Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden fighting cancer

[Traxan 148]

http://loudwire.com/iron-maiden-bruce-dickinson-treatment-cancerous-tumor/

 

Startling news from Iron Maiden today (Feb. 19), as it has been revealed that singer Bruce Dickinson has undergone a seven-week treatment for a cancerous tumor on the back of his tongue.

 

The news was revealed in a statement posted on the band’s official website. The good news is that the cancerous tumor was caught early while Dickinson was visiting a doctor for a routine check-up. However, the singer will need a few months to recover from his treatment, and the band is asking for fans to respect the legendary vocalist’s privacy until they issue a new update in late May.

 

Here’s the full statement as it appears on Iron Maiden’s official website:

 

Just before Christmas, Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson visited his doctor for a routine check-up. This led to tests and biopsies which revealed a small cancerous tumour at the back of his tongue. A seven week course of chemotherapy and radiology treatment was completed yesterday. As the tumour was caught in the early stages, the prognosis thankfully is extremely good. Bruce’s medical team fully expect him to make a complete recovery with the all clear envisaged by late May. It will then take a further few months for Bruce to get back to full fitness. In the meantime we would ask for your patience, understanding and respect for Bruce and his family’s privacy until we update everyone by the end of May. Bruce is doing very well considering the circumstances and the whole team are very positive.

 

We’d like to send our best wishes to Bruce Dickinson during this difficult time, and here’s hoping for a speedy and full recovery.

[Visutox 188]

Best wishes to this legend. I hope he will recover quickly, these kind of things are never a small matter.

[Ada Suilen 652]

Hoping the best for him!

[Crube 585]

Damn... well, here's to a speedy recovery!

[beni 2149]

I wish him a speedy recovery and that he pulls through safely. So glad it was noticed so soon. A lot more people must do this.

[nick 10212]

Iron Maiden taught me what the real metal music should sound like.

Hope he will completely recover asap. This world can't afford to lose someone like him.

[Bear 1817]

I didn't find a general Iron Maiden thread so I'll take it here instead:

 

 

 

 

 

The Book Of Souls - coming September 4th.

IRON MAIDEN’s eagerly awaited new studio album The Book Of Souls will be released globally on 4th September through Parlophone Records (Sanctuary Copyrights/BMG in the U.S.A.). It was recorded in Paris with their longstanding producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley in late 2014, with the finishing touches added earlier this year. However, the band decided to delay its release so that vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who was recently given the all-clear from a tumour, would have time to recuperate sufficiently to join in the preparations for the album’s launch.

The stunning cover art was created by Mark Wilkinson who has worked with the band previously, and because this 11 track album has a total running time of 92 minutes, it is IRON MAIDEN’s first ever double studio album. There’s a broader split on the song-writing compared to previous Maiden records, with bassist and founder member Steve Harris contributing to seven of the tracks; 6 of them with Maiden’s guitarists and one sole composition. This is also the first time since 1984’s Powerslave that an IRON MAIDEN studio album also features two tracks written solely by Bruce Dickinson, one of which is the longest song Maiden has ever recorded! And also two Dickinson/Smith collaborations.

 

Steve comments,

“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!”

Bruce continues,

“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!”

 

The full tracklisiting is:

 

Track listing:

Disc 1

1. If Eternity Should Fail (Dickinson) 8:28

2. Speed Of Light (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:01

3. The Great Unknown (Smith/ Harris) 6:37

4. The Red And The Black (Harris) 13:33

5. When The River Runs Deep (Smith/ Harris) 5:52

6. The Book Of Souls (Gers/ Harris) 10:27

Disc 2

7. Death Or Glory (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:13

8. Shadows Of The Valley (Gers/ Harris) 7:32

9. 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

Formats:

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)

 

The Book Of Souls is the band’s 16th studio album since their eponymous debut in 1980 charted at in the UK, in a career achieving sales of over 90 million albums worldwide. Their previous album, 2010’s The Final Frontier was Maiden’s most successful chart-wise to date, reaching Number One in 28 countries and was their highest chart debut in the U.S reaching in the Billboard 200.

Due to Bruce’s illness the band had to delay touring plans but promise to be out on the road again early next year, giving time for Bruce to make a full physical recovery to be ready for the rigours of Maiden live performances.

