The Book of Souls (2015)
After a longer touring cycle than normal, it was time for Maiden to shift the focus back to new music. This time around, they decided to write the album in the studio where it was being recorded. By doing so, they could record a song as soon as the writing was complete to preserve the initial spirit of the track. As Maiden themselves and many other artists have stated, it can often be hard to recapture the vibe of a demo when going for a finished recording. Writing in the studio was also appealing because it removed the ever growing risk of a fan coming across the rehearsal space and recording from outside (not that this ever happened, but Bruce voiced concerns about it in his book). Like The Final Frontier, the band decided to revisit a studio they used in the past. This time it was Guillaume Tell Studios in Paris, where the band recorded Brave New World 15 years earlier. Kevin Shirley was once again at the production helm and, being the fifth album with this lineup, this would make the current lineup the longest surviving Maiden lineup both in terms of years and albums recorded.
While the majority of the material was in fact written in the studio, some of the songs date back a bit earlier. Before the sessions began, Bruce and Adrian met up for what became a very lucrative writing session that harkened back to their legendary partnership in the 80s. Of course the two continued to collaborate on recent albums, but it was usually along with Steve Harris (who was often more involved in the music than Bruce). Not counting the songs that involved Steve, this was the first time the two collaborated with each other since Bruce’s solo albums in the late 90s. Adrian had also played a large part in the proggier direction of the last two albums and contributed many of the longer songs. For The Book of Souls, a conscious effort was made by the guitarist to dial it back a bit and return to the straightforward Metal sound of classic Maiden. Consequently, Adrian and Bruce came up with two of the catchiest and most high energy rockers that have been produced by modern Maiden: the Deep Purple-esque Speed of Light and the World War I based Death or Glory. Speed of Light was particularly driven by the guitar and heavily influenced by players such as Eric Johnson. Adrian stated that listening to Johnson inspired him to revisit the pentatonic scale to create new interesting riffs. On the other hand, Death Or Glory is a rocker with a shuffle feel that describes the triplane piloted by the Red Baron. Classic subject matter for Maiden and unsurprising coming from Dickinson, who owns a triplane replica and took part in a World War I dogfight demonstration at Sonisphere just months prior. Ironically, the song is largely reminiscent of the war inspired tunes of the 80s such as Aces High and Where Eagles Dare, both songs that were penned by Harris.
Other material that was considered before the album sessions began also came from Dickinson. Earlier that year, Bruce met with long time collaborator Roy Z to work on some new solo material for a potential new album (his first solo album since 2005). A concept album was conceived titled If Eternity Should Fail and demos were recorded. In a surprise repeat of history from No Prayer For the Dying with Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter, Steve Harris asked if Maiden could “borrow” some of these songs for the next album. Two songs were chosen: the album’s title track, If Eternity Should Fail, and another track called Nightmares. The latter was ultimately rejected because the band would’ve had to give Roy Z a writing credit and Steve has a strict no outsider writers in Maiden rule. However, If Eternity Should Fail was written solely by Bruce Dickinson and was therefore eligible to be on the album. Bruce initially assumed that the intro and outro would be removed from the Maiden version, since they were related to his album’s concept and these sections wouldn’t make sense out of context. But Steve insisted that they be left on since by then The Book of Souls was chosen for the album title and Steve liked how lines such as “here is the soul of a man” would connect to the title. If Eternity Should Fail is also notable for being the first Maiden song where the entire band was tuned to drop D. Adrian and Janick had used drop D before in other songs (Adrian in particular even reworked older songs to add an extra frequency layer to the music), but this was the first time all three guitarists used the tuning on the same song.
Once in the studio, the more traditional writing partnerships once again took shape. The three guitarists all came in with their own ideas and Steve Harris worked to help arrange them into fleshed out songs. The amount of contributions from the guitarists actually ended up being about the same as on the previous two albums, with five songs from Adrian, two songs from Janick, and one song from Dave. Two of the Adrian songs were the previously mentioned collaborations with Bruce and the remaining three were collaborations with Steve. These two were also on the shorter side, making The Book of Souls the first album since Brave New World not to contain an epic from Adrian. Instead, the guitarist brought forth some more quick rockers in the form of When the River Runs Deep, The Great Unknown, and Tears of a Clown. Of these three songs, The Great Unknown was probably the closest to the proggier output on the previous albums, with a slow intro followed by a steady beat akin to Mother of Mercy or one of the many songs on A Matter of Life and Death to use this format. The song also showed Adrian experimenting further with his guitar playing by using an open tuning in the intro. The Great Unknown is also notable for being the first song that the band came up with and recorded during the proper album sessions.
