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

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Forostar said:
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.
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Hmm... i don't think that was me... I'm inclined to agree with you!
 
LooseCannon said:
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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It sure made me play air dryms at work!! I like the misic too. The song has a fun factor that had been missing for some time now. And the song benefits from tye ecno added here and there. It seems that se might get the single voice vocal lines for the most part, but Bruce sounds so much better comparec to the dry sound be had in TFF.
 
Gk1 said:
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 need 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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Excellent post! I pretty much entirely agree with you over the production and that they should try the things you mentioned and that have been proven to work in Bruce and H's solo work.
 
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Maniac618 said:
Excellent post! I pretty much entirely agree with you over the production and that they should try the things you mentioned and that have been proven to work in Bruce and H's solo work.
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Good to know someone agrees :). Thanks a lot Maniac. On a possitive note, I am astonished by the music ideas Maiden still have.
 
I listened to SOL at least 25 times, then listened to Accident of Birth cd... All the songs on AOB are better than SOL, all of them... And the production also !
 
I don't get all this nostalgia nonsense. It will be the best album ever. Why? Because we have not heard it yet and already heard all others. What can be more interesting than listening to what you haven't heard before?
 
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Does anyone else think the ending is a bit over dramatic? It sounds like an album ender or an outro to a longer more epic song. I wish it was a sharper cleaner ending. Don't like the cowbell either.
I find myself humming "think about you" G&R, after listening to sol. Not a bad thing, just a little cheese filled. The rest of the song is outstanding and reminds me of classic maiden. I am reminded of the el dorado initial experience: I believe SOL is not an indicator of the overall sound and feel of book of souls. Me thinks it will be among my least favorites.....
 
bornless1 said:
Does anyone else think the ending is a bit over dramatic? It sounds like an album ender or an outro to a longer more epic song. I wish it was a sharper cleaner ending. Don't like the cowbell either.
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Not at all. To be perfectly honest, that ending is my favorite part of the whole song (mainly due to the vocal).
 
Fair enough. It just seems a tad chunky for what is essentially a short (er) rocker. No question Bruce is on his "a" game and the big riff is unquestionably top notch. I think it will be a huge hit live.
 
bornless1 said:
Fair enough. It just seems a tad chunky for what is essentially a short (er) rocker. No question Bruce is on his "a" game and the big riff is unquestionably top notch. I think it will be a huge hit live.
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Indeed. If they open with IESF and then play straight into this it would make perfect sense - that SoL ending would give Bruce his first moment of talking during the gig, "Hey, Cleveland!" etc.
 
I would really appreciate a translation to the French interview a few pages back. Each time I go through the Google translate output I get a terrible headache. Thanks.
 
You're not translating enough then. If it's French you have to translate through all the Romance languages. Translate it to Spanish, then to Italian, then to French again, and only then to English. :smartarse:
 
Revelationer said:
Metal Hammer September UK Edition I believe.
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Indiana Jones and the temple of doom!

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It sure looks like it! However it is known that Mayans would rip the heart from their prisoners too........so....
 
If Bruce can wear this on stage:

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And put on a full Trooper outfit and what not. Surely he can also put on a Mayan inspired mask during the title track next year on tour. Make it happen! :p
 
bearfan said:
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 .....
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Is there anything else on the CD, or just the one track?
 
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