Senjutsu - 3rd September 2021

srfc said:
Some nonsense being talked in this thread. No one here has heard the album so none of us have any idea which reviews are accurate.
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All of the reviews are accurate. It's someones opinion and they are entitled to it.
 
Belshazzar said:
Came back out of retirement just to add my plus one to this comment.

Samantas is the worst Maiden "fan" I've ever heard prattle on.

Being a fan of something means you are biased towards it - Maiden are my favourite band, and nothing else has come even remotely close to the reverence I have for them.

They could record Nicko shitting in a set of beer pong cups and I'd still pick out the good bits. (Not literally, obviously. Nobody needs that much sweetcorn).

Take anything else - who here is a football fan (I'm not, for clarity)? Would you ever side against them? Of course not!

Sometimes they might have an off night performing live in front of thousands - that's because those men on the pitch are human fucking beings. You wouldn't take the team you love and throw them under the bus for everything they've done for last 21 years.

The point I'm making is that EVERY review is SUBJECTIVE. There's no point arguing otherwise, as the only way to be objective is to state facts. For example:

"This is a vinyl record. Upon a record player, it plays music. The music is made from guitars, bass, drums and other minor instruments. Some songs are longer or shorter than others. Some people may or may not like it".

A proper review can only EVER come from the place of the one experiencing the subject being reviewed, ever.

For example, I hate Ozzy Osbourne. Black Sabbath, solo, whatever. I think he is a talentless twat who has historically used so much reverb to disguise his weak and emotionless voice that it sounds like he's singing in a cave.

Because of this - my opinion, subjectively - I could never give a positive review to an album he sings / writes on. Ever.

Whatever is considered to be the "legendary" Sabbath album - their NOTB or SSOASS - It would get a less than average score from me at best. Why? Because I'm a dick? Because I'm being contrary? No.

It's because I don't like him. I am biased against him. Therefore nothing he does would be considered "good" by me.

Reviewers and critics are human beings like all of us.
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I get your main point but I disagree somewhat with these last two sentences (click quote to expand). Human beings can be different from each other. Reviewers (or people in general) can sometimes have the ability (and I think should try at least) to give someone a new chance. If people would not be entirely happy about Blaze when witnessing the The X-Factour, e.g. because he sang offkey (whatever the cause of that may be), there is a possibility they would still like his singing on one of his solo albums.

Of course, if people are only into punk rock, then don't let them review a doom metal album. And if someone gave 8 Running Wild albums a negative review over the last 20 years, in such a manner you can really read how someone dislikes everything about them, then "perhaps" it would be a good suggestion to have someone else to review the next album.

There is always a strong level of subjectivity in a review, but bias means something else. Having an opinion formed before listening well to new music, that does not always need to happen.
 
All reviews are biased. It could be, in this case a pro-maiden bias, a bias of ambivalence, or simply “not my cup of tea” bias. It’s all valid. The best way to read reviews is either not at all, or read all of them and collect the aggregate opinions as a barometer. Maybe some reviewers don’t like longer Harris epics and some do. But maybe they both agree the melodies are dope.

Also beware of folks making comparisons. This song sounds like Hooks in You, that one reminds of the X Factor, etc. You gotta let that shit go, it’s meaningless. For several reasons:
1. You don’t know how much of the discography the reviewer has heard. Maybe a song reminds of Hooks because it’s the closest exposure he’s gotten to older Maiden. Maybe a song sounds X-Factorish. Does that means it’s long? Brooding? Maybe it sounds more like AMOLAD but the reviewer hasn’t heard that album.
2. We never know which elements remind folks of other elements, mentally. I think X Factor is a strong, dark and powerful piece of work. If I hear something similar, I may mentally compare the two. BUT, someone else might think X Factor is poorly sung, weakly produced, and just overall tepid. So that comparison wouldn’t work for that person if the song being compared is better produced, better sung, etc.
 
Yeah, when 'leaks' come out, someone comments "great old school Maiden by mr Harris!" while the song is some generic power metal bullshit from a band that can't sell a 100 people show.

My buddy listens to death metal and derived music. While there's a novelty factor in some things like Death wave or death'n'roll, things get stock quite fast. 90% of the bands that do that music sound the same. It's not my hearing, they use same approach to writing and recording drums and guitar riffs, same amps/presets and so on. Most of the time those small bands share musicians anyway. Not only that he considers Helloween and Maiden being "essentialy the same band", and he likes both of them so it's not a diss, just an opinion of his, and furthermore he considers both to be operatic power metal, like many other bands. For him it makes all the difference if a violin is played over the death metal blastbeat/guitar riff wall as opposed to organ/keyboards. For the sake of argument I once asked him to listen to Tribuzy w/ Dickinson - Beast in the Light, and he said he can't hear any distinction between the vocalists. I asked him can't you hear the thickness in the belting, the timbre, etc..."nope".

