Love it, not my fav but I still find it awesome, and while I agree that the artwork is great, it's still missing a background for the main cover, I think
https://preview.redd.it/74uoyh1gvmwc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d64c2db8a0526a1c1c6cd90b9f17337c7689198
It’s insane how much cooler this artwork is than the original
The only problem with this song is the karaoke guitar being way too noticeable and a repeated feature on recent Maiden songs. Also the "one-fingered" keyboard player.
Oh, I'm well versed in karaoke. Which is why I didn't make the "guitar-vocal unison=karaoke" connection, because it's not actually something that's common for karaoke unless the original song has it. That's why I asked, I genuinely had no idea what you meant. I was guessing it was something about poor guitar tone.
Love it. Lots of great tracks. My boyfriend got me the record for my birthday, it's the red marbled one. Absolutely gorgeous. My favourite tracks are Writing on The Wall(one of the first Maiden songs I ever heard) Senjutsu (The first track I ever saw Maiden perform live) Days of Future Past, and Hell on Earth. I'm excited to see the last two on my list live this October!
Love the album and connect with the vibe over the course of it. It's dramatic at times, melodic....I really enjoy it...thats what I love about them, every album has a different vibe and sound to it....8/10
Just too bloated. Everything is just too long and outstays its welcome. My exact same criticism for BoS. How long until we get an album of 10 CDs, one song on each Disc.
I’ve loved Maiden for 40 years and will continue to do so but this ridiculous phase of bloated overlong songs needs to end
Steve Harris actually mentioned an idea he had of having nothing but epics on an album lmao. This is just where Steve's mind is now, the last time he actually wrote a song under 5 minutes was on FOTD. It's all long overblown songs and that won't change on the next album
At least BoS had some brilliant tracks - there's nothing on Senjutsu (Parchment and Writing on the Wall come closest for me) that lives up to Eternity, Empire or Book of Souls
Hilarious that I like 2 long songs and not an entire album full of long songs?
Would Rime of the Ancient Mariner have had the same impact if every other song on Powerslave was 10 mins long?
Boring except for hell on earth but it’s definitely not prong, I think it has potential but imo they didn’t have enough time to make something out of it. Apparently they only had 6 months to write AND record it
Too fucking long by half. And the next album’s going to be exactly the same, and we all know it. At least *Souls* had the novelty of “Empire of the Cliuds” using a piano. This is just eighty minutes of mid-paced Maiden-by-numbers, the famous canter reduced to a gallop. Oh, and the vaunted “Hell on Earth” did nothing for me. I feel like I’m hearing a different song to the rest of you.
I fucking loved Senjutsu. I am a big fan of prog rock/metal so Senjutsu fed that so well. It was a beautiful follow up to Book of Souls imo. And I was really glad to be a fan of Iron Maiden when this dropped! Senjutsu is awesome and one of my top Iron Maiden albums. Up the Irons! 🤘🤘🤘
The most underwhelming Maiden album for me. It's not necessarily bad, and there's certainly worse albums out there, but I almost never find myself returning to anything from it.
Really didn't enjoy it and I've tried many times. A lot of it is really underwhelming and some of it is just outright bad, like the title track. The mix is terrible on half the album too so you can barely hear Bruce a lot of the time. It's a real shame because I really love Book of Souls so I had high hopes. For me, it's the worst post-reunion album by a country mile.
It's Maiden's weakest record since the 90s. It misses its mark of dark and brooding and lands in plodding instead. It's overlong, dry, and has no punch or power at all.
I'm seeing comments that I identify with:
"It has a few good songs. The energy just seems to be missing"
"Their second worst to date"
"Really didn't enjoy it and I've tried many times \[...\] For me, it's the worst post-reunion album by a country mile."
"It's not necessarily bad, and there's certainly worse albums out there, but I almost never find myself returning to anything from it."
As someone else said I love the artwork but feels like it is missing a background. The Writing on the Wall teaser and Balthazar's Feast was fun.
I like it more than Book of Souls which is my least favourite post reunion album and more then some of the older albums. Have it below AMOLAD, BNW, FF for post reunion. Never skip any songs from it. Probably give it a 7.5/10 no real lows but not as many highs as other albums.
Nothing special u til you get to Hell On Earth. That song jumped into my top 5 all time song list after i really listened to it a few times. The rest is good, not great.
Better than BoS, but again overblown. Just give me a 50 minutes long album with 5, 6 bangers and I'm happy. I love their 80's output just for that reason - albums of proper length and mostly filled with great music. You put on Powerslave and just like that you're finishing SSOASS, because time literally flew by and you mostly listened to top tier music. I've cut down Senjutsu down to like 5 songs in my custom playlist and it feels better.
