Brave New Pilgrim
What not to do if your bird sh#$% on you....
I agree, but for the sake of argument....
The Book of Souls: General album discussion
- Thread starter SinisterMinisterX
- Start date
I agree, but for the sake of argument....
Severian
Have a good time, all the time!
Well for arguments sake this album was released in 2015 a many people consider it a masterpiece anyway
I love this album! It has refreshed my interest in Maiden so much. I tried very hard to like TFF but aside from WTWWB Coming Home and Mother of Mercy, it was so dreary and plodding that is was really a chore to listen to from start to finish. Book of Souls is a blast to listen to and flies by in what seems to be half the actual running time.
Severian
Have a good time, all the time!
You liked Mother of Mercy but disliked The Talisman? Interesting take on things, what's your favorite song from TBOS?
I didn't DISlike The Talisman, I think it worked pretty well live, but on the album I always skipped the intro because it was WAY too long. The high pitched vocals sounded as if they were simply a challenge for Bruce rather than a natural progression of the song. It just isn't great to me.
Fave from TBOS so far is either IESF or TOAC. I put Empire in a different category from the "faves from the album" because it may be in the "favorite song of all time regardless of where it came from" category, if that makes any sense.
Hottysmiff
Shooting plasma from my grave
I have listened to it properly tour times, and I'm still taking it all in. I'm really impressed with it, great stuff. The one consistent thing I have noted is I always get the goosebumps at the same part every time, and that's the heavy breakaway part in the title track. Superb.
Hottysmiff
Shooting plasma from my grave
Iron Maiden fans have tried to be a patient bunch, this time having to wait five years for the new studio album. That last album was The Final Frontier, 76 minutes spread over ten songs, which had some fans debating whether a change to shorter tracks should be considered for the future. Surely they’d got all this prog rock stuff out of their system? Would they change direction?
So, 16th studio album The Book of Souls arrives, all 92 minutes and eleven songs of it, including the longest song they’ve ever composed, the eighteen minute Empire of the Clouds. Time to turn to chapter one….
If Eternity Should Fail, the first of two sole Dickinson credited contributions to the opus and initially planned to be a song on one of his solo album ventures, kicks off proceedings with an eerie synth intro before pouncing into life with a thudding rhythm. And so the journey begins.
The pace continues with Speed of Light breathing life into the ghost of Deep Purple, a catchy romp recalling the spirit of such tracks as Two Minutes to Midnight, with the first serious touches of light and dark and varied pacing being added to the album in the form of The Great Unknown.
Initially recalling such moments from Maiden’s past such as Run Silent Run Deep and the Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, The Red and the Black expands into a muscular and expansive musical workout lasting some six minutes, with stadium-friendly ‘whoa whoas’ thrown in for good measure. To this listener the guitar melody following the vocal line proves a touch distracting, but it’s a minor quibble. Also touched with a dash of the ‘whoa whoas’ is slow burn opener Shadows of the Valley, although as with many of the slow opener tracks on this album it doesn’t overextend the passages as they have been guilty of doing in the past. There appears to be no past influence on the focal point of When the River Runs Deep, which slows the pace to introduce a lurching sludgy chorus.
Breaking out as the bigger and uglier bastard son of Mother Russia, the massive chorus asks big questions of Dickinson’s range which he answers, all the more impressive when one considers during this time he was suffering the burden of two cancerous tumours in his tongue and throat. It also contains arguably the most memorable moment of the album, a frowning musical breakaway that changes the tone and pace completely.
For all the different tones and emotions on the album one thing that can be felt is a sense of having fun making the album, something that has been missing to an extent since 2000s Brave New World. Embodying that is Death or Glory, McBrain’s playful drum beat powering along a song with a glorious pre-chorus and chorus that, unsurprisingly given the subject matter and feel of the song, recalls to an extent Aces High.
With its hands in the air chorus, the considered Tears of a Clown manages to be introspective without falling into cliché. A reminder too that it is not only history and fiction that supply much of their material, as they explore the mysteries of depression as embodied by the suicide of Robin Williams. This introspection leaks through to the next track, The Man of Sorrows, albeit with a darker tone laced through it.
Sign of the Cross. Rime of the Ancient Mariner. When the Wild Wind Blows. The epic has long been a staple for Maiden, more so in recent years, and here we are served the longest of them all. Clocking in at just over eighteen minutes, some five more than previous longest Ancient Mariner, here we have a piano-playing Bruce (on his second sole album credit) recounting the doomed tale of airship R101. You might expect a song of that length to have pretty much everything thrown into it, and it does. Joining the piano are slabs of orchestration, but nothing feels forced or extended for the sake of it, even down to the clever guitar breaks that for all you Morse code lovers out there spells out SOS as the airship staggers into peril. It really is quite a journey.
As it is for the whole album. After four spins this listener still doesn’t feel as if I have absorbed all the nuances, and for some that much of a slab of music might test patience levels. But if you’re willing to give it a few goes you’ll find each journey becomes more and more gripping and interesting.
