The Book Of Souls / Iron Maiden (2015)

 

Disc 1

1. If Eternity Should Fail

2. Speed of Light

3. The Great Unknown

4. The Red and the Dark

5. When the River Runs Deep

6. The Book of Souls

 

Disc2

1. Death or Glory

2. Shadows of the Valley

3. Tears of a Clown

4. The Man of Sorrows

5. Empire of the Clouds

 

Iron Maiden is one of few bands that I love all album releases, and this time, they did not disappoint me either. The album was the longest one in their catalogues, yet the songs are still very strong.

 

The highlight of this album is Bruce's composition. The opening track is not by Adrian this time which surprised me. Track 1 is a mid-tempo tune, yet it suits perfectly as an opening track. "Empire of the Clouds" is the longest song which is over 18 minutes, but the progression of the song is pretty impressive and never bores listeners.

 

Even though, Iron Maiden is very unchanging musically, I can listen to a lot of "new stuff" and "experiments" in good term. It is amazing that they still can write songs in this high level. Pretty soon, they all become in 60's, yet I still can see their bright future as a band.

 

☆☆☆☆☆

The Purple Album / Whitesnake (2015)

1. Burn

2. You Fool No One

3. Love Child

4. Sail Away

5. The Gypsy

6. Lady Double Dealer

7. Mistreated

8. Holy Man

9. Might Just Take Your Life

10. You Keep on Moving

11. Soldier of Fortune

12. Lay Down Stay Down

13. Stormbringer

14. Lady Luck (Bonus Track)

15. Comin' Home (Bonus Track)

  

I believe that a cover song rarely exceeds the original. It applies to this album. I am not saying this negatively. I am pretty sure that David did not intend to do that.

 

I love MK III Deep Purple. It brought new essence and variety to their hard rock music. I love every song in those two albums, "Burn" and "Stormbringer". Unfortunately, all of the songs in the album are down-tuned due to David's voice. It is kind of "modernized".

 

Yet, songs such as tracks 4 and 8 have great acoustic arrangement and I really loved it. Particulary, track 4 is revived as a new song! Even though he cannot sing as high as he used to, his mid-to-low range voice is very attractive.
 

☆☆☆