The Book of Souls Iron Maiden 's sixteenth studio album . While not a concept album, it deals with the soul and the imminence of mortality. The album cover features the mascot Eddie with a Mayan theme, illustrated by Mark Wilkinson .
Recorded at the Guillaume Tell studio in Paris, The Book of Souls saw the band reunite and record several tracks, one after the other, resulting in a spontaneous, live-music-like feel.
With Kevin Shirley producing, the album is Iron Maiden's longest to date, not only boasting a runtime of 92 minutes but also featuring the band's longest song, "Empire of the Clouds," at 18 minutes. The track, written by vocalist Bruce Dickinson , closes the album and tells the story of R101 .
The R101 was the largest manned airship of its time, in 1930, and its purpose was to reach distant countries of the British Empire, such as India. The vessel crashed in northern France on October 5, 1930.
Other notable songs include "Speed of Light," which was released as a single on August 14, 2015, complete with a music video, and "Tears of a Clown," which is a dedication to comedian Robin Williams , who died by suicide on August 11, 2014.
The album was a critical and commercial success, topping the album charts in 24 countries. In the United Kingdom, Iron Maiden's country of origin, it reached number one for the fifth time. The others were with the albums The Number of the Beast (1982), Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988), Fear of the Dark (1992), and The Final Frontier (2010).
When it was released, The Book of Souls had the longest album gap in the band's history, 5 years, between 2010 and 2015. Today, the record for the longest gap belongs to Iron Maiden's most recent album, Senjutsu .
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