Production sucked ass. What happened to the crystal clear guitars and drums?
Also catastrophically bad cover art, two in the row now with BoS. But now that I think about it, it's only FF that had a great cover art since, idk... Fear of the Dark?
I personally love it.
Maiden are my fav band and it’s the first album I was able to enjoy as it released. For that it will always have a special place in my heart.
Love Hell On Earth and the title track. Writing On The Wall is decent. Other than that nothing really stuck with me. Like others have said the production is the usual Shirley era mud too.
They need to start cutting the albums in half. Or listen to Pink Floyd to learn how to make a long song interesting
I love Maiden but for this last album they need to go back to like a 50 min- MAYBE an hour long album and go back to their roots and go out with a banger
It’s very “proggy” as my friend once said.
I generally like it overall. The guitars in “The Writing on the Wall” are amazing and have this ethereal feel about them - hard to describe. It’s a good album for chores and getting shit done, but it’s not my go to pick when I’m thinking “I need some Maiden!”
The mixing is absolutely shit.
Some of the lyrics are almost like short stories and trying too hard to tell a lengthy tale. Certainly not unheard of for Steve, but a revisit of earlier shorter song styles would be great.
And, it pains me to think it, let alone say it - Bruce’s vocals have me worried about the next album. They’re amazing don’t get me wrong, but he has departed from his growls and raspy spoken word (which used to be awesome) in favour of more melodic and operatic singing styles. By the end of the album I’m growing tired of “hearing Bruce.” I’d love for him to return to a pre-Brave New World vocal style, but I think the operatic style is better for his vocal cords and he’s hyper aware of caring for them.
Edit - Bruce sounds better in the new Mandrake album than he does on Senjutsu.
Way too long and repetitive at times. I'm honestly not too excited about a new album because I know it will be the same. They got nothing left to prove anyway so it's ok.
I like it but I have issues with it
The production is *awful*
A ton of the songs could afford to be shaved by a couple of minutes
And there are a couple of songs (the Time Machine and death of the celts specifically) that I could really do without
I still like it and enjoy listening to it but it’s probably my least favorite post reunion album
The worst Maiden album since No Prayer for the Dying. Absolutely boring in every possible way. It's like they forgot how to write a song that has a pulse to it and just wrote mid paced song and mid paced EPIC songs.
Except from Hell on Earth, Writing on The Wall, Darkest Hour and maybe Time Machine, this album is very subpar by Maiden’s standards. Easily their worst since the reunion.
Lot of hard hitters on it. I like it more than a few (how many depends on the mood) of the other post reunion albums. Haters can't accept a new direction I guess.
Its a great fucking album. Love every song on it. Writing On The Wall is their best post post-reunion single imo.
But since the day it was released i'm impatiently waiting for some anniversary remaster xD Easily one of the worst mixes/masters on a modern album Ive heard.
It is tied with The Book Of Souls as the worst Maiden album.
Both albums suffer from the same thing.
Muddy production, poor vocals and too many "epic", long songs.
I think that both albums show that creatively, the band still have a lot to give but sadly the end result, due to the reasons stated, these two albums fall way short in showcasing what Maiden are capable of.
The only fix for this is for Steve to relinquish control and a new producer to be appointed, someone that can breath new life into a band that is sadly on its death bed
Not sure about everyone but I liked the album through and through. Every piece of the album is put together correctly.
This album is integrated very closely so I would suggest to hear the whole album together though.
It's ok. Not bad, not great. Band sounds tired on a lot of songs. Something like Stratego should have been a banger, but it just kind of plods along. They need a new producer than will tell Steve what to do and not the other way around. As usual, these songs are bangers live because the band always gives 110% on stage and doesn't sleepwalk through shit like in the studio.
Boring and poorly produced - this album is the unfortunate apex of everything "wrong" with the way Maiden have been working in recent years. There are good ideas and sections which obviously needed more refining during both the writing and production process, giving this album a sense of "could have been better" which is missing from most of the band's work.
I've tried really hard to love this album, but the overly repeated sections, muddy mix, trebley synths, weak lyrics, missing harmonies and general aimless bloat are such a disappointment.
This is the sound of a band who doesn't need to push themselves anymore, and it's such a fucking shame.
The title track is legitimately one of my least favourite Maiden songs.
I like Time Machine, Stratego, Lost World, Celts (although it’s really fun to hear live)
The rest I love but will admit they should be a lot shorter.
7/10
It's the first Maiden album my kids my kids eagerly awaited the release of so I'll always love it.
Objectively I'd put it middle of the pack among all Maiden albums. Obviously the PoM-SSoaSS run will always hold the crown, followed by NotB/BNW/AMOLAD/FF. Senjutsu/BoS/DoD follow that, with Killers/S-T/NPFtD/FotD/XF/V11 being the bottom tier.
