The Book of Souls: General album discussion
- Thread starter SinisterMinisterX
- Start date
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
The holy trinity of the album definitely are TRATB, TBOS and EOTC - these songs are in their own league.
The songs that brings the classic sounding of Maiden are SOL and DOG.
The song that has essential Maiden parts/elements in it is WTRRD ...... and DOG too.
A unique song in the album is TOAC.
The traditional slow/mid tempo song (which appears to be the ballad of the album) is TMOS.
The ''mystic'' songs that fit perfect the atmosphere and the theme of the album are IESF, TGU, SOTV ..... and the jewel of the whole album - the title track.
The songs that brings the classic sounding of Maiden are SOL and DOG.
The song that has essential Maiden parts/elements in it is WTRRD ...... and DOG too.
A unique song in the album is TOAC.
The traditional slow/mid tempo song (which appears to be the ballad of the album) is TMOS.
The ''mystic'' songs that fit perfect the atmosphere and the theme of the album are IESF, TGU, SOTV ..... and the jewel of the whole album - the title track.
MindlessPieces
Educated Fool
I'm the opposite. I really like River but hate DOG.I don't get the hate for River. It has the catchiest verse melody and it has this cool, hard rock feeling... A short Maiden song done completely right. I just can't wrap my head around how so many people like DoG and hate River. It's an utterly alien thought to me.
KidInTheDark666
What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine too
I love DOG but dislike WTRRD.
MindlessPieces
Educated Fool
DoG is neither good on the album or outside it.
It's corny and really a nothing song. Nothing interesting about it whatsoever.
Travis The Dragon
AFTERGLOW!!!
Pretty much this right here for me as well. TRATB and EOTC are just a little above TBOS though.
jose_maiden
Trooper
well .. the album is 5 years old this year and my thinking remains the same, it's incredible! from the concept itself, compositions, etc ... I am not much to do rankings, but I think it is the best since Amolad, and I like that TFF too
'Arry
Educated Fool
Well, after 35 pages, I doubt there's much I can add to this discussion, so I'm just gonna put my two cent's worth in.
If they took Death or Glory from disc 2 and swapped it with the title track on disc one, I'd never have any reason to listen to disc two.
I don't really care much for any of those cuts.
If they took Death or Glory from disc 2 and swapped it with the title track on disc one, I'd never have any reason to listen to disc two.
I don't really care much for any of those cuts.
Murder of Rue Morgue
They're never gonna find me!
For my regard, The Book of Souls aged quite well. My main concern about it was and still is the poor production, which I find outrageous for a band like Maiden.
If Eternity Should Fail works well as an opener and it's an overall good song. I can't wait to hear Roy Z's version.
The first single, Speed of Light, as per tradition, is the worst track out of the album.
The Great Unknown is interesting, but Bruce is clearly out of his range in the pre-chorus. He sings so high he can't articulate words. Honestly they should have tuned it a half, maybe even a whole step down.
The Red and the Black is basically the loser little sister of Rime of the Ancient Mariner ft. Uriah Heep's I Hear Voices in its first half. Then Harris stops to cover himself and his idols and brings in a good transition chorus ("The reeeed aaaand theeee blaaaack" etc.). Cool riffs in the instrumental section, maybe some forcing here and there. Also I wish they had left the coda as a pure instrumental, as I don't like the "who-oh" reprise.
When the River Runs Deep is a good up-tempo filler. Basically The Alchemist with three solos.
The title track in itself is the masterpiece of the album, and if they hadn't written The Legacy, Dance of Death and Sign of the Cross, I would rank it as their best track since 1988, approximately. The pre-chorus riff is The Edge of Darkness' main riff and the main fast riff is basically Losfer Words.
Death or Glory is a good, old style song.
Shadows of the Valley starts with a lame and useless plagiarism from Wasted Years and Isle of Avalon which the "Sea of Madness" line can't really turn into a divertissement, then starts The Fallen Angel merged with Where Eagles Dare, then again they made a cool medley with The Reincarnation of Benjamin Br-- wait, that's the chorus. Janick's instrumental melodies and the final "Into the valley of death" chorus are the best sections of the song.