So yeah YMMV and I'm always weary of reviews by 'super fans' and 'metalheads for life' alike. On the other side, people who are "wider" in their music might shun metal for all other reasons apart from the music. Rolling Stone reviewer who thinks Iron Maiden and ACDC are comparable bands is the same goon as that one that mentions 'new release, new Eddie!' in his first two sentences.
 
Belshazzar said:
Being a fan of something means you are biased towards it
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I don’t know that this is a fair statement. You can be a fan of something because you happen to enjoy it, and you can land at that conclusion without being explicitly biased toward it.

I judge each new Maiden album on its own merits. Some are excellent, some are great, some are merely good, and on rare occasions some are mediocre to bad. But my enjoyment of the overall output of the band is what makes me a fan, rather than a true fanatic or fanboy who will insist that every album is perfect, and Steve Harris is a brilliant producer and video editor who never stole anything from Beckett and doesn’t have a repetition problem.

I hope Senjutsu is a great album, but I won’t know until I hear it. AMOLAD proved that the band is still capable of making top-shelf material when they’re properly motivated, so hopefully this will be one of those times.
 
The thread is now reviewing reviews of reviews…
And reviewing the review of said review….Uy.
I cannot in the name of all things holy —wait to “review” this album for myself.
Stratego and Hell on earth have become my 2 most anticipated songs based on these.. ……..,—reviews.
 
I'm glad to hear from Adrian...that he came prepared with demos and loads of ideas. I know that Harris, Gers and Bruce did too. They sometimes make it sound like they go into the studio with Nothing and the album is whatever 'comes out' in the couple of weeks in the studio.
 
Azas said:
I get the impression that opening song will be very experimental. Not in your face, but whole song more like an intro to the album. It will be very different to what IESF is to TBOS. In other words, I don't think Senjutsu will be good concert opener. Maybe Stratego or DOFP.
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So far we've heard the opening track described as having Satellite 15.... vibes with its experimental programed drum sound. Industrial metal and a bit of Tool....Will be interesting how it will sound live if they play it on tour. Maybe they'll play it over the PA and then run on stage for Stratego.....but the song is 8 min in length so unlikely.
 
Jer said:
I don’t know that this is a fair statement. You can be a fan of something because you happen to enjoy it, and you can land at that conclusion without being explicitly biased toward it.

I judge each new Maiden album on its own merits. Some are excellent, some are great, some are merely good, and on rare occasions some are mediocre to bad. But my enjoyment of the overall output of the band is what makes me a fan, rather than a true fanatic or fanboy who will insist that every album is perfect, and Steve Harris is a brilliant producer and video editor who never stole anything from Beckett and doesn’t have a repetition problem.

I hope Senjutsu is a great album, but I won’t know until I hear it. AMOLAD proved that the band is still capable of making top-shelf material when they’re properly motivated, so hopefully this will be one of those times.
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Based on what I've seen/heard I think Senjutsu will be a great album, really looking forward to it. Some might accuse me of being a fanboy but I really am not.

I will be the first to admit Maiden is not perfect, no band is. I agree Steve working with an established producer is best and it's true he should let the video editing go to someone else.

Furthermore, I will say I really am not a fan of the Blaze era. I have grown to appreciate most of X Factor but there's only 2 songs on VXI that I go back to. I have never cared for Blaze's voice but I know some here do. Out of respect I don't slag Blaze. It just didn't work out, for whatever reason.

So I tend to focus on the positives of my favorite band. I'm just happy the band I've followed for 40 years now is still putting out material I really love. What I don't get is the folks who say they are "fans" but it seems like they mostly have negative things to say.
 
They did say the groove follows it all the way so Sat 15...TFF is not likely. This time around Nicko probably plays Smith's idea.

Satellite 15 I feel was also composed with the intention of Nicko playing it.
 

SixesAlltheway said:
So far we've heard the opening track described as having Satellite 15.... vibes with its experimental programed drum sound. Industrial metal and a bit of Tool....Will be interesting how it will sound live if they play it on tour. Maybe they'll play it over the PA and then run on stage for Stratego.....but the song is 8 min in length so unlikely.
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Have they mentioned the drums being programmed anywhere?
 
I think that Sat 15 being just copy paste from H’s demo was a huge mistake. It sounds absolute crap and the timing is off on the programmed drums. The track would’ve benefited from being played by the band instead of using H’s Tascam 8 channel “band in a box” demo.
That being said, I’m 100% certain that the intro being teased from the new album is played by the band and not a demo carried over from H’s hard drive.
And please, can we have a chance to listen to the actual album instead of having preconceived ideas of what is and what is not.
 
Zare said:
They did say the groove follows it all the way so Sat 15...TFF is not likely. This time around Nicko probably plays Smith's idea.

Satellite 15 I feel was also composed with the intention of Nicko playing it.
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It was. Adrian programmed the drums in a way he knew Nicko could play and Steve went “naw mate, this is good shit right ‘ere, les just go wit it!”
 
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