The Book Of Souls

You know that feeling when you first got into Iron Maiden and you had such high expectations for each track after track, let alone each album.....and each track seemed to have a hook all of its own that made your chest burn in delight........well this is one of THOSE records........... Simply outstanding. My favorite albums before this from the Maiden were Beast, Somewhere in Time, Seventh Son, Fear of the Dark...at least couple of those will be in yours too if you are a long time fan...........Ive had to re write this review a little to let you know oh doubter of the maiden (if that is you!), that every song on here is class but the final 4 tracks in my opinion are stunning.....outstanding track that you will hum is the THE MAN OF SORROWS..................all the other albums since the fab Fear of the Dark and Powerslave, have good moments but as a whole dont add up to the sum of their parts in quality............until The Book Of Souls that is.......... This is masterfully realised and epic. I kid you not, Ignore those who say its slightly too long or silly complaints about sound quality (music comes in all shapes and sizes so make sure you adjust headphones slightly, on mine this album is awesome)....... On second listen you think the whole record def as long as it should be...................this is a classic band delivering at their own pace and rightly so.......the guitar work is phenomenal and Brucie sounds as great as ever.........each track has choruses / key changes that are epic in scale and virtuoso cameos appear all over the place, but dont feel out of place. Its actually a technically great record as well as being bulshy, dark and soul searching style wise. The references to older albums help tell the story - like the obvious Wasted years intro later on the album...........same track mentions the sea of madness......and makes you think the band are saying a hello to all us long time fans out there........... What a year for the oldsters! I have been delighted by the fact that all the albums Ive had to repeatedly listen to this year on first listen were by acts long thought past their prime by many....... My top album of the year is The Book of SOuls closely followed by the outstanding FFS album (thats Sparks guys with their new buddies - a great team!),.....which is proudly just in front of The Prodigy's The Day is My Enemy. All three are modern masterpieces but also twist the sounds slightly that you might expect from them......each act to me is fearless in what they do and should be proud. My only complaint with this album is .....had to fiddle with preferences so tracks 1-11 play in order because i did download - don't like how it gets jumbles unless you change the order back so my first listen was out of sync!!. Oh and the artwork is as iconic as the above mentioned albums and rightly so....so well done there - visually a bit more minimal than usual which is pretty fresh looking too Im so impressed with this - hit me again with that heavy deep rusty strum which kicks of The Redhe Black and T.........wow......Absolutely great......lead me on to the magnificent Man of Sorrows chorus which springs out of a typical maiden build up.....go and have a listen to the album of the year........and in metal terms, the album of the decade!

Album sixteen. ALBUM SIXTEEN. Let that sink in. Prince could make sixteen albums before you've had dinner (probably), but most of us are mere mortals, and sixteen albums give you a quandry. What more is there to say? What is the point? How many more Iron Maiden albums will there be? Well. Make no mistake. Iron Maiden now are – at least – as good as they have ever been. “Book Of Souls” is their best album in 27 years. 93 minutes of double album style prog-metal about monsters and plasma and history? How can I resist? They're like some kind of ubershouty Tangerine Dream, endlessly writing very very long songs, with lots of three-pronged widdly woo fretwork - “Speed of Light”, the first 'single', clearly has at least three guitar solos, from three guitarists, one after the other. It's not metal, but prog-rock, made with very heavy tones, where the band aren't constrained by the length of a 7” single, focusing instead on writing something with as many tempo shifts, parts and bridges you can imagine. Even “The Red And The Black” is a mere 13 minutes long, and powers along like a modern day 'Heaven Can Wait'. In fact, having spend most of 2012-2014 touring their “Maiden England” show (a recreation of the 1988 tour designed to show fans that were too young to see it then get another chance), the musical DNA of their classic late 1980's era is sprinkled all over “The Book Of Souls” like arterial wounds from an knife fight. There's another three-guitar-solos-in-a-row load of fretwankery, which is of course, utter brilliance in its hairy-chest stadium rock preposterousness, .and lasts at least seven or eight minutes. In fact, that's pretty much every song on the album ; 8 minutes of hollering and guitars, that sounds pretty much brilliant and would give me Air Guitar RSI if I saw them live. Five years between albums is a long time. But the band haven't rested, and in the past five years, have toured the world twice, and released a live album, reissued a classic concert on DVD, and … oh yeah, Bruce Dickinson has managed to kick throat cancer. Recorded before that, and thus, delayed, “The Book Of Souls” is the bands first genuine double album at 93 minutes, and, in one case, manages to beat even their most epicness with album closer, “Empire Of The Clouds”. Every song is a highlight, apart from the slightly rubbish acoustic codas. The rest of it is snarling, wonderful, enormous thunderstorms of rock – even “Shadows Of The Valley” which is a carbon copy of “Wasted Years” and even references their 1986 song 'Sea Of Madness'. It's as if they wrote five years worth of songs and only recorded the best ones, with none of the usual end-of-side-two rubbish. Every song seems to have longevity built in by design, for a long standing life, and it's already high up my iPod play list. The whole of “Book Of Souls” is easily the best Iron Maiden album* since 1988's epochal, perfect “Seventh Son of A Seventh Son”. And it's about time.

