2023: TBOS vs TFF

Which album do you consider the "better" work?

  • The Book of Souls

  • The Final Frontier

Results are only viewable after voting.
I'm not sure if I can vote. Both albums are pretty much tied for spots #4 and #5 in my ranking. I used to be more of a TFF guy but TBOS was a bit of a grower for me.
 
The Book Of Souls, imo, is a better album. More varied and heavier. The Final Frontier was good, but except "El Dorado", "The Talisman", "The Man Who Would Be King" and even "When The Wild Wind Blows", I wasn't really into it. TBOS has this proggy and heavy vibe from the 80's, especially the one from Powerslave and the title track "The Book Of Souls" feels like "The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" on the strong and muscle parts. And on this record there are some great tracks like "If Eternity Should Fail", "Speed Of Light", "When The River Runs Deep", "The Book Of Souls", "Death Or Glory", "Shadows Of The Valley", "Tears Of A Clown" and "Empire Of The Clouds". So, for me, it's clear that TBOS is more balanced and more diverse than its predecessor.
 
The Book of Souls is a bit more consistent, The Final Frontier is patchy over the first few songs
 
They're not that far apart, but TBOS has more of my favorite songs and better solos. It also feels more balanced.

Both albums are very interesting and similar in the song structures, but if I have to compare the songs:

- better title track and opener for TBOS. Empire is in its own league.
- TBOS doesn't have a song like Starblind.
- Wild Wind, Talisman and Red And The Black are equally great.
- the shorter songs, Speed Of Light, Death Or Glory, The Alchemist and El Dorado are equally solid.
- Coming Home is a better ballad-y song than Tears Of A Clown and The Man Of Sorrows.
- Great Unknown is more interesting than Mother Of Mercy.
- Shadows and Avalon are both strong for me, but I prefer a classic metal approach.
- River is a much better song than King.
- King and The Man Of Sorrows are the only songs I don't like that much from both albums.
 
TBOS is better performed (particularly the vocals) and sounds more like a classic Maiden album, but it doesn’t flow very well and has a lot of fillers. TFF has some weird production choices and Bruce doesn’t sound great, but I think the songwriting is better. I always really dug the rockers on one side epics on the other format. That run of five songs at the end is immense and almost any of them would be a standout track on any other album (the one exception being Man Who Would Be King). I also think the run of shorter songs at the beginning is somewhat underrated. El Dorado is classic Maiden and The Alchemist is like if the Fear of the Dark album was good. It’s just a really good summary of the band’s career and showcases pretty much every musical facet of the band’s then 35 years. A very colorful album.
 
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