With frontman Bruce Dickinson now cancer free, the band have scheduled a September 04th release date for their sixteenth studio album, “The Book Of Souls“. The group tracked the effort—which is in fact a double studio album—in late 2014 with producer Kevin “The Caveman” Shirley (HIM, Dream Theater). The Mark Wilkinson cover art for the release can be found below along with the track listing for the outing. Dickinson himself commented:
“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!”
Bassist/vocalist Steve Harris further added:
“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!”
Disc 1:
01 – “If Eternity Should Fail” (Dickinson) 8:28
02 – “Speed Of Light” (Smith/Dickinson) 5:01
03 – “The Great Unknown” (Smith/Harris) 6:37
04 – “The Red And The Black” (Harris) 13:33
05 – “When The River Runs Deep” (Smith/Harris) 5:52
06 – “The Book Of Souls” (Gers/Harris) 10:27
Disc 2:
07 – “Death Or Glory” (Smith/Dickinson) 5:13
08 – “Shadows Of The Valley” (Gers/Harris) 7:32
09 – “Tears Of A Clown” (Smith/Harris) 4:59
10 – “The Man Of Sorrows” (Murray/Harris) 6:28
11 – “Empire Of The Clouds” (Dickinson) 18:01
The effort will be released on various formats, including:
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)
Given Dickinson‘s continued recovery from cancer the band don’t plan to begin touring behind the album until early 2016 however.
