Studio Album #16 - Rumours and Speculation (New Info 27.02.15)

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There's activity in the Iron Maiden-camp for sure. Fender is releasing a new Dave Murray Stratocaster, based on his main guitar the last 15 years or so - the 2-tone sunburst with Hot Rails (he recently switched the middle pickup to a JB Jr like those Janick uses, because it does cleans better), pearloid pickguard and Floyd Rose. Based on the specifications, I am certain it will be made in Mexico and it should cost around £900 based on other signature models in the catalogue (Ritchie Blackmore etc.), about half of the current black MIA signature. Tell-tale signs is the plastic around the truss-rod-nut, gig-bag instead of hard-case and polyester finish.

http://www.andertons.co.uk/solid-bo...rray-iron-maiden-strat-in-2-tone-sunburst.asp

I was a bit surprised they did not use that guitar as the basis for the other signature model actually, but now things are put to right. Based on the fact that Adrian Smith has both a more affordable signature as well as his almost £2000 Jackson San Dimas-models from FMIC (Jackson is owned by Fender since 2002), I'd say there's a chance both of Murray's will remain in the catalogue.

Thoughts? I'd definitely say it's relating to a forthcoming album release and more media activity from the band.
 
Trying to keep up with the previous discussion here.

Mosh said:
They've already started doing this. Mother of Mercy on the last album was tuned down a whole step and I'm certain it's to accommodate Bruce's voice. Listen to how he strains during the chorus, no way he'd be able to sing that song in standard tuning. The Talisman is also written lower but I'm not sure if that was necessarily for Bruce since Janick has been known to write in D (a whole step lower than Maiden's normal key: E). That said, Bruce goes pretty high on that song too, I doubt he'd be able to sing that in E.
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Tuned down to D or just played in D? It's quite a difference. The only song I know they have changed the key of post-recording is "Lord of the Flies", from F#m to Em when Bruce sang it.

For that matter, "Fear of the Dark", "Ghost of the Navigator" and "Brave New World" is also in D Minor whereas pretty much everything on A Matter of Life and Death is in E Minor, except for some parts of the "The Legacy" as far as I recall. I'd hardly say there's a clear tendency to tune down or resort to a lower key.

And when I think of it, the chorus of "El Dorado" is in G Minor. That's an insane key change, from the verse which is in E.
 
Maturin said:
Trying to keep up with the previous discussion here.



Tuned down to D or just played in D? It's quite a difference. The only song I know they have changed the key of post-recording is "Lord of the Flies", from F#m to Em when Bruce sang it.
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Well Mother of Mercy is tuned down to D. Talisman is played in D but the opening is in an opening tuning and the heavy parts are tuned to drop D. There may have been a key change in there but I'm having trouble remembering where.
 
The Legacy: The transition from D to E happens at 5:49, when the chord progression that backs the solo kicks in. From there, the song is in the key of E until 8:26. Btw, it sounds like the acoustic guitar is tuned in Drop D.

The E-G change isn't that strange, several Maiden classics use it. From the top of my head I immediately think of Aces High and Infinite Dreams. And I always screw up when I sing Infinite Dreams and get to the point where the key returns to E (at 2:06).

@Mosh: I think @Maturin is specifically distinguishing between songs that are written in the key of D (regardless of how the guitars were tuned for the recording) and songs that have been performed in a lower key than the one they are in on the album.
 
Ah ok. Well the only one I can think of is Lord of the Flies.

My theory on Mother of Mercy was that it was originally written in standard tuning but Bruce was struggling so they tuned down. My prediction is that this will happen more on the new album.
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
The E-G change isn't that strange, several Maiden classics use it. From the top of my head I immediately think of Aces High and Infinite Dreams. And I always screw up when I sing Infinite Dreams and get to the point where the key returns to E (at 2:06).
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Starblind does this too in the chorus. "The preacher loses face with christ..." goes to G.
 
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
@Mosh: I think @Maturin is specifically distinguishing between songs that are written in the key of D (regardless of how the guitars were tuned for the recording) and songs that have been performed in a lower key than the one they are in on the album.
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Yes. And it was more a comment on the discussion between "musical reasons" and "performance issues". "Do they play the songs in D because Bruce can't sing them in E?"

