old sound. Maybe they don't want to?

I would also love the songs to be mostly under 5:00. Maybe one epic per album would do.

I do love Brave New World, and Dance of Death is pretty good. The last three? I usually can't even remember their names.

One exception for me regarding long songs is And Justice for All. Yeah, none of them are 13-minute affairs, but with the shortest tracks coming in at 5, and a couple in the 9-minute mark, the songs are much longer than I usually prefer.

But it works with that album. Perfectly in my opinion.

Empire of the Clouds is a great song and it's 18 minutes. The Red and the Black is a great song and it's 13 minutes. If a song needs 13 minutes, it's what you should give it. You can't limit art.

And those were two of the best songs on the Book of Souls.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

One exception for me regarding long songs is And Justice for All. Yeah, none of them are 13-minute affairs, but with the shortest tracks coming in at 5, and a couple in the 9-minute mark, the songs are much longer than I usually prefer.

But it works with that album. Perfectly in my opinion.

I hear ya and agree totally. I think what hurts the last few Maiden albums is not the length of he songs, but rather it feels like it takes forever for the song to get rolling and reach the chorus, The chorus and the guitar riff (as a non musician) are the most memorable parts of a song to me. There seems to me to be too much fading in and out and ambient sounds with post 2000 reunion era IM; whereas "AJFA" gets pretty much right to the point. Also, it's a much heavier album, where Maiden, to me anyway aren't the mighty Metal machine they once were.

the sentinel wrote:

ZombieHavoc wrote:

One exception for me regarding long songs is And Justice for All. Yeah, none of them are 13-minute affairs, but with the shortest tracks coming in at 5, and a couple in the 9-minute mark, the songs are much longer than I usually prefer.

But it works with that album. Perfectly in my opinion.

I hear ya and agree totally. I think what hurts the last few Maiden albums is not the length of he songs, but rather it feels like it takes forever for the song to get rolling and reach the chorus, The chorus and the guitar riff (as a non musician) are the most memorable parts of a song to me. There seems to me to be too much fading in and out and ambient sounds with post 2000 reunion era IM; whereas "AJFA" gets pretty much right to the point. Also, it's a much heavier album, where Maiden, to me anyway aren't the mighty Metal machine they once were.

Exactly. I'm not a musician either, so maybe it varies. But having all the tempo changes, ambiance, fading, etc., has the same effect on me as what's mentioned in the intros thread--it usually just leads me to skip ahead.

Lari wrote:

Empire of the Clouds is a great song and it's 18 minutes. The Red and the Black is a great song and it's 13 minutes. If a song needs 13 minutes, it's what you should give it. You can't limit art.

And those were two of the best songs on the Book of Souls.

Interesting fact. I have been helping a friend of mine get into Iron Maiden lately and surprisingly, the songs that he enjoyed the most were the long ones from their recent albums!

So Paul is planning his last show. Would be nice for him to do a Bruce-era song or two.

Former Iron Maiden frontman Paul Di'Anno has announced what is being billed as his very last live performance and has formed a new band with other former members of the band.
The new group is called Ides Of March and features Di'Anno along with four other Iron Maiden alumni (Terry Wapram - Guitar, Terry Rance - Guitar, Doug Sampson - Drums), along with bassist Speed Harris from Hi-On Maiden
Ides Of March will be headlining the Beermageddon festival in Bromsgrove, England on Sunday, August 30th. The show will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album.
Di'Anno has been struggling with health issues and doctors have advised him to retire from touring. He had this to say, "It's been a tough four years waiting to play again.
"I hope to be standing for this show and I'm really looking forward to it. Standing up would be great. If not, Hell on wheels coming to ya!"
Wapram added, "Really looking forward to working with these guys. Our paths have crossed many times but we never played together. Should be a killer lineup and a very special night."