England’s finest heavy metal export, Iron Maiden, have unfortunately been in the press for all the wrong reasons. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson made it public a few months ago that he was battling cancer, but luckily it seems like his recovery is going phenomenally well and that he’s got a great chance of beating the disease. Now that the band looks like they’re getting back up on their feet, they’re getting ready to go and release not just a follow-up to The Final Frontier, but a double album! This will be the first time the band has ever done this in their career that spans almost four decades now. Learn more about The Book of Souls below.
The band revealed the artwork, track listing, and release date for the band’s upcoming 92-minute (whew!) record, which will feature the band’s longest song to date and is slated to drop on September 4th worldwide. ““We’re really excited about The Book Of Souls and had a fantastic time creating it. We started working on the album in late summer 2014 and recorded it at Guillame Tell Studios in Paris, where we’d done the Brave New World album back in 2000 so the studio holds special memories for all of us. We were delighted to discover the same magical vibe is still alive and very much kicking there,” Dickinson said about the album. This is great news, considering that Brave New World is perhaps the strongest release in the band’s more modern catalog.
“A lot of the songs were actually written while we were there in the studio and we rehearsed and recorded them straight away while they were still fresh, and I think that immediacy really shows in the songs, they have almost a live feel to them I think,” said Steve Harris, the band’s bassist and founding member. This is certainly an exciting prospect for the band, considering that the band truly excels when they’re ripping on stage.”
We’ll keep you posted on any other new updates or singles that may be released for this album ahead of time. For now, you’ll just have to salivate at the prospect of this track list.
Disc 1
1. If Eternity Should Fail (Dickinson) 8:28
2. Speed Of Light (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:01
3. The Great Unknown (Smith/ Harris) 6:37
4. The Red And The Black (Harris) 13:33
5. When The River Runs Deep (Smith/ Harris) 5:52
6. The Book Of Souls (Gers/ Harris) 10:27
Disc 2
7. Death Or Glory (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:13
8. Shadows Of The Valley (Gers/ Harris) 7:32
9. Tears Of A Clown (Smith/ Harris) 4:59
10. The Man Of Sorrows (Murray/ Harris) 6:28
11. Empire Of The Clouds (Dickinson) 18:01