Please post reviews and thoughts on Senjutsu here

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Meliegree said:
I want to say one thing. I love Maiden. I love guitar work, bass, drums etc. but what I love the most is the moment when song 'click' after a few listening sessions. I just had this moment with The Parchment.
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on my 1st listen i thought the title track was suprise of the album because it's so different, but after a few listens i realised The Parchment is the real suprise, the whole album gives of a AoB/TCW crossed with DoD/AMOLAD vibe with a few 90's Maiden stuff thrown in but The Parchment seems like it comes straight from PoM or Powerslave in terms of quality and feel, It could easily replace TTAL or ROTAM on those albums and hold it's own
 
"Darkest Hour" lyrics
We buried our sons
We turned and fled
No growing old
The glorious dead
But we came back
Because one man said
Now on the beaches
The blood runs red

I faced them down
The only one
I stood alone
And warned the day would come
But they were wrong
Appeases every one
And not for the last time
We all stand alone

I watch the sun move away
As I embrace the night
And my black dog has it's day
For six long years you shall not pass
Barbarians at the gates
We will overcome

Here I stand
In a serenade of glory
Naked by the throne of kings
You sowed the wind
And now you reaped the whirlwind
Before the dawn the darkest hour

The darkest hour

To blaze in glory like a dying sun
One last burning giant
Tell Jupiter moves on
Turn the ploughshares into swords
You sons of Albion awake
Defend this sacred land

Here I stand
In a serenade of glory
Naked by the throne of kings
You sowed the wind
And now you reaped the whirlwind
Before the dawn the darkest hour

The darkest hour

Here I stand
In a serenade of glory
Naked by the throne of kings
You sowed the wind
And now you reaped the whirlwind
Before the dawn the darkest hour

Here I stand
In a serenade of glory
Naked by the throne of kings
You sowed the wind
And now you reaped the whirlwind
Before the dawn the darkest hour

Before the dawn the darkest hour
 
I have a problem. I just listened to the album again, fresh when the first shock under the title "OH MY GOD! NEW MAIDEN ALBUM" passed. A few songs "clicked" and now my overall opinion is higher. I repeat it over and over again - this is exactly the album I have been expecting and wanting for years. BTW. Days of future past has strong chemical wedding vibe for me.
 
OH, similar to tour threads that had spoiler warnings in the title, we shouldn't have to use spoiler tags in here because people have been warned again, in the title. I'll leave the reviews on the first post that way so it doesn't look so insane.

OK, for what I said about Death Of The Celts in my last post which is I don't like the vocal part that opens and goes to about 3:30 and it kind of bores me. Well, 3 listens in a row last night and that was the result every time, but now on this 4th listen something VERY special and magical about it hit me and I just got a new appreciation for it and had to stop the song to say
OOOOOHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYY GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am in shock in a way that I've never been before!!! I've had wonderful and amazing feelings before after hearing different parts of new Maiden songs, but nothing ever like this!

Well, I've said before I wanted Maiden to make an album more in the direction Dream Theater in a sense and to me, this is as close as it's going to get with what feels like their most complex album ever! WOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!! And already I have a 3 way tie for the song I already mentioned, Senjutsu and Lost In A Lost World. Now onto the rest of the album to see if for the first time ever,I have a 4 way tie. I think Hell On Earth has a chance! :eek:
 
LongDistanceRunner1981 said:
I'm one of those who find hard to enjoy what Maiden have been doing for the las 20 years. I really love 4 songs out on BNW, but don't care about the rest. DoD I can't even listen to. I've started to enjoy AMOLAD in recent years and think it's their strongest (I really like 4 songs on there and enjoy listening to a couple or three more). TFF I can't listen to (I've tried several times). TBoS could have been good... but there isn't one song that stand outs for me, apart from If Eternity Should Fail, which is almost good enough to go on Powerslave (if the production was better).

Who cares, right?

Well, I've just listened to the new album. I couldn't wait. My mind is blown. There is one song that I thought was dull. A couple that are ok, but nothing to write home about, including Stratego. A couple more that I need to listen to again, but that sound promising. And four outstanding songs! This to me is their best album since the reunion. I don't mind the self plagiarism either. It's welcome if done well. I will have to listen to it again, but I have to say that the last 4 tracks - despite some repetition - are really really good. So good! I'm happy!
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I totally get, what you mean, cause I kinda feel the same way. I'm quite new in here, so I was not sure, if I dared to come clear with my thoughts, cause some people might bash me or put me in the 'play classics'-box (though I don't see myself there). I appreciate that Maiden are still around and I accept that they grow older and focus on other elements in their music, but I can't help but thinking that some songs could have been so much better, if they had been held as tight as in the eighties. Ups, there I said it. I do belong to the 'play classics'. Hell no, I don't.

