In a new interview with The Quietus, Iron Maiden guitarists Adrian Smith and Janick Gers talk up the band’s new studio album, The Book Of Souls. Read an excerpt from the interview below:

Q: Can you tell us about the writing process behind The Book Of Souls?

Adrian Smith: “We didn’t actually rehearse anything at all - which is a very different way of working for Maiden. We just brought our ideas to the studio. I think Bruce and I had one session which produced ‘Speed Of Light’ and ‘Death Or Glory’. Steve and I got together in the studio and I played him a load of stuff I had and got busy writing lyrics for that. I actually did a lot of writing on my own. We hadn’t actually played together as a band before we went into the studio in Paris. I did a lot of writing on my own and everyone just brought ideas in.”

Janick Gers: “I’m really proud of it, I think it’s a fantastic album. Bands have to grow, travel different avenues, push the boundaries and we always do. People say, ‘Oh, Maiden always sound the same’, but we don’t; we travel different pathways and this one is no exception. I’ve got to say that the writing process was really different this time. Normally, we go into rehearsal and spend three or four weeks rehearsing. We’ll go off writing with different people in the band and get all the ideas up to speed - almost so that we can play them all live as a set - but this was different. We went into the studio with only outlines and finished writing the songs in the studio - so we were actually learning them, rehearsing them, and putting them down all at once. It gives it an immediacy because we were learning them as we went; it all has a very live feel. We all brought different things, a really broad spectrum of musical ideas - I don’t want us to become a parody of what we were; you get bands that come out and only do one song off the new album - and I know people love that and some people want that - but thats not what we do at all.”

Find the full interview at The Quietus.
 
Iron Maiden are streaming a 30-second preview of “Speed Of Light”, a new track from the upcoming new album. Listen below:

The Book Of Souls, will be released globally on September 4th through Parlophone Records (Sanctuary Copyrights/BMG in the US). It 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.

Steve comments: “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!”

Bruce continues: “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!”

The Book Of Souls tracklisiting:

Disc 1
“If Eternity Should Fail“ (Dickinson) 8:28
“Speed Of Light“ (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:01
“The Great Unknown“ (Smith/ Harris) 6:37
“The Red And The Black“ (Harris) 13:33
“When The River Runs Deep“ (Smith/ Harris) 5:52
“The Book Of Souls“ (Gers/ Harris) 10:27

Disc 2
“Death Or Glory“ (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:13
“Shadows Of The Valley“ (Gers/ Harris) 7:32
“Tears Of A Clown“ (Smith/ Harris) 4:59
“The Man Of Sorrows“ (Murray/ Harris) 6:28
“Empire Of The Clouds“ (Dickinson) 18:01

Formats:

- 2CD deluxe hardbound book limited edition
- 2CD standard edition
- Triple heavyweight black vinyl
- High res audio (24-bit Mastered for ITunes and non-Mastered for iTunes)
- Standard res audio (16 bit/ 44.1 kHz)

The Book Of Souls is the band’s 16th studio album since their eponymous debut in 1980 charted at #4 in the UK, in a career achieving sales of over 90 million albums worldwide. Their previous album, 2010’s The Final Frontier was Maiden’s most successful chart-wise to date, reaching #1 in 28 countries and was their highest chart debut in the U.S reaching #4 in the Billboard 200.

Due to Bruce’s illness the band had to delay touring plans but promise to be out on the road again early next year, giving time for Bruce to make a full physical recovery to be ready for the rigours of Maiden live performances.

Trooper Beer and iHartRadio will present an intimate playback party for The Book of Souls, on Thursday, September 3rd from 3:30 to 5:30 PM, and from 9 to 11 PM at Rock N Roll Ribs, the barbecue restaurant owned by drummer Nicko McBrain in Coral Springs, Florida. There will be two playback parties, the first at 3:30 PM, the second at 9 PM.

Check out BraveWords’ report from Iron Maiden’s Trooper Beer tasting event in Tampa, Florida at this location.