Senjutsu - 3rd September 2021

Donner said:
There's another review posted on the official board I haven't seen here yet. Using spoiler tags for those who don't want to read it (also, this is totally copy pasted from there, so kudos to Nagelfar on that board).

Only two of us had the chance to listen to the new Maiden-album before our editorial deadline, so it won’t be in this issue’s soundcheck. Instead here’s a track-by-track review:

  1. Senjutsu (Smith/Harris)
    The long opening and title track is quite heavy, rhythmically challenging, features a good Chorus-Hookline, is all in all quite melodic, but not cheesy. Slightly oriental flair. The atmosphere and the production are reminiscent of some Brave New World-Tracks. Nicko’s Toms are quite present. Bruce is singing relatively low at first, but jumps about an octave higher later on and he sounds confident. Very good.
  2. Stratego (Gers/Harris)
    Slightly weaker than “Senjutsu”. Could have been on any of the last six or seven albums. Typical Maiden with galloping guitars and bass. Noticeable solo. Quite good, but no highlight.
  3. The Writing On The Wall (Smith/Dickinson)
    Die first single and videoclip. Features a mighty intro-riff, which slightly reminds of The Cult. Soundwise it’s a bit unusual for Maiden, due to it being a Classic Rock song rather than a Metal song. Very atmospheric. Bruce sings confident and quite high, without sounding strained. Good, typically maidenesque Chorus, although the song would have fitted on a Dickinson-Soloalbum. 6 Minutes longs, but could have been longer.
  4. Lost in a lost World (Harris)
    Balladic beginning, turns into a tricky rocker after two minutes. Noticeable good sounding drums, vocal line is rather average. The open played chords are a bit reminiscent of the X-Factor era. Typical maidenesque Guitar-Melodies, but not as annoyingly long as on some of the last records. No highlight, but a good track. Ends as it began, obviously.
  5. Days Of Future Past (Smith/Dickinson)
    Starts with a strong, catchy riff and a fresh vocal line. A good uptempo-rocker with a catchy Chorus. Shortest track on the album and it would be perfect for a second single.
  6. The Time Machine (Gers/Harris)
    Balladic beginning, turns into a mighty rocker after approx. one minute with a vocal line, which takes getting used to. The track grows with every play. Hightlight of the pretty good song is the very good middle-section, which features the best typical Maiden-Guitar-melodies in a long time. Obviously, the track ends as it began. Best track with Harris-involvement on the album.
  7. Darkest Hours (Smith/Dickinson)
    And another track with begins atmospheric and balladic, slowly grows, especially vocalwise. Reminiscent of Bruce’s later solo albums. One of the, if not even the, best vocal performances on the album. Good powerballad-chorus. The track stays relatively calm and ends atmospheric and balladic.
  8. Death of the Celts (Harris)
    The first of three Harris-epics. Quiet beginning, slowly builds up after two minutes, becomes heavier, guitar are piling up , after four minutes it reaches it first highlight. Great vocals! Long instrumental middlepart with a very soulfull Davey-Solo (or is it Janick?). Some redundant breaks in the sixth and seventh minute, the track is a bit too long. Nevertheless it’s likely to be a highlight live. Vocal only return somewhere around nine minutes, there’s obviously a long drawn ending and (surprise!) it ends as it began.
  9. The Parchment (Harris)
    Begins with a bass-riff, which carries the track. Orientalic melody, tricky rhythm, vocals set in after two minutes. Song builds up very long, features great guitar parts. There’s no chorus, but a vocal climax in minute nine and ten. Has a good, atmospheric final, which does NOT end with the beginning. With over twelve minutes the longest track.
  10. Hell on Earth (Harris)
    And another ballaldic beginning, which flows into a typical Maiden-riff and typical Maiden-Songstructure. Although the incredients are known, the track feel fresh and it could be another Live-Highlight. Bruce’s vocal-line isn’t really new, but it makes a good match. Appealing guitar-stereo-effects. After approx. seven minutes, there’s a calm middlepart, which leads into the best part of the song. Fantastic climax after eight minutes. Ends as it began. Great conclusion of the album.
Final verdict:
“Senjutsu” is a interesting, varied album, which only needs a few replays to grow and is qualitywise on a level with A Matter Of Life And Death, stylistically more in line with Brave New World. The great production is striking, the Drums aswell as the Guitars are brilliantly set into spotlight and the production is all in all “rounder” than e.g. The Final Frontier.

The new album is, although it didn’t take long to record, not a quickshot, but a really strong later work (let’s be honest, there are not that many Maiden albums left), that might even be their second best post reunion record. It will take some time, to see if “Senjutsu” stands the test of time - as we know not every Maiden album in the last twenty years has been as longliving as “Brave New World”."
Click to expand...
The things that caught my attention in this review:

- A lot of quiet intros and some heavy riffs.
- It seems that Days Of Future Past, The Time Machine and Hell On Earth will be some of the best songs.

And now for the songs,

Senjutsu - quite heavy, rhythmically challenging, catchy chorus, oriental flair, Nicko's toms are quite present, reminds a BNW era song... this should be another classic title track.

Stratego - noticeable solo.

The Time Machine - features the best Maiden melodies in a long time.

Darkest Hour - I'm really curious about this song. A ballad... great.

Death Of The Celts - great solo from Dave or Janick.

The Parchment - bass intro, oriental melody (again), great guitar parts, vocal climax near the end.

Hell On Earth - a live highlight, guitar effects, fantastic end to the song.
 
Randalf said:
The biggest rock/metal oriented radio station here (cleverly called Radio Rock) gives Maiden quite a lot of airplay, but it's usually Trooper-RTTH-666-FOTD-Wasted Years etc. - obvious enough. Of course The Writing On The Wall has been up there as well recently.

