What an incredible full-moon weekend! For many Iron Maiden fans, we partied out to the new and album by the metal legends – The Book of Souls – impressed by the musical genius that emanates from the tracks. This 16th Double CD Album has tracks classic Iron Maiden style but then there are somewhere they have raised the bar for themselves – if that were even possible – with their epic storytelling, impressive solos and Bruce’s transcendent vocals.
But let’s get to one point first: How dare you rip of the album from the greatest band? Support the bands buy the music!
I’m sorry guys lets be real. At this point, it’s not about money, it’s about time. Iron Maiden released their previous album, The Final Frontier, in 2010. Are you asking an IronMaiden fan to wait a week to listen to a new album – when it’s available online? Oh me? I already bought their CD the moment it was officially released, just for their collection. Because it’s Iron Maiden. Because 35 years since their debut in 1980 and now 16 albums under their belt, heart ebbing live performances and Bruce finishing this album while battling with cancer; this band lives up to their reputation as legends. The Book of Souls speaks to the souls and hearts of everyone who loves to ride the Iron Maiden story. Who will wait a week – seriously?
What Would Iron Maiden Do?
On Iron Maiden non-offical facebook page Friday was a post:
“We are very well aware the album is leaked.
As we don’t want to be in shit with the powers that be, PLEASE do not share the link on our wall.
We are trying not to promote piracy and while we encourage you to listen to it, we don’t wanna risk our page being shut down.
-Scott”
Will we encourage you to listen to it? Are they serious?
As we all know, Bruce Dickenson is a man of many talents – singer, performer, pilot, brewer, businessman and entrepreneur speaker. In a video released by CSA Celebrity Speakers, with Bruce giving a talk (in a suit no less)
According to Bruce, “Customers are a bad thing, customers have a choice and they can go somewhere else. We want our customers to be our fans.” He goes on to talk about the Iron Maiden beer, The Trooper, “When somebody rips off your album, and they decide that they are going to listen to the download for free, they usually drink a few beers while doing it. I actually don’t care – download the album as much as you like and drink as much beer as you like its fine with me.”
Because of Iron Maiden’s integrity, creativity and overall awesomeness, whoever was ready to support the band will, and whoever was not, would have ripped the album off anyway.
Now to the music:
If you haven’t already – which I am sure most of you have, the album is not surprisingly a masterpiece. It moved me so much to see that the core ideology of epic storytelling of the band has just gotten stronger.
Let me start with the masterpiece and my favorite. The last track: ‘Empire of the Clouds’
I predict this to be Maiden’s greatest masterpiece. Not only has every maiden fan always wish a track would go on for longer, this story is an epic journey, which has extreme depth and emotion in every ‘chapter’ – amazing guitars, beautiful keyboards and vocals for 18 minutes. Check it out!
Now let’s get to the album in order: ‘If Eternity Should Fail’
The dramatic intro to the album sets the tone for the epic journey Iron Maiden is going to take you on… ‘here is a soul of a man… ‘ The band really has got the art of triggering the hearts of a fan or music lover. A surprise at the end of this track – wonder who this guy is.
‘Speed of Light’ was the first track released as an official video a couple weeks ago. Check it below at the end of this review.
You can also play the videogame here.
‘The Great Unknown’ is a power track for standard metal lovers who love head banging, singing aloud and air guitar. Bruce has really pushed his voice in this one.
‘The Red and the Black’; the color codes of the album, a super 13 and half-minute track, half of which has a super powered medieval solo. I can picture Bruce getting the audience sing along “Oh oh oh oh oh”.
‘When the River Runs Deep’ A classic metal sing-a-long. Quite a retro, you’ll know what I mean, especially the drums at the end.
‘The Book of Souls’, the album’s title track, another dramatic start for the third longest track of the album. A powered track with intervals of powered solos and intense lyrics. Hard!
‘Death or Glory’, I have flashbacks of Flight of Icarus, don’ you?
‘Tears of a Clown’ Aw, very moving, ‘Tears of a Clown.’ It was originally written for Robin Williams who passed away last year on August 2014. I’d avoid listening to this track on a bad day. No worries, it is less than 5 minutes.
‘The Man of Sorrows’, another great Iron Maiden song, doesn’t fail to impress and you can feel a bit of digital help with the vocals here.
The Book of Souls was officially released on 4th September through Parlophone Records (BMG in the U.S.A.) The album was recorded in Paris with their longstanding producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in late 2014, with the finishing touches added earlier this year. The band delayed the release so that Bruce Dickinson would have time to recuperate from his battle with cancer.
Book of Souls is Iron Maiden’s first ever-double studio album, with a broader split on the songwriting between Smith, Harris, Gers, Dickenson and Murray. Two tracks are written solely by Bruce Dickinson, the first track, ‘If Eternity Should Fail’ and the longest ever Iron Maiden track, ‘Empire of the Clouds’. Bassist and founder member Steve Harris contributed to seven of the tracks.
Official video release, videogame and finally a leaked album –love the thought and undoubtedly hard work that has gone into the marketing of the album.
You can order the Book of Souls here – we recommend the limited edition deluxe 2 CD with bound book.
Edited by: NJ Bakr
