New Album "The Book Of Souls" Detailed By Iron Maiden
Band Photo: Iron Maiden (?)
Iron Maiden’s eagerly awaited new studio album "The Book Of Souls" will be released globally on September 4th 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
Available 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)
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.
What's Next?
- Previous Article:
Rage Announces New Lineup, Tour - Next Article:
Evergrey Premieres "Black Undertow" Music Video
8 Comments on "Iron Maiden Announces 'The Book Of Souls'"
Writer/photographer
3. writes:
CROMCarl, I think it's fun to speculate, as Maiden's work is often somewhat predictable, especially to those who've followed the band for a long time and can see things in perspective. My speculations about Maiden gearing up to do a very primal album started when Maiden put "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg" on A Matter of Life and Death as a way of conditioning us for the planned stylistic change. This was continued with "Satellite 15 . . . The Final Frontier" and "El Dorado," both very rudimentary, primitive rockers. I may be wrong, but I might also have been right in my speculations ever since A Matter of Life and Death.
In my analysis, Maiden use each album to preview the follow-up. Number of the Beast used street topics (plundering, looting, gangs, prisoners, and prostitutes, for example) to create a bridge between DiAnno's rougher punk style and d***inson's more contemplative and stylized approach. By introducing synths at just the right time, Somewhere in Time set the stage for the brilliant Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Dance of Death used shorter and punchier songs, with over-the-top cheesy artwork, to provide a transition from the sterile and modern Brave New World to the warmer and cartoonish (and more Maiden-esque) stylistic return to the roots on Dance of Death. So, Dance of Death was simply a shrewdly contrive stepping stone. Similarly, "Satellite 15 . . . The Final Frontier" may have foreshadowed and conditioned us for what The Book of Souls may bring, perhaps still in small doses, so as to not alienate the core fan base.
Member
Writer/photographer
7. writes:
If this cover is Maiden's way of forcing us to pay more attention to the music than the cover art, then it's a pretty lame attempt at that. There's a reason why we call it cover art, because, when done right (see, for example, the beautiful cover art for Seventh Son of a Seventh Son), it is art that can be enjoyed as art in its own right or as a way of enhancing the listening experience. The fact of the matter is that after Derek Riggs, no other artist that collaborated with Maiden has been able to reach the level of originality and consistency that Derek's achieved in his work for Maiden.
The cover "art" for the new album is pretty disappointing, in my opinion, as it appears to have been deliberately designed to be ugly. However, my opinion is not set in stone, and I'm still eager to judge the artwork more fairly after hearing the album.
To minimize comment spam/abuse, you cannot post comments on articles over a month old.
1. Seventh Son writes:
Glad they're using their original logo again. Not sure how I should feel when the album's title sounds like The Tyranny of Souls, Bruce's most recent solo album, and two other songs, "The Man of Sorrows" and "Tears of a Clown," also borrow, almost verbatim, from Bruce's solo career track titles. I hope the album isn't Maiden's attempt to officially deal with their past, some fifteen years later. I'd be disappointed if the songs turn out derivative, like "Out of the Shadows," a "Tears of a Dragon" clone, did, when, in an effort to appease Bruce's creative urges, they put it on A Matter of Life and Death.
Lastly, that cover art is too reminiscent of the cover art for The X Factor. Maiden with Bruce generally don't do well, A Matter of Life and Death being somewhat of an exception, when they attempt at realism, so this is a concern. The cover also looks like something that would have looked good on Adrian's recent solo project, Rock Rebellion, which means that this album could turn out very inconsistent and possibly quite different and very modern and minimalistic in a Tool kind of way. O.K., that's a very far fetched fear (maybe that's why the cover art looks so unsettling), but it's not out of the realm of possibilities.
With the record having been recorded in the same studio where Brave New World was recorded, I'm also afraid this record is going to sound a bit too cold and empty, as I always thought the guitars on Brave New World sound too round and brilliant, in a clinical way, for Maiden.
I'd be interested to hear what others think about my speculations here. Feel free to add your thoughts on this.