Which album do you prefer: The Book Of Souls or Senjutsu?

Which album do you prefer: The Book Of Souls or Senjutsu?

  • TBOS

    Votes: 30 45.5%

  • Senjutsu

    Votes: 36 54.5%
  • Total voters
    66
MindRuler said:
Usually the album with the best songs is the best or am I missing something?
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I think Senjutsu have a couple of great songs like Writing on the wall and the Steve epics, but also many average and weaker songs, while Souls have a few great songs (The red and the black and the title track) but the rest are good and average, and also no weak ones, so that is why I rate The book of souls a little better than Senjutsu:yes:
 
Sth2112 said:
I think Senjutsu have a couple of great songs like Writing on the wall and the Steve epics, but also many average and weaker songs, while Souls have a few great songs (The red and the black and the title track) but the rest are good and average, and also no weak ones, so that is why I rate The book of souls a little better than Senjutsu:yes:
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Makes sense indeed! :)
 
What should I lie... hmm... allright, keeping it quite brief: Senjutsu is better. Took a little while to get used to the whole entirety, even though I liked 'Stratego' straight away, but by 2022 it got my seal of approval.

Vice versa for TBOS, at first I was really pleased but over time it went downhill in my books (pun intended). The last three are horrendous whereas the weakest song in Senjutsu is like "meh", but I wouldn't call it that bad actually.

Though I have to say TBOS has higher highs, in the form of title track mainly, but also much lower lows. Senjutsu is acceptable and decent from start to finish.

TBOS would be in contention if tracklist was shuffled, the last three unpublished and maybe a tad better tune replacing 'Speed of Light', or hone it a bit more.

Hopefully we can discuss by 2030: which is better, Senjutsu or #18
 
The Book of Souls, for a couple reasons.

The first and most important being the incredibly dull and disappointing title track of Senjutsu. I will never get over the disappointment of first listening to the album, and listening through that god awful title track, waiting for it to get interesting and pick up momentum. I guess I expected another If Eternity Should Fail. So that first song started me off with a sour taste of Senjutsu. By far my least favorite Iron Maiden song.

Secondly, I feel that TBoS has more great songs (Eternity, The Great Unknown, The Red and the Black, When the River Runs Deep, THE BOOK OF SOULS - which is probably my favorite reunion era song). TBoS does have some filler though, especially on side B.

I feel that Senjutsu has a lot of filler as well, including Days of Future Past, Darkest Hour, and Death of the Celts. I will give credit where credit is due, however. I feel that sonically Senjutsu is a better album. And I really enjoy many of the songs on it as well, especially TWOTW, Lost in a Lost World, The Time Machine, and Hell On Earth.

Also the album artwork for TBoS is better too. Couldn’t they have used Senjutsu’s inner sleeve art for the cover instead? Psshhh.
 
InfiniteDreamer544 said:
The Book of Souls, for a couple reasons.

The first and most important being the incredibly dull and disappointing title track of Senjutsu. I will never get over the disappointment of first listening to the album, and listening through that god awful title track, waiting for it to get interesting and pick up momentum. I guess I expected another If Eternity Should Fail. So that first song started me off with a sour taste of Senjutsu. By far my least favorite Iron Maiden song.

Secondly, I feel that TBoS has more great songs (Eternity, The Great Unknown, The Red and the Black, When the River Runs Deep, THE BOOK OF SOULS - which is probably my favorite reunion era song). TBoS does have some filler though, especially on side B.

I feel that Senjutsu has a lot of filler as well, including Days of Future Past, Darkest Hour, and Death of the Celts. I will give credit where credit is due, however. I feel that sonically Senjutsu is a better album. And I really enjoy many of the songs on it as well, especially TWOTW, Lost in a Lost World, The Time Machine, and Hell On Earth.

Also the album artwork for TBoS is better too. Couldn’t they have used Senjutsu’s inner sleeve art for the cover instead? Psshhh.
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I don't get the hate for the title track. I actually think it's one of the best on a lack lustre album. Certainly more interesting than the god awful Parchment
 
Christopher Baines said:
I don't get the hate for the title track. I actually think it's one of the best on a lack lustre album. Certainly more interesting than the god awful Parchment
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It’s funny how opinions are huh? On the contrary, I really don’t understand how so many people think it’s one of the strongest songs on the album. The drums are cool, but that’s about it (imo).
 
