Senjutsu - 3rd September 2021

Melony said:
Reviewer 2, Metal Hammer Germany:
SENJUTSU is the crucible of all Iron Maiden studio albums since 2000: the epicness of BRAVE NEW WORLD,
the orchestration of DANCE OF DEATH, the progressiveness of A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH, the variety of
of THE FINAL FRONTIER and the dimension of THE BOOK OF SOULS. Now, these releases moved in waves in terms of their popularity with fans: great, debatable, thrilling, disruptive, brillant - a bad state of affairs for SENJUTSU, especially since it also contains elements of the less popular albums.
No question: Some songs could have been tightened up ("The Parchment"), some could have done without another
instrumental part, they should have rethought the sequence of the songs, and, yes, such a double album is jangling and demanding. But: This is how Iron Maiden sounds for twenty years now, there will be no 4-minute songs in the masses any more from the seasoned songwriters (also because three guitarists want to get to their solos). What the band procudes in melodies, harmonies, dynamics and stories nobody, nobody copies on this level. That the really big
choruses on SENJUTSU are a rarity, is just as much a weak point of the album as its poor production,
which often fails to put Bruce Dickinson in his true light. That the album nevertheless grows with with every listen (even the unwieldy introduction turns out to be a powerful epic), proves the continuing class of the band and the
songs. Who can recognize this, will be rewarded with one and a half hours of fulfilling music.
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Senjutsu is the crucible of all Maiden albums since the reunion - I'm glad to hear that.

Contains elements of the less popular albums - Which ones? Blaze era? That's great.

What the band produces in melodies, harmonies, dynamics and stories nobody, nobody copies on this level - 110% true.

The really big choruses on the album are a rarity - There is not a single Maiden album without big choruses! In the other reviews the choruses were mentioned as highlights of some songs.

Weak point of the album is the poor production - TWOTW begs to differ.

The production often fails to put Bruce Dickinson in his true light - I don't agree with that. And I'm sure it won't be any different for the new album too.
 
Yax said:
I'm getting really tired and grumpy about the enourmous overuse of the phrase "poor production". 90% of the time it seems to mean "not to my liking" rather than a clinically problematic production output. This is very well produced, period. Obviously not to everybody's taste, but it's very professionally executed and the 500hz oriented tom sound from TBOS is nowhere to be found here, which I think is a very good change.
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I find really it often means "not over produced", most albums these days don't sound like human beings interacting with each other to create music, so you have a generation of people who confuse the sound of a band playing together with a lack of production, or a production flaw, rather than an aesthetic choice.
 
srfc said:
I find really it often means "not over produced", most albums these days don't sound like human beings interacting with each other to create music, so you have a generation of people who confuse the sound of a band playing together with a lack of production, or a production flaw, rather than an aesthetic choice.
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Spot on! If you listen to some of the more recent bands on a CD and then look them up on YouTube to watch them live, some of the bands sound like they’ve forgotten how to play their instruments. In this day and age, you can use the power of software to make stuff sound tight as F, but to replicate that in a live setting isn’t that easy and if we use that as a measure of greatness, Maiden are a the top of their game because the band (too my ears) actually sound better live than on record - that’s not an easy thing to do and not that many bands can pull that off (especially bands that’s been around since the mid 70’s).
 
I never paid too much attention or emphasis on production. To me all the Maiden album sounds great in their own way. Maiden will sound how they want to sound and they have that freedom as artists. Also every album has its own characteristic and one element of that is the distinct sound of the 80s, 90s and post reunion albums. I don't really want all the albums to sound like BNW. Better to trust the band that has been around for more than 40 years to make that decision.
 
Scoobany said:
I'm slightly worried about the opening track. The post-reunion opening songs have been quite vivid so far, but based on the reviews, I'm guessing Senjutsu will be a tricky song that will split the fans with regards to what an ideal album opener should be.
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I find I typically like the song that half the people don't like.
I love Lord of Light, Starblind and The Red and the Black.

I also have no issues with the length of any Iron Maiden song. So when people complain about length or bits that they say are not needed or unnecessary, it doesn't deter me at all.
I like it when Maiden go extravagant, I like it when they do lots of solos and instrumentals, I love guitars.
 
What I think about poor maiden production, only XFactor and Virtual XI come to mind. If only the guitar sound would be beefier, xfactor would be my Nr 2 record
 
MindlessPieces said:
I find I typically like the song that half the people don't like.
I love Lord of Light, Starblind and The Red and the Black.

I also have no issues with the length of any Iron Maiden song. So when people complain about length or bits that they say are not needed or unnecessary, it doesn't deter me at all.
I like it when Maiden go extravagant, I like it when they do lots of solos and instrumentals, I love guitars.
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This!

I remember as a kid buying a record and looking straight on the back of the sleeve for run times. I always looked forward to the "epic" 7m+ songs. Obviously they've been dwarfed many times over since then

TRATB is my favourite off TBOS. All of it. That whole middle section is outstanding.

Also, from BNW, TTLBLAH is my second fave after Blood Brothers. The payoff when we get to "I will hope, my soul will fly" is just sensational.
 
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MindlessPieces said:
I find I typically like the song that half the people don't like.
I love Lord of Light, Starblind and The Red and the Black.

I also have no issues with the length of any Iron Maiden song. So when people complain about length or bits that they say are not needed or unnecessary, it doesn't deter me at all.
I like it when Maiden go extravagant, I like it when they do lots of solos and instrumentals, I love guitars.
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I think Lord of Light is one of the best songs on AMOLAD actually, along with TROBB.
 
Of course there is a raw feeling to the way they record. It is that at times the sound is not that clear. Also in some cases a few more takes could have elevated the end result. What I miss is that IMO Martin's sound represented their dynamic better. It is inevitable to compare the sound with other metal bands i.e. Accept. I happen to preffer their produciton sound. This might as well not be suitable for Maiden, at least for the way that Steve wants them to sound. But we all heard that h and Bruce are happy with the sound. On TFF it was clear H was not happy. I think that after the remastes of 2015 the best sounding album is AMOLAD. After that it is much more enjoyable to me. All in all the sound is better than BOS, more clear and TWOTW looks like a thought out song with guitar layers. So I see nothing wrong wth that. I just miss a bit of clarity even now that I got new headphones.
 
The sound of all post-reunion Maiden albums is embarrassing, considering what bands with 1% of the budget can achieve these days. The production actually hurts the music, the same albums with good productions would have been amazing. It has been a huge shame. The X-factor was ruined by the production too (which was far worse than the production of the post-reunion albums).
 
johnglen said:
It is the truth. Their albums sound weaker than just about every metal album these days, kind of like a reverse situation of the eighties.
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No. It's a opinion.

If Senjutsu will be like AMOLAD + DoD + TFF with length of BoS I will be happy. After listening to all reunion albums I discovered how much I like TFF and DoD so anything at this level will be ok with me.
 
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