Iron Maiden, The book of souls

Iron Maiden are like the wine. That could be all the review you need for their new album, The book of souls. And still, such a respectable album deserves a respectable and lengthy review. 

The book of souls is everything you’d expect from Iron Maiden and more. It still has faced paced heavy metal anthems that couldn’t let you stand still unless you were deaf, it still has lengthy guitar solos (could you expect anything else from the band that took guitar solos and turned them into art?) and still has TONS of gasoline.

The boys are definitely not growing tired, old or out of ideas, like a lot of the bands their age are, but are actually maturing and refining more and more. To tell you the truth, I was pleasantly surprised, I kind of thought they’re on a descending slope, but forget that thought! It seems that they are more oriented towards growing tracks, that tell stories and have time to develop, as most of the songs are indeed more settled, longer, darker and more progressive, but there’s still a lot of power and raw force in all of them and they seem to be ignoring the current trend of getting softer and mushier as times goes by. Basically, they’re the perfect mix between being loyal to their sound and identity, but not turning into AC/DC and releasing pretty much the same album for 40 years in a row.

And coming from the band who could put up virtually anything and still have thousands of fanboys and excellent sales, it’s something absolutely admirable. Younger and less famous bands have turned safe while trying to conserve a style that has brought them fame and success, but not Maiden. Their longest album up to date, with their longest song up to date, with Bruce playing the piano for the first time and Harris taking a back seat in songwriting for the first time in God knows how long, it’s definitely an innovative release that proves this band still has it in it. After four less than stellar albums, the guys have been accused of living off their past fame, but I think this record, along with their refusal to focus on the old hits in live shows, prove that it is definitely not the case and I respect them a lot for that. If nothing else, Maiden is a band that commands respect. 

Bruce Dickinson is again impeccable. From the first second I hear his raw voice that I missed so much in If eternity should fail, until the last soft glided note in Empire of clouds, he is amazing. This new focus on growing epic songs uses his story-teller talent even more than before; he is perfect for bringing tales to life and every note that comes out of his mouth is full of passion and conviction. In fact, his whole life exhales passion and dedication, the man has been fronting an iconic band for decades, is known to get hurt on stage because of how crazily excited he is about performing (and then keeps on going), is an aircraft pilot, does fencing, writes books, hosts radio shows, fights with cancer at almost 60 and wins and, of course, sings divinely. He is truly an inspiration and it’s no wonder that the longest and best song of the album is written by him as a tribute to his lifelong love for flying. 

And speaking of Empire of the clouds, one of the things I like most about this album are those gentle moving moments. Iron Maiden have always been a very intense and passionate band, but the lack of ballads and generally emotional songs in their career has been a downside for me. They are fiery on one side, but on the other side, there’s a certain coldness to their music that fortunately this album has decided to correct. Tears of a Clown and Man of sorrow are both very touching and filled with an amount of angst and emotion I don’t think I’ve heard from them since the desperate testament from Hallowed be thy name, but it’s the beginning and ending of Empire of clouds that soothe my heart like probably nothing else Maiden has ever written before. In fact, the whole song is magistral! Starting with the gorgeous piano and violin intro, continuing with Bruce’s heartfelt long notes, growing and growing until the 6 minute-long whirlwind of guitars explodes in the dramatic description of the airplane’s descent, and then ending tragically and yet gently and resigned, the song is the perfect crowning for this album. It does lose momentum a bit by the middle, but it quickly picks up the pace with a trademark guitar solo that goes through every rhythm and mood you could think of and makes you forget immediately that you almost got bored for a minute there. 

If you thought that an 18-minute song is enough for this mastodon of an album, then I guess you haven’t been paying attention, because these guys are determined to go all out. The second epic is The book of souls, a worthy title track, that starts lightly and again, with a lot of emotion, as it prepares you for a spreading of forces typical for Iron Maiden. And yes, there is a third 10 minute song as well, The red and the black. Technically it’s the first chronologically, but quality-wise I find it the weakest of the three because even though it starts with a highly contagious guitar riff repeated all throughout the verse, it deflates as time goes by and turns out to be too long for how little it has to offer. It’s not grabbing enough, it’s trailing and it seems like a recycled version of Rime of the ancient mariner, so I guess it was wise of Steve to acknowledge his inspiration wasn’t exactly peaking this time around, as he took a step back and allowed the rest of the band to pitch in more. 

However, it’s not all lengthy progressive epics. As I was saying in the beginning, there are still a few classic heavy metal moments, reminiscent of The trooper or Run to the hills, some more reminiscent than the others (I’m looking at you, stolen Wasted years riff from Shadows of the valley). The most notable one is Speed of light, which could best be described as “the DiAnno era meets The Final frontier, with a short incursion through nomoreliesnomoreliesnomorelies”. Thankfully, the single is not representative in any way for the rest of the album, because the never-ending repetition of the chorus and especially of the one off note that Bruce produces in this record, of all things, (that high “stAAAAAAAAAAArs”) grates on my nerves. Death or glory is again melodic, catchy, energising and highly repetitive, in good old Maiden tradition. Just in case you were worried they forgot their trademarks 😛

Basically, it’s an album that has everything for everyone. The reviews are already very good, some are even calling it the best post-reunion record and personally I couldn’t be more pleased with the result. I’m always excited when I listen to good music, but this time, after such a long wait, such a mediocre previous album and sooo many disappointments from other bands I used to like, I was just delighted! As soon as the album ended, I had a giant grin on my face and I turned to my husband and told him “It’s great! I’m so happy!”. I don’t know how many spins later, I’m still stupidly excited about this and I’m ready to play it to everyone who rubbed salt in the wounds by saying Maiden has lost their touch. They may have misplaced it for a while, but it’s definitely still there and this fangirl couldn’t be happier!