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Released on September 4, 2015 via Parlophone/Sanctuary/BMG
Since the return of Bruce Dickinson with Brave New World Iron Maiden have been rediscovering their mojo. Successive albums have been building on their fearsome reputation, not merely cementing that enviable legendary status, but making some of the best music of their career.
The Final Frontier contained several prog epics among the mid-length barnstormers. The Book Of Souls sees them venture further into progressive territory with three tracks passing the ten-minute mark and the much-talked-about epic, ‘Empire of the Clouds’, the longest track in the band’s history. The good news up front is that they not only pull off an ambitious double-player, they’ve recorded their best album since 1988.
‘If Eternity Should Fail’ starts in dark fashion with an eerie lingering synth chord and Bruce’s otherworldly disembodied voice before the full machine gets into gear with that trademark triplet gallop. This is a band with nothing to prove setting the scene for their magnum opus. It is a bold, dramatic opener that serves as thematic exposition for a set of songs concerned with death, the harvester of souls. The theme uncannily foreshadows Dickinson’s own brush with mortality – his tongue cancer diagnosis. Strange though it is to ponder that the malignant growth is present in every word he sings here, there is certainly no sign of its presence in his vocal performance.
The first single, ‘Speed of Light’, is a fun romp. A bluesy riff and cowbell are atypical, but once the twin lead guitars take flight this is classic Maiden. Like most of the album there is not much new on show here. This isn’t a late-career reinvention, it’s a band playing to their strengths, often borrowing from their past but with enough self-awareness not to be simply rehashing past glories.
‘The Great Unknown’ comes across like a more focussed ‘Isle Of Avalon’. ‘The Red and the Black’ features a vocal gang-chant that is destined to be the new ‘Fear of the Dark’ in live performances. The classic duelling lead guitars dominate ‘When the River Runs Deep’ while the title track contains an instrumental bridge that will have fans of old dusting down their battle jackets and giving it some in the living room while the grandchildren tut their disapproval. It’s pure ‘Losfer Words’ and it charges breathless to the end of disc one. If that was the end of The Book of Souls then Iron Maiden have further solidified their reputation but astonishingly the second disc contains more of the same quality.
‘Death or Glory’ again recalls the Piece of Mind/Powerslave era in its depiction of an aerial dogfight. It’s no ‘Aces High’, but it’s got it in its crosshairs. The most blatant act of self-plagiarism comes in the intro to ‘Shadows of the Valley’. The repeating open-string guitar intro is clearly ‘Wasted Years’ (2015 Redux). This is no bad thing in itself, but add to that lyrics that reference ‘Sea of Madness’ and ‘The Trooper’ and the song veers uncomfortably towards cringeworthy self-parody in a way that the title track didn’t.
The worst song on the album is followed by an absolute beauty. ‘Tears of a Clown’ is a tribute to Robin Williams who tragically took his own life in 2014. What could have been mawkish sentiment looks sympathetically into the psyche of a tragic Pierrot. The main riff owes something to Tool with its syncopated palm-muting. This would be a great choice for a single. ‘The Man of Sorrows’ begins in stock Maiden ballad territory – this album’s ‘Coming Home’ but with an altogether darker hue as the guitar trio start to grind away and interlocking harmony guitars weave a tapestry.
At a full 5-minutes longer than their prog epic ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ the 18-minute ‘Empire of the Clouds’ is Bruce’s baby. Telling the story of the British R101 dirigible which crashed in flames on its maiden voyage he leads the track from the airship’s construction to its fate in the fields of France. Composed largely at the piano it begins in stately regal fashion before an S.O.S. is sounded in orchestra hits and the gathering storm threatens. The pathetic fallacy recalls ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ by Rush and that analogy is fitting as Iron Maiden deliver their most progressive song ever. It is a breathtaking and passionate finale to an album that is difficult to fault.
Weighing in at 92 minutes there is a lot of new music to take in across two CDs or three vinyl LPs. The astonishing achievement of these veterans is that attention hardly wanders during its duration. Sure, the quality varies but by the smallest of margins.
If The Final Frontier had been their swan song they would have gone out on a high. Instead they have returned triumphant with certainly the most ambitious yet one of the best albums of their career.
