Please post reviews and thoughts on Senjutsu here

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This is a very, very good record. The melodies are fantastic. It's almost as if they looked at their post reunions albums, decided to take the best elements of them and re-focus everything into a tighter package with a sprinkle of the Blaze era. No repetitive choruses whatsoever. And unlike the previous albums, the slow intros don't bother me as much. As a mater of fact, Lost in a Lost World has one of their best. Bruce is better on this than BOS too. Still a lot to digest but first impressions are very positive for me.
 
Since people started posting their impressions, I'll post mine too:
I listened to the album yesterday and made some notes for every song while listening, it's basically just my first thoughts as I was going through, so it's not the best way to read it, but it was fun for me :D I posted in on reddit, so I'll just copy/paste it:
(Disclaimer: I've been wanting more mid-range singing from Bruce for years. He still has a great range, but doesn't sound as good when it's very high). Very disjointed, was making notes as I listened to the songs:
Senjutsu: Very interesting arrangement. A ton of vocal harmonies and a rather unusual chorus. Sounds almost like Blind Guardian. Very interesting guitar solos. Will have to listen to it a bunch to actually appreciate it. Has the same synth as Stratego.
Lost In A Lost World: Phasey vocals. Reminds me of Vasilis Papakonstantinou (Greek rock singer). The choir is a great touch. The intro is thankfully in Bruce's mid-range. Holy shit, the delay on "head" gets repeated a hilarious amount. Interesting drum rhythm when distortion kicks in. Snare sounds like a gunshot. Still weird effect on the vocals.
First half more riff-y than melodic.
Same synth again. Chorus feels like a mixture of Wicker Man (guitar rhythm) and BNW. The outro is amazing and very melodic.
Days Of Future Past: Will be played live for sure. Bruce sounds fantastic on the verses. Same synth again. Stratego was great, but this might be the best rocker of the reunion era. Solo ends abruptly. The chorus sounds like Bruce solo (Real World?)
The Time Machine: Another Legacy/Talisman variation. Bruce seems to have a lot of fun with the intro. Similar to OOTSP verse, but in major. Vocal harmonies! Acoustic guitars strumming along. A lot of synths on the whole album so far.
The gallop parts sounds very similar to the lead from The Edge Of Darkness. Adrian octave pedal on first solo. Second and third solo sound more traditional.
Another song with a very interesting and different last minute. Unfortunately not repeated, but the intro gets repeated instead.
Darkest Hour: Unusual chord progression for Maiden. "You shall not pass" found its way on the lyrics. Tambourine accenting the snare in the chorus, the descending chromatic notes sound great (sown the wind, now you reap the whirlwind). Sounds like a Bruce solo song too. Adrian solo, great tone, rather lengthy. Dave uses a few mannerisms he's used a bunch before. I get the Wasting Love comparison: power balladesque, chorus gets repeated with solo leads accompanying. Unnecessarily long outro.
Death Of The Celts: Intro sounds Dorian. Second riff reminds me of FTGGOG. Mid-range singing. Triplet rhythm reminds me of the Clansman. Solo backgrounds sounds like the acoustic bass, first time used simultaneously with distorted guitars? Triplet part after the solo sounds a bit like a jig, like traditional folk music, but metal instead of fiddles. Mixolydian? Janick? Dave. Adrian. The left guitar sounds like a DI instead of a clean amp, very weird decision. The "chorus" feels a little like the second chorus of the Nomad. Intro/Outro vocals sound a bit like Blind Guardian again.
The Parchment: Very first thought in the first two seconds "Manowar!" lol. Sounds like a slow and atmospheric Powerslave. Prominent synth again. All Harris epics so far use octaves once again instead of thirds/sixths. Mid-range vocals! Bruce sounds great. Adrian? The left and middle guitar play the same melody in octaves but switch places halfway through. Janick? All solos play around with phrygian dominant. Some solos end very abruptly. Thankfully more mid-range vocals. A bit of vocal harmonies. Welcome change of pace at around 10 minutes. Fantastic melodies. Another solo, Janick. Pretty long. Next solo sounds like Adrian. Repetition would have been great with a harmony.
Hell On Earth: bVI bVII i with some really simple but beautiful melodies. Backed by synths. Disorienting rhythm. Drum fill sounds sloppily pasted in, very messy transition. Very catchy melodies. Gallop! 3:30 minutes until Bruce joins. Thankfully mid-range again!
Very interesting effect on "prey!", sounds like gang vocals. Vocal harmony! Second song with "fallen angels". Chorus? Very catchy, great melodies. A lot of panning effects. Janick? Adrian!
Sloppy transition again. Next part reminds me of Sign Of The Cross, part after the first vocal. Vocals in octaves! Sloppy tempo shift. Vocal harmonies! Switch to phrygian. Solo. "Life in danger" sounds amazing. Intro reprise? Still sounds fantastic.
Last minute unnecessary. Song fades out for no reason.
 
