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

[Chris Brookes]

I'm afraid that it will be not as good as I want it to be, dunno why - SOL is amazing.

PlayClassics! What is "AMOLAD setup"?

I know what you mean. Maiden albums are a relatively rare and treasured event (let's be honest they're can't be too many left). And there is always a danger that your expectations become set so high they are unobtainable. Like an album chock full of whatever your favourite song happens to be.

Maiden are pretty diverse and different fans look and hope for different things. I personally go for the big epics, so for me AMOLAD was pretty strong. But others really go for the rockier edge they have, like SoL. Everyone likes different things about maiden and there are no right or wrongs, their diversity is one of the many things that make them great, it isn't just the same song over and over Or a few songs that stick to the tried and tested while the rest is just filler. Most modern maiden is blend of experimental and proficiency.

It's all about what you hope for. Suffice to say, there will be bits which work for you more than others.

 

[Maturin]

While I'm pretty sure there's a lot of magazines out there who have a lot of gain by giving excellent reviews to just about any large act with wind in their sails, payed reviews is another thing entirely. I don't think Maiden needs to pay the reviewers - they'd write good reviews whatever they put out considering how much goodwill it creates. Of course there's a marketing machine going on full throttle here - but that doesn't mean that everyone who's praising the album does it because Rod has payed them to do so.

But at the end of the day, if people actually think the albums suck - would we still listen to TFF and AMOLAD and talk about them like crazy? No marketing in the world could have saved St. Anger or Lulu, despite Metallica having almost 3 times as many fans on their Facebook page as Maiden.

 

[LooseCannon]

It's a similar process as when they constructed the hype before AMOLAD, that was designed beforehand to be brainwashed into everybody's mind as a "masterpiece", "their best ever" etc...

Except that the album was a critical and commercial success. The tour was less so, but the album, definitely. Some people love it. Some people don't. Let's allow time to decide.

Fans getting ndas is likely to stop them from doing specific things like distributing lyrics or audio recordings to give the record label a legal basis to pursue a complaint, nothing more.

 

[Meliegree]

I don't care for certain kind of song. I rather want some kind of production sound like NPFTD & FotD with SIT. But you are completly right. Good thing is that Maiden don't have bad album so question is not "is it good' but "is it for me".

 

[Maturin]

Iron Maiden - 5
Killers - 6
TNOTB - 6
POM - 7
Powerslave - 5
SIT - 9
7th Son - 9
NPFTD - 4
FOTD - 7
TXF - 10
VXI - 4
BNW - 9
DOD - 7
AMOLAD - 10
TFF - 10
TBOS - ?

Heresy?

 

[Chris Brookes]

Except that the album was a critical and commercial success. The tour was less so, but the album, definitely. Some people love it. Some people don't. Let's allow time to decide.

Fans getting ndas is likely to stop them from doing specific things like distributing lyrics or audio recordings to give the record label a legal basis to pursue a complaint, nothing more.

I don't really think it matters what anyone else thinks, music is a deeply personal connection. That isn't to say sharing thoughts and opinions is anything but positive. Sometimes, someone points something out to you and it makes you look at (or listen to) things in a different way.

Just because you don't like every single song or even if you really dislike an album, it doesn't make you more or less of a fan. You will always have your own unique experience. (Not that you were implying that was the case btw)

 

[Mosh]

No kidding!! Reviews of the album are favorable, why is this hard to believe? Stop with the idea of payoffs, or reviewers are afraid to be critical of maiden! This band is incapable of putting out a killer album all of a sudden? Wtf?

I'm optimistic that this will be a good album and I'm sure there's plenty of truth to some of these reviews, but let's be real here. A lot of these magazines are struggling in a dying market. Every now and again Metal Hammer needs to slap Eddie on the cover to sell a few magazines. Do you really think they're going to give a new Maiden album anything less than a gleaming review and risk Maiden wanting to distance themselves from their magazine? A lot of these reviews I've read have been very vague and don't really say anything. I could probably write a review of the album that's just as convincing as what they write and I haven't even heard the thing yet!

@PlayClassics! why do you have to be so condescending? Is it that hard to believe that people really love those albums? I respect your opinion and all but come on, that's just being idiotic.

 

[Meliegree]

Mosh - that's true, but time to be optimistic. New record is comming, double album - no need to be pesimistic.

