Book of Souls

I've been a fan of Iron Maiden ever since 1985, when I randomly bought 'Live After Death' on cassette tape based purely on the cover art alone. I was 11 years old. And I was so blown away by the music that they instantly became my favorite band and still are to this very day. I've seen them live five times, and I happen to like ALL of Maiden's albums. Even the Blaze ones. So let's get to the topic at hand. This 2015 album, 'The Book Of Souls'. I must get the one negative out of the way from the outset: The final song on the album. The song that happens to be by far the longest song on the CD: "Empire Of The Clouds". I just cannot get into this song. Not because of its length, but because the entire piece just doesn't sound like Iron Maiden. The very prominent piano in this song, along with its arrangement makes it sound as if it's not even a Maiden song. Just my opinion on a single track folks! Now, leaving that one little issue behind, what we have here with 'The Book Of Souls' album is total awesomeness my friends. And it warrants a five-star rating! It's everything you'd expect from Maiden, and more. It is mind-blowingly good. And what particularly strikes a chord with me about this album is the fact that all of the band members were 60 years old or at least in their very late 50s during the recording of this. AND YET, they still display major talent and creativity on this album - which we would expect of course - but more than that, when you listen to this album, you can tell that the guys were VERY inspired on this one. The feeling you get when hearing this album is that the guys were attempting to practically out-do all their previous albums. I mean, you can really sense the vibe that they were in while recording this: that all six members were just full-on and really into it. And I emphasize this fact only because it is so extremely rare for any aging band to still possess the level of talent and inspiration and substance that the guys in Maiden have display on this album. When thinking of all their post-2000 albums, this could even be considered as possibly being "the best" one. All songs on this album tend to be long - which is a cool Maiden tradition of course - but this album ran so long that it took two discs to fit it all on. So it is a "double CD" album. But once again, I cannot begin to even describe how inspired and powerful these songs are. And knowing that they could release something this amazing at their age, makes you love the songs even more. Because the passion is just flowing through everything! It really sounds like they put forth every bit of talent they possibly could, along with some very cool inventive moments on the guitars that we really haven't heard before from them. And as far as Bruce's vocals go, I will say that on this record, he has obviously opted for a somewhat noticeable "deeper tone", while not really doing the high-pitched ranges anymore. However, he pulls his vocals off really well and it sounds excellent. Bottom line: If you have been hesitant to buy this album at all, just get it immediately. As for my subject title, I'll explain: This album almost sounds like they were WANTING this to be their final album. As if they wanted to "go out on a very strong note" so to speak. I could be wrong of course, but it took five years after 'The Final Frontier' to put this album out, and at this point, another five years have also gone by, and I haven't heard even the slightest news or talk from the band about going back into the studio at all. And then with all these unprecedented Covid-19 laws, it even gives stronger reason to believe that this MIGHT BE their final album. I know fans don't like this kind of talk very much, but we all have to keep in mind that NOTHING lasts forever. Maiden are eternal though. Their legacy will still be alive a hundred years from now. I truly believe that. Up the Irons!

This album is without a doubt Iron Maiden's best turn of the century album. The songs on this album are all fantastic and I definitely won't be skipping any when listening to my full discography on my phone. If I was forced to pick a least favorite song on the album, I would probably pick 'Speed of Light'. I don't hate the song, but I feel it's the most boring compared to the rest. And if I was forced to pick a favorite I would probably choose 'Empire of the Clouds'. Bruce tells the story of the R101 in such great detail. Plus, the piano and violin were nice touches in the song. It's definitely the most different Iron Maiden song, and I absolutely love it.The song is truly a masterpiece. Now I'll discuss the rest of the songs: 'If Eternity Should Fail' is fantastic instrumentally and the chorus is very catchy in this one. I love this song. 'The Great Unkown' has great vocals and I loved the guitar solos in it. Overall, a great song. 'The Red and the Black' was probably my least favorite out of the 10 minute and up songs. I felt the song was a little repetitive, but it was still a good song. 'When the River Runs Deep' reminds me of a song I would hear off the Fear of the Dark album. It's probably the most consistently upbeat song on the album. All in all, it was a good song. 'The Book of Souls' gave me a little bit of an Egyptian feel. Then at about 5 and a half minutes into the song, there's an instrumental that might be heavier than anything Iron Maiden has ever done in the past. I really love this song; definitely one of my favorites. 'Death or Glory' is probably my favorite shorter song on the album. Instrumentally it's very interesting, and vocally it's great. I can't the vocal melodies out of my head. 'Shadows of the Valley" at the beginning sounds a little bit like a simpler version of Wasted Years but that changes quick. This chorus is stuck in my head too. I'm not really into "ohh ohh" vocals but I felt they were short in sweet in this one. Instrumentally this is strong, but there are better ones on the album. 'Tears of a Clown' is definitely one of my other favorites. Lyrically, this song is perfection. It's a great tribute to Robin Williams. Lyrics don't usually give chills, but the one part did: "Who motivates the motivator Façade it has to go He knows it sooner or later Smile for the cameras all okay But tomorrow is another day he must get through" Something about that really moved me. Instrumentally it was great and I love the guitar solo in this too. 'The Man of Sorrows' has a beautiful intro where the guitars sound very nice and Bruce sings beautifully in this one. I felt the guitar solos were a little lacking, but all in all it was a very good song. Overall, I really enjoyed this album, and I don't think I'll stop listening to this for a while. There is so much to enjoy and appreciate in 'The Book of Souls' album. Plus, this just proves that in spite of the fact that they are all older, they definitely haven't lost it. Instrumentally, vocally, and lyrically this album truly is fantastic. I would definitely recommend this album to any metal fan.

Que voy a decir de Iron Maiden, el grupo de mi vida....Los sigo desde que tenia 13 años, actualmente tengo 40...El disco, yo creo que su canto de cisne, es un discazo. El book de la edición deluxe es una preciosidad. Sobre las canciones pues hay un poco de todo, desde sus guitarreos "a caballo" que ellos crearon, a temas mas lentos que son precisamente los que mas me han llamado la atención, especialmente el ultimo del disco, un tema que empieza... a piano!!!! tocado por Bruce Dickinson y que pone realmente los vellos de punta u otro llamado "Tears of a clown" que me parece una maravilla, dedicado al actor Robin Williams y a su suicidio...Y por supuesto al ser un doble con 11 temas, los temas son de un metal progresivo con muchos cambios y solos de guitarra...Me parece un discazo sin duda. IMPRESCINDIBLE.

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!