The Book of Souls: General album discussion

This album is amazing, no doubt about that. I can't stop singing Shadows of the Valley chorus. And I love DoG! It's so funny song. Yeah, it's serious subject but Bruce sing like flying like that was best thing ever.
 
It is a unique album in the Iron Maiden catalog. It might be entertaining to compare it with other albums and wonder whether it's the best since reunion or best since Seventh Son or the best ever but the true value of the album is recognised when you appreciate it for what it is, recognise its uniqueness and how each individual album is an expression of the band in that particular time and this is how Iron Maiden sounds like in 2015 and it is as good as ever, it is unbelievably good!
 
After just over a weeks worth of listening (only 2 listens on CD), I'm gonna say that this is my favourite album after 7th Son, which is the only album I listen to from start to finish, without skipping a track, the same can be said for BOS at the minute.

The star of the album for me is Nicko, his playing is amazing for someone his age, I know and work with plenty of drummers a hell of a lot younger that couldn't pull off half of what he's achieved on this record!
Best album yet? Quite possibly
 
Ancient Mariner said:
It is a unique album in the Iron Maiden catalog. It might be entertaining to compare it with other albums and wonder whether it's the best since reunion or best since Seventh Son or the best ever but the true value of the album is recognised when you appreciate it for what it is, recognise its uniqueness and how each individual album is an expression of the band in that particular time and this is how Iron Maiden sounds like in 2015 and it is as good as ever, it is unbelievably good!
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You are right about that it not always really relevant to compare different eras and different albums, but its still fun to do. Good thoughts though!
 
I am surprised how many people seem to say it's the best album ever, or even the best for many years... it doesn't sound that way to me so far. There are quite a lot of parts that I feel are recycled or repetitive or just lacking a certain spark. Also, the production is seriously amateur in places. I mean, go for a live sound, fine, but some of this is demo quality. I wish Shirley would go.

Having said all that, there are also many excellent moments. Lots of things I like a lot, I just can't be blind to the things I don't enjoy about it. If you're completely loving it then that's great and I'm genuinely very happy for you. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and objectively none of us are right or wrong. I'm hoping the bits I'm not mad about will grow on me.
 
Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.

3 full listens in and I'm astounded at how good this album is. You all were right - waiting for the official release was totally worth the wait. Going into this album the ONLY thing I had heard was Speed of Light which I still maintain is a pretty good song.

First of all - the packaging on this album is amazing. Almost rewarding those who buy it with the incredible artwork within. Any of these Eddies could have been album covers but I'm still glad they went with what they did. Best Eddie since the 80's Riggs days by a mile.

And to note - I don't give a flying fuck about reviews from non-Maiden fans. This is an album for the fans by a band that still wants to push themselves. I can't believe how good this is.

Down to the songs.

I'm astounded. Completely gobsmacked. Totally elated. I don't even know where to begin.

If Eternity Should Fail is a perfect opener - I love the atmospherics. It sounds both like Bruce song and a Maiden song - I totally see why Steve wanted this for this album. The only slight complaint is the spoken word outro which doesn't live up to the awesomeness of the rest of the song.

You know what The Final Frontier really, really lacked? Guitar harmonies. IMO, there were really only harmonies on the two Gers penned tracks and a few small bits here and there. I'm so glad that there are guitar harmonies all over this album. This album seems more concerned about good melodies and harmonies than riffs really, which is fine with me.

I'm still not sure about The Red and the Black - the vocal parts aren't super awesome but I love the instrumental parts.

The shorter songs aren't super awesome but I'm glad they are there. Death or Glory is probably the best of these but I'm also fond of The Great Unknown as well.

The title track for me is a total highlight - love love love the heavy riff with the awesome melodies. Such a fucking great song. Gers proves yet again how valuable he is to this band by contributing this monolith of a song.

Shadows of the Valley is another song that left a strong first impression on me - despite the Wasted Years intro this song is incredible. Great and catchy chorus with a fantastic melody.

Empire of the Clouds is a total musical journey. It gets better with every listen. It doesn't feel like 18 minutes. I can't believe how good this song is. I love every second of it.

More listens to come in the next few days but this album is really so much better than I could have ever hoped for. I'd say it's EASILY better than all of the post 2000 albums for me making it easily the best album since Seventh Son. This is the first album I've heard that really could end up being a favorite over a lot of the 80's albums.

It's a great day to be a Maiden fan!
 
Caveman Ninja said:
I am surprised how many people seem to say it's the best album ever, or even the best for many years... it doesn't sound that way to me so far. There are quite a lot of parts that I feel are recycled or repetitive or just lacking a certain spark. Also, the production is seriously amateur in places. I mean, go for a live sound, fine, but some of this is demo quality. I wish Shirley would go.

Having said all that, there are also many excellent moments. Lots of things I like a lot, I just can't be blind to the things I don't enjoy about it. If you're completely loving it then that's great and I'm genuinely very happy for you. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and objectively none of us are right or wrong. I'm hoping the bits I'm not mad about will grow on me.
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I am a bit puzzled about people who DOESNT have this as one of the, well lets say at least top half of Maiden albums all time, but then again, there is people that loves AMOLAD which is bottom three along with the Blaze albums to me, so well different people different ears it seems like.
 
Not the best album of their career and not the best album of the reunion, but it is finally a pretty f***ing Heavy Maiden Metal album.

Beautiful songs:
IESF
SOTV
TRATB
TBOS

Strong songs:
DOG
TMOS
TOAC
EOTC

Good songs:
WTRRD
TGU
SOL

Bad songs:
none.

Singing: amazing, not the best Bruce (unbelievable on AMOLAD and SBIT tour) but i found him incredibile. Rating: 9. Too bad for some vocal lines that seems to me a little rough. Voice is on top, he is still able to wipe out the 90% of the world singers.

Guitars: very good in rythm and melodies but the solos are under their levels: the weak point of this album.

Bass: a good work, some repetitions and in some songs i can't hear it. Probably the best basslines of the reunion.

Drumming: various and elegant but the power? I think that the production really killed the drum.

Production: i do not like it, too rough, too raw and poor cured. Guitars seems to mixed up and the sound is not clear, the voice seems to me too detatched from the melodies and the drums and the bass sometimes are too low.

Overall rating: 8.
 
Kaos said:
I am a bit puzzled about people who DOESNT have this as one of the, well lets say at least top half of Maiden albums all time, but then again, there is people that loves AMOLAD which is bottom three along with the Blaze albums to me, so well different people different ears it seems like.
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You see, I love AMOLAD. It's their best since 7th Son in my opinion.

I guess we just want different things from our Iron Maiden!
 
Kaos said:
I am a bit puzzled about people who DOESNT have this as one of the, well lets say at least top half of Maiden albums all time, but then again, there is people that loves AMOLAD which is bottom three along with the Blaze albums to me, so well different people different ears it seems like.
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Haha... I have both SSOASS and AMOLAD in the absolute top.... and I'm pretty sure this one will end up there as well.... maybe dethrone them all.
Now I'm also of the opinion it's a bit silly and unnecessary to rank albums, they are all good in their own way, it's different music, it's there to be enjoyed.
What number it has isn't that important. But yeah... as someone said, it's pretty fun after all, haha. At least it is a good way to show how good this album is.


For you guys who got it today (so did I, but I also downloaded it) and heard it for the first time.... prepare for it growing on you. I thought it was awesome the first time, but it's even better now. It's getting better (if even possible) each day. I have basically been listening to this non-stop all day every day for the past week.
Starting to get a bit afraid I won't be able to stop and it'll give me a brain aneurysm. It's that good.
 
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