Maiden studio album shoot-out, Part 12

TFF vs. TBOS

  • The Book Of Souls

    Votes: 28 70.0%

  • The Final Frontier

    Votes: 12 30.0%
  • Total voters
    40
  • Poll closed .
Dick Brucinson

Dick Brucinson

Dave Sustaine
I'm in a hurry and late for work so I'm keeping it short for today:
The Final Frontier vs. The Book Of Souls - which one is the better album? :shred:

Rules as usual: 24 hours time to vote, poll results again can't be viewed before having voted, once casted vote cannot be changed, poll will be closed after 24 hours for then the next comparison will start.
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still in: The Book Of Souls, Fear Of The Dark, Brave New World, Seventh Son Of Seventh Son, The Final Frontier, Piece Of Mind, A Matter Of Life And Death
already knocked out: Iron Maiden, Powerslave

RESULTS FROM ROUND #1:
A Matter Of Life And Death 77% (Killers 23%)
The Book Of Souls 74% (Dance Of Death 26%)
Fear Of The Dark 69% (Virtual XI 31%)
Brave New World 61% (The Number Of The Beast 39%)
The Final Frontier 55% (The X Factor 45%)
Piece Of Mind 53% (Senjutsu 47%)
Iron Maiden 57% (No Prayer For The Dying 43%)
Powerslave 58% (Somewhere In Time 42%)
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son 76% (Senjutsu 24%)
 
TFF. I never got along with TBOS, which I find consist of too many filler songs and run of the mill sections. It has higher peaks than TFF (IESF and BoS), but The Final Frontier is better overall.
 
The Book of Souls for me. It's the closest album to 80's heyday. I wish, this album had flawless production like in the golden years.
Great and very good songs:
If Eternity Should Fail
Speed of Light
The Red And The Black
The Book of Souls
Death or Glory
Shadows of the Valley
Tears of A Clown
Man of Sorrows
Empire of the Clouds
Imo, it's the best post reunion album.
 
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I don't know what to vote for this one. Compared to a few years ago, I like TBOS less and TFF more, now I am not sure which one I prefer.
 
I'll still pop in Book of Souls for The Great Unknown / The Red and the Black but that's about it.

The Final Frontier I'll listen to in its entirety or if I don't have that much time I'll listen to the brilliant back half beginning with Isle of Avalon & Starblind.
 
The Book Of Souls for me. For several reasons. The songs are better. The sound is raw. It's a double-album on CD and a triple one on vinyl. Bruce has written the opener and the closer. It's the album of both Bruce ill, when he was recording, and safe, when the record has been released. The ambiance of The Book Of Souls album is dark, and I like dark atmospheres (The X Factor was a pure jewel for me). So, for all of these reasons I choose The Book Of Souls.
 
While The Final Frontier has slightly higher highs, it also has one of the weakest first halves of the entire Maiden catalog. The Book Of Souls is more consistently strong across the full span of the album, and for that reason I’ll give it the nod here.
 
TBOS by a looooong mile. Never got into TFF, and not for lack of trying. That said, I still think TBOS could be cut down by a track or two and fit onto a single disc and be much stronger for it.
 
The Book Of Souls for me. Disc 1 is awesome. A couple of songs could have been left off of disc 2, but its still better than TFF.
 
TBOS is one of the band's best albums as a whole piece imo with almost no flaws.
The only things I would change are: ''If Eternity Should Fail'' to have a solo/s (great song) and the chorus of ''When The River Runs Deep'' to not slow the song so much (a faster chorus would have been way better, everything else is great). And a fast short rocker between the last 2 songs of the album would have been great. The album also has better songs (the three longest songs are masterpieces, while ''Speed Of Light'', ''The Great Unknown'', ''Death Or Glory'' and ''Shadows Of The Valley'' are one of my favorites. As for the remaing songs, ''Tears Of A Clown'' contains one of Adrian's best solos imo and ''The Man Of Sorrows'' is my least favorite song in the album, but it has a nice mood and amazing melodies), better melodies/harmonies and contains better solos than TFF imo. Bruce sings better too, which is a surprise since his voice was amazing in that era.

... about the title track, I would like to mention that I love when an epic has two distinctive parts (slow and fast). It's just great.

TFF is my least favorite Reunion era album. It's still a very good album, but I'll put it after my Top 10 albums of the band for sure.

Some thoughts:

''Coming Home'', ''Starblind'', ''The Talisman'' and ''When The Wild Wind Blows'' (I miss a chorus here) are classics.
I really like the short title track, but a guitar harmony is needed imo.
''El Dorado'' is a very good song with that great gallop.
''Mother Of Mercy'' is not a bad song, but the chorus is not that good.
''The Alchemist'' is a good fast song with great vintage Maiden harmonies, but I like the other short rockers from the Reunion era more.
''Isle Of Avalon'' is a great song with a fantastic chorus, but I wished the solos were different, more traditional (not proggy). A triple-lead guitar harmony is also missing here, the song would have been even more epic with it.
''The Man Who Would Be King'' has an amazing intro, riff and melody at the end, but the whole song lacks energy. The unique solo is a nice idea.
 
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