That means it's time to finally unveil Nicko's new drumkit, a true one-of-a-kind masterpiece, made by the Sonor craftsmen in Germany.

Custom Beech kit
The base of the kit is a SQ² custom series drum, made of German Beech (medium construction), a shell construction that Nicko has favored ever since his early days with Sonor. But also the drum sizes are as "traditional Nicko" as it gets:

• Tom Toms: 6x8, 8x8, 10x10, 12x12, 13x13, 14x14, 15x15, 16x16 inch.
  
• Floor Tom: 18x18 inch
  
• Bass Drum: 24x18 inch
  
• Snare Drum: 14x5 inch. Birch shell, made out of a special sandwich construction.

The design of Nicko's new kit follows stage design, and the current record's theme. The designers in Iron Maiden's camp came up with a special 'The Book Of Souls' artwork that features the band's mascot Eddie in different outfits, going around the shell. Only the bass drum and snare drum feature a slightly different design - the bass drum comes with Mayan symbols, the snare drum has the 'The Book Of Souls' album name written on it.

24-karat gold
As if that wasn't enough, the entire kit is assembled with 24-karat gold plated hardware, as well as all hardware stands, a one-off and custom made for the band only! In a letter to the Sonor production staff Nicko said:

"Amazing, wonderful, imaginative and most of all a B-E-A-utiful drum set. I can not express how proud I am for you all. This drum set sounds as good as it looks and it looks a million dollars. The workmanship and love that has gone into the production of these tubs is without a doubt the Sonor legacy. I'm am proud and honored to be back with the family that I should never have left but am humbled to be back."

Custom cymbals
To fit Nicko's impressive touring rig, Paiste came up with custom Signature Reflector cymbals and a 40" Symphonic gong with custom artwork by John Douglas.