The Book of Souls - Deluxe Edition

When I heard that Iron Maiden are releasing a double album with a song that is 18 minutes long, I guess I overestimated it a bit. I was expecting 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner', kinda tunes, or maybe even something like Pink Floyd or Genesis. So the first time I listened, it was kinda dissapointing. But with more listens, it kinda sinks in more. And then you start enjoying it. I guess after a year or so, I'll be loving it.I think The Final Frontier & A Matter of Life & Death were better, but its just been a week of listening. It sounds more like the 80s/NWOBHM/Aces High/Trooper kind, and not really the epic/Fear of the Dark/Hallowed be thy name/Isle of Avalon kind that I was expecting. However I'm already beginning to love a few songs like The Book of Souls title track.The packaging is ok. But I do wish they had not put fit both the CDs in the same package. A thicker package would feel more great, but I guess its in the budget of Rs 500. And also I think IM & other artists should try to find other more creative ideas to include their booklets cuz, when taken in & out several times the booklet tends to get scratched.

the feels of CD quality is best. the book of souls one of my favourite from new stuff of Maiden

This album is as fresh as it gets. Iron Maiden are in their element in this one. The Sound Quality is great, on time delivery by amazon, just be careful while taking out the Cds from the case its a bit tricky, try not to damage it.

I got this album for a steal at just about Rs 350 with shipping. What I got here, though, was the Indian version. Its good overall with printed artwork on both the CDs and the full colour booklet with all the lyrics. The jewel case was slightly damaged but I could live with that. I replaced it with a better one I had. The album by itself is not bad at all, typical maiden in the offering. Go for it.

An instant classic of an album. It is reminiscent of the golden age of heavy metal when it exploded on the music scene. Magnum opus one after another since "Brave New World", Iron Maiden shall forever remain as the band that aged better than wine. Seeing them go back to their roots with visible changes in the logo that go back to the age of their heyday, it is nothing less than an absolute nostalgic experience. I am happy I bought this. To say 'up the irons' and put up the moloch sign is all I can do while listening to the veterans tell me the stories from The Book of Souls

An awesome album and fitting successor to The Final Frontier.This album marks Iron Maiden's return to form. This is basically Brave New World 2.0 and sounds like it. I would imagine this album to be comprised of tracks that were recorded for Brave New World but not put into its final release.My favourite tracks are the opening track "If Eternity Should Fail", "Death Or Glory", "Speed of Light", "Tears Of a Clown" and the 18 min epic "Empire Of The Clouds".

I am a hard core Iron Maiden fan. I like song tears of a clown. I will buy all IRON MAIDEN albums from Amazon one after another.Heavy Metal rulz.

