I sat next to someone at the O2 last year who was apparently friends with Maiden’s accountant (I can hear the rolling eyes from here), and he said something along the lines of ‘they have everything planned to the end of 2026’. Maybe he wasn’t bullshitting.
I doubt it's because of this, but it's really weird (and ridiculous) that Bruce is ''forgetting'' that Adrian not only wrote, but improved the songs for which he had solos on with his overall playing. Even only with the presence of a 2nd guitar. The album had pretty good marketing. Adrian = quality. Always!
I think it's just that the meetings happened separately. I also think Steve always wanted Adrian back in the band. He values him as a songwriter very highly.
A ''vocal compilation project'' is fair enough, but Bruce's solo style was never about long melodic passages like in Maiden.
I agree here, but with Adrian the new album (TOS is perfect for me) would certainly had a bit more short melodic interludes (like the one in Days, for example) and at least solos for every song.
I agree.
But that has to be bullshit. The accountant of a band has a non-disclosure agreement and doesn't tell friends, yes, and for 2026 this and that is in the books...
Adrian only did that for one album. He needed Bruce, too.
Creative control or not, no H on an album results in quite different overall sound. I highly doubt that H's involment on AOB and especially TCW was just "Record your parts and let us finish this." Also Bruce's statement about recording just solos on AOB is bullshit as he recorded most of the guitars for Road To Hell and probably Welcome To The Pit too. Maybe he didn't write much, but I am certain that Roy asked him about the sound of the records at least. And we know that Roy respects Adrian a lot.
I don't think it is a clever marketing strategy. If fans remember it differently it will irritate them. Some will then take the time to look it up in older articles/interviews and the rest will then read about the contradictions in a forum like this one.
Eh, both FOTD and SSOASS are in my top 5 and I almost prefer TOS to TCW so I disagree with him being "amazing quality control". He's a great guitarist and works well when songwriting with Bruce (and Steve). Just don't let him write with Steve alone, they consistently deliver some of my least favorite songs.
For sure, it's always important to have Adrian on an album. I'm really curious now if a song/s written by Bruce and Roy (it seems they write and blend ideas perfectly and quickly, with no additional changes like no solos for most of the songs on the new album) were shown to Adrian for advice or opinion back then. When they write for Maiden, I think Adrian needs Bruce (*he wrote parts of the music for Writing, too).
The comics make me think about something. If TMP had 12 songs (like the comic chapters, odd decision by him), and the 2 additional songs were in the classic solo style of Bruce (the song Nightmares comes to mind again; along with 6/7 songs from the album) - then I feel like that would have been enough for the album to not be so different and be improved upon. I think a proper title track, especially with this theme (in the vein and length of Book Of Thel for example, with 2 solos and a longer harmony), was needed and would have united the album and given it a centerpiece (plus a complete story). Now that role is probably played by Eternity Has Failed, but that will always be more of a Maiden song for me. If only the album had a bonus song...
This band ?
This band ?
Actually, for Maiden, if I remember correctly, Adrian builds a demo and then Bruce comes and visits him at his home studio and they discuss things and themes.
I know what you mean, thought the same. Yes, I know, sometimes it is used differently, but I have also mainly learned this definitions:
