IRON MAIDEN - Senjutsu
Parlophone
Whenever it comes to new releases by a big name legacy metal act there's always that early hype which for someone who writes about these things needs to avoid. And lets be honest here, IRON MAIDEN are still one of the biggest names in metal on the planet. Now that SABBATH is gone only JUDAS PRIEST stands on the same level with em. So coming into this and being a fan of em all these decades I try to be honest with my own perspective on things. Still I did see / hear that one song from this album which had the cartoon video on YouTube. But otherwise I've done well not to be influenced by the multiple opinions out there on the inter-web. And trust me there have been a shit ton of opinions on this one.
So I spent now more than a week listening to this off and on. I've gone through a lot of notes as far as this seventeenth full length is concerned. For starters the new Eddie cover artwork looks amazing. Yes people when it comes to MAIDEN their Eddie artwork on the cover is important. Seriously people get into arguments over that shit on the internet. They'll probably sell a lot of merch aka: shirts, hoodies, posters and flags. Secondly the band is still following that modern era sound / style which started over a decade ago. So if you've been a fan of everything they've done since Brave New World then you're familiar with the path the band has taken.
Now as I said I had a bunch of notes which were a bit favorable towards Senjutsu. But I just wanted to give it another spin before I finalized this write-up. About halfway through the first CD, it is a double CD package by the way, I had this internal urge to take a bathroom break. OK I had to take a huge shit which I did. So when I was finished and stood up to flush I couldn't help but look into the toilet. That's when I became inspired and said fuck my notes. I'm not gonna sugar coat this one. Because everyone knows I'm as honest as a good bowel movement.
I am no fan of this album and my reasons are valid well at least to me. You see I'm an old IRON MAIDEN fan. So when this new era, fourth era or Brave New World era (or whatever you want to call it) of the band started I was late to the party but eventually gave it the benefit of the doubt. Brave New World was a decent enough release as far as "comeback" albums go. I mean sure Bruce and Adrian were back so that was cool. But since then the band has been on a huge slide downward as far as exciting album output.
First off there's ten tracks on here, most are seven minutes in length or longer. Now I don't have a problem with long cuts and obviously the band has explored extended songs before. But on here most of em are repetitive and really boring. I'd say "Lost in a Lost World" is the worst offender but then I'd be leaving the whole second CD's four cuts out of contention. Since I'm going there I'd say those songs are just unlistenable as in sleep worthy. Some of these cuts sound like they'd be more welcome at a Seattle Soy Boy coffee shop than a Hard Fuckin Rock bar with a Trooper banner on the wall.
Now being nice I'd say Senjutsu has some decent moments. The opening title track is a long epic power metal style cut which ain't horrible. Actually it's a good mid paced welcome back type of number from a band whose been silent for a while. "Stratego" is the only track on here which hearkens back to the band's early days of galloping riffs and decent drum work. Albeit not as powerful as they would've done back then. I was not a fan of the band doing Americana Southern Rock on "The Writing on the Wall". Yeah that's the song from the cartoon video. Ironically even on their last handful of albums I could only stand two songs off of each one.
In the end this is not the reprise album I'd want to hear from MAIDEN. Fine they can do whatever they fuckin want. But the fact is that the whole time I was listening to Senjutsu I kept thinking who the fuck am I listening to? There are plenty of other legacy bands out there who have found ways of progressing forward and still sounding relevant or interesting. I'm talking about bands like SAXON, ACCEPT, DEEP PURPLE and most recently JUDAS PRIEST. As far as MAIDEN goes they've always been a one trick pony. That's why there's a musical descriptive term called MAIDEN-esque. Senjutsu shows that the band has simply run out of tricks and the old horse is lame.
IRON MAIDEN WEBSITE:
LISTEN HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIjNthG-_SU&t=46s
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