 

 

 

Godawful cover! I'm not the biggest fan of the band either, but with a new release I thought I'd try their 90's and 2000's albums again and see what I think of them now.

 

Started with Dance of Death, another Iron Maiden album with a godawful cover, and not all that good of an album either. Most tracks are listenable, but only a few are worth my time (Rainmaker in special. No wonder it's a single track). But I think the biggest weakness is Bruce Dickinson. For most part he's giving a really poor performance, and he sounds so uninspired. There's no life in his vocals at all. Sounds like he just went in the studi to do a job and get it done for the sake of getting it done, not because he wanted to. The album is just way too long as well. Should've been cut with 18 minutes at least. Got a boring production as well.

 

 

And the lenght has been a problem with many of the post-80's albums:

 

The Final Frontier (76 minutes)

A Matter of Life and Death (71 minutes)

Dance of Death (68 minutes)

Brave New World (67 minutes)

The X Factor (71 minutes)

 

 

These albums are all way too long. None of these should've been any longer than 55 minutes at most. They just don't know when enough is enough anymore. That's one of the biggest differences between the 80's Iron Maiden and 90's-2000's Iron Maiden. They don't have good enough songs in general, and they don't seem to be able to pick the creme de la creme anymore, so they just pick everything and squeeze it into the same god damn album. Such a shame. Really is, because I remember many of these albums as very good at times, but usually the songs drag on too long and the overall album is too long. Meh. They need someone to perform a quality check on the album before they release it, and get a decent producer as well because several of these albums suffers from poor production as well.

 

Also, releasing a double album seems like such a stupid idea for a band that suffers from their albums being too long. But we'll see. Really excited for the 18 minute long Dickinson song. Could be something really good. Hopefully it's a rather progressive song with an exciting song structure, and not a song where he repeats the title 15 times every chorus, which again is repeated a shitload of times during the song.

 

Well, as for Dance of Death it's an album I won't keep on my computer. I'll delete it and just look up the songs I want to hear again on youtube every now and then. Next up will be No Prayer for the Dying. This is the post-80's album I got the highest expectations to as well.

 

 

 

PS: I'm not at all a fan of Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Overrated and their worst album of the 80's. It's got some very good songs, but it just doesn't have enough songs to chew into. It's just a hit parade of single songs with nothing to dig into in any way possible, and Can I Play With Madness is one of the worst songs ever. Awful!

[Bear 1817]

I will keep No Prayer for the Dying, Fear of the Dark and Brave New World as for now and give them more spins. I'm not 100% convinced quite yet, but there's enough interesting songs on all three albums that I'll give them a few more spins and see if they grow a bit. They need to if I'm to keep them after 4-5 more spins.

 

A Matter of Life and Death are way too long. Songs such as For the Greater Good of God, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns and The Legacy should've been cut with 3-4 minutes each, and These Colours Don't Run, The Longest Day, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg and Lord of Light should've been a minute and a half - two minutes shorter as well.All these songs just drags on and on and on and on for no good reason whatsoever.

[Crube 585]

I don't know, I kind of like how simple this album cover is when compared to the previous releases. Also, this is the first time since they used the original logo on an album release since The X Factor album.

[Bear 1817]

 

 

Oh dear, that was dreadful and Bruce sounds totally out of it. He sounds awful. He sounds very tired, as if he suddenly turned 75. Also, the track sounds awfully modern rock-esque in a disgusting way.

 

 

The video is okay, though. I'm digging the concept. But it looks a bit half-assed and unfinished. Like they were given a budget of 5k, but decided to only use 1k and spend the rest on beer and booze and hoes or something. A real shame that.

 

 

But it's a single, so this is expected. It's not the first time they've gone for a simple rocker as a single-song. So I'll still give the album a fair chance.

[Des 289]

Bad bad bad bad. That chorus... is that the weakest one Iron Maiden has ever done?

 

And Bruce's voice is gone, yes. Can I make a comparison to Toshi (X Japan) just as they got back together for the first concerts in forever back in 2008 or something? Also sounded like he was trying his best but just couldn't do it anymore.

 

That ending too... please don't do that crap... it's not a live performance. It's a studio recording!

[Crube 585]

I still find it amusing that Blaze Bayley had a track of the same name on his second solo album many years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faxzR7q0mcA