Its Maiden....Enuff said😜

I have been listening non stop since unboxing the deluxe edition of the album. They are one of the few bands that make actually owning a physical copy of their music a worthwhile experience as you look at the packaging and the artwork. Now on to the music. Let me preface by saying that I am a huge Iron Maiden fan and own all of their releases. I got into them around 1996 and I'm a 33 year old male. There music was out of print for awhile and I made the mistake of purchasing the 1998 re-mastered editions which are a victim of the "loudness war" and are just a loud distorted mess with little dynamics in the music. Thanks to Ebay, I purchased their original CD recordings and everything was okay in the world.The Book of Souls, in my opinion is the best release of the post reunion albums and I would rank it up there with anything they did in the 80's. The album essentially bridges the gap between their classic sound and the more modern progressive sound they have embraced since the seminal 2000 release Brave New World. The primary complaint others have argued over the past 15 years is that the length of the songs are way too long and they long for the days of the short metal tunes with melody on full display, which was their modus operandi early in their career. They have obviously progressed to a more complex form of songwriting mixing 70's progressive rock with their brand of metal. I for one like the combination and whether its prog, classical, baroque, celtic, renaissance influenced, it blends well with heavy metal and gives it an almost aura of sophistication and makes the music even more epic. Understandably, if the band impacted your youth and you were used to a certain sound, any deviation will throw you off and you long for the initial spark. The Book of Souls begins with the Dickinson penned "If Eternity Should Fail" , which was a song that he worked on for a future solo album. It uses drop D tuning, which is not the norm for Maiden. The intro is an almost Egyptian old west type theme with an atmospheric Dickinson giving way to a traditional Maiden gallop with harmonizing guitars. Verses are strong and chorus is very catchy. The mid section instrumental of the song is euphoric with guitar and bass blending perfectly as Nicko introduces section with tribal type drumming. Probably the best opener to an album in a long time. "Speed of Light" was the single we all heard a few weeks ago. Straight forward rocker, not a bad song, but the material on the rest of the album eclipses this song just because the strength of the other songs. "The Great Unknown" is a catchy melodic intro and goes into full on Maiden. Emphasizing the move towards slow build up intros and then getting heavier. "The Red and The Black" was penned by Steve Harris and is his sole composition. It has a flamenco bass solo in the intro and Bruce sings along to the verse melodies. It has an almost "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" vibe at times and several instrumental sections in the song that will annoy those that long for a time when their songs were short and sweet. "When The River Runs Deep" is vintage Maiden and a very catchy song. I see it going well in a live setting. Title track "Book of Souls" is vintage Maiden as well as it showcases their penchant for writing medieval sounding riffs with a sinister undertone.The instrumental breakdown reminds me of the instrumental "Losfer Words" off of "Powerslave".Disc two begins with "Death or Glory", a good tempo rocker with themes of war, I know, a rarity for a Maiden song. "Shadows of the Valley" begins with an intro eerily similar to "Wasted Years" and a lyric in the first verse has the words "Sea of Madness", so this might have been a deliberate attempt by the band. Good grooves with celtic influences as well. "Tears of a Clown" was inspired by the death of actor "Robin Williams" and its a pretty straight forward song. Mid tempo, nothing to heavy or crazy going on. Catchy verses/chorus and a great guitar solo is represented in the song. "Man of Sorrows" is a semi ballad with amazing hooks and a memorable vocal performance by Mr. Dickinson. The final song "Empire of the Clouds" clocks in at a little over 18 minutes and it was penned by Dickinson taking inspiration from the R101, a British airship that crashed in France in 1930 I believe. The song has many movements with Bruce on piano and some violin, cello, and horns for good measure. Its storytelling at its best beginning with the concept of the airship, the take off and the eventual tragedy that befell the passengers with the music setting the tone of the lyrical content. Again, for those that long for shorter songs, they will be going ape s*** at this point considering there are two other lengthy songs in the album.In conclusion, this album is just spectacular from beginning to end with career best performances from each band member and Bruce sounding amazing considering the album was recorded while he apparently had a cancerous lump in his throat that was only checked out after completing the album. For those that constantly want to compare various periods of Maiden's career, I suggest you cease to attempt the fight of a useless war. They have moved on and have matured and in reality don't owe anything to anybody. Lets face it, they have always done what they wanted to do with little help from radio or the mainstream press. They have the audacity to make a double album when people have the attention span of a gnat and can't sit still for the absorption of an "album", which is a dirty word in 2015. The CD quality, as usual, is a much better sound than the compressed You Tube sounds. There you have it, throw back a few "Trooper" beers and dive into the world only the mighty Iron Maiden can create. Cheers, and UP THE IRONS!!!!! /m/

