Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls

[Force]

This

repetitive plodding along with an annoying production that makes that plodding even harder to bear (and to top it off - Bruce will sing the song title about 342 times in a row).

&

(and just to say it - Somewhere in Time is their best album, by far. IMHO of course)

I will add 'The best album ever made'

 

[Chiba666]

While I agree Somewhere is a great album, its no 7th son, Iron Maiden or Powerslave.

 

[Richie666]

Put me firmly in the Somewhere being their best album camp. Powerslave is right there with it though.

Also, I haven't been excited for new Maiden in forever. I found most of their BNW onwards stuff too bloated but for some reason I'm intrigued by this one.

 

[starslight]

I've enjoyed all the albums from Brave New World onward, but none of them have been great from start to finish, and Final Frontier had more misses than hits for me. I'm really not sure they can pull off a solid double-album, but a few good tracks on each side would be more than enough for me.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I'm curious to hear The Man of Sorrows. The songs Murray wrote have been my favorite since Brave New World, especially Rainmaker.

 

[Chiba666]

Album pre-ordered so we shall see what we shall see, or rather hear what we shall hear.

 

[thedonal]

Is it a Stones collaboration? Is that why Keef is on the cover?

Sympathy for the Seventh Son!

Looking forward to this and a new tour.

 

[metallatem]

In 1982, I was in 10th grade and I saw these kids at school wearing these awesome looking t-shirts from some band called Iron Maiden. So I went out and bought Number of the Beast at Record World at the mall. That started a 33 year love affair with an amazing band. My personal favorite is Piece of Mind, the beginning of Revelations is still the epitome of metal to me. The 4 albums since 2000 all have their highs and lows. I like Steve's comment about the album having a real "live" feel to it. Hopefully that means limited amounts of synth and other processed effects.

 

[Andromalia]

I don't like their latest records as much as I like the old ones, but I still like them. Curious to see what they'll come up with, hoping more Brave New World/Dance of death than Final Frontier though.

 

[Chiba666]

In all fairness hoping for another 7th son or Powerslave but that's not going to happen is it

 

[Varcolac]

Album will be good. It's Maiden. It can't not be good.

I've enjoyed their more recent output. There's some very decent tunes on "Final Frontier." Sure it's no "Seventh Son," "Powerslave" or "Somewhere In Time," but so what? "Seasons In The Abyss" or "Divine Intervention" are no "Reign In Blood" either, but they're still quality albums with good songs on them. At least Maiden haven't reached a "St Anger" level of suckiness compared to their back catalogue.

 

[Jason2112]

I'm stoked. Hopefully this time they tie Steve's hands behind his back during the mixing phase. A band with 3 guitar players and yet the bass sits more forward in the mix than all 3 of them put together.

 

[chopeth]

Album will be good. It's Maiden. It can't not be good.

I've enjoyed their more recent output. There's some very decent tunes on "Final Frontier." Sure it's no "Seventh Son," "Powerslave" or "Somewhere In Time," but so what? "Seasons In The Abyss" or "Divine Intervention" are no "Reign In Blood" either, but they're still quality albums with good songs on them. At least Maiden haven't reached a "St Anger" level of suckiness compared to their back catalogue.

I agree that every Maiden album has some very good songs, some albums like the return of Dickinson Brave New World is almost perfect in my opinion. The problem is that the filler is becoming more and more obvious, riffs very similar to earlier albums and utter waste songs.

 

[ChaNce]

Funny story:

My grandmother said I could buy an LP while I was visiting her as a kid. We went to the local general store, and I said I wanted Piece of Mind. She looked at the cover.

I walked out with Toto IV.

 

[metallatem]

Funny story:

My grandmother said I could buy an LP while I was visiting her as a kid. We went to the local general store, and I said I wanted Piece of Mind. She looked at the cover.

I walked out with Toto IV.

I had Killers, Number of the Beast and Trooper posters in my room. The day I left for college, my Mom tore them down and threw them away.

 

[EmaDaCuz]

Hardcore Maiden fan here. Or almost hardcore. They lost me after "Virtual XI". Sure, Blaze may have not been the most suitable singer for the old material, but it was perfect to start something new. They decided to go back to Bruce, and the result is pretty obvious: trying to sound like the old Maiden even though the original spirit is not there anymore.
"Brave New World" was OKish, "Dance of the Death" mediocre at best, "A Matter..." a disgrace, "The Final Frontier" I don't know, I listened to a couple of songs and I was utterly disappointed.
I have zero expectations for this one, and the fact that they have long song make my already zero expectations to go to a negative number... The only album with all long songs being great was "Somewhere" (my favourite), they should have aimed at 4:00-4:30 max. Every extra second is likely to be an extra second of crap.

 

[andyjanson]

Hardcore Maiden fan here. Or almost hardcore. They lost me after "Virtual XI". Sure, Blaze may have not been the most suitable singer for the old material, but it was perfect to start something new. They decided to go back to Bruce, and the result is pretty obvious: trying to sound like the old Maiden even though the original spirit is not there anymore.
"Brave New World" was OKish, "Dance of the Death" mediocre at best, "A Matter..." a disgrace, "The Final Frontier" I don't know, I listened to a couple of songs and I was utterly disappointed.
I have zero expectations for this one, and the fact that they have long song make my already zero expectations to go to a negative number... The only album with all long songs being great was "Somewhere" (my favourite), they should have aimed at 4:00-4:30 max. Every extra second is likely to be an extra second of crap.

I'd argue that after the reunion they went for a much darker and more progressive sound than trying to sound like old maiden. In fact I can't think of an instance where post reunion era sounds anything like classic maiden at all Maybe I'm just a fanboy, but I firmly believe that all the albums since Bruce and Adrian's return have been stellar. Yes, there's filler here and there but even those songs like New Frontier or The Alchemist have some fine moments. I don't really know what to say to someone who ranks Virtual XI ahead of AMOLAD

 

[troyguitar]

I really like Brave New World for the most part. All of the albums from BNW on have too many extremely repetitive bits but for whatever reason I don't mind them as much in BNW. This is still pretty egregious...

A brave new world, in a brave new world
A brave new world, in a brave new world
In a brave new world, a brave new world
In a brave new world, a brave new world

A brave new world, in a brave new world
A brave new world, in a brave new world
In a brave new world, a brave new world
In a brave new world, a brave new world

 

[andyjanson]

I think that seems worse written down. The chorus doesn't last particularly long so I've never really been irked by the repetition in that one. For the greater good of god gets a little wearing in places however.

 

[Andromalia]

Well, I lost the count of the seven sons too.
That's not really something new there.

I'm stoked. Hopefully this time they tie Steve's hands behind his back during the mixing phase. A band with 3 guitar players and yet the bass sits more forward in the mix than all 3 of them put together.

Yeah, and ask Nicko to do double bass and Bruce to growl and write about drakkars.