The guitar being designed the way it is, it is interesting to see if the guitars have been tuned down because you just don't switch keys easily on riff-based music. There's often open strings involved, and you can't have a riff stay the same like that without tuning the guitars down (or using a capo, but the only rock band I've seen riffing with capos is the The Darkness). Now, if they played with guitars tuned down to D Standard, we could probably assume it was because of a song written in E, but which was easier to sing tuned down. If it was just a song played in D while the guitars still are tuned to E, it's much harder to make a case for that because it would be compromise resulting in a modified riff, in most cases.

On top of that, we have the knowledge that they've played in Drop-D post-reunion so it further complicates any guesswork around it. But as for my point, they have played in D minor before - and they displayed strong resistance at tuning material down during the Blaze-era, so there is probably a lot of that left, meaning that they'd probably not tune down guitars because of a musical preference for that sound, but rather because of absolute necessity, performance wise.

I'm not sure I'm making any sense with this, and there's few certainties, but I can't really see the convincing evidence for Bruce not being able to perform everything in E-minor.

Mosh said:
Starblind does this too in the chorus. "The preacher loses face with christ..." goes to G.
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Yes. Doesn't strengthen the point about resorting to different keys because of Bruce, right?
 
It's very simple really. In Mother of Mercy Bruce is hitting high D's. If the song was in E and played in standard tuning, Bruce would be going for high E, a whole step higher. Listen to the recording, he strains just to hit that D, how likely is it that he'd be able to go a whole step higher?

Of course it could be musical preference too, there's no way of knowing for sure. This is all speculation.
 
Never mind all that !!!! I want some news.
So when do you think ? Summer album ? Will there be a single ? If so will it be released on vinyl or just download? Tour? America first?

This could be the last time we look forward to a new Maiden studio album folks. I love the feeling of expectation.
 
To Gerald ..Yah really! This is getting to a point I didn't think we'd reach. After the holiday card and all. Thought we'd have more by now. I know some are growing weary of the RUSH speak on the Maiden forum, but Getty and the boys have announced their upcoming tour for the summer. (Awesome news btw) I thought we'd have Maiden announcements of some kind before them. The wait is fun, and the anticipation exciting, don't get me wrong. Been On every possible sight searching for anything and coming up empty. Anybody got anything???
 
It's hard to say when Iron Maiden will call it a day. I don't think they've expressed interest in retiring any time soon have they? I imagine Maiden England will end up being their last really major tour but they'll probably still go out a few more times. The problem with comparing them to bands like AC/DC and The Scorpions is that those bands have been so sporadic in their activity and probably aren't giving as much of a physically demanding performance. Iron Maiden has been going almost non stop since the reunion. When was the last time there was an entire year without any activity from them?

Rush is a better example (they've also been going almost non stop since starting up again) but look at how hard it was to get Neil Peart to commit to another tour, it sounds like it's definitely going to be their last too. Maiden may not have been around as long Nicko is around the same age (older in fact) and it's probably getting very difficult for him too. Not to mention the amount of energy the other guys in Maiden put into the show. It's not unreasonable to think that this album will likely be the last.
 
Nicko will definitely be the reason as to why they eventually retire. That or Bruce's voice.

I reckon they've got another 5 years in them, but who knows?
 
Mosh said:
When was the last time there was an entire year without any activity from them?
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The Blaze years, 1997. There probably was activity (preparing for VXI) but no gigs or studio album release.

2002 was also a calm year. Apart from three Clive Burr trust fund gigs, no concerts. There were many compilation and live releases in which (at least) 'Arry was involved though.
 
I hope this year they release the new 16th studio album, but if it will be done - this may be remembered as the last studio album in history of the band. I don't think they will be starve to keep on recording and touring 'till be a "stage dead men" and doing tours under the treatment to the health state and condition. I think Maiden will be with us for the next 5 years. The brand new CD they support with two years long tour, and spare years will bring us the REAL farewell tour - two or three years period. Long Live The Irons!
 
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