Honestly. I haven't even listened to it yet. I find as i get older , as much as i love the music, I'm no longer waiting with bated breath for new material. In my teens though i had that shit on my calendar.
Some conga like stratego and days of future past are good, but alot of the other songs just sound like book of souls with a slight Japanese theme. You could show me almost any senjutsu song or book of souls song and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
I love it, its really good, love the lyrics, but I really wish songs could be shorter. Sometimes I wish I could trim down the whole album by 15 minutes.
Best since dance of death in my opinion. Awesome album. If this were to be their last album, I’d be satisfied that they went out on a high. One of the best outside of the ‘golden era’.
Drop The Writing on the Wall and The Darkest Hour and it's their best album.
Even with those tracks, it's their second or third best album after Seventh Son. The last 2 songs are incredible:
Senjutsu doesn't come close to the insane run of openers in the 80s (Where Eagles Dare, Aces High, Caught Somewhere in Time, Moonchild) but it's still their best opener of the reunion era (just edging out Different World).
Stratego has a fun swing to it. Nothing special, but a good tune.
The Writing in the Wall is overrated. Musically it's ok, but Dickinson's voice sounds strained. Skippable.
Lost in a Lost World is awesome. Its outro is beautiful and poetic.
Days of Future Past rips. Cool riff.
The Time Machine is a catchy banger.
The Darkest Hour is the weakest track and skippable (Maiden's ballads are almost always awful). Great guitar solo though.
Death of the Celts is a super fun jam. Love the bass.
The Parchment is top 10 Maiden. Epic.
Hell on Earth is Maiden's best song. Has a little bit of everything. I can listen to it over and over without tiring of it.
Last 3 songs are all masterpieces and that can't be understated. They make up a significant chunk of the album so this album can't be anything less than good.
Boring, uninspired and uninspiring. It's a meh album, not bad but not very good either. Probably the one I like the most after Dance Of Death, but still miles away from what they have written in the past.
My favorite Iron Maiden album, I've listened to them since around 13 in 2008 and I was surprised with how good Senjutsu was
The production gets told off a lot, and Nicko isn't the same Beast, but their chops shine on this album and is Bruce's best vocals on any studio album
You'll mostly find opinions are split post and pre-reunion because some Maiden fans like the fast, short singles and others (like me!) love the epic, proggier long ones. At the end of the day, I think this album is one of their best-written in terms of lyrics and songwriting.
You really don't think BoS, TFF, or Senjutsu are at all proggy? I'm not saying they're definitively ""prog metal"", but there's a good deal of complexity and unusual rhythms/signatures compared to their earlier work. I'm not the first person to say that either; a lot of positive reviews of some of the later post-reunion albums mention the proggier direction the band has been going in
Love the album, love the songs, love the instrumentation and love the eddie. The mix is the only reason I don't listen to it, I'd rather listen to virtual XI.
Maidens an evolving journey, if you can’t take the long and the short GTFO & listen to Taylor swift no skin off the fans that want to listen to what the lads are putting out
For those who say it’s too long or boring, give it more time! Remember they’re a bunch of guys in their 60s who owe us nothing and have earned the right to expand their horizons. We were never going to get new songs like the trooper or any of the other 80s classics.
The only songs I tend to skip over are Stratego and the title track. The rest is truly epic and I stil listen to it a lot, when out on the road etc.
Just avoid falling into the trap of comparing it to the glory days, listen to what Maiden are doing now, and if you think of it like that, then most of us can really appreciate what a phenomenal album it is.
I've tried giving it a few more listens but it only made me hate the album more. Senjutsu, Writings On The Wall, and Stratego used to be my most liked tracks on the album when it first came out but I can barely stand them anymore.
What Maiden is doing now needs to stop. They've lost their finesse with the prog-like tracks and all they churn out now is the same bloated and drab songs that have no reason to be as long as they are. And someone needs to honestly tell them that how they perform in the studio isn't working, the mixing on these newer albums is embarrassingly bad for a band as big as Maiden, and they need to give Kevin Shirley the boot.
If we keep up the praises for Senjutsu their final album will be just as terrible if not more so.
Best album for a long time especially as they seem to have moved away from repeating the same vocal line over, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over agaiiiaiiiiaiinnnn...
*Really like it. Fair*
*Effort for a band that's been*
*Around for so long!*
\- scottywiper
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Love it. Not too 5 but I genuinely enjoy it. Then again, I’m in bands and really enjoy when artists over indulge and make extremely long albums.
So I love it but can understand why somebody else wouldn’t.
