Iron Maiden - The Book Of Souls 2016/2017 World Tour discussion [LIVE ALBUM NOV. 17]

[DieselDaisy]

They really give their fans tantalizing products with their packaging and content do Maiden.

[Anguyen92]

At home from Best Buy, listening to it now. Probably will give my thoughts on the songs as they are playing. Holy balls, If Eternity Should Fail is so good. For a song that's 8 min. long, it just flys by so seamlessly, and this is only song 1 of 11! Interesting ending, there, with that spoken word in that weird voice (don't know how else to describe it).

I was on the fence with the Speed of Light when hearing it on Youtube, hearing it in CD format is so much better with the volume blasted loudly.

On The Great Unknown, that was quite the tempo change around the 5:00 mark after the solos.

The Red and the Black - Intro reminds me a bit of Metallica's Battery intro and then kicks in to that Rime of the Ancient Mariner feeling. Should be an easy crowd interaction song, if they choose to play it live, with the "Whoa-ohhhh-whoa-oh." The beauty part of this song is that there's a long 4-5 min. instrumental bit at the latter half of the song, but it's not a sense of a wankery, "Look how fast and technical I can play," kind of thing. It just flows really nicely within the context of the song and again we got another long song that just flew fast.

When the River Runs Deep - I think this is a good song to follow after the long "The Red and the Black."

The title track. Sounds very dramatic and sinister-like sounding. Excellent. The strings? in the background really helps rounds things out. Really good ending.

So Disc 1. I quite liked the Final Frontier a good amount, but I found some songs to be skippable. This Disc 1 has no skippable songs and I enjoyed it a whole lot better than the Final Fronter. I shall take a brief break before embarking on Disc 2.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Anguyen92

[Powerage5]

At home from Best Buy, listening to it now. Probably will give my thoughts on the songs as they are playing. Holy balls, If Eternity Should Fail is so good. For a song that's 8 min. long, it just flys by so seamlessly, and this is only song 1 of 11! Interesting ending, there, with that spoken word in that weird voice (don't know how else to describe it).

I was on the fence with the Speed of Light when hearing it on Youtube, hearing it in CD format is so much better with the volume blasted loudly.

On The Great Unknown, that was quite the tempo change around the 5:00 mark after the solos.

The Red and the Black - Intro reminds me a bit of Metallica's Battery intro and then kicks in to that Rime of the Ancient Mariner feeling. Should be an easy crowd interaction song, if they choose to play it live, with the "Whoa-ohhhh-whoa-oh." The beauty part of this song is that there's a long 4-5 min. instrumental bit at the latter half of the song, but it's not a sense of a wankery, "Look how fast and technical I can play," kind of thing. It just flows really nicely within the context of the song and again we got another long song that just flew fast.

When the River Runs Deep - I think this is a good song to follow after the long "The Red and the Black."

The title track. Sounds very dramatic and sinister-like sounding. Excellent. The strings? in the background really helps rounds things out. Really good ending.

So Disc 1. I quite liked the Final Frontier a good amount, but I found some songs to be skippable. This Disc 1 has no skippable songs and I enjoyed it a whole lot better than the Final Fronter. I shall take a brief break before embarking on Disc 2.

Bruce's solo stuff has a decent amount of spoken word intros and outros, particularly The Chemical Wedding (Which you should totally check out if you haven't). Shouldn't surprise anyone on IESF, since that was originally supposed to be a solo song.

[Anguyen92]

^^ I have yet to check out The Chemical Wedding, though I keep hearing great things about it.

All right, then. Disc Two time.

Nice to have the start be really off and running in the intro to Death or Glory. Very high-energy.

Shadows of the Valley - Well, some people say that the intro is like Wasted Years. I will have to conclude with them.

Tears of a Clown - I really like the intro of this one. Now, I really really like this song, great chorus. Makes us really reflect on stuff.

The Man of Sorrows - Well, the initial vibe, which is somber, fits really well with the title. Very moody-vibe at the end.

The Empire of the Clouds - So this is it. Can Iron Maiden go the distance with a long song like Rush and Yes did? I like the violin touches in this one. They are taking this one nice and slowly and very deliberately, which is fine. Very bombastic sounding at the 7:00 mark. Now the high-energy bits starts around like 9:00 or so. At 13:00, now it's like it's a soundtrack to a James Bond movie or something. Well, then, that was quite the epic track. Somehow, it lived to the hype and did what it did.

Overall, this was very solid, though, to me, not as solid as disc 1. However, this was an amazing album from top to bottom. I'm glad I made the good choice and wait it out and then buy it, and then listen to it on good quality audio. It was very worthwhile.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Anguyen92

[Powerage5]

Cool, enjoyed the track by track review. I agree that, as a whole, disc 1 is stronger.

Have you checked out any of Bruce's solo stuff? All of it is really great.

[Mansin Humanity]

The Book Of Souls - The slow, grinding verses sound mean as fuck, especially with those off-beat china hits.

yuuup. I'm a huge sucker for china cymbals. Same reason why I instantly loved BU2B and it's still one of my favorites from Clockwork Angels.

[Rovim]

In the mean time, off of Paul Di'anno new official live dvd:

[Zeppelin]

Going to take some time to digest this a bit, so I'll hold off on a review. But I will say that If Eternity Should Fail is a wonderful opener. I'm not sure if it tops The Wicker Man or not yet, but it is definitely their best since then.

Also, the muted guitar that comes in the background during the intro to The Great Unknown is awesome. Simple, yet atmospheric.

[moreblack]

It didn't shock me to find out Tears Of A Clown is about Robin Williams.

