THE BEAST

IRON MAIDEN   singer   Bruce Dickinson   has tested positive for COVID-19 after being vaccinated.

The 63-year-old musician, who lives London, England, revealed his positive diagnosis in an interview with   Rolling Stone   earlier today.

Dickinson   tested positive for COVID-19 just days after he abruptly postponed the last two dates of his U.K. spoken-word tour because a member of his immediate household contracted the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Bruce   said he took a lateral-flow COVID test after he started feeling like he was getting a cold, and it came back positive. "I thought, 'Oh well, shit,'" he said. "I was kind of sneezing a bit. For a couple of days, I felt a bit groggy, kind of like the flu, and that was it. And I'm 63 years old. I've pretty much got no doubt that had I not had the vaccine, I could be in serious trouble."

Dickinson   went on to say that he doesn't personally believe that fans attending concerts should be required to get vaccinated, calling it "a personal choice," However, he said that he hopes everyone will get the shot. "Personally, I think people are just very badly advised if they don't go and get themselves double jabbed as quickly as possible, not for the reasons of going into concerts, but for their own health," he said. "Having said that, even if you've had a double jab, you can still get COVID, and therefore you can spread it to other people who might not have been vaccinated and they might get very sick and die. Now you cannot legislate against mortality. There are many things in this world that kill people and they’re not illegal but are unfortunate. Cancer kills a lot of people. Heart attacks kill a lot of people. Obesity kills a lot of people. Malaria kills a shitload of people every year… So at some point, we have to just go, 'We're probably going to have to live with this. And if we're going to live with it, then you have your vaccination.'"

IRON MAIDEN 's new album,   "Senjutsu" , will be released on September 3 via   BMG . It was recorded in Paris with longstanding producer   Kevin Shirley   and co-produced by bassist   Steve Harris .

The video for the LP's first single,   "The Writing On The Wall" , was made by   BlinkInk   based on a concept by   Dickinson   with two former   Pixar   executives. It followed a month-long teaser campaign and global "treasure hunt" for clues about the track title and concept.

IRON MAIDEN   hadn't released any fresh music since   "The Book Of Souls" , which was recorded in late 2014 in Paris, France with   Shirley .

"The Book Of Souls"   was the longest   MAIDEN   album, clocking in at 92 minutes, with lyrics heavily based in the themes of death, reincarnation, the soul and mortality.

Via Blabbermouth