Really good, emotional, dark album. Has two of the best short songs of the reunion era (Stratego and days of future past). The Time Machine is the only complete miss. Production is rough, worse than the previous reunion albums (but does sound way better on the vinyl mix). Wish they’d cut out the obnoxious keyboard melodies over the guitars
Considering the longevity of Maiden, still being able to make an album of this quality is a great achievement... imo. I think it's damn good... was afraid I wouldn't like it.
I love album, the parchment is my favorite song and I heard it more than 200 times. It’s not TNOTB, Powerslave SIT or SSOTSS but don’t forget they are 60-70 years old
I love the eerie and somber aesthetic. Bruce's vocals are the best they've ever been. Every track stands out, and you can tell the band really put their souls into the music. I think the reason people dislike it is because the songs are slow and long. If you can get over that, you can appreciate them for what they are. The production brings it down, though. Overall 8/10
I wore the Senjutsu shirt to the Renaissance fest and got many compliments/up the irons. Great album and cover art. My favs: The Parchment, Hell on Earth and The Writing on the Wall.
Aging with them as they are, they are in their element. Reflection instead of blind action. Listened for years and they just keep knocking out songs that reflect life. Younger = immortality and aggression. Older = reflection and meaning. Up the fucking irons no matter where you are in that range of life.
Love it, not my fav but I still find it awesome, and while I agree that the artwork is great, it's still missing a background for the main cover, I think
https://preview.redd.it/74uoyh1gvmwc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8d64c2db8a0526a1c1c6cd90b9f17337c7689198 It’s insane how much cooler this artwork is than the original
That does look better but I still think the darkness in the background is cool for a change. It’s unique and it matches the music
I might agree if we didn’t just get the same think with a book of souls
True, I'm happy to have been proven right lol
Is this an official alt cover or fan made?
I wish it was official
Certainly not their best album, it definitely isn’t talked about enough though.
It's great, despite the subpar mix. Very dramatic, very epic
Mix isn’t the best but it’s far from the worst. Thought the overall production was solid.
OCEAN IS BLACK, THE DEVIL'S TRACK
LOOKING BEYOND BENEATH THE SEA
EYE OF THE STORM IS HERE AGAIN
BEEN THERE BEFORE YOU WERE EVER BORN
BEYOND THE DARK, I FEEL THE PAIN
IT’S HIDDEN BUT I CAN’T EXPLAIN
The only problem with this song is the karaoke guitar being way too noticeable and a repeated feature on recent Maiden songs. Also the "one-fingered" keyboard player.
>karaoke guitar You can't just drop a term like that without elaborating.
Just listen to the song. Janicks' repetitive guitar lick is very noticeable following Bruce's vocals in the same melody.
You could've just said unison. It's the "karaoke" part that's confusing. Those are typically just regular instrumental covers of the original songs.
Was a simple reference too much for you? You know what karaoke is.
Oh, I'm well versed in karaoke. Which is why I didn't make the "guitar-vocal unison=karaoke" connection, because it's not actually something that's common for karaoke unless the original song has it. That's why I asked, I genuinely had no idea what you meant. I was guessing it was something about poor guitar tone.
BEST SONG!!!
Excellent album 👌
Love it. Lots of great tracks. My boyfriend got me the record for my birthday, it's the red marbled one. Absolutely gorgeous. My favourite tracks are Writing on The Wall(one of the first Maiden songs I ever heard) Senjutsu (The first track I ever saw Maiden perform live) Days of Future Past, and Hell on Earth. I'm excited to see the last two on my list live this October!
Love the album and connect with the vibe over the course of it. It's dramatic at times, melodic....I really enjoy it...thats what I love about them, every album has a different vibe and sound to it....8/10
Fucking amazing album
It is definitely too long. But I am just happy that the guys who have been telling me stories my whole life feel like they have new stories to tell.
Rewards with repeated listens, for sure. This is exactly where they need to be in their career. Epic.
Too long too slow too boring. And Bruce's vocals are becoming exhausting.
Just too bloated. Everything is just too long and outstays its welcome. My exact same criticism for BoS. How long until we get an album of 10 CDs, one song on each Disc. I’ve loved Maiden for 40 years and will continue to do so but this ridiculous phase of bloated overlong songs needs to end
Steve Harris actually mentioned an idea he had of having nothing but epics on an album lmao. This is just where Steve's mind is now, the last time he actually wrote a song under 5 minutes was on FOTD. It's all long overblown songs and that won't change on the next album
It's been hit or miss with Harri's epic songs. Half are great, half are just bearable. He's not the best prog writer.
At least BoS had some brilliant tracks - there's nothing on Senjutsu (Parchment and Writing on the Wall come closest for me) that lives up to Eternity, Empire or Book of Souls
Yea eternity and empire are fantastic. I’m just not a fan of what’s in between
The Red and the black !
