Please post reviews and thoughts on Senjutsu here

[Flaming Blimp Crash]

“Hell on Earth” honestly seems unfinished at the moment. If I was Steve it probably would have turned into a 15 minute song or so with a lot more of it fleshed out, including a second reprise of that glorious chorus. But that’s only three listens in and I’m going to be spinning this album a lot going forward. As a closer though, I think that TTLBLAH, WTWWB, and EOTC at the very least have it beat at a satisfying exit point for their respective albums. The fade out in HoE is so cool, but it also feels like it leaves the door open towards the future. There was more finality in the previous closers IMO.

I think it provides a great open end to the album as there's a triumphant/grand feel to that melody. Will there be more in the future? Or is it symbolizing Maiden riding off into the sunset?

 

[Josh]

The Time Machine is awesome. Keep this post. It will stand the test of time. It will age very well. So in five years when everyone understands what a great tune this is, they will label this post as being correct.

Then take the song back in time and give it to Maiden in 86 while they're recording Somewhere In Time. Tell them you're handing them a song they wrote in the future called The Time Machine and you were able to do this because you have traveled in a time machine. This can very well change the history of Maiden was we know today where every song is as awesome as The Time Machine.

 

[adrian fn rules]

Senjutsu is the best album opener since.......ever.

 

[chaosapiant]

It amuses me now many of y’all like Hell on Earth, considering everyone was predicting it to be a dull track with Steve’s contemporary “age of innocence” lyrics.

There is not a weak song on this album. I don’t even know how to pick a fave or least fave. I grin ear to ear for the full 81 minutes when I play it.

 

[Severian]

Listened to it once again, Hell on Earth finally clicked for me, still think the open couple of minutes and end could be trimmed but im thinking it is a good song now. still can't get around Death of the Celts though, it's fine but that's about it, run-of-the-mill Maiden for me and that's not good enough for this album. My overall thoughs right now is that it's not at the level of AMOLAD but still very, very good. This is my 2nd favourite modern Maiden without a doubt now, and i didn't like AMOLAD when it was released but it grew to be one of my favourite ever albums, maybe Senjutsu will go on me even further

 

[adrian fn rules]

It amuses me now many of y’all like Hell on Earth, considering everyone was predicting it to be a dull track with Steve’s contemporary “age of innocence” lyrics.

There is not a weak song on this album. I don’t even know how to pick a fave or least fave. I grin ear to ear for the full 81 minutes when I play it.

Still listening but IMHO Lost in a Lost World is not exciting me at all. May be the one song I skip.

 

[adrian fn rules]

4/10

Spoiler

Lost In A Lost World: Iiiiiiinteresting intro. Amazing in fact. Very different. Bruce's solo career meets British lion. Love it. Lots of effects on vocals and backing vocals. After that it gets a bit boring. Also, was Steve's Casio stuck on the same preset? Same synth as Stratego and Senjutsu. Don't like Janick's playing under Bruce, as the vocals lose a lot of emotion that way. A bit too much repetition of instrumental parts for my liking. Love the breakdown at 5 minutes. Before the end there is another beautiful clean part. Would've been better without Janick playing the vocal line again. A bit boring in parts. My least favourite song so far. Could've been amazing with some tweaks. 6.

I agree its boring...... with too much repetitive guitar strumming.

 

[naranja]

Hell on Earth is good


Also Steve is writing riffs on his songs again rather than just e c g d with a melody over the top. Cool!

 

[naranja]

Senjutsu is the best album opener since.......ever.

It's cool but why is the production so bad on that one song?

 

[naranja]

Does Steve always thank former members of the band in the booklet? It's nice to see a nod to Blaze there.

He thanks blaze? Awesome

 

[naranja]

Anyone else think the 2 min intro and extended outro on hell on earth are pointless tho and it would have been perfectly fine as a hard hitting 9 min song?

It's Steve. It's what he does.

 

[____no5]

I didn't find Harris' compositions annoying, not even Lost in a Lost World. I liked the album a lot and most importantly I liked it as a whole from start to finish an enjoyable listen.

 

[naranja]

I can barely hear Bruce in parts of the opening song

 

[Josh]

TWOTW makes more sense now when you compare it to the rest of the album. All those YouTube comment section morons who thought Maiden were going country. Yeah...no.

 

[____no5]

I can barely hear Bruce in parts of the opening song

The mix of Bruce's voice is question-mark for me. I think a bit higher in the mix would be in order. Hell this album was on the shelf for 2 years it's not like they rushed its release

 

[The Mid-Distance Runner]

Wow, just had another listen through while reading the lyrics…Hell on Earth may be their finest ever song. It’s triumphant sounding and nearly drove me to tears.

All songs have now “clicked” with me except Death of the Celts and I’m sure it will in another listen or two.

Also, over the past 24 hours my tinnitus has returned…”Iron Maiden has f**ked up my hearing for good!”

Quoting myself here…yes, sadly pathetic I know…but just putting it on record that Death of the Celts has finally clicked too. I’m now onboard with all songs. This is one fantastic album.

(since I’ve quoted myself I may as well “” the post too…pathetically sad).

 

[adrian fn rules]

It's cool but why is the production so bad on that one song?

IDK.. I listened on youtube which is notorious for badly compressed audio. I will reserve judgement until my CD comes in or I can get good audio off of spotify or Amazon music.

 

[Josh]

Lost In A Lost World has that recycled rhythm in the verses but has a fabulous intro and outro and the 3:38 mark and shit that kicks in at 5:00...it's really cool. I don't know. It's a track I really like while also being a little frustrated with. I'll still take it over most 90s / Blayze era songs which this is obviously reflecting. Maybe it's Bruce that saves this thing. He does the verses justice. Has an attitude. This one is hard to dislike.

 

[____no5]

Let's say my comment was not about all 4 but about 3 out of the 4 Harris songs. I will wait a bit with writing more thoughts. Want to play it more often though. And man, some people are very, very negative. GK1 plain hates Maiden for a few decades already.

Ah you got him wrong, Foro. There's huge affection in his words! He plain cannot live without them.

 

[Jadukor]

I dislike Virtual XI with a passion, but I would not dare edit the art created by others, no matter how mediocre I might find it.

I used to subscribe to this until this album.I have never done something like this in 25 years listening to Maiden. Maiden always had these kind of intros and I always loved them (eg No more lies). The problem for me is that Steve intros on this album are repeating for far too long. I couldn't take the full 2 mins of repeating the same thing. Also it doesn't help that he has 3 epics back to back. However I should mention that the Intro to the Parchment is awesome! For the rest, I chopped off intro to The Time Machine (now a 6 min song), Hell on earth (now 9 mins 22 sec). Death of the celts and LIALW i did not bother because I do not think i will listen to those two tracks. They belong in Virtual XI bonus disc in my opinion.

Overall this album is now very close to AMOLAD for me. Big question for me is whether HoE beats FTGGOG and whether The Parchment beats The Legacy. Not sure yet.