Senjutsu - 3rd September 2021

I've seen several people here say the same. That was 6 and 11 years ago. Again though, in the years since then, 99% of albums don't leak anymore until 1 day before release.
Power Up got leaked 8 days earlier last year.
 
You think Bruce wrote Empire there?
Don't know about him, but:

"the writing process, which tended to be Steve taking a couple of bits from somebody else, like Adrian and Janick, and then he'd just go off and lock himself in his lair for two, three, four or five days. And then he'd come out and go, "Oh, I think I've got one!"

Now where do you think "his lair" could be?
 
By the way, Adrian gave an interview to a brazilian newspaper today. I intend to translate it later but I'm pretty busy rn, so if anyone wants to read it there's always Google Translator
 
By the way, Adrian gave an interview to a brazilian newspaper today. I intend to translate it later but I'm pretty busy rn, so if anyone wants to read it there's always Google Translator

The group's seventeenth studio album, “Senjutsu” arrives six years after the previous one, “The Book of Souls”. It is the longest interval recorded to date between the band's albums.

According to Smith, the right time to record is when you have good songs, simple as that. According to the guitarist, a new project is faced with two challenges. “Trying to sound different from what we've done before is the great motivation, but it comes with the desire to repeat the intensity of previous work.”
It is undeniable that Iron Maiden are looking for different directions. The newer tracks have a longer duration and there is an obvious effort to bring out an epic tone. Fast, dark-themed songs are giving way to complex songs.

Smith agrees that some songs from “Senjutsu” are going to be difficult to play live. Three of them are over ten minutes long, and he is amused by the current joke about Iron Maiden making longer and longer songs to give all the guitarists time to perform their solos.

In addition to Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers wield guitars and regularly collaborate on song partnerships, although bassist Steve Harris, who has owned the band since its founding, and vocalist Bruce Dickinson are the main songwriters. Drummer Nicko McBrain completes the current team.

Dickinson has complained in an interview that he doesn't like to hear so many discussions about the presence of very long songs. Smith says that this time he even felt in the group the desire to resume shorter tracks, as in the old and well-known phase of “The Number of the Beast”.

“See that 'The Writing on the Wall' is six minutes, 'Days of Future Past' is just over four. But there is no rule. When Bruce and Steve have a lot of ideas related to a theme, it gets bigger, but packed with melody, harmony.”

Recently, the press has reported that war is the big theme in the lyrics of this new album — but Smith disagrees. “I don't know if it's so correct,” he says. "I think the focus is on the world in
turbulence, which already existed before the arrival of the pandemic, but has now made everything worse.”

Even with the reluctance to assume “Senjutsu” as a kind of heavy metal “The Art of War”, the impression is reinforced by seeing the album's cover design, the music videos starting to come out and the Japanese medieval warrior armor worn by Eddie.

“The Writing on the Wall”, previously released as a digital single with an animated clip, was enthusiastically received by fans.

“She has a folk feeling that we've never shown before,” says Smith, author of the track alongside Dickinson. It's one of a few songs on the album that can be played at shows alongside metal anthems like “The Number of the Beast”, “Fear of the Dark” or “Two Minutes to Midnight” with equal impact, without the heavy pandemonium Maiden's customary is broken.

Smith and Dickinson wrote two more tracks on the album together, "Days of Future Past", and "Darkest Hour". He also says he loves “Stratego,” written by Harris and Gers, describing the track as “a really cool song” — or a really cool song.

There are many songs on the new record with the potential to gain space in the band's pantheon. Talking about Iron Maiden's legacy, turning his gaze to all the albums, Smith doesn't see any of them with harsh criticism. “Sometimes you have a song here or there that wasn't really a hit, but all the records seem to me to be valuable every time, each one in its own way,” he says.

In addition to dragging out the record's post-production process, the pandemic creates this enigma for the new tour. In normal times, a Japanese medieval setting would be a strong bet for the look at the shows. Uncertainty is detrimental to the band, who devote a lot of time to the creative and logistical parts of their mega tours,
conducted on the group's plane, often flown by Dickinson himself.

Smith says that he really can't say anything about the next steps and regrets that the professional and personal lives of all members continue to be governed by health protocols against the spread of the coronavirus.

