Video Premiere: Iron Maiden - Speed Of Light

By Elric on 10:43 AM 14 August 2015

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"Speed Of Light", the new video from British heavy metal legends Iron Maiden, can be seen below. Written by guitarist Adrian Smith and vocalist Bruce Dickinson, the track is taken from the band's new double album, "The Book Of Souls", due on September 4, 2015 through BMG in the U.S.A. (Parlophone Records in the rest of world).



Maiden fans can download the "Speed Of Light" song when pre-ordering "The Book Of Souls" on iTunes. It can also be streamed on Spotify and Apple Music.

The "Speed Of Light" video was produced and directed by Llexi Leon with animation and visual effects by The Brewery Production Company. A huge Iron Maiden fan, this is Llexi Leon's first music video. Creator of the cult comic book series Eternal Descent — an IP that digitally animated a cast list of metal and hard rock luminaries — Leon has further expanded into the video gaming industry. He chose to collaborate with The Brewery whoss previous film credits include 2010's punk-rock inspired "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" with Andy Serkis, 2012's music festival-themed "Spike Island" with Emilia Clarke, and more recently were providing VFX for the Sky Atlantic biopic on Ian Fleming.

The video is a "homage" to four decades of video gaming juxta-posed alongside Iron Maiden's 40 years of incredible visual canon centering on their talisman Eddie as he travels through space and time to complete his Herculean task.

"The Book Of Souls" was recorded in Paris, France with 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 Dickinson, who was recently given the all-clear from the tumor, 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 songwriting compared to previous Iron Maiden's records, with bassist and founder member Steve Harris contributing to seven of the tracks; six 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 commented: "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 continued: "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 track listing is:

Disc 1

01. If Eternity Should Fail (Dickinson) 8:28
02. Speed Of Light (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:01
03. The Great Unknown (Smith/ Harris) 6:37
04. The Red And The Black (Harris) 13:33
05. When The River Runs Deep (Smith/ Harris) 5:52
06. The Book Of Souls (Gers/ Harris) 10:27

Disc 2

07. Death Or Glory (Smith/ Dickinson) 5:13
08. Shadows Of The Valley (Gers/ Harris) 7:32
09. 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)

Looking ahead to the touring cycle in support of "The Book Of Souls", Harris told Kerrang!: "Whenever we do a new album, we always go out with a new stage show; that's exciting in itself. We always feel like every show is sacred these days anyway, and I suppose even more so now after the scare with what's happened with Bruce. It makes everything more important to us."

He continued: "'The Book Of Souls' is a really powerful album, we're really proud of it, and we can't wait to come out and play new songs on the tour. We're really looking forward to it."


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