I've said this somewhere here before, but as an interesting Maiden airplay-obscurity, the same station once played Age of Innocence and Only the Good Die Young right after one another. :D It was due to a special show though, their playlists are generally quite boring, as you'd expect.

The other, relatively big rock station (Radio City) has a knack of playing some deeper cuts. It's not like they'd blast out Infinite Dreams or Alexander the Great, but for whatever reason they've played stuff like From Here to Eternity or Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter every now and then. I mean, they're single releases anyway and especially the latter is quite a popular song, but they're relatively obscure choices anyway. Same with Metallica for example, they do dig the vaults a little bit outside the most obvious picks, but their playlists in general are pretty generic anyway.

Then again, I'm not expecting much more from commercial radio stations. I don't fancy listening to Maiden songs from the radio anyway. Any (positive) media & airplay coverage for the band is obviously good thing itself, I guess!
Click to expand...
I could care less what radio plays and so could Maiden I’m sure, but it’s still shocking to hear. And maybe it shows that there’s something extra special about new Maiden.
 
Song endings 101:
  • A chorus
  • A crescendo
  • A fadeout
  • A bang
  • A denoument
There ain't a lot of options folks.

Are we really complaining that Steve favours one of the lesser-used choices?
Especially after all these years and all those great songs?

Oh look at that (eye roll here): fucking van gogh is using oils again
 
mckindog said:
Song endings 101:
  • A chorus
  • A crescendo
  • A fadeout
  • A bang
  • A denoument
There ain't a lot of options folks.

Are we really complaining that Steve favours one of the lesser-used choices?
Especially after all these years and all those great songs?

Oh look at that (eye roll here): fucking van gogh is using oils again
Click to expand...

And Maiden only have 1 track with the all time shitest ending, the fade out. (2 if you count Prophecy where it's acceptable)
 
srfc said:
And Maiden only have 1 track with the all time shitest ending, the fade out. (2 if you count Prophecy where it's acceptable)
Click to expand...
What's the other song? I agree anyway, was thinking the same yesterday listening to Purple's Perfect Strangers album, most of the songs fading in the middle of guitar solos/nice musical parts.
 
ABandOn said:
What's the other song? I agree anyway, was thinking the same yesterday listening to Purple's Perfect Strangers album, most of the songs fading in the middle of guitar solos/nice musical parts.
Click to expand...

Stranger in a Strange Land.

One of my worst is Mr Crowley, you've got one of the best guitarists of all time busting out one of the best solos of all time and you fade him out:lol:
 
Songs with intro/outro the same motif:

Burning Ambition
Prodigal Son
The Number Of The Beast
Total Eclipse
Where Eagles Dare
The Trooper
Quest For Fire
To Tame A Land
Aces High (despite the intro made to be a playback, live)
Heaven Can Wait
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Alexander The Great (repeats the first main riff)

There's a lot to complain about the 80's, then, huh?

It did not begin on The X Factor as some geniuses still believe.
 
Last edited:
Perun said:
Well, there's not terribly much substance to the interview that we haven't had in the ones already published. Here's what I think is new and goes beyond "why are Maiden still successful?":

Bruce thinks the video to "Deutschland" by Rammstein is a masterpiece and he compared WOTW with it in the sense that it's an unusual step for the band and he hopes it will have a similar impact, but he does not say there are any stylistic parallels.

WOTW is animated because that was the only feasible option in the pandemic. In principle he would have had a live action telling of the story too. The biker part is inspired by Sons of Anarchy which he binged during the lockdown.

He says WOTW does not compare stylistically to the rest of the album.

They recorded a song whenever it was written, they didn't record the whole album in one go.

WOTW is about how we are dealing with the post-war prosperity and where humanity I'd headed now.

Senjutsu is about a wall and Bruce thinks Steve watched too much Game of Thrones.

Days of Future Past is based on the film Constsntine starring Keanu Reeves.

He thinks Maiden could make it as long as the Rolling Stones.

Bruce says he gets inspired by folky stuff like Jethro Tull, Blackmore's Night, but also early Hawkwind and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. He doesn't have much use for proggy bands like Yes whis Steve is into.

Darkest Hour is about Winston Churchill and how he saved the world despite being a flawed man.

He stands by his decision to vote for Brexit.

Ed Force One is history. The plane broke, it was a hassle to have around and it's bad for the environment.

He loves Trooper, especially the original and Sun & Steel.


Did I muss something important, @FTB?

Any spelling errors or words that don't fit are thanks to the AutoKaputt on my Dumbphone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the translation and summary, it is really appreciated.

Winston Churchill saved the world? Really??? Whilst his importance is undeniable, Bruce’s brain seems to be severely contaminated by his private posh education! :lol:
 
srfc said:
Stranger in a Strange Land.

One of my worst is Mr Crowley, you've got one of the best guitarists of all time busting out one of the best solos of all time and you fade him out:lol:
Click to expand...
I think the official term is 'the majestic fadeout'
 
Jeffmetal said:
Songs with intro/outro the same motif:

Burning Ambition
Prodigal Son
The Number Of The Beast
Where Eagles Dare
The Trooper
Quest For Fire
To Tame A Land
Aces High (despite the intro made to be a playback, live)
Heaven Can Wait.
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
Alexander The Great (repeats the first main riff)

There's a lot to complain about the 80's, then, huh?

It did not begin on The X Factor as some geniuses still believe.
Click to expand...
Excellent point. Been a Steve trait from the beginning
 
srfc said:
Or exaggerate it, there's more on AMOLAD than the last two albums.
Click to expand...

I’d say the slow intro/slow outro formula was used at its best on AMOLAD.

I must admit I am a bit wary about the new long Steve epics after reading the reviews that have been posted so far. Fingers crossed they are top drawer material.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top