The Book Of Souls (song not album)

How good is The Book of Souls on a scale of 1-10?

  • 10

    Votes: 16 72.7%

  • 9

    Votes: 5 22.7%

  • 8

    Votes: 1 4.5%

  • 7

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 5

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 1

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    22
My opinion only of course.

Put any post reunion song against it and it is immediately crushed by The Book Of Souls.

How do I know this? Because I listen to it constantly. When I play the album, it's the first track I hit up.

Even the last 30 seconds of the song is better than most stuff they have recorded in a long time.

Perfect song. Perfect.

Janick who? Bless that man.
 
It's probably my second favourite song on the album behind the opener. Shadows Of The Valley is an under-appreciated gem too.
 
It's my favourite song on the album and it has entered my favourite Maiden songs of all time list. It is full of power and atmosphere, as well as damn good performances from everyone. I was blown away by it when I first heard it and that feeling has not gone away. I can't wait to hear this masterpiece live!
 
Hi all. Long time lurker, first post. Compelled to respond to this thread as I wholeheartedly concur that Book of Souls (the song) is certainly something special. I love the way it changes gear into a Losfa Words parody (in a good way) before lurching into the final straight. Cannot wait to experience this one live.
 
I think this song is amazing, probably my favourite from the album. The only negative I can say about it is that it ends a bit suddenly (when Bruce says the final 'The Book Of Soooooooouls'). Love everything else about it though.
 
Brigantium said:
I find that. It snaps quite abruptly out of that long running instrumental, rather than coming to any kind of conclusion.
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Yeah. 'The Great Unknown' does the same thing - I wonder if it's due to the spontaneous style of writing/recording they went for on this album.
 
After more than two months, it's still the best of the bunch. The riffs, the epic, apocalyptic feeling, that shift at the sixth minute... A very strong nine for me, maybe even bordering on 10.
 
I'm not in love with this song the way most people here seem to be, but I do really enjoy it. The riff is really cool, especially the way the bass breaks away from it at times and Nicko's cymbal hits on the offbeats. It's also surprisingly pretty cinematic, especially the chorus. You can tell Bruce had a ton of fun with this one, he emotes on this almost as much as he does on the songs he wrote, if not more.

The whole middle section is really awesome and totally unexpected. The riffing is a bit similar to Montsegur, but it's such a different context and feel that I don't even really notice it. Plus I've always loved that riff anyway. It's a nice contrast to the instrumental section of The Red and the Black, which is a lot more jarring in the transitions and structure. This is much more smooth, every section comes very naturally. Love the twin harmonies here too. My only complaint is that I wish there was a little bit more development in the acoustic parts. It just seems kinda forced and cuts off too early. I really enjoy those long acoustic passages and was disappointed at how brief this one is.

I think I heard a mistake by the way. Listening on the vinyl so I don't have time stamps, but on the repetition of the first chorus, Nicko does about half a bar of the main riff beat, not the chorus beat. Kinda cool they left that in.

9
 
Mosh said:
I think I heard a mistake by the way. Listening on the vinyl so I don't have time stamps, but on the repetition of the first chorus, Nicko does about half a bar of the main riff beat, not the chorus beat. Kinda cool they left that in.
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Up until now I haven't seen it as a mistake but it probably is... It fits, though. As a pedant, I wish he repeated it during the second chorus. :P Also, that one missed hi-hat hit around 5:25/26 drives me nuts. Gosh, I really hate their attitude on TBoS of leaving mistakes in because it 'sounds live'. It sounds just lazy in my opinion.
 
I like it. None of the mistakes are blatantly obvious enough for it to be a problem for me.

Maiden gets compared to prog rock bands a lot these days, but if they have anything on the proggers it's their unpolished sound. It's exactly the opposite of what you'd expect from a progressive rock band and I love it.
 
They also have an understanding that it doesn't matter how weird a time signature is if it sounds like crap, but I digress.

I am a big fan of this song (maybe because I cannot hear any of the mistakes there are apparently in it). I'm not a diehard fan - I put this around the middle of the album - but it's been a definite grower for me and is just generally a great song. I think an 8 is around where I'd rate it.
 
Srogyy said:
Gosh, I really hate their attitude on TBoS of leaving mistakes in because it 'sounds live'. It sounds just lazy in my opinion.
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Noticed the mistake in Infinite Dreams (I think)? Another Nicko mistake. During the instrumental.
 
^ during the last harmony in the instrumental, one of the snare hits is not as audible as it should be.
 
Zare said:
^ during the last harmony in the instrumental, one of the snare hits is not as audible as it should be.
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But (old Iron Maiden album I prefer) is somehow more perfect than (new Iron Maiden album with similar song influences but sounding like it was made 30 years later...which it was)!
 
I don't usually reply to such comments. Some people simply do not like new stuff enough or whatever, and will nitpick about X simply because there's nothing wrong with 21st century output.
Some fans do not find themselves in it, I'll give them that. A lot of negative comments for new stuff around sites was 'snoozefest' which I can accept because there's a clear decrease in tempo and increase in length and it's reasonable to conclude that some might find that boring enough.
 
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