Iron Maiden studio album 17 rumours and speculations

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Zare said:
Here's some info then to make a picture. Smith said prior to TBOS that he's returning to pentatonic blues scale, using it in a way where it doesn't sound stock. In Speed of Light guitar lick, the intervals used are not that common, sounds catchy without being in exotic mode/scale. TBOS solo is rhythmically trailing behind the beat, old blues trick to emphasize flow of notes if you're closely following the chord progression with the appropriate scale (think one of basic blues tricks, sliding two strings in an interval that belongs to the chord behind, if you play it exactly on the beat you aren't achieving anything). Here the notes are not spicy, but the groove is. This is not the first time Smith does this, far from it, the best example of this is the kickass solo of Rainbow's Gold.

I agree with you fully that his previous approach to solos yields better results, but seems like he got tired of it, even on Smith/Kotzen there is nothing really exciting in his solos, unfortunately. Nice, but not exciting.
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I think the solos in Seventh Son title track illustrates whats missing in the recent two albums from both Dave and Adrian. In SSOSS, the two solos complemented each other so well. I think that was one of Dave's best work. Each section in that whole final instrumental section was structured to perfection including the killer guitar harmonies. Each note and the scales used were well-thought-out. Same thing with The Duelist or Alexander the great. Great instrumental sections that you can forever return back to.

In the post reunion albums there are great guitar solos in BNW, DOD and AMOLAD. The instrumental section in These Colors Don't Run probably the last memorable one. Nothing comes to mind beyond AMOLAD in general. The songs overall are still amazing in TBOS, but the solos are a let down. Personally the worst solo of the decade for me was the solo in The Talisman.
 
Jadukor said:
I think the solos in Seventh Son title track illustrates whats missing in the recent two albums from both Dave and Adrian.

In the post reunion albums there are great guitar solos in BNW, DOD and AMOLAD. The instrumental section in These Colors Don't Run probably the last memorable one. Nothing comes to mind beyond AMOLAD in general. The songs overall are still amazing in TBOS, but the solos are a let down.
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The solos in SSOASS title track are fantastic, but it has very good solos in the reunion era albums (especially Adrian's ones). I like the solos in TBOS album. Last memorable instrumental section? - please, check the one in ''The Red and The Black''.

My favorite solos of the Three Amigos in the reunion era albums:
Adrian - The Wicker Man, The Mercenary, Wildest Dreams, No More Lies, DOD, New Frontier, Face In The Sand, Different World, BTATS, OOTS, TFF, El Dorado, Mother Of Mercy, Coming Home, SOL, TRATB (both solos), WTRRD, TOAC, EOTC.

Dave - BNW, Rainmaker, SOL, WTRRD, TBOS.

Janick - GOTN, BNW, Blood Brothers, Dream Of Mirrors, OOTSP, DOD, Gates Of Tomorrow, The Pilgrim, The Alchemist.
 
srfc said:
Smith's solo in red and the black is great as well, one of his best in years
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So are several others. The title track, Empire. Not sure if you all knew this, Adrian is also the only guy playing at least one solo on every track on that album. A rare feat for a Maiden guitarist because something like this happened only once before: Dave has a solo on every Piece of Mind track.
 
Kalata said:
The solos in SSOASS title track are fantastic, but it has very good solos in the reunion era albums (especially Adrian's ones). I like the solos in TBOS album. Last memorable instrumental section? - please, check the one in ''The Red and The Black''.

My favorite solos of the Three Amigos in the reunion era albums:
Adrian - The Wicker Man, The Mercenary, Wildest Dreams, No More Lies, DOD, New Frontier, Face In The Sand, Different World, BTATS, OOTS, TFF, El Dorado, Mother Of Mercy, Coming Home, SOL, TRATB (both solos), WTRRD, TOAC, EOTC.

Dave - BNW, Rainmaker, SOL, WTRRD, TBOS.

Janick - GOTN, BNW, Blood Brothers, Dream Of Mirrors, OOTSP, DOD, Gates Of Tomorrow, The Pilgrim, The Alchemist.
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In TFF and BOS- i do like the guitar harmony sections and the overall songs but i do not think they are strong enough compared to either BNW, DOD, AMOLAD or the pre-reunion albums when it comes to solos from the 3 amigos.