One of the songs that received a lot of buzz in the weeks leading up to the album was Tears of a Clown. It piqued the interest of many fans early on for two reasons: because Bruce stated that it was his favorite on the album and because it was revealed that the lyrics were inspired by the death of Robin Williams. Steve Harris is no stranger to depression and has tackled the topic several times in past Maiden songs both directly and indirectly. Close to the making of the album, the bassist suffered the losses of several close friends and family members which had a large impact on his output for The Book of Souls. Needless to say, the story of Robin Williams’ depression and suicide impacted him deeply and inspired one of the songs on the album. Tears of a Clown is not directly about Robin Williams, but the influence is prominent. Bruce found out about the song’s theme when he asked Steve what it was about while recording. It is obvious when listening to his performance that it greatly inspired the singer.
Another song that was influenced by the events in Steve’s personal life is The Man of Sorrows, also the album’s obligatory Dave Murray contribution. Not to be confused with the song that appeared on Bruce Dickinson’s Accident of Birth, The Man of Sorrows deals with mortality and the experience of watching those who are close to you pass away. Of all the songs on the album, this is the one that most directly addresses what Steve was going through at the time. Along with Tears of the Clown, it’s somber but also among the heaviest songs on the album.
For the third album in a row, Janick’s output was limited to two songs: Shadows of the Valley and The Book of Souls. Although they were both on the longer side, The Book of Souls in particular stands out for being one of six Maiden songs to cross the 10 minute mark (three of these appear on this album alone). This song follows the progression of Janick epics that began all the way back in 2000 with Dream of Mirrors. When the album and tracklist were announced to the public, the length of this song suggested that it would contain another long acoustic intro akin to those found on The Legacy and The Talisman. However, Janick and Steve subverted expectations quite a bit. The song does contain an acoustic intro but it’s very brief. The bulk of the song is heavy and contains many different parts. The lyrics, inspired by Mayan mythology, also helped to shape the theme and art direction of the album.
Of course the album wouldn’t be complete with Steve’s own stab at an epic. This time he attempted to outdo himself by bringing in a track that equalled the length of Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which was the longest Maiden song prior to this album. Being in the shadow of Rime (not to mention another epic that we’ll get to later) probably didn’t help this track in the end as the songs share very few (if any) similarities. In fact, The Red and the Black probably has more in common musically and lyrically with The Angel and the Gambler than Rime of the Ancient Mariner, although that is not necessarily a bad thing. Like Angel, the song seems pretty clearly influenced by the heavy and progressive rock of the 70s that Steve listened to growing up. It is a song that gives the band a chance to flex their musical muscles and jam. The instrumental section is so long that in itself it could qualify as the first Maiden instrumental song since Losfer Words (just that section even dwarfs the lengths of most of Maiden’s instrumentals). In fact, the vocal parts really seem to just serve as a jumping off point for the instrumental. Steve also gets a chance to show off his bass playing with bass solos bookending the track. The vocal parts are Steve’s typical wordy affairs, which Bruce struggled to sing in the studio. The lyrics predictably describe fate and chance, all of which Steve has dealt with before.
Meanwhile, Bruce was notably absent from the writing sessions for the album. Normally he was heavily involved in the songwriting, especially working with Adrian and Steve. However, this time around he spent the writing sessions isolated in a soundproof booth with a grand piano. Bruce had been messing with several musical and lyrical ideas without knowing for sure which direction he was going to take. At one point he thought the piece would be about World War I triplanes, but that ideal ultimately manifested itself in Death or Glory and Bruce did not want to repeat himself. Around this time, Bruce was fascinated by the R 101 Airship disaster. He had collected material from the event and recently finished a biography about the incident. The book, titled To Ride the Storm served as inspiration for the first line of the song and the story that Bruce’s music would illustrate. The process of writing the piece was a slow and laborious process. Secluded in the piano booth, Bruce would slowly pound away each section. He would think about which part of the story he was on and write music that suitably fit the mood he needed to convey. The entire thing was written on piano and Bruce imagined it being performed not with electric guitars, but with horn sections and strings. Bruce spent the entire period of writing and recording The Book of Souls working on this piece. Consequently, it was his only contribution other than what he had previously worked on with Adrian and Roy Z outside of the Maiden sessions.
