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

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The song is up in Spotify, with a much cleaner sound than on youtube.

Yep, Gor it right. It sounds better indeed. I can now listen to the small guitar accents/fills during the chorus as well. The song sounds a lot more "together" and the drums are a bit more fitting to the mix.

I always complain about things but I still like the song. It wouldn't be out of place in a Bruce solo album. Maybe it is too early to judge but I think it is a quite decent song. Better than what I expected to be honest with you.
 
If Maiden brings back Hallowed in the set list, I hope they let Adrian play his solo! Janick should have enough of his own solos to play in the new material.
Janick hardly had solos on TFF. @Lego I remember you posting that you expect Janick will have a lot of solos on The new album or something in that vein? I really think it's the opposite. The more Adrian writing credits, and the less Janick credits: the less Janick solos.
 
Oh yes Rainmaker. Forgot that was a single.

Rainmaker and SoL are actually pretty similar in some ways I think. Both are pretty bluesy and have more emphasis on the chorus, not as many verses. In fact I think both have two if I'm remembering right.
 
All these complaints about cowbell... I hadn't even noticed it until I saw the comments. I guess that means it sits natural in that intro, for me at least. :)The intro isn't that long either.
 
Oh yes Rainmaker. Forgot that was a single.

Rainmaker and SoL are actually pretty similar in some ways I think. Both are pretty bluesy and have more emphasis on the chorus, not as many verses. In fact I think both have two if I'm remembering right.
Rainmaker has just one verse
 
All these complaints about cowbell... I hadn't even noticed it until I saw the comments. I guess that means it sits natural in that intro, for me at least. :)The intro isn't that long either.

It jumped right out at me on the first listen. Very unusual for Maiden. I wonder how many Maiden songs use cowbell.
The mistakes in the timing a couple people have referred to, can't say I've noted them.
Not saying they aren't there, but they certainly aren't affecting enjoyment of the song for the less discerning listener like myself.
 
Musicians ears can detect much better than average listeners. I am sure to a drummer the timing issue will jump out just like guitar issue would to me or other guitarists who are maiden fans. When i heard the Adrian solo immidiately i thought Paschendale because as you pick up these solos u sort of learn them note for note
 
In the latest interview Adrian confuses Can I Play With Madness with Moonchild. And The Wicker Man wasn't just written with Bruce either. Not a big deal that he does not remember this type of stuff (not that nice for Steve though ;-) ), but still wanted to point it out.
 
Musicians ears can detect much better than average listeners. I am sure to a drummer the timing issue will jump out just like guitar issue would to me or other guitarists who are maiden fans.

That's what I was thinking. Nick and the production crew are surely as aware of any mistakes as anyone, so I'm guessing they made a conscious decision to go for feel over polish.
 
That's what I was thinking. Nick and the production crew are surely as aware of any mistakes as anyone, so I'm guessing they made a conscious decision to go for feel over polish.
Oh yeah for sure. It was a decision they made to leave it. There is no way they overlooked something like that in the studio.
 
In the latest interview Adrian confuses Can I Play With Madness with Moonchild. And The Wicker Man wasn't just written with Bruce either. Not a big deal that he does not remember this type of stuff (not that nice for Steve though ;-) ), but still wanted to point it out.
Not sure about Wicker Man, but I've read an interview where H says he wrote the bulk of that song with Bruce and Steve came in later for finishing touches. That's probably what he meant.

Edit: found it on the IMC.
Bruce said:
The single's a real collaborative effort. The beginning bit, the riff – with apologies to Pete Townsend! – was me on acoustic guitar at home. Then Adrian came along with some chords and I went, "Hang on a minute, I've got some words here that fit", so we sat around and worked on it. And I said, "Can I write an instrumental bit in the middle?" – because I normally don't write bits like that since I don't have to play them – and Steve came in with the time-change bit, the Zeppelin-y bit, and we had a tremendous argument with Nicko saying, "Oh it won't work it's too radical". And I thought, no it will work, so long as everyone takes the plunge and does it.

Sounds like it started as a typical Bruce/H collab before Steve came in.
 
Oh yeah for sure. It was a decision they made to leave it. There is no way they overlooked something like that in the studio.
I think they could have overlooked it because it does not feel as a mistake. This is so minor.

I am a drummer too. Not necessarily a very good one, but I am good at noticing mistakes.
 
I think they could have overlooked it because it does not feel as a mistake. This is so minor.

I am a drummer too. Not necessarily a very good one, but I am good at noticing mistakes.
Ya not an issue for me either. Its the song that matters most to me.
 
Who knows, but that's still not what happened on Speed of Light.
I always figured a lot of those Smith/Harris/Dickinson songs were largely Smith and Dickinson collaborations with Steve coming in later to add something. Seems like he decided to lay off a bit for this album so it makes sense that they skipped this part of the process for SoL. But that's just speculation :p
 
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