Kevin Shirley's studio diary, which he is providing to the group's fans via the official Iron Maiden Online Club. An excerpt from the entry follows:
"Tuesday, all the lads [from the band] came in and I played them rough mixes of all the basic tracks, and they're sounding incredible (even Adrian [smith, guitar] was thrilled!) — then we went through who's doing what guitar solos where, where the Three Amigos are playing harmony melodies, where keys would play melody and pad — and the album is a terrific IRON MAIDEN album — full of trademark gallops and canters, hard-rocking choruses — perhaps a little more tough prog riffing spirited about than on record lately, and definitely a couple of well-grounded groovers in there too. Long melodic intros abound and the rocker that's probably the single, is as tough as it gets on radio. There's one about a famous eccentric and novelist, whose memorabilia is sensitively distributed throughout the studio for inspiration. It turns out that Janick [Gers, guitar] is a bit of an avid collector and an anorak about this fellow, and he isn't Pawtucket Pat!! We call the song, 'The Rime Of Billy Bunter'!"