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

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Anyone can hear "Enter Sandman" in this song or what? People keep saying that's rip-off ES and I just can't hear that.

EDIT: Ok, I'm now sure that song is about black hole that is comming to kill us all. :D
 
Yes, some might say the main riff has a small relation to the "Exit light..." riff in Enter Sandman. I think the song is just great and it is not copying anything.
 
I remember some of the early info that suggested SoL (presumably the preferred acronym, as opposed to 3x10^8 m/s which is what I'm used to writing in my physics assignments) would be released on the 14th also suggested that tour dates would be out on the 25th?

Was that the case or am I just going crazy?
 
Metal Hammer September UK Edition I believe.
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Right, I've delayed my thoughts about Speed of Light since hearing the leak on Thursday night.

On my first couple of listens, I was quite dissapointed, there was something missing in the song to make me think "wow, this is amazing!" But after a few more listens, I've come to the realization that this is the best single that Maiden have released during the reunion era. The guitar work is amazing, and Bruce's vocals are stunning, considering he had a fucking mango sized tumor in his throat.

A few things make me smile when I listen to it now.
  • Bruce's scream at the start
  • The chorus
  • The line "Let's shoot the moon, you and me. I'm not particular you see" - Something about that line just makes me have a big grin.
  • The riffing that we heard on the snippet of the song (such a satisfying part of the song to play on the guitar)
I can't wait to hear the song in the context of the album, and the other 10 tracks! :)
 
The Spotify version was so much better than youtube, then I got the CD at Best Buy ... better yet. Had that sucker cranking in the car.

Now the wait until the album .....
 
Gk1 said:
Yes, some might say the main riff has a small relation to the "Exit light..." riff in Enter Sandman. I think the song is just great and it is not copying anything.
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That's just because of the semi tone bit of the riff where it goes down 2 notes by a single fret / semi tone. I know what they are getting at, but it's not really a solid argument at all, they definitely weren't thinking of that track when they made it put it that way.

What they did do is copy a bit of their own material.....

1:35 in the song Killers. 30secs in speed of light, but even that is far fetched.
 
Not sure whether this is the right thread to post this but here goes nothing.

I think that the song is quite good. The main problem -in my opinion - for post reunion Maiden is the Bruce solo albums (Accident of Birth, Chemical Wedding and Tyranny of souls) . For me these albums sound as I would have liked Maiden to.

Playing with different tunings (I know Maiden did it in some acoustic intros) and not being afraid to get into a heavier sound made these albums quite enjoyable for me.H seems to be more comfortable coming with drop D (I think) riffs. I completely loved what he did with his solo album a couple of years back (minus the horrible vocals). Maiden seem to be stuck with normal tuning. They do not experiment with their guitar sound at all. Janick likes the straight into the amp sound and most of the times Maiden seem comfortable with just a clean and a distortion sound (ok maybe one for the solos too). This makes Bruce strain his vocal lines a bit too much. If they played with a lower tuning I think the songs would have need so much heavier.
Since he got back to Maiden H seems to be trying to get the most our of the 'basic Maiden' guitar sound. His riffs seem to be the more sophisticated nowadays. Jan is doing some serious composing as well but his songwriting is also based on classic Maiden melodies and sounds. But please try to imagine the Speed of light with The chemical wedding production.

Let's get to the single:

The intro, main riff and vocal lines up to the 0:50 sec are just mind blowing (in my opinion) . This is where things go downhill (just a little bit). Once the amazing lick by H kicks in I have my head scratched for the first time. Why is it a single - although pretty good - guitar melody? If it was on a Bruce solo album I bet we would get a harmony part as well. And now I see the mixing issues for the first time. This lick is all of the sudden making the rest of the guitars disappear. It might be my poor hearing for that matter but it just doesn't sound that good to me. At least we now get some echo on both the guitar and vocals (thank H for that). I believe that if it was a Bruce solo single then the lick should have been played twice and not four times. This would have not caused the slight fall in the momentum.
And this is where the details between a good and a great tune start to really make a difference.

Then we move to the chorus. I am delighted we don't get the Speed of light repeated 4 or 8 or I don't know how many times. The vocal variation is very good and Bruce sounds like a demon throughout the song. But then again although the chorus is not boring I think that repeating it once wouldn't have caused the -again very small -drop in momentum. There are quite a few Bruce solo songs that doing the chorus is not a crime.

I guess this is where the careful and non-rushed production of Roy Z would have benefited Maiden quite a lot.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the single. It is a very solid song, in my opinion. Have they paid a bit more attention to the production and the arrangement process it would have been an instant classic. Devil hides in the details if you ask me. It is not that Maiden do not care...it is that they do what they always did...and maybe just maybe a bit of guidance would have actually made us all shut the fuck up when listening to their albums.

I know this post is a bit random sorry for that.
 
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Maniac618 said:
That's just because of the semi tone bit of the riff where it goes down 2 notes by a single fret / semi tone. I know what they are getting at, but it's not really a solid argument at all, they definitely weren't thinking of that track when they made it put it that way.

What they did do is copy a bit of their own material.....

1:35 in the song Killers. 30secs in speed of light, but even that is far fetched.
Click to expand...

I totally agree!
 
So, I'm finally listening to it on my proper sound system, with a file that I have "obtained" at CD quality. The music sounds a lot more crisp here, so it is making me definitely feel a little better about the album sound in general. Theres still the attempt for the "live" sound, and well, I guess that's what Steve wants, so it is what we get. But I'm definitely feeling better and better about it. I couldn't rank the damned song now - no, of course not, far too early for that. But I like it a lot better than I did the first time I heard it.
 
I sure hope so LC. I am not sure how good the quality of the Spotify file really is. Especially next to the other songs in there. But playing it side to side with other Bruce solo or even Maiden songs it sounds quite a bit muddy.
 
Gk1 said:
I sure hope so LC. I am not sure how good the quality of the Spotify file. Playing it side to side with other Bruce solo or even Maiden songs it sounds quite a bit muddy.
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I dunno. There's definitely a lack of crispness to it, I suppose. I'm no eagle-eared audiophile, so I can only tell you my impressions. I don't mind a little bit of muddy production as long as the music is good, and I definitely like the underlying music. It reminds me somewhat of the feeling (feeling, nothing else) I get when I listen to The Angel and the Gambler. It's a fun little 70s-style hard rock tribute.
 
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