Trollheart

I'm sure nobody will be surprised at my second choice for September, and final review for Metal Month III.
Warning: Long, long LONG winded review ahead!

The Book of Souls --- Iron Maiden --- 2015 (Parlophone)

I've read a lot of reviews about this album, and while most of them are glowing with praise for it, with a few (a very few) giving it somewhat shorter shrift, most are agreed on one point: after five years, the release of a new Iron Maiden album is something of an event. And it's more of an event than any of the previous albums, because for me anyway, after the triumphant return of Bruce Dickinson on 2000's Brave New World, things slid rather badly. Now, I have already mentioned in my “Aces High” feature that I'm none too familiar with the last three albums, but the very reason this situation exists is because when I did listen to them I was not too impressed. Hard to imagine not wanting to hear, oh, let's say Seventh Son of a Seventh Son again. Or Piece of Mind. Or even Somewhere in Time. Maybe.

But while I can't speak at length about Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death or The Final Frontier, and while, when I do eventually put the time aside to listen to them in depth I may end up loving them, the very fact that I “have to put time aside” for a Maiden album shows how little impact recent releases have had on me. There was a time when I jumped up and down (when I was much younger of course and didn't have this problem with my back) whenever a new Maiden album came down the line, but now it's sort of, oh well here's another one, wonder what it will be like, ho-hum? And in general, the reactions to the last three albums do seem to have been mostly lukewarm. I mean, I have not seen any Maiden fans raving about DoD, or any critics heaping praise on AMoLaD. And TFF more or less came and went without really a ripple in the lake of Heavy Metal.

But this one is different. You can just feel it. It's not just that it's their first ever double album, or even that it contains their longest ever song. It's not even the fact that it's been half a decade since we had a Maiden album, or that it's the first time we've heard Bruce since his cancer scare. There's something ... portentous, magical, mystical even about this album, as if it's going to be the one that will redress all the substandard songs we've had on previous albums, blow the competition away and re-establish Iron Maiden at the top of the heavy metal tree, where they have always belonged. It kind of puts me in mind of visiting an old friend who has fallen on hard times, to find he is rejuvenated and raring to face life again, or trudging downstairs as a kid on Christmas morning, expecting the usual socks and gloves from Auntie Pam and discovering instead that she has sprung for the latest video game console. It's the feeling that this one is going to be the album that will paper over any cracks, pull the loose strings in the tapestry together, and reassert the dominance and beauty of a true masterpiece.

But is it? Is it that good? Or am I just overhyping it, based on reviews I've read and the few listens I've given it? The lead single was, in fairness, nothing to shout about, and I made my feelings plain about it, as did Batty, in whatever thread we were watching it in. It didn't sound like the precursor to a real cosmic shift in Maiden's fortunes, the single that was going to remind us why we all fell in love with this band in the first place. It sounded tired, bereft of ideas, going through the motions. It even inspired Batty to opine he might end up not getting the album, or any future ones. How serious he was about that, or whether he has changed his mind as I assume he has already listened to the album by now, I don't know, but I do know my own faith was tested, and “Speed of light” did nothing to bolster it up. Another uninspired Maiden single, I thought. I hope the album is better.

Is it? It is, as mentioned already, the first ever double album from this band of completely new material. Obviously they've had compilations and live albums, but never a new studio one that ran to two discs, or four sides if you're one of those newly interested in collecting vinyl. It's also the first actual album where the cover is designed and drawn by Mark Wilkinson, well known in prog rock circles for his work with Marillion and, later, Fish. But compared to previous covers, even on what I would deem sub-par albums, it doesn't scream classic, does it? But then, Maiden albums don't sell on their covers. If you're a fan, you would buy the album even if the cover were completely black, or red, or yellow. Yes, we all expect to see Eddie on the cover (and he always has been, and hopefully always will be) but the cover is very much secondary, though it has been the subject of some controversy among fans, many of whom think it is too “plain”, given the brightly coloured sleeves of previous outings. And I'm sure we all remember the last “dark” cover, don't we?

So which would you prefer? A garish, exciting cover with bland, insipid music (or in the case of The X Factor, a bland, insipid cover with bland, insipid music!) or a sedate cover which masks tremendous, exciting, pulse-pounding and thought-provoking music? An album that looks good but is all show, or one that looks okay but once you start to listen, your faith is joyfully reaffirmed?

Neither question of course matters if the music inside matches the cover, so let's dig beneath the skin, so to speak, and see what Eddie's mascots (sorry, should that be the other way around?) have for us. I am glad to see that, though it was the lead single, “Speed of Light” does not start the album, as I already know that and having to listen to it kick proceedings off would be something of a struggle. But no, we instead get “If eternity should fail”, an eight-minute epic which is in fact the shortest of four monsters on this behemoth. It is something of an odd opening, with dark synth, fluting keys which kind of recall the title track to Powerslave, and the the strong, clear voice of Bruce singing and showing that he has fully recovered from his run-in with the Big C. With an echoing, slightly delayed vocal it continues for almost a minute and a half with just Dickinson and Harris before the guitars blast through and Nicko slams in with the percussion and we really get going. I can see this being a great opener on the tour, Bruce standing alone front and centre, (or even singing offstage in the wings before walking on) as Harris caresses the keys in darkness, then the whole band bursting onstage as the song kicks in and the lights blast up.

When it gets going, it's classic Maiden with elements of “new” Maiden woven in there too, but the star is definitely Dickinson, who dispels any premature rumours that he might never sing again --- or even be here --- as he gives it all he has. It's not as fast a song as some openers like “Aces high” or “Invaders”, but it weaves its own special spell over the album from the first. I must admit, when I heard it initially I thought it came across as a weak opening; I see now what they were and are trying to do, and it makes sense. Great solos as ever from the titanic trio, and there's definitely a sense of eastern mystery running through the riffs here. It's interesting too that it's a Dickinson solo penned number that both opens and later closes the album; I think that's the first time that's happened. Yeah, it is. The spoken bit at the end, the bit about Necropolis, does nothing for me and I'm not sure what it's meant to convey, but it's a small niggle on an otherwise excellent song.