La più grande heavy metal band di sempre ritorna con un album doppio, 90 minuti di musica dopo il controverso "Final Frontier", e devo ammettere che malgrado "The Book of Souls" non raggiungerà i picchi compositivi degli anni ottanta, può essere considerato uno dei migliori dischi post reunion! Senza contare i problemi fisici passati nell'ultimo anno a causa del tumore alla lingua che ha colpito il singer Bruce Dickinson, superato alla grande,è proprio quest'ultimo che ci introduce "The Book of Souls" con la prima traccia "If Eternity Should Fail", una delle più belle canzoni dell'intero album, scritta interamente dal cantante: la bellissima voce introduce il brano, accompagnato dalle tastiere, per poi esplodere in una cavalcata epica, ricca di melodia e che non si discosta molto da brani come "Powerslave" e "Rime of the ancient mariner", facendo quasi gridare al miracolo! Le tre chitarre vengono sfruttate alla grande, ricamando armonie e soli magistrali in vero stile NWOBHM. Dickinson canta alla grande, i problemi fisici sembrano superati e soprattutto non hanno intaccato minimamente le sue capacita vocali, anche se a mio parere uno dei pochi problemi di questo disco risulterà a tratti proprio la Air Raid Siren; malgrado in molti brani faccia la differenza, non solo come cantante, ma anche come compositore, in altri la sua voce è tirata all'estremo, cercando di raggiungere tonalità che non gli appartengono e dando all'ascoltatore un senso di forzato, ne è un esempio il secondo brano "Speed of Light" tra l'altro singolo apripista del disco che aveva già deliziato le orecchie dei fan da qualche settimana, il ritornello ne è palesemente l'esempio: "Shadows in the Stars we will not return..." ecc. ecc... ascoltare per credere! Per il resto "Speed of Light" è veramente una gran bella canzone (scritta da Dickinson e Smith), che viene introdotta dal un gran bel riff ad opera di Adrian Smith e che sviluppa all'interno del brano delle armonizzazioni dei tre axe men veramente molto efficaci! La successiva "The Great Unknow" (Smith/Harris) risulta una canzona un po' fiacca, con un Dickinson che riscontra gli stessi problemi di "Speed of Light". "The Red and the Black" è un brano scritto dal solo Steve Harris, infatti viene introdotto dal un giro/solo di basso sulla falsariga di "Blood of the World's Hands" di "The X Factor", ed infatti non avrebbe sfigurato sul citato disco, ma con un risultato decisamente migliore grazie a Bruce Dickinson che canta in maniera davvero buona, portando la sua voce solo ai limiti consentiti. Come molte canzoni scritte dal bassista dal periodo post reunion in su, soffre di eccessivo minutaggio, e questo a mio parere è un piccolo problema; sicuramente una bella canzone che sarebbe potuta essere ottima se il ritornello non fosse stato ripetuto eccessivamente, ed anche la parte finale praticamente infinita! "When the river runs deep" (Smith/Harris) è un bel brano, ma che personalmente non ha lasciato il segno! Arriviamo alla title track, scritta a quattro mani da Janick Gers e Steve Harris; la chitarra acustica ci introduce ad una ritmica intricata accompagnata dalle tastiere e da un Nicko mai banale e soprattutto un Bruce sugli scudi che raggiunge vette di epicità veramente buone! Una canzone non distante dai brani di "Brave new world", e dove la penna di Gers si sente non poco; infatti il chitarrista, negli ultimi anni, malgrado scriva di meno rispetto a quando è entrato nella Vergine di Ferro, probabilmente a causa della presenza di Smith, si è reso autore di canzoni epiche, "Ghost of the Navigator" da "Brave new World" e "Dance of Death" dall'omonimo album ne sono l'esempio. Un gran bel brano che chiude alla grande il primo cd. "Death or Glory" apre le danze alla seconda parte, una canzone potente e melodica dove anche in questo brano la classe dei sei musicisti fa la differenza, in modo particolare Nicko McBrain, considerato da molti indubbiamente molto bravo ma spesso definito come un batterista metodico e che utilizza sempre i soliti lick; in questa traccia smentisce quest'ultima affermazione! Quando ho ascoltato invece la successiva "Shadows of the Valley" mi è preso quasi un accidente, infatti ho avuto un déjà-vu al 1986, "Somewhere in Time" precisamente la seconda traccia "Wasted Years", e la cosa assurda è che l'autore non è neanche Adrian Smith (l'autore di Wasted Years), ma Janick Gers e Steve Harris; l'intro di chitarra è un plagio totale all'introduzione della canzone di "Somewhere in Time", mi domando come abbiano fatto a registrare una cosa del genere, ok che è un brano loro, ma copiarlo in questo modo è veramente ridicolo; per il resto la canzone è completamente diversa, e neanche male, in ogni caso a mio parere per il problema iniziale, il suo voto è insufficiente! "Tears of the Clown" (Smith/Harris) parte in maniere cadenzata, con chitarroni pesanti ed efficaci, sorretti da un bel giro di basso ed un cantato di Bruce veramente molto bello; la canzone è stata scritta e dedicata all'attore Robin Willians scomparso circa un anno fa! "The Man of Sorrows" (anche qui abbiamo rischiato il plagio per quanto riguarda il titolo "Man of Sorrow" è un brano di "Accident of Birth" del Bruce solista) ma almeno musicalmente siamo dinnanzi ad una canzone priva di copiature, tra l'altro l'unica scritta da Dave Murray (insieme all'onnipresente Harris), che viene introdotta da un Dave molto ispirato per poi proseguire con il cantato di Bruce anche qui a livelli molto buoni! Il disco si chiude con "Empire of the Clouds", scritta completamente dal cantante, che in questa occasione si cimenta anche al piano; una canzone che risulterà essere la più lunga mai scritta dalla band, con i suoi 18 minuti che per molti sicuramente saranno eccessivi, ma a mio modesto parere, insieme alla prima traccia risulta la più bella canzone di "The Book of Souls". Appunto il pianoforte introduce la bellissima voce di Bruce, che mai come in questo brano fa capire che il cantante heavy metal per eccellenza rimane ancora lui! 18 minuti intensi dove la voce rimane l'assoluta protagonista insieme alle armonizzazioni e i soli di chitarra! Un grandissimo brano che chiude un album epico, sicuramente molto lungo (90 minuti non sono pochi), ma che ci dimostrano che gli Iron Maiden malgrado le 50 primavere superate ormai da tutti e sei gli elementi rimangono una delle più grandi realtà dell'heavy metal; "The Book of Soul" non raggiungerà i livelli compositivi che la band ha raggiunto negli anni ottanta con album come "The Number of the Beast", "Powerslave" ecc. ecc. anche perché all'ora avevano poco più di vent'anni, ma rimane un disco molto bello, ispirato e soprattutto suonato da sei ottimi musicisti! Bentornati Iron Maiden!!!

