Cavalgadas, riffs icônicos, Bruce sensacional, solos lindos. Tudo que o fã do Maiden aprendeu a amar está em Senjutsu
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In brazilian portuguese. Translated
Every review has a beginning, a middle and an end.
I'm going to start at the end.
Senjutsu's tenth and final song, "Hell On Earth", is one of the 4 epics composed by Steve
Harris for the album. In addition to ending iron maiden's
17th album,it's also
the best song on the album! Join the list of the band's great classics!
After 2 minutes of a beautiful, calm introduction that presents us one of the themes of the music, we have... Uh... Hell
on Earth - Hell On Earth! Everything we want and expect and hope to happen in a new Maiden song is here:
The traditional Maidenian cavalcade, wonderful riffs to be sung (oooo) in the stadium,
Bruce Dickinson sensational in the verses and bridge, more melodious riffs, an unbelievable chorus that chills (even having heard
in the repeat i don't know how many times), beautiful solos, a quiet part with Steve commanding with his Fender
Precision and Bruce with a soft vocal that grows and finally explodes with anger! Anyway, everything... ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING a Maiden fan loves, wants and worships! All this, in 1 song only.
Steve's a genius. And that's final.
At the end of the track, the same theme of the opening is back to be played, and we have room for the quiet ending that
goes down, fading away,leaving devastated earth, Hell on Earth, and ending
Senjutsu,iron maiden's best record in almost 30 years...
What an end!
Well, that's the end of the album. Now let's go to the beginning...
Adrian Smith and Steve Harris, authors of "Senjutsu". Credits: Nando Machado and Marcos Hermes
OK... I'll allow myself to close my eyes and imagine:
It's September 2022. After almost 3 years without shows, we're back in a stadium. Lights still on, people talking, anxious people, people drinking beer and playback playing on the Stadium's PAs, a
Scorpions here, an
AC/DC there,
an Ozzy there.
Suddenly the lights go out and the only show in the world that starts before it starts, finally... Uh... Starts:
"Doctor Doctor" of
ufo and the stadium insandece pulsating to the sound of a playback as if the band itself were there live. Everyone knows what this song means: In four minutes, another Iron Maiden show is about to start.
The music ends. Silence. Dark. The anxiety is so much that you can touch it in the air.
A grand beat in deaf, bass drum and all the serious pieces of
Nicko McBrain's drumsexplodes. The stadium explodes together. Other drums begin to set the pace. Comes a heavy riff from the guitars of the
trio Adrian Smith, Dave
Murray and
Janick Gers. Steve's bass comes along. Bruce's voice announces in an epic
way "Meet the warning the sound of the drums". The stage is still dark. A war is announced. Anxiety is uncontrollable.
And after 80 seconds of this real war song, a heavy, super melodious chorus explodes! And with it, a light show lighting up the Iron Maiden on stage!
This is how the title track "Senjutsu", the song that opens the album, begins. And that's how I picture the start of the new Iron Maiden show.
It is impossible not to compare this beginning of disc
with The Final Frontier (2010) which also brings an introduction to the opening song. But in
Senjutsu all of this intro is better: It's more visceral. Heavier. Fewer effects and more guitar drive. It's also a lot shorter.
"Senjutsu" is a different song to be a maiden record opening compared to most of the previous ones. She has a dense footprint... kinda doom... half dragged. Too heavy. Actually, half Sabbath. The vocal in the chorus is chilling and brings backings in very high tones.
The excellent composition of Steve Harris and Adrian Smith ends in this dragged footprint and then we receive the perfect counterpoint of the galloping and fast "Stratego".
Steve Harris and Janick Gers, authors of "Stratego." Credits: Leca Suzuki
Both "Stratego" and the album's third song, "The Writing On The Wall", are the two singles that were released before the album, something unheard of in iron maiden history: Until then, only 1 song was released before the release of each album – except
for Killers (1981) who had no single before the album.
That said, it makes no sense to comment on details of these 2
songs (click here to listen to "Stratego" and here to
listen to "The Writing On The Wall" which will undoubtedly be a zillion times better experience than reading what I have to say about them).