New Iron Maiden albums are few and far between these days so the expectation from their fans is always high and many of those fans have been waiting for a return to Maidens 'glory years' since their 80s heyday. I wasn't raising my hopes too high for this release because I hadn't been particularly impressed with their last effort (TFF) although it did have some great songs. So, to my suprise I have had The Book Of Souls on repeat for the past few days - I feel it is a fantastic album but there are a few issues with the sound/production. Some have stated that they cannot listen to it at all but I've not found that to be the case. I first listened through a loud (but cheap) soundbar and I just couldn't get the settings right and it sounded very muddy. I've since listened through various devices (surround sound system, various headphones, good hi-fi) and my only complaints are that on some songs the intro's appear to be louder than the rest of the song and some of Bruce's vocals and various guitar parts are occasionally low in the mix. I'm assuming that is the price we pay for having an album which is 'recorded live' in the studio. It certainly makes you listen a little harder. AMOLAD had a similar recording process and also similar issues on some songs but it's a minor complaint from me and it appears that the vast majority of listeners do not have a major problem with it. Also, the band seem happy to produce this way and they know that you can't please everybody - there will always be some complaints when you have a fanbase the size (and age) of Iron Maidens. I'm giving this album 5 stars because for me it improves after every listen and I think there are some very strong songs on here. There's just too much content to dissect and I don't want to start comparing this to previous albums. People go on about how great Powerslave, Piece of Mind etc were but they had their weak points and are considered to be some of Maidens best. Long songs are not for everybody and there's an awful lot to take in (ooh er) on one listen. You just can't appreciate the longer songs until you've heard them a few times. I struggled to get through Empire Of The Clouds and needed to put my headphones on with no distractions to hear it properly. It really is an impressive song from Bruce but a million miles from their early stuff and as for the piano - well I didn't expect that! Maiden have always pushed themselves to produce something new and it doesn't always sit well with their fans but this time I truly believe they have nailed it and if you like the newer Maiden stuff you should enjoy The Book Of Souls. There's not a track on it that I don't like and Bruce's voice is unbelievably good here - how does a man of his age still hit those high notes? Amazing to think that he was diagnosed with tongue cancer shortly after recording this. I'm looking forward to their tour in 2016 and hopefully they will squeeze a few TBOS songs into the setlist.

Firstly let me start by saying that I'm unbiased with Maiden albums. My favourites are Brave New World, Piece Of Mind, Seventh Son and I even thought Final Frontier was a masterpiece especially with "when the wild wind blows". Yes the 90's albums were under par in my opinion but had some great songs on, "fear of the dark", "no prayer for the dying", "sign of the cross", "the clansman" to name a few. I understand why people disliked A matter of life and death and the final frontier, there's a progressive nature to them and it doesn't sound like "old maiden". We're not in the 80's anymore! Having said that The Book Of Souls has something for every Maiden fan! Those 92 minutes fly by and there's no absence of quality. I don't want to ruin it so I'll pick a few highlights from the album. "If eternity should fail" is both modern, heavy and catchy. Also really groovy drums from Nicko on the chorus! "The red and the black" has all the cliche Maiden characteristics with a somewhat reflective solo section. The musicianship of the guys really shines through on this. The title song is both heavy and epic with deep and thought provoking lyrics. "Tears of a clown" based on Robin Williams depression contain delicate and touching lyrics from Steve, the only song under 5 minutes albeit by 1 second haha. And then theres "Empire Of The Clouds". This is something special. Freddie Mercury's magnum opus was "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Empire Of The Clouds" is Bruce Dickinson's. Bruce has admitted he's only recently started dabbling in piano and only plays with two fingers. On that note alone (pardon the pun) it shows the sheer imagination and drive he has to create such a complex and intricate song. Anyone who says Maiden have become self indulgent are so wrong. They are simply musical story tellers. Let that be an inspiration to you all, you don't need to be Mozart on the piano to produce such an elegant and EPIC song! Theres orchestra, morse code and a tonne of time changes which signify the next part of the story for the last day of the R101 airship. Oh yeah and it also has Nicko playing his gong with a cello string to create the sound of the crash! I've said enough about this now, I'll leave you to listen to the whole album. I'm on my 4th listen now and each song just gets better and better as it all sinks in. This is one heck of an emotional and epic journey. If this is their last then they've gone out with one of their greatest albums. Now grab a Trooper beer, gaze at the outstanding artwork and let your imagination roam. Up the Irons!