[Becket]

Interesting ending, there, with that spoken word in that weird voice (don't know how else to describe it).

I absolutely love that part too.

[maynard]

If Eternity... Is my favorite song on the album. Love the spoken words part.

[Powerage5]

Going to take some time to digest this a bit, so I'll hold off on a review. But I will say that If Eternity Should Fail is a wonderful opener. I'm not sure if it tops The Wicker Man or not yet, but it is definitely their best since then.

Also, the muted guitar that comes in the background during the intro to The Great Unknown is awesome. Simple, yet atmospheric.

The guitar work on The Great Unknown is sublime. Not your run-of-the-mill Maiden progression either, which is nice. That one grew on me a lot on the second listen. I had a longer than normal commute today since I had to cover someone's shift at our other store, which is a half hour from home for me. I got up through The Red And The Black. I do like that one, but it doesn't have that WOW factor IMO. I'm referring to it as "Steve Harris: The Song" since it basically covers all of his tropes. I did hear the Rime similarities in the vocal melody around 4 minutes when I was actively listening for it. I expect this one to be played live, and while it's not my favorite I think it will be good live - lots of singable parts for the crowd.

[Anguyen92]

Pretty good Bruce interview on the Talk Is Jericho podcast. Great rundown of how Empire came together.

http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid=535945

On that note, Jericho said that in order for him to listen to the album, with the band's permission, before any leaks/the release went out, he had to sign a waiver and, from what I recall, that it was pretty much a stream file with distinguishable ID tags so the band can tell where the source came from if there are any leaks. Maybe that's how the album got leaked (Jericho didn't leak it though, I know that for sure)?

[Powerage5]

First dates are being announced on Thursday

Also, I added a few polls to this thread - seeing what everyone's favorite and least favorite songs were, and what everyone wants to see played live.

[Becket]

I voted Empire Of Clouds for one that I would like to see played live although I know it won't be played.

[GivenToFly]

I managed to listen to it today. Honestly, other than the guitar (which is truly great!) it didn't quite impress me on first listen, at least not in the way The Final Frontier did. It could just take a few runs to sink in though.

[Strange Broue]

I finally have time to listen to this album in full

See ya in 92 minutes

Edited September 5, 2015 by Strange Broue

[Strange Broue]

It was awesome

Although i felt the record is too damn long, it is a great testament as a final record for Iron Maiden.

Sometimes repeated and rehashed stuff from older albums/bands, but overall it was good

Some riffs were exceptionally good and the synth and orchestrated parts were athmospheric and not corny at all

The first track is alone a better track variety wise than what Maiden done since 2000

Bruce's vocals sometimes very great, sometimes sub par (due to his bad health during the recording?)

But seriously, this is a good album, nice, grandiose testament for Iron Maiden. This is what they are in 2015 and it sounds awesome. The mere fact that this band is 40 year old now (35 year of studio albums) alone elevate them to the classic metal gods

My fav tracks so far:

When the River Runs Deep (my fav from this record)

Shadows of the Valley (killer intro riff, although it is rehashed from somewhere)

Tears of a Clown

The Man of Sorrows

I would like to hear these plus If Eternity Should Fail and the Emperor of the Clouds on a live concert

This 18 minutes magnum opus is a bit pretentious and probably not the best way to end their career if they really released this track for the last... but nonetheless, it is great, they can break their own record in their 60's, kudos for that

PS: Rime of the Ancient Mariner will be always included in my TOP 10 heavy metal tracks of all time, forever

Edited September 5, 2015 by Strange Broue

[Strange Broue]

In the mean time, off of Paul Di'anno new official live dvd:

The funniest shit is when famous 2010 grin fat face came up in the related videos (i haven't checked a GNR video in a month now so...)

Anyway, if he wasn't drunk it will be a bit better, the band was OK

But yeah, all of the ex singer's living in the past and some of them failed miserably

Edited September 6, 2015 by Strange Broue

[Black Sabbath]

Surprised to see so many people like Tears of a Clown so much. Did I miss something when I listened to it? Because on first listen, it was probably my least favorite.

[Zeppelin]

The Man Of Sorrows has a serious Infinite Dreams/Bruce solo vibe to it. Maybe it's just me.

[Powerage5]

Surprised to see so many people like Tears of a Clown so much. Did I miss something when I listened to it? Because on first listen, it was probably my least favorite.

For me, a lot of it is that Robin Willaims' death is still pretty fresh in everyone's mind. It's a song everyone can relate to on some level, because we all know how we felt when we learned of his death. Plus it's got a great groove - love that pre-verse riff with all the syncopation.

The Man Of Sorrows has a serious Infinite Dreams/Bruce solo vibe to it. Maybe it's just me.

I didn't, but it's still the only one I haven't listened to twice. Definitely going to spin that one again tonight.

[Zeppelin]

Maybe it's just the way the song ends. Just gives me that Seventh Son kind of vibe.

[Amir]

[Black Sabbath]

Surprised to see so many people like Tears of a Clown so much. Did I miss something when I listened to it? Because on first listen, it was probably my least favorite.

For me, a lot of it is that Robin Willaims' death is still pretty fresh in everyone's mind. It's a song everyone can relate to on some level, because we all know how we felt when we learned of his death. Plus it's got a great groove - love that pre-verse riff with all the syncopation.

I'll have to listen to it again. I know what the song is about and I've said plenty of times that Robin Williams was my favorite comedian and how much he meant to me, but I don't know if that'll make me like the song any more. But I'll give it another listen or two and see how it resonates.