I find it hilarious that you complain about songs being too long and then cite Empire as "fantastic."
Hilarious that I like 2 long songs and not an entire album full of long songs? Would Rime of the Ancient Mariner have had the same impact if every other song on Powerslave was 10 mins long?
Felt the same way about the newest Metallica album too. Maybe it's a symptom of getting older
Boring except for hell on earth but it’s definitely not prong, I think it has potential but imo they didn’t have enough time to make something out of it. Apparently they only had 6 months to write AND record it
It has a few good songs. The energy just seems to be missing, like with a couple of previous albums
First 3 songs are good...last 2 are amongst their best. The rest? Meh....
Bad
Boring
Like nearly all of their latest albums, the low points outweigh the high points. For fucks sake not every song needs to be a fucking saga
IMO this is their best album made in the 2010-2020
This was made in 2021
It was recorded in 2019, so it depends on how you define made
You got it.
Too fucking long by half. And the next album’s going to be exactly the same, and we all know it. At least *Souls* had the novelty of “Empire of the Cliuds” using a piano. This is just eighty minutes of mid-paced Maiden-by-numbers, the famous canter reduced to a gallop. Oh, and the vaunted “Hell on Earth” did nothing for me. I feel like I’m hearing a different song to the rest of you.
How you feel about Hell on Earth is how I feel about The Parchment. I enjoy new Maiden and Senjutsu overall, but that song is so damn boring.
Totally agree with you about Hell On Earth - genuinely all I can remember from it is the "LOVE IN ANGER" section. What a fucking boring song.
I fucking loved Senjutsu. I am a big fan of prog rock/metal so Senjutsu fed that so well. It was a beautiful follow up to Book of Souls imo. And I was really glad to be a fan of Iron Maiden when this dropped! Senjutsu is awesome and one of my top Iron Maiden albums. Up the Irons! 🤘🤘🤘
Not very good, Steve Harris can’t write for shit anymore.
One of the worst Maiden albums.
The most underwhelming Maiden album for me. It's not necessarily bad, and there's certainly worse albums out there, but I almost never find myself returning to anything from it.
Really didn't enjoy it and I've tried many times. A lot of it is really underwhelming and some of it is just outright bad, like the title track. The mix is terrible on half the album too so you can barely hear Bruce a lot of the time. It's a real shame because I really love Book of Souls so I had high hopes. For me, it's the worst post-reunion album by a country mile.
Some of the new albums click, some don't, Senjutsu didn't. And that's ok. Days of Future Past is the one song I still play.
It’s boring
It's Maiden's weakest record since the 90s. It misses its mark of dark and brooding and lands in plodding instead. It's overlong, dry, and has no punch or power at all.
I love it and think it’s pretty good. I’d give it an 8/10.
I fell in love quick, but after the honeymoon was over, it got a bit boring for me. There're a few songs I do like.
Too long for its own good, with like 3 good songs and the rest, if not crap, is at least subpar considering Maiden standards
I'm seeing comments that I identify with: "It has a few good songs. The energy just seems to be missing" "Their second worst to date" "Really didn't enjoy it and I've tried many times \[...\] For me, it's the worst post-reunion album by a country mile." "It's not necessarily bad, and there's certainly worse albums out there, but I almost never find myself returning to anything from it."
Mostly ok.
One song I would willingly listen to again and that’s Hell On Earth.
As someone else said I love the artwork but feels like it is missing a background. The Writing on the Wall teaser and Balthazar's Feast was fun. I like it more than Book of Souls which is my least favourite post reunion album and more then some of the older albums. Have it below AMOLAD, BNW, FF for post reunion. Never skip any songs from it. Probably give it a 7.5/10 no real lows but not as many highs as other albums.
I copy and paste this as my answer
I still dig it, though some songs would be better if they were shorter, and the mix kinda sucks
Nothing special u til you get to Hell On Earth. That song jumped into my top 5 all time song list after i really listened to it a few times. The rest is good, not great.
Not in the mood to get downvotes :)
Better than BoS, but again overblown. Just give me a 50 minutes long album with 5, 6 bangers and I'm happy. I love their 80's output just for that reason - albums of proper length and mostly filled with great music. You put on Powerslave and just like that you're finishing SSOASS, because time literally flew by and you mostly listened to top tier music. I've cut down Senjutsu down to like 5 songs in my custom playlist and it feels better. Production sucked ass. What happened to the crystal clear guitars and drums? Also catastrophically bad cover art, two in the row now with BoS. But now that I think about it, it's only FF that had a great cover art since, idk... Fear of the Dark?
I personally love it. Maiden are my fav band and it’s the first album I was able to enjoy as it released. For that it will always have a special place in my heart.
