"The Book of Souls" - Official pre-release thread (CONTAINS ALBUM SPOILERS)

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Donner said:
There's vocal strain all over the place on Mother of Mercy (chorus), El Dorado (chorus), Isle of Avalon, etc. I don't think it has much to do with Bruce not being on top of his game but rather falling victim to a production that does him no favors at all (a little reverb goes a long way) and a recording mentality of getting things done quickly.

I really hope that with the time that has passed between the recording and release of this album that we'll get some of those studio flourishes on the vocals that were sorely lacking on The Final Frontier.
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Agreed. It's impressive as hell that Bruce is still pushing himself, but some of those tracks could have used some production magic.
 
Donner said:
There's vocal strain all over the place on Mother of Mercy (chorus), El Dorado (chorus), Isle of Avalon, etc. I don't think it has much to do with Bruce not being on top of his game but rather falling victim to a production that does him no favors at all (a little reverb goes a long way) and a recording mentality of getting things done quickly.

I really hope that with the time that has passed between the recording and release of this album that we'll get some of those studio flourishes on the vocals that were sorely lacking on The Final Frontier.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking/hoping that we're in for a better performance/production for Bruce this time around. It seems that Bruce (and the quality of the album) does outstanding on every other album (BNW, AMOLAD and hopefully TBOS).
 
Donner said:
There's vocal strain all over the place on Mother of Mercy (chorus), El Dorado (chorus), Isle of Avalon, etc. I don't think it has much to do with Bruce not being on top of his game but rather falling victim to a production that does him no favors at all (a little reverb goes a long way) and a recording mentality of getting things done quickly.

I really hope that with the time that has passed between the recording and release of this album that we'll get some of those studio flourishes on the vocals that were sorely lacking on The Final Frontier.
Click to expand...


Yeah, the shortcomings of the albums production become even more apparent when Bruce absolutely nails his live performances. All his vocal deliveries on En Vivo seemed nigh effortless. Hell, he even sings in a slightly higher key during the first chorus of El Dorado and doesn't sound strained at all.
 
Donner said:
There's vocal strain all over the place on Mother of Mercy (chorus), El Dorado (chorus), Isle of Avalon, etc. I don't think it has much to do with Bruce not being on top of his game but rather falling victim to a production that does him no favors at all (a little reverb goes a long way) and a recording mentality of getting things done quickly.

I really hope that with the time that has passed between the recording and release of this album that we'll get some of those studio flourishes on the vocals that were sorely lacking on The Final Frontier.
Click to expand...
I don't hear any strain on any of those. It all sounds like Bruce singing perfectly fine to me. And what's this bad production? It sounds super great to my ears.
 
Travis The Dragon said:
I don't hear any strain on any of those. It all sounds like Bruce singing perfectly fine to me. And what's this bad production? It sounds super great to my ears.
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We know that's what you hear, Travis. We're just answering the question that you asked. At the end of the day, if you haven't heard it yet, I don't know if you will in the future. There's nothing wrong with that though. However I hear it, as do other people, so don't be surprised if we bring it up from time to time. :)
 
Chained Prometheus said:
We know that's what you hear, Travis. We're just answering the question that you asked. At the end of the day, if you haven't heard it yet, I don't know if you will in the future. There's nothing wrong with that though. However I hear it, as do other people, so don't be surprised if we bring it up from time to time. :)
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Hey, that's cool for sure. It's so interesting how we all hear these things in different ways. OK, I'm really going to stop worrying about this and just keep excited(stressed because the wait for the album is absolutely killing me! :P) for some new Maiden!
 
Getting a good grasp on those 20-odd seconds of "Speed of Light" is obviously difficult, but it sounds like a rock-influenced track. "Different World" and "The Final Frontier" both had Thin Lizzy vibes, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that "Speed of Light" could continue that trend.
 
Kyle Boyack said:
My buddy that I use to work in a record store with, he now works with a magazine company ( I'm not allowed to say) has heard the album and is making a review!! He said that Maiden doesn't want any reviews out until they say so. But he told me that the album sounds like it's own album, but if he had to compare, it's Final Frontier and AMOLAD with a pinch of Somewhere in Time. SiT being the guitars sounding sort of digital, and a great vocal performance by Bruce. He said don't compare production to any other album. It sounds different. Good, but really different. Highlight of the album is with out of doubt Empire of the Clouds. He got me so hyped for this album!!
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So, when can we expect your friend's review? :p
 
Donner said:
There's vocal strain all over the place on Mother of Mercy (chorus), El Dorado (chorus), Isle of Avalon, etc. I don't think it has much to do with Bruce not being on top of his game but rather falling victim to a production that does him no favors at all (a little reverb goes a long way) and a recording mentality of getting things done quickly.
Click to expand...
I'd actually say - regarding the Mother of Mercy chorus - that the fault isn't the production but the decision to have the chorus in such a high tonal register which just makes him sound like he's struggling.
 
In a way, this album still feels surreal to me. It's mainly because it's such a huge album with such a high level of magnitude. 1 song that's almost the length of Rime and to top that off, a gigantic Bruce penned song. It's just so damn mind blowing! As I write this, all I can think is "WOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!". Can this be really happening? And it is! Just under 4 weeks and we'll really be hearing this gargantuan monster!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I remember interview with Bruce from TFF premiere and he stated that song like El Dorado was hard for him beacuse of those low-verse-high-chorus thingy and he felt like someone is smashing his balls. Anyway - it's not even close to "beast in the light" strain level where his head almost exploded.

Can't wait for new album! :)
 
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