Iron Maiden may have completed their 17th studio album

Yes, you're reading this right. Iron Maiden, who have since completed their 2015 album The Book of Souls and are right now touring under the name The Legacy of the Beast, which references a video game centered around all things Iron Maiden and Eddie, may have secretly completed their 17th studio album, as yet to be named.

Longtime producer Kevin Shirley revealed on his Facebook account, while working in Paris that he was "working very hard on an annoyed but not-very-secret project, and that he'd finished with a loud ringing in my ears." The post included a photo of Guillame Tell Studios, where Iron Maiden recorded their 2000 Brave New World album and 2015 The Book of Souls album

Internet gossip site Blabbermouth recently stated that in the summer of 2019, Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson reportedly told a California audience "New Iron Maiden songs sooner than you think." Later on, in Nashville, he reported that a new LP was a "certainty".

Shirley explained to MusicRadar in 2010, he was the producer on every Maiden album, starting with 2000 Brave New World. He explained that there is a certain challenge to working with "heritage acts, some of whom have lost their way, and helping them find their magic and that initial spark that made them great in the first place. The trick, for me, is to make them feel like they're 19 again. … The way I like to work, I try to capture spirit and spontaneity. … I’m very much involved in the crafting of an album. Just because you read interviews with Journey or Iron Maiden or whoever and they'll say, 'We just went in a room and banged it out in 10 minutes,' well, that's not always the way it comes about. I spend a lot of time working on this stuff, and there's a certain art to it"