I've been a fan of maiden since I was 10 years old. I'm now 37 and I've stuck with them through most of their career. I wasn't a fan of the Bayley years. The x factor wasn't too bad but virtual XI is possibly the worst album of all time by any band. So, I was a very happy man when brave new world was released and seen the return of Smith and Dickinson. I think Smith was every bit as important as Dickinson returning as they both write great songs and work together well. I thought brave new world was a very good album and thought dance of death would be good too. But to be honest, I think it's their worst album with Dickinson. There are a couple of moments here and there. A matter of life and death was another return to form apart from the production and some bad moments from Bruce. That seems to be the problem with all maiden albums these days. Bruce seems to think he can reach any note and sound good. But the fact of the matter is...he can't! He just sounds like he's in terrible pain while trying to reach them upper notes. Which brings me to this album. I've given this a lot of play through's at this stage and think it's their best album since the 80's by some margin. I'm not expecting another powerslave or number of the beast. I think almost all of the tracks are really good here with only a few I'd skip through ( The red and the black, the great unknown and Shadows of the valley). I realize that seems like a lot to skip through considering the length of some of these songs. But the red and the black just seems to drag on and on and isn't very good. Harris seems to think that if he makes a song long enough, everyone will be happy. A serious case of quantity over quality here. Those three tracks aside though and I'm pretty much hooked! Death or glory for me, is one of their best straight up rock songs in years and is a breath of fresh air. This is Smith and Dickinson at their best and it sounds like something from the early years. I also really love the man of sorrows. It has some nice changes in tempo throughout and has a somewhere in time feel to it. Well done Murray/Harris. Empire of the clouds is an almost perfect song and I take my hat off to Bruce for writing this. I reckon Harris is at home right now writing his 45 minute super epic, just to tell Bruce.. ''I DO THE LONG SONGS ROUND HERE''. I say the song is 'almost' perfect because there is one issues with it. The song starts off very strong and stays that way for 6 minutes or so before picking up tempo and goes strong for another 6 minutes or so. But after all the guitar solos come to an end, Bruce comes in squealing like a pig and ruins his almost perfect song. I just wish he would hold back a bit sometimes. Stop trying to hit notes that you can't reach without sounding like someone just grabbed you by the nuts and squeezed them like a stress ball! Iron maiden probably won't make many more albums after this and this could even be the last. So I wish they had spent a bit more time on production. It is a very good album indeed. But it could've been better with a little more time spent on the production of the album and a little refinement in the vocals department. Shave 20 mins off the playtime too while your'e at it. By the way..the vinyl version is top notch. Absolutely Beautiful!!!

As always, the news that there's a new Iron Maiden album on the way has me as excited as a small child at Christmas. Even the most casual Maiden fan has a fairly good idea what to expect from the band when they produce a new album. However, The Book Of Souls harbours a few surprises. The riffs have become far more melodic and the transition between light and shade doesn't jar as it has on some previous albums. Bruce Dickinson's voice sounds as strong as ever and songs such as If Eternity Should Fail, The Book of Souls and Tears of a Clown are a joy to listen to. I was apprehensive towards album closer Empire of the Clouds, having read the blurb on the internet regarding the length and subject matter - an 18 minute song about the R101 crash?! However, not only is it a masterful song, but the addition of Bruce's piano playing fits in surprisingly well with the rest of the band. Speaking of which, I don't know if Messrs' Murray, Smith and Gers have changed their guitar setups recently, but there seems to be a freshness to their sound (both collectively and individually) that hasn't been evident to me since Brave New World. My only gripe would be that Steve Harris' bass seems lower in the mix than usual and whilst that doesn't detract from the overall listening experience, I would have liked it to be a little more prominent than it is. And, of course, the bedrock that is Nicko McBrain's drumming is as solid as ever; indeed, he is a rare thing amongst heavy metal drummers in that he plays for the song, rather than to show off. Every roll and fill is played exactly right and provides the perfect lynchpin for the rest of the band. Taken as a whole, The Book of Souls is a fantastic album. Yes, the lyrics are a trifle overblown at times and with many of the songs clocking well over the five minute mark it's evident the band are writing to indulge their own tastes; however, I think this is what makes the album for me. Speed of Light is the only full-speed-ahead rocker on the album and one that seems destined to become a live favourite. All in all, The Book of Souls is a sign that Maiden are still making great music.

Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls... one of the best albums Maiden has ever released! This album will keep you captured for the whole 92 minutes it runs, there's no boredom with tracks such as The Red And The Black, The Book Of Souls or Empire Of The Clouds. Even though these songs are long even by Maiden standards they don't feel long, they keep you hooked and before you know it the songs are over, and you're left in awe and wonder of how they can still keep pulling it off. The album opener If Eternity Should Fail is a straight up groovy and slamming track, leading into the rocking single from the album, Speed Of Light. Tears Of A Clown is a great tribute to the late Robin Williams and features thought provoking lyrics, all the time the tight rhythm section keeps the whole thing rolling on steady and solid. The real "masterpiece" of the album though as to be the Bruce penned Empire Of The Clouds, the piano played by Dickinson is beautiful with a violin for accompaniment, the three amigos, Arry and Nicko providing a perfect landscape a for an epic song, then Bruce enters providing the familiar voice we all know and love. This album is a masterpiece from start to finish, and is a great footprint for one of the most influential, loved and respected bands ever. Iron Maiden won't be here forever, all the lads in Maiden are getting on a bit now, and if The Book Of Souls is the final album the Veteran British head bangers put out, I can't think of a better final chapter.

I've been a Maiden fan since 1982 and love their work. That being said, I'm not one to issue 5 stars simply because Maiden turn up at the studio. Nevertheless this is an absolutely superb album from a band who are obviously on the very top of their form. One might think that a band who've been creating music for very nearly 40 years might get tired and produce formulaic album after album. Maiden are the exact opposite of that: Book of Souls is bursting with energy, creativity and perfection of production in the way that only Maiden seem able to do. There are bands with a tenth of the experience of Maiden that don't have anywhere near their level of creative ability. Book of Souls also exemplifies the musical skill of the band members. Though they're all incredibly hard working they make it seem effortless. It's worth noting that Maiden have always stuck to their guns in terms of the song structures they like (sometimes lengthy songs) which is one of the reasons they never get played on radio stations, hence their love of touring. Despite occasional ridicule from certain parts of the music press and certain other bands, the formula works! Again, the music writing talent of the band members shines through in this album and though in total it's a long album the minutes fly by. When you eventually get to the close of the truly epic Empire of the Clouds, putting the album on repeat is a real pleasure. Absolutely 10/10. When so many other bands are barely producing metal any more, Maiden have once again produced an absolutely epic album that I for one will be playing and enjoying for a long, long time to come.

Maiden with 35+ years of experience. Pure gold. The hardcover book has some stunning illustrations and is worth the extra cost for any Maiden fan. I really can't say enough good things about this album. It's definitely Maiden at their finest. Some tracks echo the glory of their past classics, while others herald the melodic and progressive future into which we are being ushered. Bruce's voice has aged well, and as a side note he sang this whole album while suffering from serious tongue and throat cancer. The Harris epic is present in the form of The Red and the Black - which is an instant classic - and the titanic trio pull off some of the most blistering and graceful solos that I have yet heard. Nicko is, of course, a beast on the drums and provides a solid backbone to this behemoth of an album. If you're a fan of Maiden or classic metal then this is a must-own,

Great quality with the best of maiden...up the irons !!!