I just comment quickly that I loved these 2 songs. Both have incredible choruses and Bruce is tearing it apart. In the exceptional "Stratego" caught my attention the guitar (probably janick gers who composed the song in partnership with Steve Harris) doing along the melody of Bruce's voice in the verses – something that will be repeated a few times throughout this album.
Adrian Smith e Bruce Dickinson, autores de “The Writing On The Wall”. Créditos: Marcos Hermes
"The Writing On The Wall" was the first single to be released and is also the first of the 3 songs that were composed by the partner Bruce and Adrian for
Senjutsu. The duo, who have been responsible for so many hits such as "Flight of Icarus" and "2 Minutes To Midnight", is now once again delighting us with these three iconic compositions, as we will soon see more in "Days Of Future Past" and "Darkest Hour".
"The Writing On The Wall" has so much to comment on, from the opening riff so different in this folk-country footprint, to
the numerous easter eggs hidden in the musicvideo, but I'll highlight only the 2nd solo that for me is the best of the entire album. Go back there and listen carefully to this solo – It starts at 4' 25"
or click here that I've already left at the point for you.
Ready. We've talked about the end and the beginning of the record. And before we go with the middle songs, it's worth scoring:
The album opens with "Senjutsu", a heavy and dense song.
It follows with "Stratego", fast, direct and with the galloping Maideniana.
And here comes "The Writing On The Wall" in a half-folk, western style.
"Maiden is always more of the same" they say.
Aham... I can see that.
Steve Harris, autor de “Lost In A Lost World”.
We move on because now we're going to meet the first of Steve Harris's four epics, "Lost In A Lost World."
Without repeating itself and changing again, the track brings a very different and melodious beginning with an acoustic part and Bruce's voice being interspersed with wonderful backings. It arrives (half by far) to remember a little heavier version of "Planet Caravan" from
Black Sabbath.
Obviously, we know Steve's going to break that lull, especially in a nearly 10-minute epic! And this occurs after 2 minutes with the entrance of a sensational riff. Nicko's drums are very much inspired by many points on the album, but on this particular track, it's too much!
The bridge (or anti-chorus) for me is undoubtedly the highlight of this song. More even than the chorus itself, which refers to choruses of the times of
The X Factor (1995).
And right after the chorus we came up with a typical Maidenian riff in the middle style "Afraid To Shoot Strangers" – "I miss
singing an ôôôô on top of the riffs in maiden's live show, right my son?".
For those who have ever been to a maiden show knows that the audience looks more like a football crowd that went there, not to watch a show, but to cheer and push the band! Like it's a championship final with the whole stadium screaming, singing and jumping. Together, for a cause.
After the solos and riffs, once again we have the chorus and from 8 minutes, the bridge is represented to us but with a different arrangement, slow and calm that takes the music to the end. This ending is one of the most memorable moments on the album. Exciting!
Steve's a genius. Oh... I've said that, haven't I?
“Days Of Future Past”.
We came to the music that I had the greatest expectation and curiosity to listen to. Why? Because it is the shortest song on the album (4 minutes) and is more of a composition of the duo Smith-Dickinson. My expectation bar was up there. And "Days Of Future Past" delivers everything I expected!
It begins with a grand and epic footprint that at 30 seconds falls into a very rock 'n' roll riff, very surpeendente! Bruce's voice is too much! As in many tracks on this record he sings in an absurdly loud tone. It is worth remembering that this is Bruce's first album after his victory over throat cancer.
What a chorus!
“The days of future past, to wander on the shore
A king without a queen, to die forevermore
To wander in the wasteland, immortal to the end
Waiting for the judgement, but the judgement never ends.”
I love Steve's epics (we have 4 to enjoy on this album!), but good that we also have direct songs like "Days Of Future Past" or "Stratego" that refer to maiden of the first albums.
Janick Gers e Steve Harris, autores de “The Time Machine”. Créditos: Wikimedia Commons
Somos colocados então em uma máquina do tempo em “The Time Machine” que me transportou para uma pegada mais
Brave New World (2000). A faixa composta pela dupla Harris-Gers começa com uma introdução lenta com a suave voz do Bruce nos contando uma história.
