IRON MAIDEN 'Speed Of Light' Video Director: 'It Had To Be The Best Thing I've Ever Done'

“Speed Of Light”, the new video from British heavy metal legends IRON MAIDEN, has been viewed nearly 3.5 million times on YouTube in its first four days of release. 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. This is the first music video for Llexi Leon, who is said to be a huge IRON MAIDEN fan. 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.

Leon told Metal Hammer: “It seemed a perfect fit — 40 years of metal explored alongside four decades of video games.

“I pitched this idea to [IRON MAIDEN manager] Rod Smallwood and the guys in the band. They loved the concept and asked if I could pull it off. I figured it was IRON MAIDEN, so I had to pull it off — and it had to be the best thing I’ve ever done.”

He continued: “The video is littered with nods to IRON MAIDEN artwork — whether it’s the poses of the characters at certain key moments, or imagery woven into the background art. There’s a lot to look out for in the video.”

“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 MAIDEN 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.