Iron Maiden studio album 17 rumours and speculations

[Fabio Maiden]

Rumour had it that Steve wouldn't have liked to end Maiden career with an uneven number of studio albums... And given the next one is the n.17... Are we allowed to dream?

••••

Some general predictions about the 17th record:

• This album will be shorter than TBOS.
• Lyrics will be a little less dark than TBOS.
• The album cover might feature bright/light colours.
• The longest song on the album won't be longer than 12 minutes. That could also mean 11 minutes or shorter.
• Steve will have his credits/co-credits on every song, or in every song except one, at best.
• Dave will have his credits on 2 songs, instead of the "usual" 1 in the previous 3 albums, since AMOLAD.

 

[RLonger]

So maybe they are going to release new effort as two parts of the same album - Part 1 and 2 at the different period of time I guess?!

 

[Kalata]

I see more likely a free-for-stream pro-shot thing shared on their YouTube channel, instead. Like they did for Live Chapter. I also don't think they would ever release two different things from the same tour (even if from the same legs) in a 2 years span.

But there's already a nice hd pro-shot from Rio 2019 on YouTube, for people to relive and rewatch the visual and musical experience.

Yeah, I didn't mean as a DVD but rather like they did with TBOS: Live Chapter. They released two different things from the same tour in a two years span before - Death On The Road live album was released in 2005, while the DVD was released in 2006 (the concert was recorded in 2003).

About the RIR 2019 live stream - live streams can't be compared with official release from the band imho. TBOS tour also had the 2016 streamed concert from Wacken, but they still released/streamed a concert in 2017... the only difference were the two changes in the setlist (they can make some changes for the 3rd leg next year and again, it would be a different setlist from the one in the streamed RIR 2019 concert).

But he will be 71 in 2023. And 71 is always 71, doesn't matter where you look it from... other thing is playing drums in Iron Maiden...

Agree. Drumming for Maiden is tough. Dunno, I think the whole band are in great shape and I definitely think Nicko will play great in 2023. They have to retire at some point, but I hope it will not be in the near future. It depends on Nicko and Bruce.

I don't want to see the band without Nicko (or anyone from the current lineup), even if the band have to retire. The puzzle is perfect and Nicko is an important member (for the sound) and a character live on stage. He plays with such joy, no wonder why he is always smiling during concerts (and not only). As I said before, for me Nicko is irreplaceable.

If he wants the band to continue with other drummer - he can play in the studio for the recording of the albums, but not live on stage and this would be something I don't want to see (the situation would be similar to Glenn Tipton's role in Priest now).
- I think the band will call it a day if one member retires.

Btw, if his son replaces him, it would be like if Nicko from 1983 has returned...

 

[Kalata]

Some general predictions about the 17th record:

• This album will be shorter than TBOS.
• The album cover might feature bright/light colours.
• The longest song on the album won't be longer than 12 minutes. That could also mean 11 minutes or shorter.
• Dave will have his credits on 2 songs, instead of the "usual" 1 in the previous 3 albums, since AMOLAD.

^ Those are very likely. I'll add more:

Spoiler

- the album cover might feature a lot of details.
- Janick will have his credits on more than 2 songs.
- the short rockers in the album will be written by Adrian or Janick.
- one of the epics in the album will be written by Steve.
- the album will have (again) one song solely written by Steve.
- the album will have a song which will begin with an acoustic intro (played/written by Janick, of course).
- the album will have a song/s from the Smith/Harris/Dickinson combo (this combo was absent from TBOS album).
- the album opener will be a short song... the lead single too.
- Janick will write most of his songs with Steve (again).
- Dave will write a short song this time (the song/s will be written with Steve again).
- Bruce will not have a song solely written by him.
- I expect at least 3 songs from the Smith/Harris combo.
- Bruce will write with Adrian (again), just the two of them.
- it's 50/50 if Steve will have writing credits on every song.

 

[matic22]

^ Those are very likely. I'll add more:

Spoiler

- the album cover might feature a lot of details.
- Janick will have his credits on more than 2 songs.
- the short rockers in the album will be written by Adrian or Janick.
- one of the epics in the album will be written by Steve.
- the album will have (again) one song solely written by Steve.
- the album will have a song which will begin with an acoustic intro (played/written by Janick, of course).
- the album will have a song/s from the Smith/Harris/Dickinson combo (this combo was absent from TBOS album).
- the album opener will be a short song... the lead single too.
- Janick will write most of his songs with Steve (again).
- Dave will write a short song this time (the song/s will be written with Steve again).
- Bruce will not have a song solely written by him.
- I expect at least 3 songs from the Smith/Harris combo.
- Bruce will write with Adrian (again), just the two of them.
- it's 50/50 if Steve will have writing credits on every song.