LIALW is growing on me, I still feel like it's too long but and the weakest 'Arry epic but there are great parts in it, shades of TXF. And the outro is MAJESTIC.
 
After 3 straight listens, I'm pretty impressed for the most part, but I need more to really take it in because every long epic has so much different stuff going on. Even Senjutsu! I did notice something interesting and that is the 4 Harris epics follow kind of a similar pattern. They all have some a few different vocal parts at the beginning then go to instrumental stuff with a couple more vocal parts mixed in. Also, most of the vocals in The Parchment are kind of boring until the final vocal part where there's a pretty good melodic singing part. The same with the first vocal part on Hell On Earth. Actually, same on Death Of The Celts when at 2:22. I wish Bruce sang that in a bit more of a higher octave. The other parts are really good though. Maybe Harris wanted to take it easy on Bruce's vocals so he didn't give him as many really melodic and powerful singing parts. :lol: Overall, the album is a very enjoyable listening experience though.
 
Me and a friend had a listening party tonight. Very enjoyable to listen with someone who also is a big fan. The first time I hear a new Maiden album with someone, cool experience! I am also relieved we could today, because he won't have the time on Friday until the 10th, so I am thrilled we were able to listen today.

Anyway, onto the music. Good album.

Writing, Darkest Hour and Celts the best songs after one listen. Darkest Hour in particular stands out. Felt shorter than seven minutes. Senjutsu was odd, there is cool stuff here and some cool ideas, but I have to listen to it many more times before I can say more. Days of Future Past was the weakest song, at least for now.

Nicko and Steve are the stand out perfomers on the album. Steve has a great sound and some really cool playing! Finally great basslines by him again.

I will wait for my book edition to arrive (or Spotify!) before listening again though. Can't wait.

And finally, I might regret saying this, but it's fine for me if this is it for Maiden. I feel they may, just may have reached their potential with this lineup. I am not sure there is more for them to do now. It's a very strong album yet again, but they will never top AMOLAD, and this is a great way to end their career.
 
Poto said:
Did The Parchment have a Nomad-like feel and riff? I hope the Beckett guys hear the song.
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It conveys feelings of desert, Lawrence of Arabia, dunes, that sort of thing. Absolutely majestic but in a simple way.
As English is not my main language I have difficulty understanding the complete lyrics, but I put together several movies in my mind despite what was being sung lol


I counted 6 different killer guitar solos.
 
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matic22 said:
4/10

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.
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Funny because I think otherwise lol

I really liked the song and I think it could be extended an extra 4 minutes :)

The melody sung over the "boring chords" is just fantastic... With an "OhOhOh" built in naturally into the third phrase but not at the end of the word!!!


The guitar playing the vocal line was great. As I see it, it's a ploy that values the exceptional melody and I'm glad they used it throughout the album.

One detail: the ending of LIALW fits perfectly into the beginning of HellOnEarth...
 
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I am mindblown by the second part of Hell on Earth: Starting with the surprising rhythm change on 5:50-5:55, and then Bruce's epic vocals after 7:40 --- WOW! Outro is just perfectly heavy after all this...

I hope this is not the last song of Maiden, but it would be a perfect conclusion.
 
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Poto said:
And finally, I might regret saying this, but it's fine for me if this is it for Maiden. I feel they may, just may have reached their potential with this lineup. I am not sure there is more for them to do now. It's a very strong album yet again, but they will never top AMOLAD, and this is a great way to end their career.[/ISPOILER]
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I feel the same way. I would much rather they go out with this album than TBOS. There is nothing left to prove and we have seventeen albums to listen to now.
 
Poto said:
And finally, I might regret saying this, but it's fine for me if this is it for Maiden. I feel they may, just may have reached their potential with this lineup. I am not sure there is more for them to do now. It's a very strong album yet again, but they will never top AMOLAD, and this is a great way to end their career.
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Nah, man, stop it.

I can't wait to see the "Album 18 speculations thread".
 
It also feels like they have taken Bruce's age more into consideration. The Book of Souls and The Final Frontier had several songs where Bruce really struggles, this album is much more comfortable for him. Maybe there is more effect on his voice as well, which is nice. That goes against their live approach but this is a studio album. Love it.
 
Poto said:
It also feels like they have taken Bruce's age more into consideration. The Book of Souls and The Final Frontier had several songs where Bruce really struggles, this album is much more comfortable for him. Maybe there is more effect on his voice as well, which is nice. That goes against their live approach but this is a studio album. Love it.
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Gotta agree again. I absolutely do not mind Bruce being in the mix than above it. It suits him and the band well.
 
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