The Book of Souls: Live Chapter

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After Iron Maiden released the hugely successful album, The Book of Souls, they embarked on a world tour that looked like it was going to last forever. With a solid set of songs to promote, the band put on one of their best shows in years and to commemorate this, the band released the latest in their live album back catalogue, The Book of Souls: Live Chapter.Much like some previous releases, The Book of Souls: Live Chapter is a live compilation with performances taken from all over the world. This makes the record a great souvenir for fans but also produces some inconsistencies with the over all performance. The band sound tight through out, barely missing a beat  with the three guitars actually produced well enough that we can actually hear the differences between them in the awkward stereo mix. Unfortunately, on some of the tracks you can hear that Bruce Dickinson is clearly struggling to keep up with the songs. I don't know if it is down to his recent bout of ill health or the simple fact that his voice is not as young as it use to be, but songs like Children of the Damned and Speed of Light clearly show Dickinson mumbling his way through the words just to keep the song in the right key. I am not picking on the bands lead singer to be mean, but it is clear his high range is no longer consistent enough to play these songs in this key and it is time for them to tune down for his personal well being (much like they should have done for Blaze Bayley).As for the sound of the album, well this has to be the best sounding Iron Maiden album released since 2000's Brave New World. Where past live albums have sounded horrible compressed and sterile, this one has a lot of power behind it. Nicko's drums in particular have a lot of impact to them, the guitars sound clear as day and have not been panned too hard, this making it a lot easier to hear the three guitarists playing off one another. Of course this is all held together by Steve Harris' bass guitar which sounds about as well as it should. It features the usual high pitch sound but has been mixed just lower enough to glue all the parts of the band together.Iron Maiden fans have likely massed a great collection of live albums by now and are questioning if they really need another one. It is a very valid question, after all who needs another copy of Fear of the Dark, Number of the Beast and The Trooper? I certainly don't and wouldn't mind not ever hearing them again. With that in mind, I wouldn't say that The Book of Souls: Live Chapter is a necessary purchase but it is a pretty nice souvenir from the bands tour and that alone can be a deciding factor in your purchase. It is just a shame they didn't pick nights where Bruce struggle as much.Published by Steven Lornie of Demonszone

Album Review: Iron Maiden ‘The Book Of Souls Live Chapter’Documenting 117 live shows from ‘The Book Of Souls’ tour (2016-17) must have been an epic task but eventually 15 venues and dates were chosen for the sixteen songs that make up this live album including two from June 2016 at the Download Festival and one from the Newcastle show in May 2017.The rest of the venues chosen are Dublin in Ireland; Wacken in Germany; Trieste in Italy; Tokyo in Japan; Sydney in Australia; Cape Town in South Africa; Buenos Aires in Argentina; Rio De Janeiro in Brazil; Fortaleza in Brazil; San Salvador in El Salvador; Wroclaw in Poland; and Montreal in Canada.The set-list includes 6 songs from ‘The Book Of Souls’, with ‘The Great Unknown’ featured instead of ‘Tears Of A Clown’ which was dropped at some point during the tour.The set-list is a source of endless debate amongst Maiden fans. My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that six songs was probably one too many from .The Book Of Souls’, which was, as I have stated in my review of it, decidedly average. ‘Children Of The Damned’ and ‘Powerslave’ were good choices but the inclusion of ‘Blood Brothers’, particularly at the climax of the show, was a baffling decision bearing in mind the number of wonderful songs Maiden had to choose from. ‘Wrathchild’ has been played to death and should have been dropped for something else and ‘The Trooper’ could have been given a break as well; unfortunately it has become regarded as the quintessential Maiden song and its exclusion would have annoyed a lot of fans. Perhaps I’m just fed up of seeing the same choreography during it year after year.The first thing that struck me about this release is that it didn’t include a DVD as I’d assumed it would. In fact, Maiden have given up on DVD’s it would seem, and given in to the inevitability of fans watching the concert on YouTube and not paying for it. Maiden have released the whole thing in a series of videos on their YouTube channel.The second thing that struck me was how poorly recorded a lot of the songs are. Tony Newton and Steve Harris produced, engineered and mixed the performances, and Harris chose which dates to pick for each song. The way it was recorded is not the fault of Steve Harris. Perhaps they need to sort that out before handing it over to him, his production decisions have been less than impressive in the past (including on ‘The Book Of Souls). Kevin Shirley doesn’t seem to have been involved this time (some Maiden fans won’t miss him). On ‘Powerslave’, in particular, Nicko’s high-hat is overpowering at some points. Have a listen in your headphones and on your particular device or sound system, you may well disagree about how poorly recorded it is, there are too many variables to make a definitive decision about it.Overall, I feel that this record is for fans who saw the shows and want to have it as a memento, or for completests. Everyone else would be forgiven for giving it a miss. It pains me to say it but, in my opinion, this is far from essential listening for Maiden fans.

If there is something constant in this world is Maiden's live quality, they are professionals, they know their stuff and they will always give their most to the audience, and you can tell that from this album.The band are in top form, and Bruce's voice doesn't seem to have been significantly affected by his cancer.It is difficult to pick any highlight from the concert, as all the tracks are great, perhaps Blood Brothers and Wasted years are the most salient tracks, whereas The Red and the Black, while still being great, it is a bit of a low point.The only slight quibble would be that it isn't a concert as such, like Live After Death was, but a collection of tracks from different concerts. The great thing with Live After Death was the feeling of continuity like you get in a real gig, and that is of course missing here. But overall, if you want a feel of what a great band sounds live, this is it.

A nice mix of old and new songs and the booklet that accompanied the double CD was really good.

another live album from Maiden will be the cry up and down the country,well yes that is true but its easily the best one for several years,the sound quality top notch,refreshingly the mix doesnt drive your ears up the wall,as some of the previous productions have done.Vocally,like many of his peers Bruce is now lacking at some levels and it shows particularly on some of the newer tracks,where he struggles to catch up with the music.the disc captures modern Maiden rising to the challenge ,again,and they pass with flyng colours, the musicianship simply fantastic, a well worth 4 stars purchase.Packaging on the deluxe edition is superb and sits lovely with the deluxe edition of 'Book Of Souls'