I doubt #12... H has said that he's been writing mainly with Bruce. And with that, I expect 2 songs from them.

If anything that you wrote happens, the album will have at least 11 songs.

 

[Kalata]

If anything that you wrote happens, the album will have at least 11 songs.

We can expect 10 or 11 songs, I think... (but no more than that) - especially if we take into account the other reunion albums. FOTD will remain the album with the most songs.

 

[shadowpants]

I'm not so keen on having more and more songs, and a longer and longer album.
The longer it gets, the more chances of filler or just ok material gets on there. Thankfully there's never bad material, but there is often middle of the road stuff.
I wish they had a strong producer who would be tough on them in the album/song edit. Someone who could push them to make the definitive later career album that could top BNW and AMOLAD.
There's a lot to love on TBOS, but some tracks like The Great Unknown, River runs deep and Shadows of the valley
are not particularly memorable. They all have a cool riff, melody or vocal melody here or there but are hampered by
ok ish bridges/verses/choruse/solos etc. With the right trimming, Maiden could achieve something phenomenal.
It's something I really hope for if 17 is gonna be their last record.

 

[Fabio Maiden]

I'm not so keen on having more and more songs, and a longer and longer album.
The longer it gets, the more chances of filler or just ok material gets on there. Thankfully there's never bad material, but there is often middle of the road stuff.
I wish they had a strong producer who would be tough on them in the album/song edit. Someone who could push them to make the definitive later career album that could top BNW and AMOLAD.
There's a lot to love on TBOS, but some tracks like The Great Unknown, River runs deep and Shadows of the valley
are not particularly memorable. They all have a cool riff, melody or vocal melody here or there but are hampered by
ok ish bridges/verses/choruse/solos etc. With the right trimming, Maiden could achieve something phenomenal.
It's something I really hope for if 17 is gonna be their last record.

Fully agree. TBOS is the first and only post-1999 album that I find would be better if it was shorter. To me The Man Of Sorrows, The Great Unknown and Shadows Of The Valley are, overall, quite under Maiden standards... Even if all of them have got parts I love. Trim something in Empire and TRATB, leave out those three tracks, and we would have a better overall product, imho. More cohesive and probably way easier to digest.

As we learnt to notice, Shirley is a "yes-man" producer. If Steve has got in his mind the will to make a 13 minutes song, that song will come out exactly how Steve wants, even if (and especially if...) that means evitable and not so memorable parts/moments/transitions.

 

[shadowpants]

Fully agree. TBOS is the first and only post-1999 album that I find would be better if it was shorter. To me The Man Of Sorrows, The Great Unknown and Shadows Of The Valley are, overall, quite under Maiden standards... Even if all of them have got parts I love. Trim something in Empire and TRATB, leave out those three tracks, and we would have a better overall product, imho. More cohesive and probably way easier to digest.

As we learnt to notice, Shirley is a "yes-man" producer. If Steve has got in his mind the will to make a 13 minutes song, that song will come out exactly how Steve wants, even if (and especially if...) that means evitable and not so memorable parts/moments/transitions.

Exactly. Steve is a very strong personality and leader, and now that they are all very comfortable with Shirley, I worry a little about that comfort zone. Shirley does a lot of albums with rocker friends of his, and I can appreciate that. I think thats where Maiden are with him now. They have all the talent and ability in the world to make the album of their careers. Every great book or novel u ever read has had a strong editor to give an objective opinion on. They don't need to recapture the 80s or try to write trooper part 2, just a strong objective will to help forge the album and trim the fat.

 

[Helmuth Von Moltke]

I'm not so keen on having more and more songs, and a longer and longer album.
The longer it gets, the more chances of filler or just ok material gets on there. Thankfully there's never bad material, but there is often middle of the road stuff.

Important point, and Metallica have suffered far worse with this problem. Hardwired CD2, minus the closing track, was a disaster.

It is a testament to Maiden as to just how strong their longer recent albums are despite their artistic indulgences and (as you write) the absence of a strong and trusted critic. Agreed Shirley can't and won't do this, he is just there to facilitate Maiden being themselves, not to be that strong editor figure you describe. Birch could do this when Maiden were young and in awe of him, but that could never be replicated now.

By the way, I still think it will be x2 albums one after the other this time round... 55 minutes each...