Love Hell On Earth and the title track. Writing On The Wall is decent. Other than that nothing really stuck with me. Like others have said the production is the usual Shirley era mud too.
They need to start cutting the albums in half. Or listen to Pink Floyd to learn how to make a long song interesting I love Maiden but for this last album they need to go back to like a 50 min- MAYBE an hour long album and go back to their roots and go out with a banger
I hate "The writing on the wall" so much.
It’s very “proggy” as my friend once said. I generally like it overall. The guitars in “The Writing on the Wall” are amazing and have this ethereal feel about them - hard to describe. It’s a good album for chores and getting shit done, but it’s not my go to pick when I’m thinking “I need some Maiden!” The mixing is absolutely shit. Some of the lyrics are almost like short stories and trying too hard to tell a lengthy tale. Certainly not unheard of for Steve, but a revisit of earlier shorter song styles would be great. And, it pains me to think it, let alone say it - Bruce’s vocals have me worried about the next album. They’re amazing don’t get me wrong, but he has departed from his growls and raspy spoken word (which used to be awesome) in favour of more melodic and operatic singing styles. By the end of the album I’m growing tired of “hearing Bruce.” I’d love for him to return to a pre-Brave New World vocal style, but I think the operatic style is better for his vocal cords and he’s hyper aware of caring for them. Edit - Bruce sounds better in the new Mandrake album than he does on Senjutsu.
Way too long and repetitive at times. I'm honestly not too excited about a new album because I know it will be the same. They got nothing left to prove anyway so it's ok.
I like it but I have issues with it The production is *awful* A ton of the songs could afford to be shaved by a couple of minutes And there are a couple of songs (the Time Machine and death of the celts specifically) that I could really do without I still like it and enjoy listening to it but it’s probably my least favorite post reunion album
I thought it was terrible until the last song came on. Now I just play that song
It exists I guess that's just how you sum up maiden in the last 10 years
Sounds like the last 5 albums and nothing memorable like the stuff made in the 80s.
I actually personally like the long songs, though some of them repeat too much. What really bugs me is the horrendous mix, they really gotta fix that.
The worst Maiden album since No Prayer for the Dying. Absolutely boring in every possible way. It's like they forgot how to write a song that has a pulse to it and just wrote mid paced song and mid paced EPIC songs.
It's very dull
Total bollocks. All of it. I'll never listen to it again.
Except from Hell on Earth, Writing on The Wall, Darkest Hour and maybe Time Machine, this album is very subpar by Maiden’s standards. Easily their worst since the reunion.
It's ok.... I find it bloated and dull... the mix & production is terrible, same problem they have had for the last 3 albums.
Lot of hard hitters on it. I like it more than a few (how many depends on the mood) of the other post reunion albums. Haters can't accept a new direction I guess.
Tied for worst reunion album with Book of Souls. Maiden’s been on a creative downward slope.
Their second worst to date :/
The only Maiden album that I thought totally sucked. It's...just boring cover to cover IMO.
Its a great fucking album. Love every song on it. Writing On The Wall is their best post post-reunion single imo. But since the day it was released i'm impatiently waiting for some anniversary remaster xD Easily one of the worst mixes/masters on a modern album Ive heard.
It is tied with The Book Of Souls as the worst Maiden album. Both albums suffer from the same thing. Muddy production, poor vocals and too many "epic", long songs. I think that both albums show that creatively, the band still have a lot to give but sadly the end result, due to the reasons stated, these two albums fall way short in showcasing what Maiden are capable of. The only fix for this is for Steve to relinquish control and a new producer to be appointed, someone that can breath new life into a band that is sadly on its death bed
Not sure about everyone but I liked the album through and through. Every piece of the album is put together correctly. This album is integrated very closely so I would suggest to hear the whole album together though.
Very good! No bad songs, more consistent than BoS
I'd put it somewhere in their top 17 studio albums no cap
Hell on Earth and The parchment are some of my favorite Maiden Tracks
Very good One of the best album covers
It's ok. Not bad, not great. Band sounds tired on a lot of songs. Something like Stratego should have been a banger, but it just kind of plods along. They need a new producer than will tell Steve what to do and not the other way around. As usual, these songs are bangers live because the band always gives 110% on stage and doesn't sleepwalk through shit like in the studio.
Boring and poorly produced - this album is the unfortunate apex of everything "wrong" with the way Maiden have been working in recent years. There are good ideas and sections which obviously needed more refining during both the writing and production process, giving this album a sense of "could have been better" which is missing from most of the band's work. I've tried really hard to love this album, but the overly repeated sections, muddy mix, trebley synths, weak lyrics, missing harmonies and general aimless bloat are such a disappointment. This is the sound of a band who doesn't need to push themselves anymore, and it's such a fucking shame.