Red and the Black indeed does have a nice instrumental section but i also think the pace of the song is very mid tempo/slow and with a lot of repetition. The song could have been 7 minutes with the ideas they had. SSOSS or Alexander the great are also long but not because they go at a leasurely pace and repeat everything many times. Apart from most songs in BOS being mid-tempo the other issue i have is that a lot of the ideas are a rehash of older riffs. The acoustic intro to BOS is very similar to Dream of Mirrors, one bit of BOS instrumental section also reminds me of Losfer words, Empire of the cloud has a very similar section (10.59) to The Legacy (5.36)
 
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Forostar said:
So are several others. The title track, Empire. Not sure if you all knew this, Adrian is also the only guy playing at least one solo on every track on that album. A rare feat for a Maiden guitarist because something like this happened only once before: Dave has a solo on every Piece of Mind track.
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These are the fun facts I come for.

On the subject of album art, Wilkinson would be my first choice followed by Grant. It would be a net positive for everyone involved if Maiden never worked with Riggs again.
 
I'm not pushed who does the art as long as it's good*

The Book of Souls was the best cover since SSOASS, and on that basis alone I'd give Wilkinson another shot.

*actually I don't even care about it that much, I'd prefer it to be good but if it's shit like DOD it won't bother me as much as it seemingly bothers everyone else.
 
Not only is the Book of Souls artwork the best Eddie we’ve had since the reunion, but the alternate art and gatefold painting is stunning. I would love to see what Wilkinson would do with a full cover that is more than just a profile shot of Eddie (which in itself was still cool).
 
Mosh said:
Not only is the Book of Souls artwork the best Eddie we’ve had since the reunion, but the alternate art and gatefold painting is stunning. I would love to see what Wilkinson would do with a full cover that is more than just a profile shot of Eddie (which in itself was still cool).
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I agree that the Book of Souls artwork might be the best we've had since the reunion but that doesn't say much since they've been pretty bad in general since Brave New World! I think Maiden can do a lot better than Mark Wilkinson. He's famous for those early Marillion covers but personally I don't particularly like any of his Judas Priest or Maiden artworks all that much. Book of Souls, Redeemer of Souls, Nostradamus, Angel of Retribution, they are fine metal album covers but certainly not amazing.
 
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SixesAlltheway said:
I agree that the Book of Souls artwork might be the best we've had since the reunion but that doesn't say much since they've been pretty bad in general since Brave New World! I think Maiden can do a lot better than Mark Wilkinson. He's famous for those early Marillion covers but personally I don't particularly like any of his Judas Priest or Maiden artworks all that much. Book of Souls, Redeemer of Souls, Nostradamus, Angel of Retribution, they are fine metal album covers but certainly not amazing.
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I think the A Matter of Life and Death cover is fantastic.
 
I personally really like everything about TFF, including the artwork cover. Underrated Eddie, underrated concept/theme, underrated album.
 
Forostar said:
I think I like Brave New World (and Rock in Rio) the most, still.
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Rock in Rio cover is killer. Blending the studio artwork with a live photo. The BNW cloud surrounding the stage - everything (lights/action) coming out of Eddie's mouth. The full view of the crowd in front (emphasizing the record breaking crowd) with the red pencil strokes of Rock in Rio
 
I like all of them except for DoD, and even that one is fine in concept. AMOLAD is awesome.

I like the Eddie design for BNW but not a big fan of the cgi city design. It fits the music I guess (Riggs comic style with a modern coat of paint/classic Maiden writing with more modern production) but I miss the comic book style in the landscapes.
 
TFF main alien artwork was not to my taste - too cartoony.

However, TFF concept pencil sketches inside the gatefold were sublime. Remember the Avatar one and the flying alien?

Wish they had gone for that sort of ethereal feel rather than the 'straight to video sci fi movie starring TV actors that scored 3 on IMDB' feel that they chose.
 
I thought a bit about their strategy, and I am a little surprised that they did not go the other way. I understand - secrecy is one of the stronger marketing tools. However, with the album ready and the pandemic outside - they could start promoting now and blame everything on Covid. "Oh, sorry we can't see each other on the road, but TRY THE GREAT BEER // here the name of the single // to feel the atmosphere of the album" + several low effort interviews made by phone from Steve's pantry (pandemic, remember?). They could do it months before tying their shoes and going on stage, and they would get away with it thanks to Covid.
 
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