The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls

[MirrorMask]

Sorry, my eyesight is not the same anymore...what do the hints allude to?

It's the same hints from this reddit post I shared yesterday so more evidence to support the theory of the new album announcement coming July 15th:

Just stumbled upon this on reddit and this is very interesting regarding the new album...

https://www.reddit.com/r/ironmaiden/comments/oa9g0m/iron_maiden_album_17_viral_marketing_belshazzars/

If this is legit, there may be an announcement on July 15th

Basically the Belshazzar's Feast tshirt and Writing On The Wall

Wow. Following seemingly random accounts that have ties with Maiden's album titles is wickedly cool and clever!

And since we're at it, who the hell the reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg was?  I mean, I remember all the clues and hints and the painting about Eddie, but did someone ever conclusively solved the riddle and realized who Benny Breeg was, and in turn who the reincarnation was?

[goo-goo]

Revisiting the Maiden albums with Blaze and musically, there's a lot of interesting stuff going. Bailey's voice was a big turn off when I first heard him so I never really gave X-Factor and Virtual a chance. Still no big fan of his voice but I'm liking what I'm hearing. 

[cramx3]

Revisiting the Maiden albums with Blaze and musically, there's a lot of interesting stuff going. Bailey's voice was a big turn off when I first heard him so I never really gave X-Factor and Virtual a chance. Still no big fan of his voice but I'm liking what I'm hearing.

He sounds terrible on the X-factor.  It's a shame because like you said, theres interesting music here. But the production is also terrible.  It's a difficult album to listen to, although I really like it musically.

Blaze sounds so much better on his solo albums.  I'm really enjoying his latest release, War Within Me, that came out a few months ago.

[425]

Revisiting the Maiden albums with Blaze and musically, there's a lot of interesting stuff going. Bailey's voice was a big turn off when I first heard him so I never really gave X-Factor and Virtual a chance. Still no big fan of his voice but I'm liking what I'm hearing.

I say this frequently, but I really include those two albums as the beginning of the modern era of Iron Maiden songwriting. There's a clear continuity that runs from The X Factor to The Book of Souls in a way there really isn't running from No Prayer for the Dying to The X Factor. The return of Bruce and Adrian kicked that progression into high gear and added some new elements (you wouldn't have anything like Paschendale without Adrian or anything like Empire of the Clouds without Bruce) but they did not cause a sharp left turn in the band's style.

[gazinwales]

[cramx3]

Revisiting the Maiden albums with Blaze and musically, there's a lot of interesting stuff going. Bailey's voice was a big turn off when I first heard him so I never really gave X-Factor and Virtual a chance. Still no big fan of his voice but I'm liking what I'm hearing.

I say this frequently, but I really include those two albums as the beginning of the modern era of Iron Maiden songwriting. There's a clear continuity that runs from The X Factor to The Book of Souls in a way there really isn't running from No Prayer for the Dying to The X Factor. The return of Bruce and Adrian kicked that progression into high gear and added some new elements (you wouldn't have anything like Paschendale with Adrian or anything like Empire of the Clouds without Bruce) but they did not cause a sharp left turn in the band's style.

I've always felt this way too.

Source for this?

[wolfking]

That's gotta be fake, no?

[MirrorMask]

Of course it is, when it was the last time such major details leaked before the intended date of the announcement? we've been living in the internet (and therefore spoilers) era for a while now, if Maiden's promo machine never slipped once in the last 20 years, they're not gonna slip now.

[pg1067]

That image is a photoshop of Rembrandt's 1635 painting Belshazzar's Feast:



The scene is from the Book of Daniel.  The writing on the wall is a message from God, which Daniel interprets for Belshazzar, a Babylonian king.  The message is that God has numbered Belshazzar's days because he has been "weighed" and found wanting, and his kingdom would be given to the Medes and Persians.  Although Belshazzar exalted Daniel, he died that very night.  Belshazzar is historically known, but his biblical successor, Darius the Mede (who, according to the Book of Daniel, was king during the "Daniel in the lions' den" incident), is not.  Historians do not know exactly what happened to Belshazzar but typically assume he died during the invasion of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great.

