Senjutsu - 20 Months Later

Christopher Baines said:
I still just don't get The Parchment. Listened to it many times and don't think my opinion is gonna change on this now but I find it incredible boring. I just plods like some of the Blaze era stuff. In fact I think its one of my least fav Maiden songs ever.
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I didn't really get the song when the album released either, if I'm honest. I found it really monotonous at first and it mainly grew on me in the background when I wasn't trying to force myself to like it. Absolutely love it now though, especially if I'm out running.
 
GhostofCain said:
I stand by my previous comment. In my humble opinion, Senjutsu is the weakest post-reunion Maiden album.
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I agree. Don't get me wrong I still enjoy listening to the album and sing along to it I just don't get the some feeling and excitement as I do on a lot of other Maiden albums. Usually im still buzzing 12 months after a new Maiden album whereas I lost that buzz after about 5 listens to Senjutsu.
 
Senjutsu was on regular rotation for about six months after release day. I started winding down in the spring and had my last full listen sometime around the Platinum Jubilee weekend in early June before taking a break from it, until its first anniversary. I'm pleased to say that none of the shine of the top-tier songs has worn off, but what's pleasantly surprising is that since coming back to the album, the songs I'm revisiting most are the ones I initially rated slightly lower: Senjutsu, Lost in a Lost World, The Time Machine and Darkest Hour - though I always thought Darkest Hour was a fair bit stronger than the rest. It might be that they previously got a little overshadowed by the other tracks so I didn't listen to them as much, or it might be that I've spent the best part of a year thinking of them as "the lesser songs", but I'm finding that I'm enjoying them loads more now.

Senjutsu - 8
Stratego - 9
The Writing on the Wall - 10
Lost in a Lost World - 7
Days of Future Past - 9
The Time Machine - 8
Darkest Hour - 8
Death of the Celts - 9
The Parchment - 10
Hell On Earth - 10

I stand by my previous post-reunion rating: it's below Brave New World and AMOLAD and above everything else. It's also now my fifth overall favourite Maiden album, having pipped Powerslave to sit below BNW, Seventh Son, AMOLAD and Piece of Mind. Still can't decide if it's better than PoM, the weaker songs from Senjutsu are way above the weakest from PoM, but the latter has an unrivalled run of six top-tier songs in a row.
 
First listen to Senjutsu left me disappointed. The title tracks was good but I gave up after the Time Machine, it just didn't get me excited like BNW, AMOL&D and FF did. Later I remembered the days when 'heavier' albums needed to be "got into" before it clicked i.e. listen 3-4 times until >CLICK!< all of a sudden you felt the songs and they sounded great. I did that with Close To The Edge, Black Sabbath, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Machine Head etc. etc. Well it worked for Senjutsu and I've actually come to like all the songs including The Darkest Hour and Death of the Celts. Steve Harris has talked about his love of progressive rock back in the 70's and we all know he's been slowly pushing Maiden in that direction. I think that's why the last few albums don't jump out at you but you need to 'get into them'. Familiarity breeds enjoyment not contempt when it comes to more progressive rock type albums. May be worth trying.
 
I love it. My main issue with it is the same issue I have with other Maiden albums post 80's: the "rehashing" of melodies and song structures, mainly with Harris and Harris/Gers tunes. I usually like the parts in Maiden songs they haven't done before, like the mid sections of Isle of Avalon for example. Senjutsu has many of these, bit also parts that remind me of other songs, like LIALW which sounds very 90's, or HOE which sounds like WTWWB. I still love all of the songs when I listen to them and appreciate them for what they are, but it's also hard for me to ignore the blatant similarities.

Thinking about it more, Maiden of the post reunion era sure are progressive, but they could be more experimental. What do I mean by that?
I like when they try different time signatures, like AtG, BTATS, Starblind. I also like when they try different modes, like Isle of Avalon and The Time Machine. But they don't do it often, and they don't try different keys much anymore. I feel like the first 5 albums had a lot of variety in song structures, keys and "feels" that the newer ones don't have. I can give examples of these things in every Maiden era, but I feel like when the "Maiden sound" was less "well defined", they had room to experiment more.