Tears of a Clown is, quite frankly, another filler.
The Man of Sorrows is the second and last good song of CD2. A bit repetitive in the first section, but it gets better as it proceeds. Interesting structure, cool Blackmore-ish solo by Janick, interesting outro solo by Dave.
Empire of the Clouds ranks barely 6/10. It's an interesting experiment and the lyrics are cool, but it lasts too long and, above all, features the umpteenth self plagiarism of the record.
It's not a bad record, it's better than The Final Frontier, and it's basically what I would expect from Iron Maiden in 2015. I would rank it a 6.5/10 (-0.25/0.5 due to the production).
If Eternity Should Fail works well as an opener and it's an overall good song. I can't wait to hear Roy Z's version.
The first single, Speed of Light, as per tradition, is the worst track out of the album.
The Great Unknown is interesting, but Bruce is clearly out of his range in the pre-chorus. He sings so high he can't articulate words. Honestly they should have tuned it a half, maybe even a whole step down.
The Red and the Black is basically the loser little sister of Rime of the Ancient Mariner ft. Uriah Heep's I Hear Voices in its first half. Then Harris stops to cover himself and his idols and brings in a good transition chorus ("The reeeed aaaand theeee blaaaack" etc.). Cool riffs in the instrumental section, maybe some forcing here and there. Also I wish they had left the coda as a pure instrumental, as I don't like the "who-oh" reprise.
When the River Runs Deep is a good up-tempo filler. Basically The Alchemist with three solos.
The title track in itself is the masterpiece of the album, and if they hadn't written The Legacy, Dance of Death and Sign of the Cross, I would rank it as their best track since 1988, approximately. The pre-chorus riff is The Edge of Darkness' main riff and the main fast riff is basically Losfer Words.
Death or Glory is a good, old style song.
Shadows of the Valley starts with a lame and useless plagiarism from Wasted Years and Isle of Avalon which the "Sea of Madness" line can't really turn into a divertissement, then starts The Fallen Angel merged with Where Eagles Dare, then again they made a cool medley with The Reincarnation of Benjamin Br-- wait, that's the chorus. Janick's instrumental melodies and the final "Into the valley of death" chorus are the best sections of the song.
Tears of a Clown is, quite frankly, another filler.
The Man of Sorrows is the second and last good song of CD2. A bit repetitive in the first section, but it gets better as it proceeds. Interesting structure, cool Blackmore-ish solo by Janick, interesting outro solo by Dave.
Empire of the Clouds ranks barely 6/10. It's an interesting experiment and the lyrics are cool, but it lasts too long and, above all, features the umpteenth self plagiarism of the record.
It's not a bad record, it's better than The Final Frontier, and it's basically what I would expect from Iron Maiden in 2015. I would rank it a 6.5/10 (-0.25/0.5 due to the production).
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Murder of Rue Morgue
They're never gonna find me!
Honestly speaking.
7/10 isn't a bad rank at all.
But I can't ignore the fact that the 16th studio record of a multi millionaire band has such a poor production. You can hear Janick's breath during the acoustic intro of The Book of Souls. It's unacceptable. Not to mention the overall summary and approximate work ("voo.ooid" in the title track, out-of-tune notes and bendings here and there).
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Midnight
The Ever-Present "It"
I'm very bad at noticing these sorts of audio things, so let me ask:
What, actually, is the problem with TBOS's production?
Murder of Rue Morgue
They're never gonna find me!
linnane666
Trooper
Finally opened the vinyl to this last night after having it for 5 years and gave it 1 last chance after finding it disappointing. The vinyl mastering actually turns this into a good album..a very good album. Very impressed
chaosapiant
Ancient Marinade
What Roy Version? As far as I remember Roy had nothing to do with this song. Bruce wrote all of it and demoed it to Steve. Unless you mean a possible recorded version with production from Roy? Not sure that exists.