Another painting of Belshazzar's feast, by John Martin, has a very Maiden-esque feel to it:

[TAC]

Lots of info here..

https://capnharris.wordpress.com/2021/06/28/album-log-for-the-forum/

[emtee]

Potential concept album?

[TAC]

Potential concept album?

At this age? Sure.

Seventh Grandson Of A Seventh Grandson. 

[ProfessorPeart]

Potential concept album?

At this age? Sure.

Seventh Grandson Of A Seventh Grandson. 

Fixed:

Seventh grandson of a seventh grandson
Seventh grandson of a seventh grandsoooooooooon
Seventh grandson of a seventh grandson
Seventh grandson of a seventh grandson
Seventh grandson of a seventh grandson
Seventh grandson of a seventh grandsoooooooooon
Seventh grandson of a seventh grandson
Seventh grandson of a seventh grandson

[TAC]

 

 

[wolfking]

Lots of info here..

https://capnharris.wordpress.com/2021/06/28/album-log-for-the-forum/

That was a great read.

[Dedalus]

Very cool marketing!

Up the Irons 

[nobloodyname]

Heh! They've got Tim Burgess in on it, too. Brilliant

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Cyrus the Great.

Sadly we will never hear it live.

[kirksnosehair]

I thought "The Final Frontier" was going to be their last album so I've given up trying to predict when they'll quit.


Obviously these guys are an automatic buy for me. 

[pg1067]

Cyrus the Great.

Sadly we will never hear it live.

 

[Mladen]

Of course it is, when it was the last time such major details leaked before the intended date of the announcement? we've been living in the internet (and therefore spoilers) era for a while now, if Maiden's promo machine never slipped once in the last 20 years, they're not gonna slip now.

Wasn't the information regarding The Book of souls leaked (including the cover art), prompting the band to put out the official information on the next day? I remember thinking the artwork was fake and was actually surprised that they did release a cover with a fairly simple Eddie without any background.

That doesn't mean the cover art from this page isn't fake, because it definitely is. But I wouldn't be surprise to see any correct information come up in the following days.

[emtee]

In anticipation I spun their last three albums today while writing. Three very strong bodies of work that are enjoyable from beginning to end. And I'll even say that the last 3 stack up against any 3 album run in their discography.

[kirksnosehair]

Personally I prefer this modern era of the band to their 80's and 90's output.  They've become more prog in their later years and it's kicked things up a notch or 5

[RodrigoAltaf]

Do you guys remember the rumour that Brave New World was going to be called Majesty of Gaia?

[MirrorMask]

Do you guys remember the rumour that Brave New World was going to be called Majesty of Gaia?

And then Dance of Death was supposed to be Twins of Fate 

[Architeuthis]

Personally I prefer this modern era of the band to their 80's and 90's output.  They've become more prog in their later years and it's kicked things up a notch or 5

Me too!  My Favorite Maiden albums are Brave New World through Final Frontier, then Book of Souls fell a little flat for me but still good.
I've been listening to Dance of Death all last week and I just love it every time. There are plenty of epic/prog moments all over that album.   

[MirrorMask]

BTW, the only thing I "dislike" about the viral campaign is that the title of the new album is all but confirmed. With all the WOTW hints (Maiden's online accounts are having fun posting whatever words combinations have the initials WOTW, such a picture of Eddie with charred hands and him being warned to be careful when "working on the wires"), they basically spelled out the name of the new album so when it will be announced it will be basically a confirmation.

Or maybe the album name isn't Written on the Wall, but all this WOTW thing will make sense once we know the album title / details. But if they start writing WOTW on the posters for a tour, I guess it's a safe be that's the acronym of the album title.

[nick_z]

Personally I prefer this modern era of the band to their 80's and 90's output.  They've become more prog in their later years and it's kicked things up a notch or 5

In anticipation I spun their last three albums today while writing. Three very strong bodies of work that are enjoyable from beginning to end. And I'll even say that the last 3 stack up against any 3 album run in their discography.

I very much enjoy the reunion albums too, although I personally wouldn't go quite that far. In my book, the first 7-album run is one of the greatest in rock/metal history and very tough to beat. My favorite Maiden is probably Number of the Beast, although the sweetest spot in terms of wanting to go back and listen is probably with Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son.