After weeks of work, Bruce presented his opus, Empire of the Clouds, to the band. He performed the song to them on the piano, which was made particularly tedious thanks to his limited proficiency at the instrument. Since everything was to be based around the piano, the first step was to record the piano parts Bruce came up with. The piano part was recorded not on the Steinway grand piano that the piece was written on, but a MIDI keyboard so that Bruce’s mistakes could just be edited to save time. The real challenge came when it was time for the song to be Maidenized and arranged for the band. Some piano melodies were translated to guitar, some new riffs and chord progressions were conceived to support the piano parts, and dynamic heavy sections were created to increase the drama. A major help with the piece was actually Nicko McBrain, who collaborated with Bruce on percussion parts that would illustrate the story, specifically the crash of the airship. He brought in orchestral percussion for embellishment and to add density to the music. The band also employed Jeff Bova to create an orchestral arrangement, although these parts were performed by a synthesizer using orchestral sounds. It was an ambitious and challenging project, but the band came through with the help of Bruce and Kevin Shirley’s direction. The end result was not only the longest song on an album that already contained some of Maiden’s strongest material, but the longest song the band had ever recorded at a whopping 18 minutes.
To that end, it became obvious very early in the recording sessions that there was enough material for a double album. They approached this with the attitude that “if it is to be a double album, then a double album it will be.” Of course this was to the dismay of Rod Smallwood, who jokingly suggested that they instead release them separately i.e. Use Your Illusion or Load/Reload. Separating the album was out of the question as a lot of time and effort was invested into making sure that a complete and coherent piece was produced.
By December 2014, the recording of the album was finished and the band was ready to set their sights on a new tour, starting Summer 2015 in North America. These plans came to a quick halt when, just weeks after wrapping up production, Bruce was diagnosed with tongue and throat cancer.
Bruce’s battle with cancer was well publicized during the promotional cycle for the album and the man himself chronicled the story better than I ever could in his autobiography. So instead of rehashing that story (which you’re all probably well familiar with), I’ll just recommend checking out the book if you haven’t already. What I will say is that Bruce recovered remarkably quick. The end of 2014 was unusually quiet from the Maiden camp. There were reports of the band booking studio time in Paris but the new year passed without any concrete information. It wasn’t until Bruce had finished chemotherapy in February when it was announced to the public that he had cancer. There was then much uncertainty about the band’s future and, more importantly, concerns for the singer’s health. The official statement was vague but optimistic. Naturally, there was question of the severity of Bruce’s cancer, whether the press release was intentionally downplaying something more serious, and if he would ever sing or perform with Maiden again. Things remained quiet in the Maiden camp again for the first part of 2015 until Bruce was given the all clear in May. It was then confirmed that a new album would be released later that year and that Maiden intended on returning to the road once Bruce fully recovered.
Meanwhile, the Maiden promotional machine geared up for the new album promotional cycle. Being the ever shrewd manager, Rod Smallwood saw an opportunity to use Bruce’s cancer fight and recovery as an effective promotional tool. As if the first Maiden album in half a decade wasn’t enough, the album could be advertised as a comeback for Bruce despite being recorded prior to the cancer treatment. Given that the album was bookended by two behemoth tracks from the singer, putting him in the spotlight for the album promotion made even more sense. The press release highlighted Bruce’s story and every interview inevitably addressed the topic. Bruce also gave a majority of the interviews promoting the album, although he had always been a prominent part of Maiden’s publicity apparatus.
The album was finally formally announced in 2015, complete with a title, cover, and tracklisting. Instead of the slow drip of news and countdowns that came with The Final Frontier, everything was dumped in one unannounced press release. Later on the first single, Speed of Light, was also announced. Unlike El Dorado from The Final Frontier, Speed of Light had a physical release and an accompanying video.
The Mayan theme of the album allowed the band to revisit familiar thematic territory in the album artwork. They could revisit the Powerslave aesthetic with pyramids and ancient artifacts. They decided not to replicate the grandeur of the Powerslave cover, however, and instead went with the most minimalist Maiden design arguably since the debut. The cover was designed by Mark Wilkinson, who is perhaps best known for designing the Marillion covers, as well as Best of the B Sides and Live at Donington by Maiden. He also designed some iconic Judas Priest covers, including Painkiller. The simplicity of the front facing Eddie on the cover brought a lot of mystique to the album. Of course a more elaborate design became visible when opening up the album booklet or the gatefold of the triple LP release (The Book of Souls was also the first Maiden album since Fear of the Dark to receive a black vinyl release).
The heavy promotional campaign worked. The album saw the band’s first second consecutive #1 album in the UK and fifth overall, in addition to #1 in many other countries and #4 in the US. It also outsold The Final Frontier in the UK and USA by a considerable amount, despite the same chart positions. Overall, The Book of Souls became one of the band’s best selling and most buzzed about album in years. It was also received to high praise from fans and critics alike, being heralded by many as their best since Brave New World. In interviews, the band also seemed far more energized than they had been in years. There was more enthusiasm about the album than what was present for The Final Frontier and it felt like Bruce’s cancer had revitalized the band. However, the quality and energy of the album suggested that this revitalization was already taking shape before Bruce was diagnosed. It was a long wait, but now fans had yet another classic Maiden album.
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