I've been a fan of Iron Maiden ever since 1985, when I randomly bought 'Live After Death' on cassette tape based purely on the cover art alone. I was 11 years old. And I was so blown away by the music that they instantly became my favorite band and still are to this very day. I've seen them live five times, and I happen to like ALL of Maiden's albums. Even the Blaze ones. So let's get to the topic at hand. This 2015 album, 'The Book Of Souls'. I must get the one negative out of the way from the outset: The final song on the album. The song that happens to be by far the longest song on the CD: "Empire Of The Clouds". I just cannot get into this song. Not because of its length, but because the entire piece just doesn't sound like Iron Maiden. The very prominent piano in this song, along with its arrangement makes it sound as if it's not even a Maiden song. Just my opinion on a single track folks! Now, leaving that one little issue behind, what we have here with 'The Book Of Souls' album is total awesomeness my friends. And it warrants a five-star rating! It's everything you'd expect from Maiden, and more. It is mind-blowingly good. And what particularly strikes a chord with me about this album is the fact that all of the band members were 60 years old or at least in their very late 50s during the recording of this. AND YET, they still display major talent and creativity on this album - which we would expect of course - but more than that, when you listen to this album, you can tell that the guys were VERY inspired on this one. The feeling you get when hearing this album is that the guys were attempting to practically out-do all their previous albums. I mean, you can really sense the vibe that they were in while recording this: that all six members were just full-on and really into it. And I emphasize this fact only because it is so extremely rare for any aging band to still possess the level of talent and inspiration and substance that the guys in Maiden have display on this album. When thinking of all their post-2000 albums, this could even be considered as possibly being "the best" one. All songs on this album tend to be long - which is a cool Maiden tradition of course - but this album ran so long that it took two discs to fit it all on. So it is a "double CD" album. But once again, I cannot begin to even describe how inspired and powerful these songs are. And knowing that they could release something this amazing at their age, makes you love the songs even more. Because the passion is just flowing through everything! It really sounds like they put forth every bit of talent they possibly could, along with some very cool inventive moments on the guitars that we really haven't heard before from them. And as far as Bruce's vocals go, I will say that on this record, he has obviously opted for a somewhat noticeable "deeper tone", while not really doing the high-pitched ranges anymore. However, he pulls his vocals off really well and it sounds excellent. Bottom line: If you have been hesitant to buy this album at all, just get it immediately. As for my subject title, I'll explain: This album almost sounds like they were WANTING this to be their final album. As if they wanted to "go out on a very strong note" so to speak. I could be wrong of course, but it took five years after 'The Final Frontier' to put this album out, and at this point, another five years have also gone by, and I haven't heard even the slightest news or talk from the band about going back into the studio at all. And then with all these unprecedented Covid-19 laws, it even gives stronger reason to believe that this MIGHT BE their final album. I know fans don't like this kind of talk very much, but we all have to keep in mind that NOTHING lasts forever. Maiden are eternal though. Their legacy will still be alive a hundred years from now. I truly believe that. Up the Irons!

Hola si te gusta el heavy metal te recomiendo muchísimo este vinilo de Iron Maiden para mi uno de los mejores albums del grupo.

Album incredibile consigliato