Iron Maiden: Senjutsu (2021)

 

 

If I’m going to be totally honest with you all, I wasn’t going to post anything about the latest Maiden release “Senjutsu” as Ladano and Mr. Books as they do smash out reviews within hours of Maiden releasing new music.

Case in Point: Part 1-When Maiden released the epic “Book of Souls” back in 2015 both Mikey and Books hammered out reviews before I even heard the whole album. In other words the day the album came out so did the reviews.

I can’t roll like that.

Case in Point: Part 2- When AC/DC released “Power Up” last November everyone was knocking out reviews quicker than you could scream “Vaccine” so I waited it out and just a few days ago finally got around to writing it up kinda…

This isn’t really going to be a review per se as there are a lot of Senjutsu reviews popping up on a daily basis currently but I will add a few of my words of wisdom( insert laughter here).

This is my 40th year being an Iron Maiden fan and I still get psyched whenever any kind of music from these guys drops whether it’s a new studio or live album.

In regards to live albums. Maiden has a few of them and I’m glad as the stage is where the band excels and trust me folks there will come a day when people will be bitching when the live albums stop coming.

Same with the studio records. Since Bruce and Adrian returned back in 1999 and beginning with there return record in 2000 that being “Brave New World”, Maiden has been on a new mission releasing studio album after album pushing the envelope in new sounds and epic journeys and not looking for a rehash of the ’80s albums that put them on the map.

Smart move and of course some will always compare the Bruce Mach 2 version of Maiden (2000-currently)  to the Mach 1 version of Bruce (1982-1993) which I find quite humorous if we are being honest.

As a fan I’m glad they have pushed into new territories and just not rewriting “Two Minutes To Midnight”.

First of all the packaging is stellar. The artwork by Mark Wilkerson is brilliant and for myself when it comes to Maiden these need to be owned on vinyl.  The artwork s shrunk down on CD. That’s all I need to say about that.

Check out the triple gatefold below.

“Senjutsu”. The title track which is the opener is such a great song. Adrian and Steve Harris slam one out the park and how about those tribal drums of Nicko’s carrying the  8 minute tune throughout.

The record is 82 minutes long so there is a ton of music to digest and as my buddy Metal Todd (whom I caught Maiden with back in 2019 in Vancouver) mentioned the fact at the show that Bruce said “Iron Maiden was making new music” yet what Bruce didn’t let onto was the fact that the new music was already done and it would be a double album!

Getting your money’s worth thats for sure.

I’m not going to do a track by track breakdown of each song. Instead I can tell you it’s a mega album that has a ton of music with a bunch of different tempo changes that keep things interesting.

Amazing that the last three songs on the album (“Death of The Celts”, “The Parchment” and “Hell On Earth”) are lone Harris compositions  with the three combined tracks clocking in at over 30 minutes along.

Harris is on top of his game here folks and if you don’t believe me check out “Hell On Earth”. I will go on record and say that it has to be one of the best tracks Steve has ever written (there have been a ton).

“Hell On Earth” is filled with all kinds of trimmings of Hard Rock and how about that tempo change at the 6 minute mark where Nicko puts the breaks on the drums while the guitar solo’s plough forward. Ever time I hear this break it gives me goosebumps! Harris at his best still in 2021.

I thought Harris could have not possibly have written a better tune than the title track from 2015’s “Book of Souls” (co written with Gers) but he has in the form of “Hell On Earth”.

Speaking of “Book of Souls”. I’m not going to get into the debate of is “Senjutsu” a better listen than B.O.S’s as I have read enough reviews and comments about that so all I will say is that it’s good thats its 2021 and Iron Maiden are still delivering the goods!

Up The Hammers!