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

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Gk1 said:
So is it just me then?!
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You don't know this place, man. Let me put you in the picture - Jon gives away $100,000 every year to the person who has posted most praise about Maiden in the shortest time possible. Praising Virtual XI, No Prayer and Dennis Wilcock gives bonus points. Posting about Adrian Smith is a code phrase for "I need to pee, somebody stop the watch."

EDIT: Oops, there goes Mosh. No $100,000 for you this year.:p
 
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Ariana said:
You don't know this place, man. Let me put you in the picture - Jon gives away $100,000 every year to the person who has posted most praise for Maiden in the shortest time possible. Praising Virtual XI, No Prayer and Dennis Wilcock gives bonus points. Posting about Adrian Smith is a code phrase for "I need to pee, somebody stop the watch."
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Now, this is funny.Really!
 
Mosh said:
It's true that Steve doesn't write epics the way he used to, but sometimes I think the criticisms are a little exaggerated. When The Wild Wind Blows was a really great epic, for example, and it makes me excited for The Red and the Black. The repetition can be annoying, but he's gotten a lot better about that over the years. Just compare the repetition in TAATG to that of WTWWB. And even in those more repetitive songs, the melodies and riffs are still solid. Despite its repetition, For the Greater Good of God still has some delightfully dramatic moments.
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Steve is a rare example of a songwriter.We still got some very good ideas.He however lost it with the structuring of the songs.I always said that a song's quality is always better judged by an outsider.I have played WTWWB to dozens of people. They all liked the melodies,the vocals,the solos no matter if they were metalheads or not.Not one person ever got why this songs is just never ending.
 
I don't get the hate on repetitive choruses. Out of he Silent Planet is one o my favorite Maiden songs and I am certain that every other word uttered in that song is just misinterpreted by everyone for anything other than "out", "of", "the", "silent" and "planet".
It is also FACT that every lyrics printing got it wrong. I must know it, I'm a person off the internet!

No seriously. I don't mind repetition. On the other hand it REALLY bothers me when the song title isn't in the lyrics. I hated that as a kid and I hate it now.
 
I think there is a thin line between trolling and actually making a point.It is all blur to me now
 
Mrcl said:
I don't get the hate on repetitive choruses. Out of he Silent Planet is one o my favorite Maiden songs and I am certain that every other word uttered in that song is just misinterpreted by everyone for anything other than "out", "of", "the", "silent" and "planet".
It is also FACT that every lyrics printing got it wrong. I must know it, I'm a person off the internet!

No seriously. I don't mind repetition. On the other hand it REALLY bothers me when the song title isn't in the lyrics. I hated that as a kid and I hate it now.
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Fair enough,imo the repetition is actually holding the song development most of the times.It feels to me as if the song gets stuck for no added value, As for the title not being included in the lyrics....well I kind of had that problem in the past :)
 
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Gk1 said:
I have played WTWWB to dozens of people. They all liked the melodies,the vocals,the solos no matter if they were metalheads or not.Not one person ever got why this songs is just never ending.
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You have to agree that people who are fed with 3-4 minute songs their whole lives most likely would think that any 8-11 minute song is going on forever? It all depends on perspective. I certainly never thought either "Out of the Silent Planet", "For the Greater Good of Good" or "When the Wild Wind Blows" were too repetitive. ("The Angel and the Gambler" is an extreme case.)
 
Maturin said:
You have to agree that people who are fed with 3-4 minute songs their whole lives most likely would think that any 8-11 minute song is going on forever? It all depends on perspective. I certainly never thought either "Out of the Silent Planet", "For the Greater Good of Good" or "When the Wild Wind Blows" were too repetitive. ("The Angel and the Gambler" is an extreme case.)
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You are right.It is that my "group of listeners" never co plained for the duration of e.g. HBTN or Powerslave as there is a purpose in their length. However we all percieve music differently and all in all IMO some songs could have been much better being a couple minutes short.
 
LooseCannon said:
I find myself wondering what the statistics say to this. Are we talking about Harris-penned only songs?
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We're talking about an unpopular opinion. Yes, his own songs, but to be honest: I find all songs (written by anyone), that came after my two favourite TXF songs, worse.
 
Forostar said:
We're talking about an unpopular opinion. Yes, his own songs, but to be honest: I find all songs (written by anyone), that came after my two favourite TXF songs, worse.
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Songwriting...by numbers!?
 
I think Benjamin Breeg fits the by the numbers category .. not always a bad thing .. so long is not an album filled with them.
 
The only epic that is lesser is For The Greater Good Of God in which the songtitle repetition sounds dragging and tiresome as are the verses. I won't mention The Angel And The Gambler 'cos it's not an epic song; it's long, but the direction Steve took for this one is a bit like those long songs UFO, Stray and Free used to do.

The 'by the numbers' thing I agree with the intro and outro being a template to Steve's epics but, he created it! It's HIS style! The vibe his epics have are singular, even touching on the same subject such as war, they're pretty different beasts and I can tell that is really though to be instantly recognizable with a style that has the same essence but, has freshness for 40 years.
 
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Benjamin Breeg has the intro and outro 'by the numbers'. The song itself is one of the most untraditional - but great - Maiden songs as is Age Of Innocence. Superb songs!
 
One can argue that the predictable songwriting made Bruce lose his interest in the band back in the day
 
Bruce lost interest on Somewhere In Time (he doesn't like it at all!) and he said that Seventh Son was child's play as a conceptual album when compared to Operation: Mindcrime. Mind you he lost interest on the band on 2 of the most brilliant albums; from there on, he stayed in the band maybe for contractual reasons as he was already working on his solo material.
 
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