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

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Well, beginning my second listen. I loved The Great Unkown, The Red and the Black, When The River Runs Deep, TBOS, Death or Glory, Tears of a Clown and Shadows of the Valley instantly. Empire has me enthralled, but I have only heard it once. Some of it is difficult to digest, but as I said, many songs are great in a first listen. Now I only need the lyrics :D
 
The Great Unknown is my most fav song. What a chorus! amazing! So far loving disc one a lot more than disc 2. Maiden gave everything in this album. Relentless onslaught of melodies. So happy right now \m/
 
Ok, after 6th replay I'm still blown away. It's getting better and better. Weakest point? SOL. As far as WTRRD goes -
it is weak in comparision with rest of the album but it has some kind of awesome vibe that they lost in 80's

Someone said that this album feels like 80's Maiden, but I don't think so. After so many hours with it and time to sink in - it sound like beginning of new era. Everything (not talking about production until release) is just great. I'm sure that's one of their greatest albums. It's like post-reunion era with nods to 80's WITH Bruce solo stuff. It can't get any better.
 
This is one weird sounding motherf!$%er! The mix is so,,,,well.....strange. Everything seems to be way front and way back at the same time. The drum sound is so damn dry. This whole production is destroying this album completely.
 
Gk1 said:
This is one weird sounding motherf!$%er! The mix is so,,,,well.....strange. Everything seems to be way front and way back at the same time. The drum sound is so damn dry. This whole production is destroying this album completely.
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You said that like 100 times. :)
 
I don’t like Empire of the Clouds, and I’m having trouble understanding why. I know one thing I really dislike about the song is the vocals near the end. It’s a captivating story, and as it builds it gets harder and harder to understand Bruce. During the climax, at it’s most crucial point, I have no idea what he’s singing.

Anyone else have this problem? I have a good pair of headphones, and a decent set of speakers, and it makes no difference, can’t understand a thing at the end. It causes the story to fall flat. All this build up, and than, who knows..

There are actually a few songs on this album where I can hardly make out any of what Bruce is saying, but it affects this song the most.

Now, don’t go calling me a negative Nancy, there is lots to love on this album, and a lot still to digest, and I’ll get to all that, I was just curious what you guys thought about this. As for you Debbie downers, and pessimistic Patties.. trying borrowing some of that infectious enthusiasm others are sporting, it’s more fun that way.
 
The only criticism i have is i missed bruce's voice in those long intervals.
Gk1 said:
This is one weird sounding motherf!$%er! The mix is so,,,,well.....strange. Everything seems to be way front and way back at the same time. The drum sound is so damn dry. This whole production is destroying this album completely.
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have you considered the possibility of your ears being the acual problem instead of the album sound?
 
Gk1 said:
This is one weird sounding motherf!$%er! The mix is so,,,,well.....strange. Everything seems to be way front and way back at the same time. The drum sound is so damn dry. This whole production is destroying this album completely.
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Didn't hear it the first time you said that, nor the second time, nor the third time, nor the fourth time, nor the fifth time, nor the sixth time, etc etc etc...
 
Chazz Chetly said:
I don’t like Empire of the Clouds, and I’m having trouble understanding why. I know one thing I really dislike about the song is the vocals near the end. It’s a captivating story, and as it builds it gets harder and harder to understand Bruce. During the climax, at it’s most crucial point, I have no idea what he’s singing.

Anyone else have this problem? I have good pair of headphones, and a decent set of speakers, and it makes no difference, can’t understand a thing at the end. It causes the story to fall flat. All this build up, and than, who knows..

There are actually a few songs on this album where I can hardly make out any of what Bruce is saying, but it affects this song the most.

Now, don’t go calling me a negative Nancy, there is lots to love on this album, and a lot still to digest, and I’ll get to all that, I was just curious what you guys thought about this. As for you Debbie downers, and pessimistic Patties, trying borrowing some of that infectious enthusiasm others are sporting.. it’s more fun that way.
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I have similar problem but a) this leak is not very high quality so wait till release and then see if problem is still there b)English is not my native language so I have problems with faster parts, it will be gone when I get booklet. After reading lyrics while listening session problem will be gone
 
Chazz Chetly said:
I don’t like Empire of the Clouds, and I’m having trouble understanding why. I know one thing I really dislike about the song is the vocals near the end. It’s a captivating story, and as it builds it gets harder and harder to understand Bruce. During the climax, at it’s most crucial point, I have no idea what he’s singing.

Anyone else have this problem? I have a good pair of headphones, and a decent set of speakers, and it makes no difference, can’t understand a thing at the end. It causes the story to fall flat. All this build up, and than, who knows..

There are actually a few songs on this album where I can hardly make out any of what Bruce is saying, but it affects this song the most.

Now, don’t go calling me a negative Nancy, there is lots to love on this album, and a lot still to digest, and I’ll get to all that, I was just curious what you guys thought about this. As for you Debbie downers, and pessimistic Patties.. trying borrowing some of that infectious enthusiasm others are sporting, it’s more fun that way.
Click to expand...

Not that song so much but
I find Bruce's diction an issue at several points of the album.
I suspect it's nothing a lyric sheet won't fix
 
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mckindog said:
Not that song so much but
I find Bruce's diction an issue an issue at several points of the album.
I suspect it's nothing a lyric sheet won't fix
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yeah, diction is an issue here and there. I'm curious if that was how he really find out about cancer.
 
Brave New Pilgrim said:
Be sure to come back and give us your thoughts on Empire of the Clouds. I'm very curious to see what your reaction to it will be :)
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I honestly don't know what to think about it! It's getting back to back listens just because it's too much to digest in 1 listen. It is a great 18 minutes that did not lose my interest between 2 full listens, I honestly want to listen to it again already but twice was being a bit greedy for the 1st night!! hahaha
Anyway, Empire Of The Clouds off 2 listens is just flawless IMHO. I was a little nervous about what the piano would be like in it.. That's something that will age like a $50,000 bottle of scotch or Mozart, ehh probably better than either of those. I could not see this one getting skipped on the tour, they better play their typical encores before this though. Just close with this, leave the audience silent. Ehh maybe come back out with Prowler!! Hahahahaha as the mod(s) said pages ago that they are not going to make polls for the new album for 6-12 months because of how long it takes us to make up our overall opinion on how great the songs actually are, but I can't possibly see myself ever giving this one less than 10. I'm not entirely sure if I would say that it's my favorite song from the album though, there are several truly great songs on it! I didn't hear one song on the entire album that I didn't have a positive opinion about on 1-3 listens. Again, I just can't believe that there are people who don't find this album at the very least a decent album.
 
Gk1 said:
I guess we can all agree that I am the one with the problem then.
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I get what you are saying about the spacing. I find the sound disappointingly flat in my car, fine in the headphones and outstanding outside on my deck with each speaker 20 feet away. There's not an appreciable difference in the equipment, so I am guessing the relative acoustics are a factor.

I find it less dry than TFF and not nearly as brick walled as DoD. It give it a C+
I feel bad for you that it is affecting your listening experience that much and don't really understand why that's happening.
 
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