Senjutsu - 3rd September 2021

Kalata said:
I have a question about The Parchment - can we view the part that starts with ''The prodigal has returned'' as a (sort of) chorus?
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I don’t see why we should. From what I know, it doesn’t qualify as chorus.
It’s just a different lyric melody than the one starting “When the moon will rise again”.
 
OK, now after some time I can say without a doubt that for me Hell On Earth is the best song on last 3 albums.

What comes close - Empire, Tears of a Clown, Eternity, Starblind, Wild Wind -- all these are amazing, say 95%, but Hell is 100%. Or maybe Hell on Earth is 110% and the rest are 100%.

Before that, I think it is not beaten, but on par with Lord of Light, Thousand Suns and perhaps Legacy. Before that I think Paschendale beats it.
 
Kalata said:
''Hell On Earth'' is one of Maiden's all time best songs imo. Instant classic! It amazes me every time like HBTN and ROTAM.
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Honestly I don't think it's even close to the best on the album. The Writing On The Wall, The Parchment, Darkest Hour, Stratego, Senjutsu and maybe even Days Of Future Past are better songs overall. That one verse/chorus can only do so much heavy lifting...
 
Question to people like @Gk1 and @Magnus who mostly dislike modern Maiden but do like Senjutsu: why is that? The more I play the album the more I feel like if you don’t care for the previous five records you shouldn’t dig this one either. I’m very interested if there’s something specific about how they did this album or if it just clicks for you where the others don’t.
 
Diesel 11 said:
Question to people like @Gk1 and @Magnus who mostly dislike modern Maiden but do like Senjutsu: why is that? The more I play the album the more I feel like if you don’t care for the previous five records you shouldn’t dig this one either. I’m very interested if there’s something specific about how they did this album or if it just clicks for you where the others don’t.
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I am also one of those who is not a big fan of modern Maiden, although I have my favorites on most of the later albums. "Senjutsu" to me is a huge step up overall. First of all , they have finally stayed away from the all-too-repetive choruses. The longer songs on "Senjutsu" is more interesting to me. They have interesting twists and turns, and just when they feel like going in that repetive direction they change. I also feel that certain songs , like "Senjutsu" and "The Writing on the Wall" are Maiden going in new directions but still sounding very Maiden. And the album benefits from it, with many songs having their own style. Not Maiden by the numbers if I may call it that. There are still parts of songs, "The Time Machine" for instance, where they are tredding a little too familiar territory in my opinion. That , and the fact that they use the guitar playing the vocal line a little too much, is the only complaints I have on "Senjutsu". Even the straighter songs like "Days of Future Past" and "Stratego" are stronger than they have been in a while in my opinion. And finally, on maybe a funnier note, I am no big fan of the "football chanting", so them having avoided them on "Senjutsu" is a relief to me! :)
 
DJMayes said:
That one verse/chorus can only do so much heavy lifting...
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The instrumental part is more than the vocals (like in most of the album), but it's not about that - it's just that they are so good, the melodies too. The song indeed has only one verse/pre-chorus/chorus (maybe the only Maiden epic with such stats?), but it also has the calm part with vocals and the ''Love in anger, life in danger'' part, while a song like TTAL for example has only two verses and a pre-chorus.

The song is in my Top 10.

Edit: Senjutsu is probably the Maiden album with the most instrumental passages.
 
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Kalata said:
The instrumental part is more than the vocals (like in most of the album), but it's not about that - it's just that they are so good, the melodies too. The song indeed has only one verse/pre-chorus/chorus (maybe the only Maiden epic with such stats?), but it also has the calm part with vocals and the ''Love in anger, life in danger'' part, while a song like TTAL for example has only two verses and a pre-chorus.
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I should clarify that my issue with the song isn't that it only has 1 verse and 1 chorus. My issue is that I don't think the rest of the song is very good.

There is a section around 4.5 minutes long starting when the song kicks in around 2:15 that's some of the best work the band has ever done. If I rated the song on that alone it would easily be my favourite on the album. Unfortunately, those 4.5 minutes is not even half of the song, and the other half loses the plot for me.
 
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