I do rank the reunion albums higher than anything from No Prayer through VXI (with the possible exception of X Factor). My main issue with them, I guess, is that the "prog" element in many (not all) songs tends to show up with these recurring patterns of slow building intros and slightly excessive song lengths that could be reduced by trimming some of chorus repetitions  Plus I get the whole idea of capturing the performances in a slightly more spontaneous fashion, but as a result they do occasionally sound a little sloppier than they need to be in a studio setting (and not in the youthful inexperience/enthusiasm/ardor kind of way that makes the DiAnno records so special  ). Just to go back to SiT/Seventh Son...those longer songs and those amazing instrumental/lead breaks sounded SO tight (in the best possible way!)

Anyway - you have to give it to Maiden: they are certainly still putting out high quality music. My favorite reunion record is Dance of Death, and Brave New World certainly holds a special place, as I remember the excitement when it came out. More recently, also thanks to the top songs thread, I have started appreciating Final Frontier much more - I didn't spend a whole lot of time with it at first, but I progressively found lots of interesting stuff going on in the songs.

[425]

In anticipation I spun their last three albums today while writing. Three very strong bodies of work that are enjoyable from beginning to end. And I'll even say that the last 3 stack up against any 3 album run in their discography.

I think the run of the last three comes in second for me... to the DoD-TFF run!

[MirrorMask]

It's hard to even rank them all because the quality is so high, you'll just have to look at the details and personal prefernces.

BNW is the "new classic album", that sets the tone for the reunion.
DOD is fantastic, with some forgiveable lesser tracks more than redeemed by some utter masterpieces.
AMOLAD is great too, wasn't 100% convinced at first but it grew on me, it's actually solid from beginning to end and worth the playing in full thing.
TFF is ok but it felt like more of the same. "Same" however was great so no big deal.
TBOS is another great album, just like DOD maybe not every song is a masterpiece but those who are, oh boy, amazing killer stuff!

[nick_z]

Speaking of The Book of Souls...love If Eternity Should Fail...when the song kicks in after the intro...one great, great Maiden moment...

[425]

It's hard to even rank them all because the quality is so high, you'll just have to look at the details and personal prefernces.

BNW is the "new classic album", that sets the tone for the reunion.
DOD is fantastic, with some forgiveable lesser tracks more than redeemed by some utter masterpieces.
AMOLAD is great too, wasn't 100% convinced at first but it grew on me, it's actually solid from beginning to end and worth the playing in full thing.
TFF is ok but it felt like more of the same. "Same" however was great so no big deal.
TBOS is another great album, just like DOD maybe not every song is a masterpiece but those who are, oh boy, amazing killer stuff!

I agree with all of these except that I rank TFF higher than all of them. To me it's the culmination and perfection of everything they'd been working on since The X Factor (TBoS is a combination of that with some attempts at different directions).

The choice between DoD and TBoS is ultimately decided on grounds that one of those albums has Paschendale and the other one doesn't.

[Architeuthis]

It's hard to even rank them all because the quality is so high, you'll just have to look at the details and personal prefernces.

BNW is the "new classic album", that sets the tone for the reunion.
DOD is fantastic, with some forgiveable lesser tracks more than redeemed by some utter masterpieces.
AMOLAD is great too, wasn't 100% convinced at first but it grew on me, it's actually solid from beginning to end and worth the playing in full thing.
TFF is ok but it felt like more of the same. "Same" however was great so no big deal.
TBOS is another great album, just like DOD maybe not every song is a masterpiece but those who are, oh boy, amazing killer stuff!

The choice between DoD and TBoS is ultimately decided on grounds that one of those albums has Paschendale and the other one doesn't.

Absofreakinlutely!!!   

[TAC]

You could easily make the opinion that the 5 Reunion Era albums are as good as if not better than the 5 Classic Era albums (82-88).

I made a thread on it. Not sure if the poll is active or not..

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=44551.105#lastPost

[RodrigoAltaf]

Do you guys remember the rumour that Brave New World was going to be called Majesty of Gaia?

And then Dance of Death was supposed to be Twins of Fate 

That I had never heard! Where do people get these names anyway? Maybe they were working titles at some point?