With great pleasure, I get to review one of the most iconic bands in all of Metal and Rock, IRON MAIDEN! The new album "The Book Of Souls", which immediately sounded like a concept album like JUDAS PRIEST's "Nostradamus", as that was a double disc too, but it's more half on half with that ideal; you might think the 20 minute song, "Empire Of The Clouds", has that concept feel but it's really a nicely long piece of art, which I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of.

If I'm brutally honest, I don't listen to IRON MAIDEN as often as I should, but I respect the band and own most of their albums and have seen them live 2 times so far now to know that they ARE one of the biggest acts of all time, ever. I hyped up the release of "The Book Of Souls", pre-ordering my copy ASAP because the single "Speed Of Light" really took me by surprise and blew me away, it was very Rock N Roll Metal style and I knew the entire album would be too, so I ordered my Deluxe Edition from "Nuclear Blast" with pleasure.

A few classics here, including "The Red And The Black", which is probably my favorite on the album; very and extremely catchy, and so far, most of my friends agree with this too. When I started the album I was extremely hyped to hear Bruce Dickenson's voice back in full form in "If Eternity Should Fail" despite his recent battle with cancer and winning his life back, kicking it's arse during the process of making this record, I believe? He's still kicking arse and showing he's still one of the best vocalists alive.

"Speed Of Light" is a great way to advertise the new album as the first single, and will be a great live attribute, as well. While "The Book Of Souls", after "Speed Of Light", feels mostly conceptual with all the instrumental and vocal solos, this is not true, as I feel "The Red And The Black" will make for another great live addition. "The Great Unknown" is just epic too.

I assure you that I'm a fan of IRON MAIDEN, aren't we all? But I'm not being biased here, I generally feel "The Book Of Souls" is one of the best albums of 2015, even though we have the new SLAYER, out a week after the release of "The Book Of Souls" and a bunch of other amazing albums this year. This one really took me by surprise. It's brutal, epic, and a climactic return with some amazing riffs and legendary vocals. The sound production is okay, not too loud to make you deaf, but just about right to enjoy yourself with, which sounds about right for a Heavy Metal band. "Tears Of A Clown" and "The Man Of Sorrows" are also highlights, which are dedicated to the brilliant Robin Williams who died last year (2014) unfortunately, may he rest in peace. They are great and epic songs though, which are a fine tribute to the unfortunate passing.

I'll conclude with "Empire Of The Clouds", which is the iconic 20-minute track and it is an epic piece of work, as stated earlier; it may seem long and repetitive but it really isn't, instead, it's enjoyable, epic and fun. While bands like MANOWAR have done a 30 minute track before (in individual song parts mind you), this didn't surprise me much, as there have been others too to perform this feat, but MAIDEN perform a full-on 20 minute epic never done before in their illustrious career, and it's a great ending for this musical excellence.

While some might not enjoy the conceptual side of this album, the musical integrity is there. I must admit though, the sound is a bit sloppy now and then, but a lot of dynamics, which is okay, but too much which the album has can be a bit off putting.

I also felt like the artwork could have been a bit better, but I guess a slap on of Eddie will do? Very few negatives I can think of honestly, I enjoyed the album first time from beginning to end, despite the nitpicks, which don't bother me at all much, but we are all fans of MAIDEN surely? Vote with your wallets and the singles released so far, and take a gamble, get the Deluxe Edition version if you do though, makes it look more like an actual Book (Of Souls) ...<