One listen so far. My first impressions are the following.
There is a lot to digest here, and I think it will need 10 listens or so before a pattern will start to emerge. But overall, I'd say it's a strong album. The typical faults are there: some songs are too long, the production is not that great, etc. But the songs are definitely good, and I'd say the material is stronger than on Book of Souls. Especially the vocal department seems somehow more satisfying this time, although Bruce is a bit low in the mix from time to time. As for the guitars, many of the melodies remind me of X Factor, which was a nice surprise. To my great disappointment, the greatest guitar solo of the album turned out to be Adrian's solo on Writings on the Wall. That one is so great, that my hopes were up that the whole album might be filled with that stuff. Not so.
The only song I find extremely dull and straight out bad is Death of the Celts. Nothing good to say about that one.
The best songs right now: Senjutsu, Hell on Earth, Darkest Hour. Days of Future past seemed very promising, and the riffs in the beginning are awesome, but the chorus was a bit lame.
But yeah, only first impressions here, so gonna need more time with this one. A lot more time.