So, I've been digesting the new single. It's a decent song, and Bruce is singing fine indeed. The chorus is catchy, but I don't think it gels naturally with the verses and the pre-chorus (the pre-chorus is pretty stock. It doesn't do much for me). From what I can tell from skimming the thread, the production has caused some to go "wow, Maiden should change their approach", while I certainly put myself in the other end. This is far from Roy Z's best. The synergies with his work on Spirits of Fire's first album are evident, with that dodgy, recessed mids "fat" drum sound that doesn't fit that well with the rest. It sticks out a bit like a sour thumb. Roy doesn't do this kind of production very well, while he's excellent with old school fairly "realistic" sounding records like CW, AOB, Resurrection (yes, is certainly sounds and is sample reinforced, but there is still a measure of realism and there are mids here). Sure, this is scooped and all, and a lot of people seem drawn to recessed mids. But just because there's treble and bass and can be perceived as "fat" doesn't necessarily make it great. As far as I'm concerned, this release is around the floor in terms of production quality I expect from a Bruce release.
All in all, this doesn't get me that excited about the new album, but it hopefully contains better tracks.