I have really struggled with especially Final Frontier and Book Of Souls, but I have given them tons of spinns, so it's not like I don't try. They just don't hit me as hard as their earlier stuff. I'm as excited as can be every time a new album is in the make, but often I end up being disappointed. However, some songs grow on me over time, but it usually takes years.

I hope for the best best for Senjutsu, but tomorrow I'll know. :)
 
Russ Dobbs said:
I have really struggled with especially Final Frontier and Book Of Souls, but I have given them tons of spinns, so it's not like I don't try. They just don't hit me as hard as their earlier stuff. I'm as excited as can be every time a new album is in the make, but often I end up being disappointed. However, some songs grow on me over time, but it usually takes years.

I hope for the best best for Senjutsu, but tomorrow I'll know. :)
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I'm someone who thinks TFF & TBOS are decent albums but they have been consistently been in the lower half of my IM album rankings, I like Senjetsu a lot, A LOT! I rate this album very highly. I'm not saying we have similar tastes Maiden-wise but this album has had the biggest immediate impact on me since i started listening to Maiden starting with BNW so i hope you're not disappointed with this one
 
Gd78 said:
I think that Death of the Celts is really overrated. It s a filler for me. Too long, too cheap with the synths, no soul, the long instrumental part is boring and feels like a bad Powerslave vibe.
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I think exactly the same. That's the worst song of the album. Nice to listen to, but that's it. And nothing to do with "The Clansman".
 
And upon my 4th listen, I got better appreciation for The Parchment and now love it. and I already loved Hell On Earth so now to me, every big epic is just super incredibly amazing! I don't know how any of them can sound like filler. They each do their own thing. You don't when or where different vocal and instrumental parts are coming. They all feel like such a fun, different adventure to go on. Even The Time Machine is like a medium Dream Of Mirrors/The Legacy/Book Of Souls type of song that follows the same pattern/style. What I mean is the second half because instead of just your typical solos, you get more great melodic vocal parts and good harmonic leads thrown in with it.. JUST SO MUCH WOWNESS!!!

Oh, unless I missed it, I'm surprised no one has pointed out that this album shockingly doesn't have one, single "whoa-oh-oh-oh" part!

Now, to get past this amazing "shock" and "exhausted" in a good way feeling I have over how unbelievably incredible this album is and have another listen!
 
TheMercenary said:
Always. :cool:

Btw, my review will come this weekend. :smartarse:
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I will read your review. I have made a little review "à chaud" on Maiden France. But now, i have already change my opinions. Especially on Death Of The Celts.
For me, this album is quite good, 7/10. Too soon to compare with the others reunion albums but certainly slightly better than BOS or TFF and weaker than BNW and AMOLAD.
 
Kevin Shirley has huge problems with fitting Bruce's midrange voice into the mix. He sounds so suppressed and lifeless, while in fact having a very clean and open midrange sound. I hope Shirley figures that out until 2071.

No massive problem when Bruce reaches the higher octaves.
 
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Russ Dobbs said:
I totally get, what you mean, cause I kinda feel the same way. I'm quite new in here, so I was not sure, if I dared to come clear with my thoughts, cause some people might bash me or put me in the 'play classics'-box (though I don't see myself there). I appreciate that Maiden are still around and I accept that they grow older and focus on other elements in their music, but I can't help but thinking that some songs could have been so much better, if they had been held as tight as in the eighties. Ups, there I said it. I do belong to the 'play classics'. Hell no, I don't.

I have really struggled with especially Final Frontier and Book Of Souls, but I have given them tons of spinns, so it's not like I don't try. They just don't hit me as hard as their earlier stuff. I'm as excited as can be every time a new album is in the make, but often I end up being disappointed. However, some songs grow on me over time, but it usually takes years.

I hope for the best best for Senjutsu, but tomorrow I'll know. :)
Click to expand...

You are in for a good surprise brother. I'm listening to it again right now and enjoy it even more than last night. The only thing you need to do to prepare is to admit to yourself that 80s Maiden is an anomaly in music history. The greatest accident. There are some melodies or riffs I don't particularly like here or there, but all in all, the record is actually amazingly good. Let us know what you think after you've listened to it, since you too struggle with reunion era material. Cheers!
 
Meliegree said:
I have a problem. I just listened to the album again, fresh when the first shock under the title "OH MY GOD! NEW MAIDEN ALBUM" passed. A few songs "clicked" and now my overall opinion is higher. I repeat it over and over again - this is exactly the album I have been expecting and wanting for years. BTW. Days of future past has strong chemical wedding vibe for me.
Click to expand...
This album is killer. In the long run it will eclipse not only material from the "post-meeting" era.
 
One thing I’m not seeing anyone talk about is how clear and strong Bruce’s higher register is on this album. Maybe because he’s not singing so many words at once, but the chorus to LIALW is piercing and there’s quite a few other spots where he just soars. He sounds like a younger man.
 
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