Senjutsu - 20 Months Later

Not sure I can choose five among the lot!

At a push I would say:

The Writing on the Wall
Stratego
Hell on Earth
Senjutsu
The Time Machine (or Death of the Celts)

Overall a weak effort (for Maiden; a solid album for other bands) if you ask me.
Not Days of Future Past? Given your love for Bruce/Adrian collaborations I was sure that one would be one of the five

My five are

The Writing on the Wall
Hell on Earth
Days of Future Past
The Time Machine
Stratego
 
Not Days of Future Past? Given your love for Bruce/Adrian collaborations I was sure that one would be one of the five

My five are

The Writing on the Wall
Hell on Earth
Days of Future Past
The Time Machine
Stratego

Sorry, I forgot about Days of Future Past. Top 5 song, displacing the last on my list.
 
Top five songs?

Hell on Earth
Days of Future Past
Lost in a Lost World
The Parchment
The Writing on the Wall

Great album, the only sub-par tracks are Senjutsu and Darkest Hour.
 
Why? :confused: I have been buying all their albums/singles/DVDs since I became a fan back in 1991.

It just struck me that you weren't particularly impressed with how much Maiden charge for their merchandise. Personally I didn't think the deluxe set looked it was worth the £100 (side note: a friend of mine got it for £70 and didn't think it was even worth that).
 
It just struck me that you weren't particularly impressed with how much Maiden charge for their merchandise. Personally I didn't think the deluxe set looked it was worth the £100 (side note: a friend of mine got it for £70 and didn't think it was even worth that).

That’s true. I think the price tag of their merchandise is outrageous. I went to a festival last week and the T-shirts from the headline band were £10 cheaper that what Maiden are currently charging for theirs. The festival hoodies were £40 cheaper than Maiden’s!

The price of that deluxe set was definitely excessive, but it was the only way to get hold of the BluRay. With hindsight I should have probably waited to get it until it was cheaper, but with Maiden I cannot help but buy their albums on the release date (or a week later in this case, thanks to Warner’s appalling distribution to independent record shops).
 
Lost in a Lost World?

Worst song on the album by far!

Darkest Hour might feature some cringeworthy lyrics, but is somewhat redeemed by some nice melodies and guitar work, but Lost in a Lost World isn’t. Nice intro though!
 
Lost in a Lost World?

Worst song on the album by far!

Darkest Hour might feature some cringeworthy lyrics, but is somewhat redeemed by some nice melodies and guitar work, but Lost in a Lost World isn’t. Nice intro though!
the song itself is average, but the outro vocal part by Bruce is one of the best parts Maiden ever created IMHO.
 
I think there are only three sub-par songs on the album, but they are all far from meritless:

Senjutsu -

Strong right up to after the second chorus, when it starts losing it's way. The lyrics start going in circles and the music isn't particularly interesting, it also really could've done with a dynamic or tempo change as it feels a bit of a slog, though you could say it's evoking the lyric's theme of a seemingly endless battle. There are still some great moments though, Janick's solo is a ripper, the outro riff is killer and "Live to tell our sons!" is one my favourite lines from Bruce.

Lost in a Lost World -

Weakest song on the album. The verses are pretty pedestrian, the instrumental noodling goes on a bit and the pre-chorus is possibly the worst part of the whole album. However, both solos are killer, the chorus is an absolute belter and the intro and outro are nicely atmospheric.

The Time Machine -

Treads too much familiar ground to be a truly great song and there's a massive disconnect between the lyrics in the first and second halves, as though Steve gave up on the concept. I don't really care too much as the second half is tons of fun and Bruce's performance is excellent, it's like he knew the lyrics made no sense so he made sure to sell the hell out of them. Awesome solos from Jan and Dave too.
 
I like the Senjutsu album a lot, but anyway, my question to those of you who consider it the best of all reunion albums:
what makes the album superior to Book Of Souls?
 
the song itself is average, but the outro vocal part by Bruce is one of the best parts Maiden ever created IMHO.
Lost in a Lost World very underrated IMO, I see why some don't like it though. Personally I like it a lot. The only song on the album I will skip from time to time is Darkest Hour. Not because I don't like it, I just want to get to the Harris epics.
 
Hell on Earth, whilst good, would not even come close to a top 20 Maiden song for me.
That's cool, to each their own. And my favorite albums/songs seem to have changed a lot more as I've l dug deep into their discography over the last 2 years. After a brief IM phase as a teenager in the 1980s I mostly forgot about them except for Somewhere in Time that one permanently stuck in my rotation until the COVID lockdowns struck and I needed exercise music at home. On a whim I bought Piece of Mind and that now rounds out my top 3 along with SiT and Senjustu.

For a few months I had a phase where I only wanted to listen to DiAnno Maiden and now I am focused mainly on the reunion music. That's what's so great about this band, they've covered so much ground but consistently done so with brilliance.
 
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