{"id":19309,"date":"2021-07-22T14:17:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-22T18:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=19309"},"modified":"2021-07-22T14:17:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T18:17:53","slug":"iron-maiden-brings-tactics-strategy-and-magic-to-the-fans-with-their-17th-studio-album-senjutsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=19309","title":{"rendered":"Iron Maiden Brings Tactics, Strategy, and Magic to the Fans With Their 17th Studio Album, Senjutsu"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a month or so of cryptic, online, and ground teases (flyers and posters), Iron Maiden<\/strong> recently announced that they will be releasing their 17th album Senjutsu<\/strong>, a double album.\u00a0 Before I go any further, let me be 100% honest here.\u00a0 The idea of yet another double album has me feeling a bit nervous.<\/p>\n

When Iron Maiden released The Final Frontier<\/strong> in 2010, the band\u2019s highest charting US release to date peaked at #4.\u00a0 The album didn\u2019t get a tremendous amount of love, but I honestly felt that it was their best release since 1988\u2019s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son<\/strong>.\u00a0 The band did a brilliant \u201calbum tour,\u201d concentrating on the newer material, and I thought the songs were fantastic.\u00a0 The title track, \u201cComing Home,\u201d and \u201cThe Alchemist,\u201d to name a few, were some of Maiden\u2019s best compositions, and as a whole, the album was a total home run.<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden returned in 2015 with the double album The Book of Souls<\/strong>, and much like its predecessor, had the band peaking at #4 on the US charts making the album a huge success for Maiden.\u00a0 Critics and some fans praised the album as being their best album in decades. However, I had to disagree with this sentiment.<\/p>\n

Releasing a double album was overly indulgent and resulted in a bloated album with some drab filler tracks. However, if you shave the fat off of The Book of Souls<\/strong> (\u201cThe Red and the Black,\u201d \u201cDeath or Glory,\u201d and \u201cTears of a Clown\u201d), you would have ONE stellar Iron Maiden album that very well could\u2019ve been as good if not better than The Final Frontier<\/strong>.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure opinions vary on what songs are considered \u201cfiller,\u201d but if anyone would call this a perfect Maiden album, they need to go back home and see the hearing doctor and say, \u201cDoctor.\u00a0 I think my hearing is fucked up for good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, here we are.\u00a0 It\u2019s 2021, and we have been gifted a brand new Iron Maiden song called \u201cThe Writing On the Wall.\u201d\u00a0 The album is called Senjutsu<\/strong>, which translates into \u201ctactics and strategy.\u201d\u00a0 It can also refer to skill, technique, trick, resources, and magic.\u00a0 The first single off of the album, \u201cThe Writing on the Wall,\u201d was released with an accompanying video.\u00a0 It\u2019s a mind-blowing animated adventure clip full of easter eggs of many past Iron Maiden images.<\/p>\n

I was so impressed with this song.\u00a0 The acoustic intro completely caught me off guard, and the song itself is killer.\u00a0 \u201cThe Writing on the Wall\u201d is a throwback to classic Iron Maiden but in a perfect way.\u00a0 It\u2019s classic Iron Maiden in 2021, and I couldn\u2019t be any happier.\u00a0 As for the rest of the album, I\u2019m a bit nervous.\u00a0 The album clocks in at just under 82 minutes with ten songs.\u00a0 That being said, a double album (actually three LPs) is a bit much. However, Bruce Dickinson did have this to say about the album:<\/p>\n

?\u201cWe\u2019re all really excited about this album. We recorded it back in early 2019 during a break in the Legacy tour so we could maximize our touring yet still have a long set-up period before release to prepare great album art and something special as a video. But, of course, the pandemic delayed things more \u2013 so much for the best-laid plans \u2013 or should that be ?\u2018strategies\u2019!? The songs are very varied, and some of them are quite long. There\u2019s also one or two songs which sound pretty different to our usual style, and I think Maiden fans will be surprised \u2013 in a good way, I hope!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I hope I will be surprised in a good way, Bruce. But, honestly, if I have to predict, this album will not be perfect.\u00a0 It will have some filler, and it could probably have been just ONE fantastic album. But, until Senjutsu<\/strong> is released on September 3rd<\/sup>, I will enjoy this new song and looking forward to new music from the greatest metal band in the fucking galaxy. So, up the irons, y\u2019all!<\/p>\n