Get ready for albums 17 and 18!!! Rlonger knows this too

 

[Kalata]

The longer it gets, the more chances of filler or just ok material gets on there.

All of the reunion albums have only a few not so good/ok songs (I can't even call them fillers) imo, so I'm not worried about Maiden's songwriting - I've never been. Every album has some ok songs or some songs which are not as good as the other ones... even the best albums of any band.

...to make the definitive later career album that could top BNW and AMOLAD.

^ Very difficult task, but not an impossible one for Maiden.

...even if (and especially if...) that means evitable and not so memorable parts/moments/transitions.

Steve's epics in the reunion albums (even before that and not only the epics) always have memorable parts/moments/melodies.

Sometimes the songs are long, because a part (or parts) of them is repeated many times (in TRATB, for example) - yeah, he can cut the repeating parts in the longer songs (thus making them a little shorter), but at least the repeated parts are (almost always) great.

 

[Azas]

Hands down, The Best Reunion album. All killer, no filler!

If Eternity Should Fail

1. The Wicker Man
2. Brave New World
3. Speed of Light
4. Dance of Death
5. El Dorado
6. The Book of Souls
7. Death or Glory
8. If Eternity Should Fail
9. Blood Brothers
10. Tears of a Clown
11. The Red and the Black (instrumental, heavily edited)
12. Empire of the Clouds

 

[shadowpants]

Important point, and Metallica have suffered far worse with this problem. Hardwired CD2, minus the closing track, was a disaster.

It is a testament to Maiden as to just how strong their longer recent albums are despite their artistic indulgences and (as you write) the absence of a strong and trusted critic. Agreed Shirley can't and won't do this, he is just there to facilitate Maiden being themselves, not to be that strong editor figure you describe. Birch could do this when Maiden were young and in awe of him, but that could never be replicated now.

By the way, I still think it will be x2 albums one after the other this time round... 55 minutes each...

Get ready for albums 17 and 18!!! Rlonger knows this too

Yes Hardwired CD2 is quite bad for this. A pretty bloated and indulgent album. Again some killer stuff, but plenty of fat. Frustrating.
And yes Birch was that figure earlier in Maiden's careers, always love that story where he got Bruce to scream 20+ times for the right performance on NOTB.

 

[Diesel 11]

Man, first everyone complains that Maiden isn’t talking about the new album, now you’re getting hyped again about a final product that lives entirely within your fantasies. You’re going to be disappointed when they finally do come forward with that record and the cycle will go on.

 

[RLonger]

Being honest it's still uncertain what will they do next. I hope the tour will be done next year but - WHO knows. If the new mutation infect people we would see next lockdowns circle around the world so the tour will be cancelled. I'm sure band's management has no conception what to do next, terrible situation.

 

[Fabio Maiden]

If the pandemic mess won't fix relatively soon, if mutations won't allow concerts anymore in 2022, too, the only positive outcome of it all will be the new album release. I mean, they couldn't and they won't wait forever, if back to normality will take forever... Mark my words: if 2022 won't go, with concerts, Nicko chances to come back at all on the road with Maiden will become quite thin... If not to come back as a whole band.

I'm not a pessimist. I'm just realistic.

 

[RLonger]

Yeah. They won't be back for sure. So same many other bands.

 

[Fabio Maiden]

Yeah. They won't be back for sure. So same many other bands.

Steve, Bruce and Adrian probably would, anyway, in other forms (British Lion, Bruce solo band, Smith/Kotzen)...

I think Maiden can't be done without at least a bunch of farewell dates, played in normal crowd conditions. But things don't seem to improve that much, to make think of a proper and regular tour in the near future. Hope I'm wrong. Here in Italy stuff seems a bit less fucked up, but we got to see how things will be this fall / winter... But, as I hear and read, England seems very, very fucked up right now, with Delta mutation.

 

[RLonger]

In next year Maiden will be 47 if the tour won't be done they may decide to cancel LotB dates release new album and announce album tour mainly in North America. But they may do something more stupid, just postpone dates and album once again and probably it'd be their end for sure. For musicians IM isn't the most important thing on earth. Management is not the best one to make the right decision. I can't see their future in bright colours.

 

[Yax]

Everything comes to an end. If Maiden does now, then I'm okay with that. The band still plays really well, puts on a high level and high energy show and I'd like them to do that until the end. Some bands don't really know when it's time to quit and it taints the legacy of those bands. I would really like a final album though as TBoS never did it for me. An album of the AMOLAD calibre would really constitute going out with a bang.