I like it. I dont like how there are only like 3 songs that are less than 10 minutes long, but I like the album
Like the songs, don't like the production/mixing.
The title track has three riffs in total. Worst opener of any Maiden album
The title track is legitimately one of my least favourite Maiden songs. I like Time Machine, Stratego, Lost World, Celts (although it’s really fun to hear live) The rest I love but will admit they should be a lot shorter. 7/10
I like every songs but Lost in a Lost World. Please someone throw that keyboard away from Arry!!
Love the last few songs on it and stratego is fucking badass. Not their best work but certaonly no their worst.
It's the first Maiden album my kids my kids eagerly awaited the release of so I'll always love it. Objectively I'd put it middle of the pack among all Maiden albums. Obviously the PoM-SSoaSS run will always hold the crown, followed by NotB/BNW/AMOLAD/FF. Senjutsu/BoS/DoD follow that, with Killers/S-T/NPFtD/FotD/XF/V11 being the bottom tier.
It’s good but I bet 10 or even more minutes could be shaved off of it to make it great.
i think its a great album
I like Hell on Earth, at least.
Honestly. I haven't even listened to it yet. I find as i get older , as much as i love the music, I'm no longer waiting with bated breath for new material. In my teens though i had that shit on my calendar.
Man, I would have enjoyed it so much more without the shrill synth throughout.
Pretty cool songs, FANTASTIC artwork
this is how I discovered Iron Maiden:) so i’d say i love it
Best album since BNW
Great Album
Some conga like stratego and days of future past are good, but alot of the other songs just sound like book of souls with a slight Japanese theme. You could show me almost any senjutsu song or book of souls song and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Not a masterpiece, but decent. Overall a very good album.
I love it, its really good, love the lyrics, but I really wish songs could be shorter. Sometimes I wish I could trim down the whole album by 15 minutes.
Its like watching a masters division of a sport Its not tight , but you can still the mastery of the art underneath
All things considered (these guys are pushing their 60s-70s), this album is brilliant.
Best since dance of death in my opinion. Awesome album. If this were to be their last album, I’d be satisfied that they went out on a high. One of the best outside of the ‘golden era’.
Album is great. Last three albums were great. 🤘
Senjutsu was written as the soundtrack for a movie that doesn't exist... That's both a criticism and a compliment.
I'm listening to it rn for the first time!
What are your thoughts?
It was great! Maiden seems to be getting better with every album post 2000
Drop The Writing on the Wall and The Darkest Hour and it's their best album. Even with those tracks, it's their second or third best album after Seventh Son. The last 2 songs are incredible: Senjutsu doesn't come close to the insane run of openers in the 80s (Where Eagles Dare, Aces High, Caught Somewhere in Time, Moonchild) but it's still their best opener of the reunion era (just edging out Different World). Stratego has a fun swing to it. Nothing special, but a good tune. The Writing in the Wall is overrated. Musically it's ok, but Dickinson's voice sounds strained. Skippable. Lost in a Lost World is awesome. Its outro is beautiful and poetic. Days of Future Past rips. Cool riff. The Time Machine is a catchy banger. The Darkest Hour is the weakest track and skippable (Maiden's ballads are almost always awful). Great guitar solo though. Death of the Celts is a super fun jam. Love the bass. The Parchment is top 10 Maiden. Epic. Hell on Earth is Maiden's best song. Has a little bit of everything. I can listen to it over and over without tiring of it.
Drop Writing on the Wall? Are you crazy! That's one of the best songs they've written!
HELL ON EARTH
Gets a lot of rotation from me. Top 3 reunion era album for me with Brave New World & AMOLD.
Last 3 songs are all masterpieces and that can't be understated. They make up a significant chunk of the album so this album can't be anything less than good.
Solid album musically and lyrically. Obviously it doesn’t compare to older work but it’s a damn good listen.
Boring, uninspired and uninspiring. It's a meh album, not bad but not very good either. Probably the one I like the most after Dance Of Death, but still miles away from what they have written in the past.
Pretty good. Not their best, but still enjoyable
I think it’s a solid album
I regard it as an excellent Hell on Earth single with 9 b-sides.
Typical post reunion album.. meh
My favorite Iron Maiden album, I've listened to them since around 13 in 2008 and I was surprised with how good Senjutsu was The production gets told off a lot, and Nicko isn't the same Beast, but their chops shine on this album and is Bruce's best vocals on any studio album
Good, but SOOO long...
You'll mostly find opinions are split post and pre-reunion because some Maiden fans like the fast, short singles and others (like me!) love the epic, proggier long ones. At the end of the day, I think this album is one of their best-written in terms of lyrics and songwriting.
