With their latest masterpiece, IRON MAIDEN set new standards. 2015's "The Book of Souls" is the most epochal, multi-layered, courageous and successful record of the band, reaching no. 1 chart position in 24 countries. All the tracks written for the album process were high quality, but not all have been put on the album. "This is only based on the fact that these songs fit in thematically with each other, but not with the other songs on the album," explains bassist Steve Harris. Since the band didn't like the idea of releasing a bonus CD to an already double album, they finally decided to release an EP with five brand-new numbers, which were created during the recording phase of "The Book of Souls".
"The Forgotten Souls" EP will be released on May 25 via Parlophone Records (BMG in the U.S.A).
The track listing is as follows:
01. 'Wolves' (Dickinson) 9:17
02. 'Observing the World' (Harris) 4:55
03. 'In the Snow' (Smith, Dickinson) 5:02
04. 'No More Words' (Murray, Harris) 8:15
05. 'The Forgotten' (Gers, Harris) 9:44
06. 'Tears of a Clown' (live version) 5:16
07. 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' (live version) 7:58
08. 'Angel of Death' (THIN LIZZY cover) 6:33
09. 'Tush' (ZZ TOP cover) 2:22
10. 'Catch the Rainbow' (RAINBOW cover) 6:55
Steve Harris states about the songs: "The listeners can expect a high-quality EP — with songs that are far too good to use them only as bonus tracks. We wanted to publish these songs together in a context. It is always hard to decide at the end of a recording process which songs will be on the album, because this means that you have to miss some songs with best quality, just because they do not fit quite well into the overall flow of the record or because there are other songs that are more suited to the lyrics."
IRON MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson comments on the EP: "During the early writing process of 'The Book of Souls', we found out that we were blessed with a huge amount of songs. The songs that didn't fit on our album are now available for you on this special EP! I hope you guys will enjoy these songs as much as we do!"
IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith says: "We have also decided to suplement the new songs with some bonus material as a treat for our fans. For reasons the public must have heard already, we couldn't release a live version of a certain song on the most recent live album, but now that problem has been resolved. Angel of Death and Tush are covers we recorded more than 10 years ago but never released until now. We might've forgotten about them [laughs]. And Catch the Rainbow is a brand new cover, recorded last year."
And if that wasn't enough, you'll be also able to purchase the new EP, "The Forgotten Souls", together with the CD of their recent studio album, "The Book of Souls" as a box set. It will be called "The Book of Souls - The Ultimate Edition".
Following the massively successful global tour of 2016-17 in support of its 16th studio album, "The Book Of Souls", IRON MAIDEN will take to the road again in 2018 with a series of arena and festival shows in Europe on the "Legacy Of The Beast" world tour, opening in Tallinn, Estonia on May 26 and finishing at the O2 Arena, London on August 10.
"The Forgotten Souls" EP will be released on May 25 via Parlophone Records (BMG in the U.S.A).
The track listing is as follows:
01. 'Wolves' (Dickinson) 9:17
02. 'Observing the World' (Harris) 4:55
03. 'In the Snow' (Smith, Dickinson) 5:02
04. 'No More Words' (Murray, Harris) 8:15
05. 'The Forgotten' (Gers, Harris) 9:44
06. 'Tears of a Clown' (live version) 5:16
07. 'Hallowed Be Thy Name' (live version) 7:58
08. 'Angel of Death' (THIN LIZZY cover) 6:33
09. 'Tush' (ZZ TOP cover) 2:22
10. 'Catch the Rainbow' (RAINBOW cover) 6:55
Steve Harris states about the songs: "The listeners can expect a high-quality EP — with songs that are far too good to use them only as bonus tracks. We wanted to publish these songs together in a context. It is always hard to decide at the end of a recording process which songs will be on the album, because this means that you have to miss some songs with best quality, just because they do not fit quite well into the overall flow of the record or because there are other songs that are more suited to the lyrics."
IRON MAIDEN vocalist Bruce Dickinson comments on the EP: "During the early writing process of 'The Book of Souls', we found out that we were blessed with a huge amount of songs. The songs that didn't fit on our album are now available for you on this special EP! I hope you guys will enjoy these songs as much as we do!"
IRON MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith says: "We have also decided to suplement the new songs with some bonus material as a treat for our fans. For reasons the public must have heard already, we couldn't release a live version of a certain song on the most recent live album, but now that problem has been resolved. Angel of Death and Tush are covers we recorded more than 10 years ago but never released until now. We might've forgotten about them [laughs]. And Catch the Rainbow is a brand new cover, recorded last year."
And if that wasn't enough, you'll be also able to purchase the new EP, "The Forgotten Souls", together with the CD of their recent studio album, "The Book of Souls" as a box set. It will be called "The Book of Souls - The Ultimate Edition".
Following the massively successful global tour of 2016-17 in support of its 16th studio album, "The Book Of Souls", IRON MAIDEN will take to the road again in 2018 with a series of arena and festival shows in Europe on the "Legacy Of The Beast" world tour, opening in Tallinn, Estonia on May 26 and finishing at the O2 Arena, London on August 10.
