Senjutsu - 3rd September 2021

At least the latest British Lion was good songwriting so there's that. Yet my expectations are as low as I can remember. Which is probably a good thing :)
 
Interestingly, the history of Stratego - the board game - links back to something called Japanese Military Chess, which was shamelessly copied by a French game inventor in 1907. This later developed into Stratego proper in the 1940s.
 
I suppose it was about time Dave stopped writing songs. I am bit surprised Bruce "only" has three credits though.

Steve writing four songs by himself is extremely exciting, and a little scary. But I have a good feeling.

Turns out the Paris rumours were true.. And the pandemic delayed the album.
 
I'm excited. New Maiden music is a thing to celebrate.
  • Glad to see two Janick songs!
  • Wish there were more Bruce and/or Adrian compositions.
  • I'm happy without a Dave song. He's the weakest contributor in the band (not including Nicko).
  • I am...not in love with the name or the aesthetic. 6 old British dudes releasing an album co-opting Japanese culture this heavily feels rather odd. I really feel like there was a better album title available (even if it's just one of the other song titles). Writing On The Wall would've been better. I don't know. Something feels weird about it. I'm willing to dive in because it's Maiden and I'm pumped, but I think a giant stage set of Japanese architecture is gonna be strange.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
I am...not in love with the name or the aesthetic. 6 old British dudes releasing an album co-opting Japanese culture this heavily feels rather odd. I really feel like there was a better album title available (even if it's just one of the other song titles). Writing On The Wall would've been better. I don't know. Something feels weird about it. I'm willing to dive in because it's Maiden and I'm pumped, but I think a giant stage set of Japanese architecture is gonna be strange.
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This was part of my first reaction, although, it's not really to me to say what is and isn't co-opting culture. Let's see if the Japanese get pissed off, or if they think it's awesome, or if they don't care.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
I'm excited. New Maiden music is a thing to celebrate.
  • Glad to see two Janick songs!
  • Wish there were more Bruce and/or Adrian compositions.
  • I'm happy without a Dave song. He's the weakest contributor in the band (not including Nicko).
  • I am...not in love with the name or the aesthetic. 6 old British dudes releasing an album co-opting Japanese culture this heavily feels rather odd. I really feel like there was a better album title available (even if it's just one of the other song titles). Writing On The Wall would've been better. I don't know. Something feels weird about it. I'm willing to dive in because it's Maiden and I'm pumped, but I think a giant stage set of Japanese architecture is gonna be strange.
Click to expand...
I’m often not a fan of the word “co-opting.” We’re all humans and we’re allowed interest and homage to different cultures. Plus, Japan loves Maiden. Reaching into other country’s cultures is also not new for them:
Nomad
Powerslave (album art and song)
Book of Souls
 
______no5 said:
It would be nice the tour to be named after the meaning of the word rather than the word itself, i.e. Strategic Tour or something similar.
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World Slavery Tour is the coolest tour name ever. I hope they come up with something of that caliber. (but I don't care too much about the tour names anyway)
 
LooseCannon said:
This was part of my first reaction, although, it's not really to me to say what is and isn't co-opting culture. Let's see if the Japanese get pissed off, or if they think it's awesome, or if they don't care.
Click to expand...
Sure, agreed. I'm not offended by it, but it just feels bizarre and very un-Maiden (which seems to be the point based on Bruce's quote).

chaosapiant said:
I’m often not a fan of the word “co-opting.” We’re all humans and we’re allowed interest and homage to different cultures. Plus, Japan loves Maiden. Reaching into other country’s cultures is also not new for them:
Nomad
Powerslave (album art and song)
Book of Souls
Click to expand...
All very true. I guess Powerslave is the most apt comparison in terms of going "all in" on the concept.
 
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My only slight on the artwork and vibe is that it's two "location" albums in a row. We went from the Mayans to the Samurai and it seems like little more of the same but slightly different (which, I suppose, is an apt metaphor for Maiden in general ha).

That and we've already seen iterations of Eddie as a Samurai on shirts and beer before so it's not entirely unique.
 
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