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

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As with the tours, my preference would be a spoiler and non-spoiler thread. Though I imagine with spoiler free material, all we have is rampant speculation
 
I know I'm pointing out the obvious, but this is the 3rd time Maiden will open an album with a song over 6 minutes long. And no, I don't count Satellite 15...TFF as one song. S15 in an intro to TFF and I see them as 2 separate pieces.
 
Another reason: all tracks had to be Stevized. ;) (I say this with a wink, but I am seriously not ruling it out either).
 
Chazz Chetly said:
I still can't fathom why they made "Satellite 15.. The Final Frontier" one song, other than perhaps wanting to create one of the best song name the band has.
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Maybe they tried to stay true to their "no intros" tradition. Seven Deadly Sins is another example.
 
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Chazz Chetly said:
I still can't fathom why they made "Satellite 15.. The Final Frontier" one song, other than perhaps wanting to create one of the best song name the band has.
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It is lyrically one song though, something people tend to forget.

Quite a difference between "Satellite" and the 'Seven deadly sins' part in that way - the latter is an intro the whole album, whereas "Satellite" clearly is tied to just the title track.
 
Maturin said:
It is lyrically one song though, something people tend to forget.

Quite a difference between "Satellite" and the 'Seven deadly sins' part in that way - the latter is an intro the whole album, whereas "Satellite" clearly is tied to just the title track.
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I guess it's ok with Satellite. But 7 deadly sins and the reprise at the end should have been 2 separated tracks. Made no sense to dock them to the songs.
 
Two separate songs at 20 seconds each? C´mon this is silly talk. They obviously work as bookends to the album, the intro bit fades into the Moonchild opening exceptionally well and gives it more impact.
 
Satellite 15 and The Final Frontier may be two separate tracks but I can't listen one without the other... I see it as a single song with a long and great intro...
 
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I would be more than happy to never hear Satallite 15 again. The intro and outro on SSoaSS is great. It's short, and ties in nicely with both songs and the album as a whole. Satallite 15 takes a long dense album and makes it longer, and not in a meaningful way.

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I'm just talking out of my ass at this point. But maybe Satallite 15 is fine and perhaps The Final Frontier (song) is the problem. My main issue with Sat 15 is that it is new and unique, something we never heard from Maiden before. It sets expectation as it builds toward something explosive. Then it stops and we get the paint by numbers opening rocker that all the post reunion albums have. To be clear I love all of them, even Wildest Dreams. It's just Sat 15 sets the album up for something different, then immediately falls back into what we know.. So it's not that Sat 15 is bad. It's just for me, both can't be good on that album, and so I chose The Final Frontier. But that's just me talking out of my ass with only three and a half hours of sleep.
 
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I agree that it feels strange. First we have something completely experimental, and then we get a song so standard it hurts. Complete with singalong-friendly, repetitive chorus :D

That being said, there are songs on the album that are original and makes sure the album doesn't feel like it's just more of the same. Avalon, of course, but also the instrumental mid-part of TMWWBK.

With what we have read and heard about the new album so far, it does seem like the band are trying to take some chances this time around. This, combined with several long songs, makes me believe this will be an album that will need to grow on many fans. The "play classics" brigade will probably hate it :innocent:
 
No, Chaz, you make good points there. I don't ever listen to the satellite part all the way through any more. It does nothing for the final frontier part IMO. It's just too long. For me anyway.
+ I'm always thinking about the miniature skipped beat, and the thread here on maiddenfans early on that pointed it out!:p
 
I think TFF is an album with a lot of really strong songs with unique moments that aren't typical for Maiden. However, due to the song order the album does not flow whatsoever, and that makes it a chore at times, despite the strength of the songs.

With what we know/guessing about TBoS, it seams like it will continue in TFF vain as far as being something different from typical Madden (at times), while also solving the flow of the album, and that makes me excited!
 
blindg3 said:
I guess it's ok with Satellite. But 7 deadly sins and the reprise at the end should have been 2 separated tracks. Made no sense to dock them to the songs.
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Then you'd have a track cut in the middle of audio, at least for the opener, and I don't think Maiden likes that.

At the end, I think they didn't want to give away the surprise. Just when the album is over, you hear that intro again out of nowhere.
 
Chazz Chetly said:
My main issue with Sat 15 is that it is new and unique, something we never heard from Maiden before. It sets expectation as it builds toward something explosive. Then it stops and we get the paint by numbers opening rocker that all the post reunion albums have. To be clear I love all of them, even Wildest Dreams. It's just Sat 15 sets the album up for something different, then immediately falls back into what we know.
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I agree. I can sorta see where Maiden wanted to go with Satellite 15. Of course from the get go, it was this demo that Adrian wrote on his own. Steve saw the intro potential it had, because it was kinda spacey sounding I guess? So to better tie in with The Final Frontier track itself they added the calling "I try to call the earths command." "Desperate Calls...." "Hear me now, very little time..." etc bits as if to simulate the desolation and attempts at contact and then BAM the signal breaks through (to the listener as well) and The Final Frontier is off and running...

So, I mean I love the idea behind it but perhaps it could have been done better.

But you are absolutely right that the song itself is just like another Wildest Dreams or Wicker Man etc in structure.
 
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Steve has clearly showed us he likes unfinished stuff... Mastering of Dance of Death, cover art of the same album, and then the unfinished rough demo of Adrian's that ended up as "Satellite 15". I do understand a bit of that mindset, when creating something that's 100% deliberate, the creator(s) themselves often lose all the 'magic' of the finished result as they know every single detail so well that they can't see the whole picture.

Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
The "play classics" brigade will probably hate it
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It sure will be fun to watch that shit-storm from over here, with other (more) open-minded minds. :P
 
Maturin said:
Steve has clearly showed us he likes unfinished stuff... Mastering of Dance of Death, cover art of the same album, and then the unfinished rough demo of Adrian's that ended up as "Satellite 15". I do understand a bit of that mindset, when creating something that's 100% deliberate, the creator(s) themselves often lose all the 'magic' of the finished result as they know every single detail so well that they can't see the whole picture.



It sure will be fun to watch that shit-storm from over here, with other (more) open-minded minds. :p
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I know that type of mindset. It is called I-am-too-lazy-to-do-my-job-properly.
 
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