Logo a música acelera e se transforma em mais um dos grandes momentos do disco: Versos que trazem Bruce seguindo o seu
storytelling e justamente por isso, cantando de uma forma que lembra musicais, como se ele estivesse em um
Jesus Christ Superstar, ou um
Hair. Aos 3 minutos, a cavalgada Maideniana ataca, riffs lindos pra serem cantados no estádio ou em casa e mais Bruce grandioso.
Aos 4’ 35” temos um riff pesado que lembra um pouco
Rush “novo” (entre aspas porque é “novo” tipo
Vapor Trails ou
Snakes & Arrows, que já não são tão novos assim) e que é seguido novamente por solos lindos. E como Steve adora, a música termina do mesmo jeito que começou, com a intro lenta, porém com Bruce concluíndo a sua história. Que história? Apenas mistérios de diversas Eras da Terra. Vale conferir o encarte.
“Darkest Hour”.
The third and final composition of the Smith-Dickinson partnership begins and ends on the beach, to the sound of the waves of the sea. "Darkest Hour" is one of
Senjutsu's most beautiful songs and could be a radio candidate for being almost a ballad that chronicles the vision of a soldier who is waiting for the day to be born to go into battle. This last hour of darkness before the sun rises and went to war is the
darkest hour,a beautiful metaphor for many moments in life.
The solos of this song
confirm that Senjutsu may be one of Iron Maiden's albums with the most tasteful solos of the Iron Maiden discography. Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers are at a level of inspiration that is almost unbelievable to think that this creativity, technique and good taste last for more than 40 years (Janick a little less, "only" type 30 years...).
And the chorus is so sensational that I don't know how to describe it, just listening. In fact, the overlap of soils in the last chorus works very well. It's a real climax that ends in the waves of the beach.
“Death Of The Celts”.
Well... We arrived at the final stretch of the album that is composed of 3 epics by Steve Harris – which add to the already commented "Lost In A Lost World".
Starting with what can be considered Part 2 of "The Clansman" of
Virtual XI (1998). Both in the feeling of the song and in the lyrics and thetheme, "Death Of The Celts" transports us to scenes worthy of
the film Braveheart (1995).
At 4' 40" complete change in time and style, entering a sequence of riffs that reminded me of "The Red and The Black". The riff sequence lasts 2 minutes until it falls into the solos. As in the song
of The Book Of Souls (2015), after the solos we return to more melodious riffs that only end at 9 minutes when the song returns to its original time to complete,
I think "Death Of The Celts" is the only one of the 10 tracks I wouldn't give a 10. Although it's a good song, it didn't bring me that creepy enchantment that new Iron Maiden songs usually cause. It is curious to note that journalist
Nick Balazs chose this as the best song on the album. Maiden for all tastes.
Anyway, the track sets the stage for us to follow
in this Harriana Epopéia with "The Parchment".
“The Parchment”.
The 9th track is
senjutsu's longest with its almost 13 minutes and begins with an acoustically arranged theme, which soon turns into pure weight. The whole levada is dense, dark and heavy, half in the vibe of the title track "Senjutsu" but mixed with another title track, "The Book of Souls" and with half-Egyptian themes explored in the legendary
Powerslave title track (1984).
As we've known Steve for almost 40 years (seriously, literally) you can tell that a change of time and style is coming. And in fact, it happens at 9 minutes when Bruce holds his voice up there along with another iconic riff, time speeds up and you can imagine an insandecido Eddie galloping at full speed and reapering the life of everything that's bad around him as we saw in the music video for "The Writing On The Wall". Riffs and sensational solos lead us to the end of the epic.
Steve is gên... oh... Nevermind.
And with that we come to "Hell On Earth", which is the beginning of this text and the end of this record.
I really hope maiden never stops releasing new albums... It is an event that we end up living, breathing and getting involved in a way that not many things in life can cause. But if for some reason Steve & Cia. decides
that Senjutsu is the last, the ending with "Hell on Earth" would end in a brilliant and deserved way, the discography of the Iron Maiden.
But Steve, Bruce, Dave, Adrian, Nicko and Janick still have a lot of track to go through and judging
by Senjutsu,they're getting better. May
Eddie and the boys continue to wish us good night at the end of each show. And keep presenting us like this for many, many years.
And thank you, Iron Maiden.
Let the
SENJUTSU ERA start!
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