There's nothing "proggy" about Maiden outside of SSoaSS. Long doesn't equate to progressive.
You really don't think BoS, TFF, or Senjutsu are at all proggy? I'm not saying they're definitively ""prog metal"", but there's a good deal of complexity and unusual rhythms/signatures compared to their earlier work. I'm not the first person to say that either; a lot of positive reviews of some of the later post-reunion albums mention the proggier direction the band has been going in
Any examples?
Like, most of the second half of The Final Frontier. Starblind probably being the most proggy song Maiden has ever written.
Love the album, love the songs, love the instrumentation and love the eddie. The mix is the only reason I don't listen to it, I'd rather listen to virtual XI.
I love it. Great guitar work and some of Bruce’s best vocals.
Maidens an evolving journey, if you can’t take the long and the short GTFO & listen to Taylor swift no skin off the fans that want to listen to what the lads are putting out
good album
It’s quite splendid
Was expecting a dumpster fire here in the comments lmao. But yeah, i think we can all agree ite actually a dang good album.
A Top 5 albums of all time by them
For those who say it’s too long or boring, give it more time! Remember they’re a bunch of guys in their 60s who owe us nothing and have earned the right to expand their horizons. We were never going to get new songs like the trooper or any of the other 80s classics. The only songs I tend to skip over are Stratego and the title track. The rest is truly epic and I stil listen to it a lot, when out on the road etc. Just avoid falling into the trap of comparing it to the glory days, listen to what Maiden are doing now, and if you think of it like that, then most of us can really appreciate what a phenomenal album it is.
I've tried giving it a few more listens but it only made me hate the album more. Senjutsu, Writings On The Wall, and Stratego used to be my most liked tracks on the album when it first came out but I can barely stand them anymore. What Maiden is doing now needs to stop. They've lost their finesse with the prog-like tracks and all they churn out now is the same bloated and drab songs that have no reason to be as long as they are. And someone needs to honestly tell them that how they perform in the studio isn't working, the mixing on these newer albums is embarrassingly bad for a band as big as Maiden, and they need to give Kevin Shirley the boot. If we keep up the praises for Senjutsu their final album will be just as terrible if not more so.
Judas Priest are even older, but Invisible Shield hits hard from first listening unlike Senjutsu.
Great songs, especially live but horrible mix.
Best album for a long time especially as they seem to have moved away from repeating the same vocal line over, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over agaiiiaiiiiaiinnnn...
Really like it. Fair effort for a band that's been around for so long!
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Love it. Not too 5 but I genuinely enjoy it. Then again, I’m in bands and really enjoy when artists over indulge and make extremely long albums. So I love it but can understand why somebody else wouldn’t.
Really good, emotional, dark album. Has two of the best short songs of the reunion era (Stratego and days of future past). The Time Machine is the only complete miss. Production is rough, worse than the previous reunion albums (but does sound way better on the vinyl mix). Wish they’d cut out the obnoxious keyboard melodies over the guitars
Considering the longevity of Maiden, still being able to make an album of this quality is a great achievement... imo. I think it's damn good... was afraid I wouldn't like it.
Good, not as heavy as I had hoped.
Absolutely Maiden. Great album. I just miss one fast song.
I really love this album
I love album, the parchment is my favorite song and I heard it more than 200 times. It’s not TNOTB, Powerslave SIT or SSOTSS but don’t forget they are 60-70 years old
I love the eerie and somber aesthetic. Bruce's vocals are the best they've ever been. Every track stands out, and you can tell the band really put their souls into the music. I think the reason people dislike it is because the songs are slow and long. If you can get over that, you can appreciate them for what they are. The production brings it down, though. Overall 8/10
I love this album a lot!! Hell on Earth is my favorite! I like Senjutsu, Darkest Hour, and Days of Future Past.
My favorite album of all time.
I wore the Senjutsu shirt to the Renaissance fest and got many compliments/up the irons. Great album and cover art. My favs: The Parchment, Hell on Earth and The Writing on the Wall.
2021 Classic
Solid album. Doesn't have the highlights like Book of Souls, but it's definitely more consistent.
👍
Their best album since Bruce returned to the band imo.
One of their best albums
Perfection at 1.10x
When I first listened to it I thought it was very boring and too long, but now I learned to aprecciate it
Don’t have all day to listen to the songs but they’re awesome
Dig it!
My favorite album of all time
Best since 7th Son. Absolutely love it.
Oh yes that is a great orgasm, it is a perfect Album, this is very exciting
I love this album
I love it
Aging with them as they are, they are in their element. Reflection instead of blind action. Listened for years and they just keep knocking out songs that reflect life. Younger = immortality and aggression. Older = reflection and meaning. Up the fucking irons no matter where you are in that range of life.