Iron Maiden announced they will be issuing all the albums anew on Digipak CD’s as “The Studio Collection – Remastered.” The release includes four-disc batches covering sixteen albums released between 1980 and 2015, which have been remastered and re-released on vinyl and through iTunes.

Pioneers of British heavy metal since 1975 from East London, formed by bassist and founding member, Steve Harris. Maiden have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and have over 38 albums, including 16 studio albums, twelve live albums, four EP’s and seven compilations. There has been news they will compile a new album. Harris stated the group would not be able to tour and record forever but there will be a follow up to 2015’s epic double album The Book of Souls.

Regarding the release of their box set, “We’ve wanted to revisit these for a long time and I was delighted with the remastering we did in 2015,” bassist and founding member Steve Harris said in a statement accompanying this announcement. “I thought it was the best that our albums have ever sounded and it was only right that we made them available on CD now, too.”

The new Digipak releases, sourced from the 2015 hi-res digital remasters, will be released chronologically over the next nine months in batches of four, starting on November 16th with the re-release of Iron Maiden, Killers, The Number of the Beast, and Piece of Mind. Fans will also have the choice between a standard edition of Beast or a special boxed set that comes with a collectible Eddie figurine and a patch. These first four are available for pre-order now.

From there, Maiden will move through their catalog, dropping four-disc batches in February, April, and June of 2019. And in each batch, one album will be given the collector’s edition treatment with a new Eddie figurine and patch. As well, all the remastered versions of these records will be released to streaming services.

Maiden just wrapped up a leg of their career-spanning “Legacy of the Beast Tour” and already making plans to continue into 2019. The only thing on their calendar right now is a headlining stop at Brazil’s Rock In Rio Festival, but future tour dates will be announced before too long.

Steve Harris, Iron Maiden’s bassist and primary songwriter has stated that his influences include Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull, Thin Lizzy, UFO and Wishbone Ash. In 2010 Harris stated, “I think if anyone wants to understand Maiden’s early thing, in particular the harmony guitars, all they have to do is listen to Wishbone Ash’s Argus album. Thin Lizzy too, but not as much. And then we wanted to have a bit of a prog thing thrown in as well, because I was really into bands like Genesis and Jethro Tull. So you combine all that with the heavy riffs and the speed, and you’ve got it.” In 2004, Harris explained that the band’s “heaviness” was inspired by “Black Sabbath and Deep Purple with a bit of Zeppelin thrown in.