Which album do you prefer: The Book Of Souls or Senjutsu?

[onurb]

Between these two, book of souls. But my favorite post reunion album is still BNW.

 

[MindRuler]

utter piece of crap that Speed of Light is

That's quite harsh but I agree it's among their very worst ever. The vocal melodies of the verses and awful chorus make it quite stinky.

 

[Yax]

That's quite harsh but I agree it's among their very worst ever. The vocal melodies of the verses and awful chorus make it quite stinky.

... I love it.

 

[Poto]

Book of souls has a lot recycling riffs.

Yep. Empire of the Clouds has a fairly long part that's more or less straight from The Legacy.

 

[MindRuler]

Yep. Empire of the Clouds has a fairly long part that's more or less straight from The Legacy.

And Black Sabbath.

 

[Azas]

The Book of Souls:

If Eternity Should Fail -10/10 (one of their perfect opening tracks. Echoes of classic Iron Maiden in full force. I love it.)
Speed of Light - 8/10 (come on, it’s not that bad - a solid rocker. I could live without the cowbell, though.)
The Red and the Black - 9.5/10 (the instrumental section redeems it big time.)
The Book of Souls -10/10 (great, riff-driven track. Strong echoes of the old days.)
Death or Glory - 10/10 (I don’t get the hate. Maiden really needs more songs like this.)
Empire of the Clouds - 10/10 (a piece in its own category. I don’t play it often, but there’s nothing to dislike.)

Senjutsu:

Stratego - 9/10 (it’s good, but I personally prefer Death or Glory, even if they’re not directly comparable.)
The Writing on the Wall - 8/10 (I’ve never been a huge fan, and I’m not even sure why.)
Lost in a Lost World - 10/10 (a lot of people dislike it, but I’m on the opposite side - one of the best on the album.)
Death of the Celts - 8/10 (nothing wrong with it, but I feel somewhat indifferent.)
The Parchment - 9/10 (interesting, though maybe a bit too long. Could’ve been even better, but still solid.)
Hell on Earth -10/10 (one of the real gems of their later career, though not fully refined, imo - could use a bit more chorus repetition.)

Overall, I think I prefer the production on Senjutsu. Ideally, I’d take The Book of Souls with Senjutsu-level production.
Also, I’m not that into the Senjutsu theme. Give me Mayan jungles, pyramids, and sacrifices over samurai aesthetics any day of the week.

 

[Poto]

Stratego - 9/10 (it’s good, but I personally prefer Death or Glory, even if they’re not directly comparable.)
The Writing on the Wall - 8/10 (I’ve never been a huge fan, and I’m not even sure why.)

9/10 = good
8/10 = not a huge fan

Use the scale better. For me everything that's 8 or higher is really good.

 

[dickinson1978]

Yep. Empire of the Clouds has a fairly long part that's more or less straight from The Legacy.

And shadow of the valley wasted years and book of souls losfer words and red and the black a bit the trooper many sounds like but not the same.

 

[Azas]

9/10 = good
8/10 = not a huge fan

Use the scale better. For me everything that's 8 or higher is really good.

I don’t want to put down any of the songs on either album. Objectively, none of them are bad—the ratings here reflect my personal feelings. In this case, 9–10 means good to great; anything below that can vary quite a bit.

Edit: I’m comfortable giving something like “The Apparition” a 1 or 2, but I’m not as comfortable rating “The Writing on the Wall” a 7. Something like that.
Edit 2: This rating was done in the context of those two albums, not the band’s entire discography.

 

[BludBrutha]

If I was listening on random and a Senjutsu song came on there is one song that I wouldn’t immediately skip and it’s Hell On Earth.

Three on Book of Souls : If Eternity Should Fail, BOS and Empire of the Clouds.

So BOS.

I don’t care for any of the other songs. Especially the Clansman rewrite and the bloody Mork from Ork song.