Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls! What did you think?

Regular or deluxe?

 

DR on my hdtracks download is 8 all the way through, except Speed of Light is 9, so it's could be better/could be worse. I'd call it noticeably compressed but not distractingly so, if that makes sense.

Initial thoughts from a 30+ year long fan? Definitely better than the past couple.. maybe dance of death, too. Not as good as Brave New World or anything from the "first 10 years" era.

 

Regular - Best Buy.

 

Bummer. I have returned discs with broken cases at Best Buy, you might want to do that.

 

My vinyl is suppose to arrive tomorrow. Patiently waiting.

 

I love the care and production put into the triple vinyl edition. It really does the music justice.

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I've been such a huge Maiden fan for so long, but i just cant get into the last few releases. After listening to Book of Souls twice, i'm baffled by the positive reviews. maybe i just need to give it a few more listens, but honestly nothing here grabs me. i had such high hopes for this , and now i'm just bummed out.

 

I've been a fan for 32 years, loved the classic era, saw the Powerslave and Somewhere In Time tours...and I'm really enjoying The Book Of Souls and I've liked most of their reunion albums.

I'm not going to directly compare an album released in 2015 with one they released 3 decades ago in the mid 80s though. Too much nostalgia clouds the memories of those 80s albums and I just don't think it's fair to compare an album by a band in their 20s with an album they recorded in their 50s. I prefer to judge an album by its own merits. Compared to the other reunion albums I think this is one of the best, need to live with it a while longer though.

 

i completely agree about comparing the older albums, there is certainly a nostalgia with those. i absolutely loved Brave new World, one of my favorites.

 

I'm really enjoying it so far. It's far too early to say where it ranks among their discography but I feel pretty confident in saying that it's the best of the reunion era albums. There is a lot of music to digest here and this is truly a double album like in the old days; not a stuffed to the gills 70 minute single disc. It's nearly 95 minutes and best appreciated as two separate albums. There is nothing here that feels like "filler" to my ears. And this coming from someone who hasn't cared much for their recent albums. The songs are still long but the arrangements are usually much tighter this time around. Your mileage may vary and all that....

FWIW, I've been a fan since I was 12 years old and they had just released "The Number of the Beast".

 

The vinyl is quiet and flat and definitely forward on the low end. Harris' s bass is forward in the mix and Nicko's drums not as much.

 

Same age and same album for me as well.

I will admit I got off the train at Fear of The Dark and didn't pick up again until the time the Rock In Rio DVD was released, but I've enjoyed my second wave of Maiden fandom.

 

You youngsters!

 

Now that I'm at the ripe age of 45, I'll take that as a compliment!

 

It is about like the three that came before it. Not awful, but not particularly good either. Kinda boring and the songs run together as they all kinda sound the same.

 

Well, I find them very pleasing to the ears considering the current mastering standards, enough warmth and bass, no explicit clipping and good relative dynamics. The HD Tracks sound fantastic, but if you look the waveform of both the HD Tracks and the iTunes ones they are considerably brickwalled.

 

There's plenty of twin guitars in some songs, while others that take to little harsher directions don't explore them too much. But overall it's an interesting album where, unlike the previous since the return, seems to have no "filler" song, at least for me, even though there's of course better songs than others, all of them are good enough to make the album not even seem to be a double one. You listen to 90 min of music as if it was 60, if you know what I mean.

 

For anyone else buying at Best Buy; order online with the "pickup at store" option and use maidensave2 coupon at checkout for $2 off.

 

I want to buy it! Despite their previous album (The Final Frontier) I did not taste at first listen, but I was gradually catching up and liking a lot. I think this new album will not disappoint me.

 

In my opinion this is their best since 7th Son. Been a fan since the debut but most of the stuff since 7th Son has been hit and miss with me.

 

to me bruce sounds more interested in these songs then he has the last few albums

 

You are a youngster! 55 here and still cranking Maiden! Saw them for the first time in May 1983 in Ipswich, England while stationed there in the AF; many times over the next three years after that. Visited The Blind Beggar a few times while in the East End of London hoping to see them, no luck.

Rock on!

 

I've listened a couple of times now and, although I think there are some good moments, it doesn't really hold my attention. In fact, the second listening, through headphones, I found myself really only focusing back in on it when there was some particularly sloppy playing- which was pretty frequent at times.

I think their later albums would be so much more pleasing to listen to if they took the time to get everyone's best take rather than going the 'live in the studio' route. I guess it's a sign of the times where getting out of the studio as soon as you can, so you can get touring and make some money, is the business model.

 

Can't wait to get my copy! I haven't bought a Maiden album in many, many years. Been a fan since 1981 when the Maiden Japan live album first came out. I saw Iron Maiden on The Beast on the Road tour May 23, 1982 in Indianapolis at the Indiana Convention Center. It rocked! Met couple really cool chicks there too that I hooked up with for the rest of the summer...That was awesome.

 

Aw, man, what a shame. I was kinda looking forward to buying this, but now I don't know.

I keep seeing mixed reviews here. I really find it hard to trust some reviews as some people say they hate a certain album, but I end up buying it and liking it. DOD gets a lot of hate, but I think it is almost as good as BNW and well, AMOLAD is pretty good too. FF has way too many meandering songs with a couple of really good ones.

I'm definitely not one of those people that want them to make NOTB or POM pt 2, but if this one is as good as BNW or DOD I would buy it, brickwalled or not. I guess any Maiden is better then no Maiden.