Please post reviews and thoughts on Senjutsu here

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adrian fn rules said:
I listened to it a couple more times. It is a good song with a terrific intro and I love those "ghostly" vocals. Great solos too. But most of the guitar chugging from 4.35 to 6.10 needed to be cut. And the song should have ended at 8.10. Just lack of editing keeping it from being great.
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The intro is ruined by the rest of the song. It would have been better just continuing with the slow tempo and just do a slow song.....feels like they had to be more metal and include the rock element, which ruins the excellent intro.
 
I am really enjoying the album. I need to listen to it a bunch more (and luckily I have a lot of flying to do tomorrow to do that) .. but I am not really hearing anything I do not like and a lot that I do.

As a general comment all the talk in interviews about the drumming was spot on .. Nicko sounds great
 
I'm on my fourth listen now and it is starting to sink in. There's so much depth to this album.
Really enjoying most of the songs more and more. Still haven't taken to Darkest Hour yet but I was never a fan of Wasting Love either.
Initially I didn't like LIALW but now it is one of my favourites.
Epic stuff!
 
Diesel 11 said:
This album keeps getting better and better with each listen, man. This isn’t a one time spin kind of album. It does have a sizable share of flaws, but also I’m so obsessed with it. Great moments throughout and while I don’t think it’ll top BNW and TBOS, it might very well eclipse the other reunion albums. “The Parchment” is probably my favorite so far, but I’m gonna need way more time to digest it all.

NEW IRON MAIDEN, MAN! And fuck is it good. I am 100% satisfied and can’t wait to keep diving in in the days to come. Here’s just a little list of highlights:

— H’s solo in “The Writing on the Wall”.
— The chorus to “Hell on Earth”.
— Splashing waves and seagulls to bookend “Darkest Hour”.
— Bruce holding that final line in “The Parchment”.
— The chorus to “Days of Future Past”.
— The chorus lyrics in “Stratego”.
— The pumping, jammy instrumental sections on some of those big epics.
— The intro / outro to “The Parchment”. Completely unique and a terrific way to open and close the monster.

I could draw up a list of negatives too but I’ll save that for down the road. I’m just trying to be really positive in spite of my critical and analytical brain, because I do fucking love this album. Maybe not as much as other Maiden albums, but it’s hard to even think of those at the moment. I’m focused solely on Senjutsu and goddamn is it a treasure trove.
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Right there with you on Bruce holding that final line in The Parchment, gets me every time.
 
Thanks for that @jcv & @Diesel 11 I just realized that between that awesome line and the end of the song are 3 good minutes. What a beast of song!

Also great idea to list moments instead of ratings.
 
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Oca said:
It's interesting that we all love this band, but can have very different opinions on the songs. I don't get DoTC at all, think it's a stinker basically :D
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It's brilliant, the first half is basically a lad psyching himself to go out to battle, it's swirling around musically getting more intense gradually as he's building up for it all to kick off, then the instrumental section is the battle, and the outro is the battle has been unsuccessful and he's dead.
 
srfc said:
It's brilliant, the first half is basically a lad psyching himself to go out to battle, it's swirling around musically getting more intense gradually as he's building up for it all to kick off, then the instrumental section is the battle, and the outro is the battle has been unsuccessful and he's dead.
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Still doesn’t sit right with me, but it’s happened on numerous occasions that songs I thought was a bit “meh” ended up being my all time favorites, so just have to keep it in the rotation :)
 
I loved it from beginning to end. No weak songs, in my opinion. I love the overall feel of the album - heavy, dark, moody, with progressive touches. It's 100% 21st-century Maiden and sounds like the product of a mature band. (80s-only fans will find little to like here.)

As far as the production, it's generally pretty good instrumentally speaking. Bruce's voice is a little too low in the mix for my tastes, but oh well. (My mind's ear will have to make the adjustment.)

Nicko's performance is incredible on this album. Bruce's singing is superb. Great guitar solos and plenty of them.

Initial standout songs for me - The Parchment (epic), Days of Future Past (kick-ass chorus, great lyrics), The Writing on the Wall (all-time classic great Adrian solo).

The overall vibe I get from the music is The X Factor + Accident of Birth/Chemical Wedding, but there are touches in it from all the reunion-era albums.

Love it! 10/10
 
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giratina said:
I apologize it it has been pointed out by someone else, but I just want to tell you all, Maiden do not fucking care about your complains and critics. It is officially stated by them :

Iron Maiden are an institution. Over the course of 44 years they have come to embody a spirit of fearless creative independence, ferocious dedication to their fans, and a cheerful indifference to their critics that’s won them a following that spans every culture, generation, and time-zone. A story of gritty determination and courageous defiance of the naysayers, theirs has been an adventure like no other.
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And I dont care if they care or not. That's not the point.
 
