Iron Maiden to Release "Book of Souls" in September

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Submitted by S.J. Mitchell on Thu, 06/18/2015 - 11:59

Iron Maiden "Book of Souls" image courtesy of ironmaiden.com

UPDATE (6-23-2015): You may now pre-order this album!

According to Iron Maiden's website, they plan to release BOOK OF SOULS; their first studio album in nearly five years and their 16th overall.

Recorded in Paris, with their producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in late 2014, they put the finishing touches onto it earlier this year. Given the recent health problems with frontman Bruce Dickinson, they wanted to wait until he was fully recovered before the album's launch.

Bassist (and founding member) Steve Harris, contributed to seven of the eleven tracks. And for the first time since 1984's POWERSLAVE, Dickinson has two tracks written entirely by him. BOOK OF SOULS is expected to have a total running time of 92 minutes, making it the bands first ever double studio album.

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!” - Bruce Dickinson

Known for lengthy interludes, the final track, Empire of the Clouds, comes in at a whopping 18:01, making it the longest song Iron Maiden has ever recorded!

Iron Maiden provided the entire tracklist on their website and with titles such as, If Eternity Should Fail, Shadows of the Valley and The Man of Sorrows, it certainly has the feel of vintage Iron Maiden.

"Book of Souls" will officially be relased on September 4th, 2015. For more information, tracklist and updates on Iron Maiden, please visit their website.