The Book of Souls. Seeing If Eternity Should Fail, The Red and The Black, Speed of Light, The Great Unknown and The Book of Souls live was an amazing experience.

I love Hell On Earth, Stratego, TWOTW and Days of Future Past, but the rest of the album doesn't do it for me.
 
InfiniteDreamer544 said:
The Book of Souls, for a couple reasons.

The first and most important being the incredibly dull and disappointing title track of Senjutsu. I will never get over the disappointment of first listening to the album, and listening through that god awful title track, waiting for it to get interesting and pick up momentum. I guess I expected another If Eternity Should Fail. So that first song started me off with a sour taste of Senjutsu. By far my least favorite Iron Maiden song.
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I've mentioned it elsewhere when the album first came out, but IMO, the title track is all buildup with zero takeoff. Stratego is functionally the "takeoff" point, but nine minutes of plodding to get there? An overindulgent miscalculation in my opinion. I've heard a five minute edit of it once, and I honestly didn't miss a single second of those extra 3-4 minutes.
Christopher Baines said:
I don't get the hate for the title track. I actually think it's one of the best on a lack lustre album.
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It sets the mood for the album and its visual theme fantastically, but with no real dynamics to the song itself, it vastly overstays its welcome.
 
CA Bryers said:
I've mentioned it elsewhere when the album first came out, but IMO, the title track is all buildup with zero takeoff.
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For me exactly THIS vocal part is one of the brilliant moments of the whole album, I absolutely LOVE it:

"Now under siege have the real strength to hold them now
Have to believe that we can repel them
Faith in the years our ancestors taught us
Have the belief that we can protect the wall
Try if they can, we will overthrow them
Fight to the last, they can never own us
Battle of wills, we'll fight to the last man
Honour our dead so they never fought in vain"

The way it's sung and the mood is just amazing. That's the takeoff within the song IMHO.
 
Almost a dead heat. Like the IM/Killers of the new era, two albums with very different personalities but destined to be bracketed together.

Objectively, Senjutsu has better production, a far better album closer and some fantastic songs. Lost in a Lost World has really grown on me these last 4 years.

I voted for Souls just too be in the discussion here. Better opening song of course. But there's barely anything in it between them, both 8/10 modern Maiden efforts.
 
Ok, let’s go.

Eternity > Senjutsu
Speed = Stratego
Unknown < Writing
Red/Black > Lost
River > Future Past
Book > Time Machine
DoG > Darkest Hour
Shadows < Celts
Tears < Parchment
Sorrows < Hell
Empire > Nothing.

Book - 7 (including tie)
Senjutsu - 5 (including tie)

By sheer numbers, Book of Souls wins!
 
CA Bryers said:
I've mentioned it elsewhere when the album first came out, but IMO, the title track is all buildup with zero takeoff. Stratego is functionally the "takeoff" point, but nine minutes of plodding to get there? An overindulgent miscalculation in my opinion. I've heard a five minute edit of it once, and I honestly didn't miss a single second of those extra 3-4 minutes.
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I think the takeoff is the outro part (clever idea), or Bruce's high vocals parts. I like it a lot, it feels very epic even without tempo changes or dynamics, and it could have been with one less repeat (the chorus), but no more imo. Senjutsu and Parchment are some of the Maiden songs that feel the most epic.
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
a far better album closer...
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Hell On Earth is one of my favorite songs ever, I love it so much, but Empire is impressive in every way.
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
Better opening song of course.
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Imagine if Eternity had solos(! still very good), Hell On Earth had a repetition of the chorus... or even Parchment, not that it needs. The amazing thing is that songs like Empire and Parchment work so well without more vocal narrative/repeating vocal part to remember, the vibes and the music do the talking and create images. Same with Eternity, Senjutsu and Hell On Earth. Maiden are the kings of this.
 
Deadeye21 said:
Ok, let’s go.

Eternity > Senjutsu
Speed = Stratego
Unknown < Writing
Red/Black > Lost
River > Future Past
Book > Time Machine
DoG > Darkest Hour
Shadows < Celts
Tears < Parchment
Sorrows < Hell
Empire > Nothing.

Book - 7 (including tie)
Senjutsu - 5 (including tie)

By sheer numbers, Book of Souls wins!
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Oh come on...i know all we have different tastes but stratego has the best galloping rithm since the fast past of infinite dreams. And bruce in top form. Speed of light 80s vibe but a very normal song. Great bruce singing but the song is reaaally random. That galloping in stratego is the old maiden again.
 
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