 

[Chris Brookes]

I'm optimistic that this will be a good album and I'm sure there's plenty of truth to some of these reviews, but let's be real here. A lot of these magazines are struggling in a dying market. Every now and again Metal Hammer needs to slap Eddie on the cover to sell a few magazines. Do you really think they're going to give a new Maiden album anything less than a gleaming review and risk Maiden wanting to distance themselves from their magazine? A lot of these reviews I've read have been very vague and don't really say anything. I could probably write a review of the album that's just as convincing as what they write and I haven't even heard the thing yet!

@PlayClassics! why do you have to be so condescending? Is it that hard to believe that people really love those albums? I respect your opinion and all but come on, that's just being idiotic.

I agree with your perspective on music journalism, I have noticed that reviews of long standing bands tend to be more bi-polar in terms of exaggerated response. Where good becomes great and mediocre becomes poor, the middle ground seems to be someone eroded. In addition slagging off a band with such a substantial fan base is a risky move.

That's not say that BoS isn't great, I have no idea and for most, anything at this point is merely conjecture. All we can do is hope that it meets or surpasses expectations... And we will look for any shred of evidence to correlate that perspective.

 

[Mosh]

I am optimistic, read my first sentence. This isn't my opinion on Maiden, it's my opinion on journalism.

Mosh - that's true, but time to be optimistic. New record is comming, double album - no need to be pesimistic.

 

[Mosh]

I agree with your perspective on music journalism, I have noticed that reviews of long standing bands tend to be more bi-polar in terms of exaggerated response. Where good becomes great and mediocre becomes poor, the middle ground seems to be someone eroded. In addition slagging off a band with such a substantial fan base is a risky move.

That's not say that BoS isn't great, I have no idea and for most, anything at this point is merely conjecture. All we can do is hope that it meets or surpasses expectations... And we will look for any shred of evidence to correlate that perspective.

Yep that's exactly how I feel.

 

[Severian]

I personally find it strange when people say AMOLAD is over-rated. Even though it's generally acclaimed i think people Underrate it, simply because it's an Iron Maiden album. If it was released by any other band it would be considered one of the greatest albums of all time but Maiden just have too much to live up to i guess.

 

[Meliegree]

I am optimistic, read my first sentence. This isn't my opinion on Maiden, it's my opinion on journalism.

Still, be happy. I don't quite understand that sad posts about paying for reviews etc.

 

[tillyvick14]

AMOLAD is simply a very, very good album. It's really impossible to compare directly to the earlier albums so I don't want to bother with the 'best of all time' argument. If Book of Souls is being compared to it in terms of its consistency and quality then next Friday can't get here soon enough!

 

[Meliegree]

To be fair - These colors don't run is quite party pooper on this album, for me at least. I hope that SOL is TCDR of BoS

 

[dostoevsky]

I personally find it strange when people say AMOLAD is over-rated. Even though it's generally acclaimed i think people Underrate it, simply because it's an Iron Maiden album. If it was released by any other band it would be considered one of the greatest albums of all time but Maiden just have too much to live up to i guess.

Absolutely spot on, Severian. The only disappointing post-reunion album for me personally was TFF.

 

[Chris Brookes]

I personally find it strange when people say AMOLAD is over-rated. Even though it's generally acclaimed i think people Underrate it, simply because it's an Iron Maiden album. If it was released by any other band it would be considered one of the greatest albums of all time but Maiden just have too much to live up to i guess.

I definitely go along with that. AMOLAD is a very consistent album for me. I think what makes it divisive is that it is the only album which has been played in full live. And I can think of one or two albums which I would have preferred to experience that way. That said, playing a new album in full live is a gutsy move.

 

[Meliegree]

Absolutely spot on, Severian. The only disappointing post-reunion album for me personally was TFF.

I like it quite a lot, can you explain why? I like melodies and lyrics but production… Hard to explain, it's little too flat and clean for me.

 

[tillyvick14]

Absolutely spot on, Severian. The only disappointing post-reunion album for me personally was TFF.

I find TFF to be similar to DoD in terms of its overall strength. The high water marks on these two albums (Rainmaker, DoD, Paschendale, Coming Home, The Talisman, WTWWB, etc.) are among my most favorite songs ever but the consistency of the albums isn't quite as high as it is on BNW and AMOLAD.

 

[Josh]

I don't know man..Blabbermouth gave it a great review and that site has not been kind to Maiden in the past.