The Red and the Black said:
I loved it from beginning to end. No weak songs, in my opinion. I love the overall feel of the album - heavy, dark, moody, with progressive touches. It's 100% 21st-century Maiden and sounds like the product of a mature band. (80s-only fans will find little to like here.)

As far as the production, it's generally pretty good instrumentally speaking. Bruce's voice is a little too low in the mix for my tastes, but oh well. (My mind's ear will make the adjustment.)

Nicko's performance is incredible on this album. Bruce's singing is superb. Lots of great guitar solos and plenty of them.

Initial standout songs for me - The Parchment, Days of Future Past (kick ass chorus), The Writing on the Wall (all-time classic great Adrian solo).

The overall vibe I get from the music is The X Factor + Accident of Birth/Chemical Wedding, but there are touches in it from all the reunion-era albums.

Love it! 10/10
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I found that it sounds much better on headphones than through regular speakers or a car stereo if we’re talking normal systems (not the hifi and high-end minority)Might be a conscious choice since probably 90% of people listen through headphones/plugs nowadays. Still, the production really steps up on a good system that has good separation, clarity and bottom end. There’s a lot of information sub 40hz on this record that gets totally lost on a cheapish system.
 
The two tracks that didn't click with me right away were "Lost in a Lost World" and "Death of the Celts," but they've grown on me quite a bit since those first listens. I think I like "Lost" more, mostly thanks to the Moody Blues influence, but "Celts" is sounding more and more like a song the band should play live. Honestly, I'd be pretty excited if Maiden did play the whole thing live.

"Hell on Earth" remains my favorite, but "The Parchment" is knocking on its door. Damn, that thing could snuggly fit on Powerslave, and I don't think anyone would bat an eye.

Kudos to Steve. Maybe the intros/outros could be clipped here-and-there, but he put together 44 minutes of music by himself at 63 years of age. How many people that age still have this many ideas? He should take a bow.
 
I listened to it twice through last night on spotify and was a bit underwhelmed. I've just played it through on vinyl and it sounds a lot better. The album relies on shifting dynamics (from quiet to loud, loud to quiet) to sound dramatic and because streaming services equalise the volume levels you lose that.
I like it a great deal more now after hearing it on vinyl. Death of the Celts in particular improved the most. Hell on Earth slaps.

The whole album is starting to click and I'm looking forward to spinning it again. As a unit of work it is solid and improves with each listen.

I will say that I find the recycling of old riffs a bit jarring. Some of them just sound similar while others seem to be lifted wholesale and at a similar point in the song.

The intro to Death of... sounds quite similar to The Clansman.
Lost In a... contains a lead line in the instrumental section that is extremely close to the lead line in a similar place in "When the Wild Wind Blows".
The intro to "Time Machine" is very similar to the intro to "The Talisman". The lead line that comes in at 3:10 is extremely close to a vocal melody in "The Book of Souls".

I don'r think these are things that anyone who is less keen than me will pick up and they aren't *huge* problems, they just break the immersion a bit.
 
MaidenUlster said:
I listened to it twice through last night on spotify and was a bit underwhelmed. I've just played it through on vinyl and it sounds a lot better. The album relies on shifting dynamics (from quiet to loud, loud to quiet) to sound dramatic and because streaming services equalise the volume levels you lose that.
I like it a great deal more now after hearing it on vinyl. Death of the Celts in particular improved the most. Hell on Earth slaps.

The whole album is starting to click and I'm looking forward to spinning it again. As a unit of work it is solid and improves with each listen.

I will say that I find the recycling of old riffs a bit jarring. Some of them just sound similar while others seem to be lifted wholesale and at a similar point in the song.

The intro to Death of... sounds quite similar to The Clansman.
Lost In a... contains a lead line in the instrumental section that is extremely close to the lead line in a similar place in "When the Wild Wind Blows".
The intro to "Time Machine" is very similar to the intro to "The Talisman". The lead line that comes in at 3:10 is extremely close to a vocal melody in "The Book of Souls".

I don'r think these are things that anyone who is less keen than me will pick up and they aren't *huge* problems, they just break the immersion a bit.
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Turn of volume normalization on Spotify and you get some sense of the dynamics. I play through Tidal and that’s FLAC 24/192 or MQA and the difference is like night and day compared to Spotify (not to mention YouTube that sucks the life out of everything).
 
Oca said:
Turn of volume normalization on Spotify and you get some sense of the dynamics. I play through Tidal and that’s FLAC 24/192 or MQA and the difference is like night and day compared to Spotify (not to mention YouTube that sucks the life out of everything).
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Yeah I never have volume normalization turned on. It still just sounds a bit flat and not that great. Limitation of the format I guess.
 
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