Iron Maiden will release the first two-disc set of their career on September 4 with The Book of Souls.
Souls, which times out at 92 minutes, was made with the band’s normal producer, Kevin Shirley, and is their first studio set since 2010’s The Final Frontier.
The album has actually been complete since earlier this year, but the decision was made to allow lead singer Bruce Dickinson time to recover from his cancer treatment before the set was released along with the needed commitment to touring.
Recorded in Paris, the album has seven of the tracks written by bassist Steve Harris, six in collaboration with the band’s guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. Two of the tracks were written by Smith and Dickinson while Bruce wrote two additional tracks alone.
Harris said of the album “We approached this album in a different way to how we’ve recorded previously. A lot of the songs were actually written while we were there in the studio and we rehearsed and recorded them straight away while they were still fresh, and I think that immediacy really shows in the songs, they have almost a live feel to them, I think. I’m very proud of The Book Of Souls, we all are, and we can’t wait for our fans to hear it, and especially to take it out on the road next year!”
Dickinson added “We’re really excited about The Book Of Souls and had a fantastic time creating it. We started working on the album in late summer 2014 and recorded it at Guillame Tell Studios in Paris, where we’d done the Brave New World album back in 2000 so the studio holds special memories for all of us. We were delighted to discover the same magical vibe is still alive and very much kicking there! So we immediately felt at home and the ideas just started flowing. By the time we’d finished we all agreed that each track was such an integral part of the whole body of work that if it needed to be a double album, then double its going to be!”
Track List:
Disc 1
If Eternity Should Fail
Speed Of Light
The Great Unknown
The Red And The Black
When The River Runs Deep
The Book Of Souls
Disc 2
Death Or Glory
Shadows Of The Valley
Tears Of A Clown
The Man Of Sorrows
Empire Of The Clouds
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