Senjutsu - 3rd September 2021

We, as Maiden fans, are naturally related to the visual identity of their releases. I was not too convinced of an album title in a non-English language too. But the discomfort lasted a few minutes/hours. You can rapidly get used to it. After all, the most important thing is the music coming on the 3rd of September.
 
So, pretty sure this is a concept album based on X-Men. It's actually really smart, if you think about it - Marvel is the biggest thing in the world right now. I bet the original Eddie had claws like Wolverine but they changed it so they won't get sued.

Senjutsu - a song about Wolverine's time in Japan in the 1800s, learning the way of the samurai.
Stratego - clearly about Magneto's plan to kill humanity and replace them with mutants. Will contain the rhyme "Magneto||Stratego"
The Writing On The Wall - The rise of mutants is leading to a war between humanity and the mutants. "A tide of change is coming and that is what you fear/The earthquake is a-coming, but you don't want to hear" directly references humanity's trepidation with mutation.
Lost In A Lost World - this is about the movie Logan, where Wolverine and Professor X are trying to survive in a final world.
Days Of Future Past - this one's about the movie of the same name.
The Time Machine - Had a hard time figuring out how this will fit, but I am pretty sure it's going to be related to Deadpool somehow.
Darkest Hour - clearly about Dark Phoenix and how she will come very close to annihilating Earth.
Death Of The Celts - a tie in to X-23 and the Captain Britain storylines, about the origins of magic powers in Britain.
The Parchment - likely about the accords that led to Marvel Civil War.
Hell On Earth - the final battle between X-Men and the League of Mutants, the most epic clash of superpowers ever.
 
After sitting on this news for a few hours I just realized that if BOS was a reinvention (in a way) of the Eddie on the first album cover, this is a reinvention (again, in a way) of the Killers Eddie.

BOS - Eddie in front of a background/solid
Senjutsu - Eddie with a sharp object
And of course, the Maiden Japan sleeve cover.
 
Does anyone else expect this album to be somewhat similar to A Matter of Life and Death? Both albums have slow-paced lead singles, prominently battle-themed covers, and have the longest songs stuffed into the second half of the album.

Having the Japanese kanji characters on the cover is a really nice touch.
On a related note, the kanji characters on the LP's literally mean "life" and "death".
 
The last time Bruce co-wrote with Dave Murray (non-album) / The last time Bruce co-wrote with Nicko McBrain (non-album)
2003 (b-sides Dance of Death era singles)
"Pass the Jam" (Dickinson, Gers, Harris, McBrain, Murray, Smith)
"More Tea Vicar" (Dickinson, Gers, Harris, McBrain, Murray, Smith)
Do you actually call that "writing" ?? ;)
 
I like everything about this album at the moment but I must say that any song title from SENJUTSU would work better as a title.

Highly disagreed and a pleasant surprise "Writing on the Wall" or "Belshazzar's Feast" aren't titles.
I just hope they don't screw up too much with pronunciation of foreign words they used in the title or lyrics.
 
The songs I'm most intrigued about from the titles are:

Senjutsu... Can H and Steve do something on the level of Paschendale... If they do... Wow.

Days Of The Future Passed... Could be a live staple if H and Bruce taake one step further from SOL and DOG.

The Time Machine... My favourite song from Winery Dogs' first album has the same title. Curious what Maiden can do with it.

The Darkest Hour... This sounds like something H and Bruce would do for the follow up of TCW if they hadn't rejoined.

The Death Of The Celts... Some say it's Clansman 2... Just give me a killer instrumental section and a stadium chorus and I'm all in.

Hell On Earth... How the hell could this sound. Just spare the fast vocals and guitars following the vocal lines. Give some of Arry's signature melodies and... Yeah.
 
Highly disagreed and a pleasant surprise "Writing on the Wall" or "Belshazzar's Feast" aren't titles.
I just hope they don't screw up too much with pronunciation of foreign words they used in the title or lyrics.
Maybe I used wrong words. All other song titles sound more 'maiden'. But Senjutsu is unexpected and I like that.
 
We have a winner of the fake new songs! Nice song though. Does anyone know what is it?
 
They're not stupid. If any song is pretty different - it's not the single. Single must have similar tone to their usual style to boost sales and interest of fans. But who knows that 'different' means to them.
Tell that to Steve - he decided to release "The Angel and the Gambler" as a single in 1998 :D
 
I really doubt it's the last album. Purple are still producing good stuff...
Of course Maiden's tours are huge and maybe they'll have to cut back on travels in order to keep releasing new material.
I agree that "Senjutsu" is the best sounding title to name the album. In fact it seems to be a "pessimistic" record judging by the titles alone! But of course the content will say more than the titles!

Just a few more days, lads!
 
Back
Top