In the new “Behind The Interview” video footage streaming below, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson discusses the band’s new album, The Book Of Souls, with Nights With Alice Cooper:

Iron Maiden’s The Book Of Souls World Tour will open in the US in late February with Ed Force One flying in for three shows before, in early March, heading into Central America visiting Mexico, followed by a much anticipated first ever concert in El Salvador and a return to Costa Rica. Ed Force One then proceeds into South America for concerts in Argentina, Chile and a number of shows in Brazil before flying back to the USA at the end of March for ten more cities covering the USA and, of course, Canada in the first two weeks of April.

A long awaited return to Japan follows later in April, and then the band are delighted to be playing their first ever shows in China before heading to New Zealand and Australia for a comprehensive tour during the first half of May. Shows in South Africa, Maiden’s first visit there with Bruce, will be the last port of call before Ed Force One heads to Europe for a very extensive tour starting in late May and finishing in early August. This will the first time Ed Force One has ever been used on any European Tour dates (other than Bruce’s Fan Club trips to shows) and will provide transport there for at least for the first few weeks.

Dates announced so far can be found here (with ticket links). Check out a video ad for the tour, streaming below:

The Book Of Souls has given BMG’s recorded music operation its best first-week album sales in the US market since the Bertelsmann-owned firm relaunched as an independent in 2008, reports Music Business Worldwide.

According to Nielsen Soundscan, the record sold more than 75,000 units in its opening week, landing at #4 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the SoundScan albums chart (which excludes streaming data). That’s the UK metal group’s best sales performance since Nielsen Soundscan began monitoring the industry in 1991.

BMG, which announced its entry into the frontline of the US recorded music business less than 18 months ago, acquired Iron Maiden’s recording rights following its buyout of Sanctuary Records in 2013.

Read more at Music Business Worldwide.

Iron Maiden’s recently released new video for "Speed Of Light" racked up over 3.2 million views in just three days, and is now pushing the 4 million mark. Written by guitarist Adrian Smith and vocalist Bruce Dickinson, "Speed Of Light" is taken from their new double album The Book Of Souls, due for global release on September 4th through BMG in North America. New behind-the-scenes footage on the video can be seen below.

The video was produced and directed by Llexi Leon with animation and visual effects by The Brewery Production Company. A huge Iron Maiden fan, this is Llexi Leon’s first music video. Creator of the cult comic book series Eternal Descent – an IP that digitally animated a cast list of metal and hard rock luminaries, Leon has further expanded into the video gaming industry. He chose to collaborate with The Brewery who’s previous film credits include 2010’s punk-rock inspired Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll with Andy Serkis, 2012’s music festival themed Spike Island with Emilia Clarke & more recently were providing VFX for the Sky Atlantic biopic on Ian Fleming.

The video is an homage to four decades of video gaming juxta-posed alongside Iron Maiden’s 40 years of incredible visual canon centring on their talisman, Eddie, as he travels through space and time to complete his Herculean task.

Behind-the-scenes footage:

“Speed Of Light” video:

The Book Of Souls was recorded in Paris with their longstanding producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in late 2014, with the finishing touches added earlier this year. However, the band decided to delay its release so that vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who was recently given the all-clear from a tumour, would have time to recuperate sufficiently to join in the preparations for the album’s launch.

The stunning cover art was created by Mark Wilkinson who has worked with the band previously, and because this 11 track album has a total running time of 92 minutes, it is Iron Maiden’s first ever double studio album. There’s a broader split on the song-writing compared to previous Maiden records, with bassist and founder member Steve Harris contributing to seven of the tracks; six of them with Maiden’s guitarists and one sole composition. This is also the first time since 1984’s Powerslave that an Iron Maiden studio album also features two tracks written solely by Bruce Dickinson, one of which is the longest song Maiden has ever recorded! And also two Dickinson/Smith collaborations.