Cinq ans après le déjà très progressif The Final Frontier qui eût cru que la Vierge de Fer remettrait le couvert avec un double album bien saignant de heavy metal progressif ? Il fallait oser, ils l'ont fait, et Dieu sait s'ils ont eu raison. Car même si à la soixantaine approchant les gars de Maiden n'ont plus rien à prouver, ils tentent le coup, celui de surprendre, celui de se faire, et finalement, de nous faire plaisir. De prime abord cet album surprendra peut-être les fans hardcore qui attendaient sans doute un autre style d'album, plus évident, plus direct, plus simple. Et même les fans plus séduit par la touche prog' que distille ouvertement le combo britannique depuis A Brave New World en 2000, seront étonnés, pour ne pas dire déroutés par un tel parti prit. Car l'album est long, difficile aux premières écoutes, pas facile de se repérer dans les ambitieuses compositions dépassant allégrement les 10 mn pour certaines, de réussir à digérer ces 92 mn de musique. Pourtant, une fois apprivoisé, une fois compris, cela se fera au bout de trois/quatre écoutes, cet album usera votre platine CD. C'est puissant, épique, inspiré, sombre, grandiose ! Même si Maiden ne révolutionne en rien son style, c'est du Maiden pur jus et ils sont en très grande forme ! Entre grandes fresques progressives, ambitieuses et inspirées du 1er disque, et ce même pour les titres les plus "courts", ou des morceaux plus directs et plus classiques, tels The Speed Of Light (le single), Death Or Glory qui ouvre le 2e CD ou Shadows of the Valley qui le suit, il n'y a pas de réels faux pas dans cet opus, si ce n'est un titre peut-être plus moyen, plus anecdotique que serait The Man Of Sorrows. A noter la magistrale conclusion de ce double album : The Empire Of The Clouds, entre une improbable introduction au piano et la majestueuse orchestration symphonique de la deuxième partie. La présentation de cette édition Deluxe, est pour Maiden, une première, et la finition est soignée. Pour autant, considérant d'autres éditions "spéciales", "collector" ou "limited", l'on peut être à juste titre déçu par le peu d'efforts accordés au contenu : une seule photo du groupe (!) à la fin d'un livret bien ordinaire, pas de CD et/ou de DVD bonus. Pourquoi ne pas avoir proposé, par exemple, la version de l'album en 5.1 ?! C'eût été génial ! Décevant. Alors oui les mauvaises langues argueront également que Maiden ça n'est peut-être plus ce que c'était, que c'est trop long, que The Empire Of The Clouds qui conclut ce double album est imbuvable, prétentieux, grotesque... Alors oui tout n'est pas parfait, mais qui peut prétendre encore aujourd'hui à un tel bilan et à un tel niveau ?! Perso je ne boude pas mon plaisir et vous eussiez tord de vous priver.

This excellent work feels more fluid and free than their previous releases. It's full of references to their 80's work while maintaining their trends of the last decade. Overall I love most of the tracks, my highlight picks being: If Eternity Should Fail (best intro track since Moonchild or Be Quick or Be dead) The Red and the Black (another anthem by Steve Harris, although not 'perfect') Death or Glory (feels like Running Free here and there) Man of Sorrows (excellent creative moment courtesy of the amazing Dave Murray) Empire of the Clouds (although I don't think it's the masterpiece everybody's saying it is). My negative points (read 'less positive') are: 1 - The production - I'm not going to be specific about Kevin Shirley's production. I just wish Martin Birch still produced Maiden. I'm missing the fabulous sound and mix of albums like Somewhere in Time or Seventh Son of A Seventh Son. 2 - Bruce's singing, although being more mature over the years, doesn't have that latitude of earlier times anymore - and that's only natural. But, in spite of that, he tries to reach higher than ever before with less good results imho. Still, he delivers a very good performance; it's hard to believe the man was so sick when he recorded this album. 3 - Janick shound't solo, period. 90% of his solos are a mess, they go against the melodic and harmonious sonority that Dave and Adrian's beautiful guitar playing bring to Iron Maiden - a trademark since 1980. Fortunatley there aren't many Janick's solos in this album. I give 'The Book Of Souls' 5 stars not because it's that good in the frame of all their work but because it's their best of the last 25 years. It's better than all the reunion albums, including Brave New World and yes - much better than Fear of the Dark. Up the Irons!

Para empezar, la entrega se realizó en excelente tiempo y el CD llegó sin ningún detalle, ahora bien, en lo verdaderamente importante, el disco es muy bueno, por momento nos lleva a aquellos temas de la antigua Iron Maiden de los 80's en donde tenemos una serie de temas muy bien estructurados y ejecutados a la perfección por Harris y compañía, mezclando ese característico sonido de Maiden con un toque más progresivo y melódico (yo soy muy fanático de las bandas melódicas, es por ello que resalto este punto) en donde destacan canciones como Death or Glory, When teh River Runs Deep y la fantástica y Heavy Empire of the Cloud; es un disco muy bueno con excelente calidad de edición en donde esta presentación de edición especial es particularmente bella para coleccionistas y fanáticos de Maiden, les recomiendo adquirir este excelente disco de Iron Maiden. Saludos!