“We're still friends, but it's natural that, in the last few years, we've seen each other less. The family of each one grows, this requires more time. But when we meet, the enthusiasm is the same. We are like brothers who don't always need to see each other to stay connected. As long as we believe we can make good new music, we'll be together.”
 
Don't know about him, but:

"the writing process, which tended to be Steve taking a couple of bits from somebody else, like Adrian and Janick, and then he'd just go off and lock himself in his lair for two, three, four or five days. And then he'd come out and go, "Oh, I think I've got one!"

Now where do you think "his lair" could be?
He lives at West Ham's stadium like he's the phantom of the... uhh, football.
 
Have you heard what they said on YouTube today?
Have you heard what is coming to us all?
That the wait for the album will be coming to an end
Have you heard? Have you heard?

He sees the leaks faked, when the dickhead Tubers troll
He could feel tension in the comments here
He would look to Shazam and see an old song now
How Does the channel survive somehow?

Google: "There's nothing can be done about the situation"
They said there's nothing they can do at all
To sit and wait around for bans to occur
Did you know? Did you know?

As he stares at the CD shelf looking at The Book of Souls
And wonders if he'll ever play it again
The desperation of the situation getting graver
Getting ready when Senjutsu rolls...

Have you seen what they said on YouTube today?
Have you heard the fake leaks from the trolls?
Do they know what they do to just every one of us?
Have you heard? Have you heard?

There should be a castration the likes we've never seen
There should be something that will end their lies
So their channels as we know it it will never be the same
Did you know? Did you know?

He carries everything into the bedroom not a fuss
Getting ready when Senjutsu comes
He has enough supplies to last them for a year or two
Good to have because you never know

They tell us nothing that we don't already know about
They tell us nothing that is real at all
They only fill us with the stuff that they want
Did you know? Did you know?

He's nearly finished with the preparations for the day
He's getting tired that'll do for now
They are preparing for Senjutsu to come to them
Getting ready when the wild wind blows

He sees the fake leak on YouTube it's falling down
Upside down
He sees a teardrop from his wife roll
down her face
Saying Grace

Remember songs they had they flash right through his mind
Left behind
Of Writing on the Wall, seems so long ago
And Stratego

They've been preparing for some weeks now
For when the crucial moment comes
To take their refuge in the bedroom
Let them prepare for what will come

They make a tea and sit there waiting
They're in the bedroom feeling snug
Not long to wait the album's coming
Don't make a fuss just sit and wait

Can't believe all the lying
All the screens are denying
That the moments of truth have begun
Can't you see it on YouTube?
Don't believe them in the least bit
Now the days of our Senjutsu have begun

Listen again when it's all over
All the fans unite all as one
Got to try and help each other
Got the will to overcome

I can't believe all the lying
All the screens are denying
That the songs of Senjutsu have begun
Can't you see it on YouTube?
Don't believe them in the least bit
Now the days of Senjutsu have begun

When they found them had their arms wrapped around each other
Their Special Editions laying near by their clothes
The day they both mistook Attick Demons for Senjutsu

Just another dickhead YouTube troll...
I am impressed!!
 
New Bruce interview, primarily about TWOTW video with some bits about the album: https://www.polygon.com/interviews/...writing-on-the-wall-bruce-dickinson-interview


And...

Listen, there’s a whole world out there that goes “Oh, God, are you ever gonna’ do ‘To Tame A Land’ again?!? What about ‘Alexander the Great’?!?’” Oof, that’s another one. “His name struck fear into hearts of men/He died of fever in Babylon.”

We recently went back and listened to it and you know what we said? We said, “what the fuck is this bit? I don’t remember it!” This jazz-rock bit in the middle with guitars! I remember looking over at Adrian, and he’s looking at me going “shit, do I have to remember how to do that?!”
 
Well, at least that's something...
I've heard various versions of this anecdote in interviews with Bruce, Nicko, and Adrian before - I've always assumed they did this in the lead-up to Somewhere Back In Time. Bruce could be referring to that, I wouldn't take it as "they just listened to it last year"
 
Well, there you have it folks. It is now confirmed, 100%, by Bruce Dickinson himself that Iron Maiden will play Alexander the Great live next year. It's a done deal. Feel free to start getting hyped, because it's definitely happening.
He only sang a capella the chorus in Greece some years back with Maiden (to the audience's demand)!
 
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