So, 16th studio album The Book of Souls arrives, all 92 minutes and eleven songs of it, including the longest song they’ve ever composed, the eighteen minute Empire of the Clouds. Time to turn to chapter one….
If Eternity Should Fail, the first of two sole Dickinson credited contributions to the opus and initially planned to be a song on one of his solo album ventures, kicks off proceedings with an eerie synth intro before pouncing into life with a thudding rhythm. And so the journey begins.
The pace continues with Speed of Light breathing life into the ghost of Deep Purple, a catchy romp recalling the spirit of such tracks as Two Minutes to Midnight, with the first serious touches of light and dark and varied pacing being added to the album in the form of The Great Unknown.
Initially recalling such moments from Maiden’s past such as Run Silent Run Deep and the Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, The Red and the Black expands into a muscular and expansive musical workout lasting some six minutes, with stadium-friendly ‘whoa whoas’ thrown in for good measure. To this listener the guitar melody following the vocal line proves a touch distracting, but it’s a minor quibble. Also touched with a dash of the ‘whoa whoas’ is slow burn opener Shadows of the Valley, although as with many of the slow opener tracks on this album it doesn’t overextend the passages as they have been guilty of doing in the past. There appears to be no past influence on the focal point of When the River Runs Deep, which slows the pace to introduce a lurching sludgy chorus.
Breaking out as the bigger and uglier bastard son of Mother Russia, the massive chorus asks big questions of Dickinson’s range which he answers, all the more impressive when one considers during this time he was suffering the burden of two cancerous tumours in his tongue and throat. It also contains arguably the most memorable moment of the album, a frowning musical breakaway that changes the tone and pace completely.
For all the different tones and emotions on the album one thing that can be felt is a sense of having fun making the album, something that has been missing to an extent since 2000s Brave New World. Embodying that is Death or Glory, McBrain’s playful drum beat powering along a song with a glorious pre-chorus and chorus that, unsurprisingly given the subject matter and feel of the song, recalls to an extent Aces High.
With its hands in the air chorus, the considered Tears of a Clown manages to be introspective without falling into cliché. A reminder too that it is not only history and fiction that supply much of their material, as they explore the mysteries of depression as embodied by the suicide of Robin Williams. This introspection leaks through to the next track, The Man of Sorrows, albeit with a darker tone laced through it.
Sign of the Cross. Rime of the Ancient Mariner. When the Wild Wind Blows. The epic has long been a staple for Maiden, more so in recent years, and here we are served the longest of them all. Clocking in at just over eighteen minutes, some five more than previous longest Ancient Mariner, here we have a piano-playing Bruce (on his second sole album credit) recounting the doomed tale of airship R101. You might expect a song of that length to have pretty much everything thrown into it, and it does. Joining the piano are slabs of orchestration, but nothing feels forced or extended for the sake of it, even down to the clever guitar breaks that for all you Morse code lovers out there spells out SOS as the airship staggers into peril. It really is quite a journey.
As it is for the whole album. After four spins this listener still doesn’t feel as if I have absorbed all the nuances, and for some that much of a slab of music might test patience levels. But if you’re willing to give it a few goes you’ll find each journey becomes more and more gripping and interesting.
Virtual Factor
Nomad
For SIT lovers like me.
Gk1
Here I sit in a serenade of glory!
I was thinking about somerhing along the lines:
1) If Eternity should fail
2) Death or glory
3) Shadows of the valley
4) The great unknown
5) Tears of a clown
6) The book of souls
1) Speed of light
2) When the river runs deep
3) The red and the black
4) The man of sorrows
5)Empire of the clouds
1) If Eternity should fail
2) Death or glory
3) Shadows of the valley
4) The great unknown
5) Tears of a clown
6) The book of souls
1) Speed of light
2) When the river runs deep
3) The red and the black
4) The man of sorrows
5)Empire of the clouds
The Nomad
Nomad
I listened to the first disc and it sounded to me like this was more of a progression from the Dance of Death style album. It feels more 'hard rock' than 'heavy metal'...which is errr not something I like. I never listen to the DoD album save for the title track and Paschendale because of it. I really don't like that particular style.
This is too bad for me because I felt what they captured on AMOLAD would be continued. The darker, broodier heavy songs interlaced with deeply emotional melodies. Of course TFF didn't please me in that regard either.
This is too bad for me because I felt what they captured on AMOLAD would be continued. The darker, broodier heavy songs interlaced with deeply emotional melodies. Of course TFF didn't please me in that regard either.
Gk1
Here I sit in a serenade of glory!
Man, I really can't even get into your mindset. What is it that makes you hate this album so much?
viced92
Nomad
I don't hate this album, if I were to rate the first 5 songs as a group it'd be perfect. My problem is with the last 3 songs. If they had reordered the track listing I'm sure I wouldn't have this problem. But after the climax of the title track, the final 3 songs just feel like a letdown. .whenever I listen to this album, I find myself thinking it should be over after the title track.
It basically feels like a perfect 5 song EP with three bonus tracks that are just good to me. Again, if they didn't put those 3 songs consecutively to end the album I wouldn't have this problem I'm sure. However, I find that trio of songs to be my most least memorable such set in Maiden's history.