Much larger niggles about the next one. Like many Maiden fans it would seem, when I heard the lead single I was not impressed, as I have outlined above. I'm still not crazy about it and I find it to be one of the weaker tracks on the album, but I don't hate it as much now on repeated listenings as I did originally. I have no idea what it's about though, which is unusual as Maiden songs are normally relatively straightforward. That said though, what did the opener seek to convey? I guess nobody really cares as long as the two songs rock, and one thing you can say about “Speed of light” is that it does rock, but to me it still sounds like the boys are just going through the motions here. Thankfully, that's a complaint that hardly bothers the rest of the album. The lads have great fun with it, and I guess that's about as much as you can say about it. It does grow on you though. Powerful ending, though I wonder if, were this ten years ago, Bruce would have finished on a rising high note? Again, a small complaint, and not even such: more an observation really.

One thing this album is going to live or die by is the length of the tracks. Since his return in 2000, Bruce and the boys have written longer and longer songs. Yes, there was of course “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” all the way back in 1984, but that was conspicuous by being the longest track they had written at the time, and over the next six albums, though there were the odd longer track (I think “Sign of the cross” off The X-Factor was eleven minutes long?) there was nothing too long and certainly if there was, it was the only very long track on the album. Here, we have three --- count 'em, three! --- tracks that sail well over the ten minute mark, with of course the by-now well-known closer being the longest Maiden song ever, at a staggering eighteen minutes! Before we get to the first of those though there's “The great unknown”, which kicks off with Steve Harris's signature bass pulse, and slowly builds on lush synth backing. This is, surprisingly, given his usual almost tyrannical control over songwriting on the albums, the first song on which Harris is involved, writing it with Adrian Smith, and as it kicks up on guitar and drums I feel it puts me somewhat in mind of the title track to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, though that could just be me.

The usual expected solos abound of course, and Bruce is in good (though I would not say perfect) form here,then in the last minute it slows right down, to ride mostly on Steve's bass again as it heads into the final minute of the six plus it runs for, guitars slowly gathering behind it and preparing for a big finish that doesn't come; it just sort of fades out on ringing guitar and Bruce's final vocal. That takes us then into the first of the epics, and it's a Harris solo affair --- the only one on the album --- so naturally opens with a growling bass solo before the guitars pile in and “The red and the black” gets going. This runs for over thirteen minutes, so in this one song Maiden have already come close to eclipsing their longest ever track. In fact, to be completely fair, there's a lot of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in this song, particularly the opening guitar riffs and the vocal delivery. Of course the “Whoa-oh-oh”s are there in abundance, and naturally this will go down great with the audiences on the tour, but how does it play over its thirteen minutes and thirty-three seconds here on the album?

Well the lyric reads like something more out of a progressive rock album than a Maiden one, as in ”The black jack king and the red queen clash, the artful dodger he counts his stash/ The joker's wild like an impish child, while madame fortune she waits inside/ The good luck charm is overkill, the tired old soldier says fire at will/ Planes overhead go search destroy, the ones below human decoy.” Um, yeah. Whatever happened to ”Rolling, turning, diving” or even ”Soldier blue in the barren waste”? It's a little overblown lyrically and very effective and immediate, but a little pretentious I feel. Not to mention godawful bad English; this sounds like some Czech band or other non-English-speaking one wrote this! Where's the poetry, the cadences, the belief that words should flow first and rhyme second? Man, I have to be honest: this is awful lyrically! Is Harris losing it? Luckily enough, the lyrics more or less run out at the seven-minute mark and we're then treated to a virtuoso display of fretburning excellence from the three guys. If this ends up being in the encore, Bruce can take a well-earned break for about six minutes and leave it to them before coming in for the final line. In a way, the dearth of vocals, or at least lyrics, in the second half of the song kind of save it, but it is pretty overlong for what it is. There's plenty there to keep you entertained, sure, but does there need to be? This song could probably have been half its length. Can you say bloated?

It should be noted that though this is the only song Harris writes on his own, he is involved in both the next two, and three out of five on the second disc, so he's by no means hanging up his pen, tablet or whatever he uses to write songs. And it's odd that this is so bad lyrically, cos I remember him writing great music: he did after all pen “The number of the beast” and of course “Hallowed be thy name”, though that was a long time ago now. “When the river runs deep” powers along nicely with classic Maiden influence, again reminding me of Seventh Son, particularly “The evil that men do”, and it's a good song but somehow it doesn't make the impression on me that I had expected it to. Gentle guitar and synth opens the title track, another of the long ones, but the shortest of the three at a mere (!) ten minutes and change. Very much a sense of “Powerslave” and even Rainbow's “Gates of Babylon” about this; a slow, marching, punching rhythm with that eastern tinge Maiden can infuse their music with. It concerns the fall of the great and ancient civilisation of the Maya, as reflected on the cover, and has touches of “To tame a land” in there too. On balance, overall, Maiden are certainly playing to their strengths so far on this album, looking back to their classic albums for inspiration for what may be destined to be a future classic itself.

There's a standard Maiden rockout of course, and again “Rime” gets its nose in, particularly around the eighth minute or so, but it's pound for pound a better song than the longer “The red and the black”, and it doesn't feel like dragging once, unlike its stablemate. And that's the end of the long songs for now, and indeed the end of the first disc, as we burst out of the sun with “Death or glory”.

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