When was the last time we heard something like Losfer Words? Instrumental, many key changes, non linear harmonies. Very cool.
How about arpeggios like in Phantom? Maybe never since.
 
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Mega said:
Thinking about it more, Maiden of the post reunion era sure are progressive, but they could be more experimental. What do I mean by that?
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I tend to agree with this. I love post 2000's Maiden and tend to prefer it even over their 80s stuff. However, songs like Starblind, Avalon, Senjutsu, Face in the Sand, etc, remind me that this band has a LOT of musical avenues they could take that would lean more into the off-kilter time signatures and bizarre riffs and structures that make their music more interesting.

I tend to find Final Frontier, for example, a far more "progressive" album than Book of Souls. Book of Souls is kind of a distillation of the "Maiden Sound," where-as Final Frontier has a good deal of stuff going on that you've never heard them do before. That break-down in the middle of Man Who Would Be King for example: like holy shit. Stuff like that is amazing and I want to hear more of it.
 
chaosapiant said:
I tend to agree with this. I love post 2000's Maiden and tend to prefer it even over their 80s stuff. However, songs like Starblind, Avalon, Senjutsu, Face in the Sand, etc, remind me that this band has a LOT of musical avenues they could take that would lean more into the off-kilter time signatures and bizarre riffs and structures that make their music more interesting.

I tend to find Final Frontier, for example, a far more "progressive" album than Book of Souls. Book of Souls is kind of a distillation of the "Maiden Sound," where-as Final Frontier has a good deal of stuff going on that you've never heard them do before. That break-down in the middle of Man Who Would Be King for example: like holy shit. Stuff like that is amazing and I want to hear more of it.
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Exactly. As you said, they DO stuff like this from time to time, I just want more of it I guess.
 
Mega said:
I love it. My main issue with it is the same issue I have with other Maiden albums post 80's: the "rehashing" of melodies and song structures, mainly with Harris and Harris/Gers tunes. I usually like the parts in Maiden songs they haven't done before, like the mid sections of Isle of Avalon for example. Senjutsu has many of these, bit also parts that remind me of other songs, like LIALW which sounds very 90's, or HOE which sounds like WTWWB. I still love all of the songs when I listen to them and appreciate them for what they are, but it's also hard for me to ignore the blatant similarities.

Thinking about it more, Maiden of the post reunion era sure are progressive, but they could be more experimental. What do I mean by that?
I like when they try different time signatures, like AtG, BTATS, Starblind. I also like when they try different modes, like Isle of Avalon and The Time Machine. But they don't do it often, and they don't try different keys much anymore. I feel like the first 5 albums had a lot of variety in song structures, keys and "feels" that the newer ones don't have. I can give examples of these things in every Maiden era, but I feel like when the "Maiden sound" was less "well defined", they had room to experiment more.

When was the last time we heard something like Losfer Words? Instrumental, many key changes, non linear harmonies. Very cool.
How about arpeggios like in Phantom? Maybe never since.
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for me hell on earth death of thr celts lost in a lost World could be on any álbum from 90s
 
I have just spent the evening listening to the album on vinyl with a local takeout cask ale. I always find albums easier to digest on vinyl. The action of turning it over gives me time to reflect. The album is really growing and becoming a favourite of the reunion era.

I can’t think of a more satisfying Maiden moment than when the main melody of Hell on Earth drops.
 
I was lurking to see if I could find something to listen to while at work. I stumbled upon this interview dated from January 2020.

I assume that they uploaded this fairly around the time it actually took place and was broadcast. He says "this new one that's coming out just now". This was well over a year before The Writing on the Wall was released.

Was this the first time a new Iron Maiden album was mentioned pre-COVID 19? This was more than nineteen months before Senjutsu was released.
 
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