By: Austin Davis
On Friday, September 3rd, Iron Maiden released Senjetsu, their 17th studio album, to little fanfare outside of the metal world. Although the band has been going strong for over 40 years now, Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Adrian Smith, Janick Gers, Dave Murry, and Nicko McBrain still have not managed to break into the mainstream as other rock and metal acts, such as Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, or Motley Crue have. However, Maiden has proved time and time again that they don’t need #1 albums, MTV slots, or radio play to sell out stadiums and arenas across the world, as they have been doing since the mid-80s. Maiden is THE example of a band gaining popularity through word of mouth alone, and with Senjetsu, ‘Arry and the boys have only added more positives into a friend’s recommendations of the British rockers.
I’ll preface my review by stating this: Senjetsu is not 80’s Maiden. For the most part, the songs do not sound like the classic Dickinson era albums from Number of the Beast to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Dickinson’s voice is no longer the sharp, trebly tenor attack we all grew to love. However, I firmly believe that this is Maiden’s best output since that classic 80’s run, and may even be better than some of the albums, though I digress. Dickinson’s voice, which, to make an analogy, was once a strong vodka or tequila, is now a fine brandy or whiskey, filling out the lower register of his voice where the highs have aged. Harris, Gers, and Smith have written some of Maiden’s most powerful songs to date, even if they swap the punk-infused aggression of the early material for bluesy grooves or progressive epics that break all traditional song structure molds. Senjetsu is a reflection of each of the band members musical and personal maturation, producing some of their best songs in over 30 years.
The album starts slow, with the title track being a pounding battlefield anthem. McBrain bangs away at his toms for nearly the entire 8:20 long song, straying away from a traditional metal beat. Dickinson’s melodic chorus is the highlight of this song for me.
Although Maiden is known, especially in their modern era, for building tension before releasing it in the latter half of the song, that doesn’t happen in “Senjetsu”, instead waiting until the second song, “Stratego” to break into the signature Steve Harris gallop. Dickinson largely abandons singing in the verse, in favor of a poetic speaking part. The chorus is teased, as Dickinson continues his verse, before finally breaking into a splendid chorus. The song features notes of the Phrygian dominant mode, a la “Powerslave”, giving it a distinctly Middle Eastern sound in some parts.
“Writing on the Wall ” sees Adrian Smith infuse the blues into an Iron Maiden song, with Dickison’s voice settling nicely into the lower key of the song. His apocalyptic lyrics differ drastically from the story of Belshezzar’s Feast, which was used in the marketing campaign prior to the release of the album’s first single. However, the accompanying music video, showing four variations of Maiden mascot Eddie, including the new Samurai Eddie, as the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, seems to match Dickinson’s subject matter much better. Dave Murray’s solo in the song, which immediately follows the harmony section, a Maiden staple, is, I believe, one of the best Iron Maiden solos ever put to tape, rivialing Murray’ solo in “Powerslave”, among others. His signature emotional legatto soloing really ties the song together, in my opinion.
The first of Steve Harris’ solo writes is “Lost in a Lost World”, which tackles the slaughter of indegenous tribes, much like 1982’s “Run to the Hills”, Maiden’s perennial concert closer, or Gojira’s “Amazonia”, released earlier this year. A soft, acoustic intro is quickly escalated into a driving rhythm, with Dickinson yet again delivering an amazing chorus. The highlight of this song, however, is the last verse, as the song once again goes quiet, with Dickinson delivering the last bleak lines of the song.
The first half of the double album is closed by “The Time Machine” and “Days of Future Past”. “The Time Machine”, a Gers/Harris co-write, as was “Stratego”, takes listeners on a journey through history in, well, a time machine, with the operator of said machine, telling stories of his travels. “Days of Future Past” is a classic Smith/Dickinson co-write, being short, punchy, and to the point. Smith’s catchy riff drives the song, while Dickinson delivers the album’s best and most powerful chorus to close the first disc.
With “The Darkest Hour”, Smith and Dickinson bring the listener crashing down from the high of “Days of Future Past”, writing the album’s bleakest song, even more so than “Lost in a Lost World”. “The Darkest Hour” is a great example of how Maiden is writing songs just as powerful as ever, without being as fast or energetic in the music. “Aces High”, Maiden’s signature WWII song off of 1984’s Powerslave, is fast and unforgiving, with Dickinson putting the reader in the heart of a dogfight in the Battle of Britain. In “The Darkest Hour”, however, the Human Air Raid siren puts you in the shoes of a young soldier preparing to go to battle, contemplating his thoughts in the hour before daybreak, the “darkest hour”. Smith’s intro line reminds me of Amon Amarth’s 2016 song “Back on Northern Shores”, which details the final battle of the protagonist. With “The Darkest Hour”, Smith and Dickinson created a song that is arguably more emotionally evocative than “Aces High”, despite never coming close to matching the speed of the latter.
The last 34+ minutes of the album are shouldered entirely by bassist Steve Harris, who single-handedly wrote the last three songs, each of which is over 10 minutes long. Perhaps the primary songwriter of the band for the past 40 years wanted to make up for his relative absence in the credits for Senjetsu’s predecessor, 2015’s The Book of Souls. His first effort in the final trilogy of songs is “Death of the Celts”, a spiritual successor to the Braveheart-inspired “The Clansman”, from 1998’s Virtual XI. ‘Arry puts the reader in the heart of a Celtic battlefield, including themes of religion, martyrdom, and the afterlife in his lyrics.
His next effort is “The Parchment”, the album’s longest song at 12:39. The song begins with Harris and a synth, creating an Egyptian atmosphere, once again, a la “Powerslave”. The song builds over the course of its run, culminating in a final race to the end of the song, from which Dickinson is absent. The epic ends with Harris, again alone with a synth, repeating his opening motif, properly bookending the song.
On 2015’s The Book of Souls, singer Bruce Dickinson single-handedly wrote the 18 minute long, piano-led balled “Empire of the Clouds”, which, at the time, sat firmly behind 1982’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name” (a Harris solo write) as Maiden’s best album closer. On Senjetsu, Harris competes with Dickinson for that #2 spot with “Hell on Earth”. Though the song is already over 11 minutes long, Harris could have easily doubled the length to write Maiden’s longest song by over five minutes, and it would be just as good. My only complaint about this song is that hardly any two parts repeat, save for Harris’ bass intro and some melodies in the latter half of the song. Harris is a notable advocate against the verse-chorus song structure, and “Hell on Earth” takes that stance to the extreme. The song features Harris’ bass at the forefront for the quiet first two minutes and 20 seconds of the song, before bursting into a grand gallop. Gers teases several melodies for the next minute, before Dickinson finally enters the song at the 3:31 mark. While “Days of Future Past” has the best chorus on the album, “Hell on Earth” easily has the best verses. There is something so familiar about the vocal melody of the pseudo-chorus, which begins at the 5:19 mark, which immediately struck me upon first listen. Dickinson sings his fastest lines since 2015’s “The Red and the Black” to create one of the most memorable moments of the album. The song switches gears following this section, slowing down as each of Maiden’s three guitarists show off their technical chops in the solo section, before they cut out as Harris again takes the forefront. His arpeggiated chords accompany Dickinson’s harmonized vocal lines, before once again exploding into one of the most emotionally powerful sections of the album, of which there are a lot. The song gives us yet another solo, before Dickinson repeats his vocal lines from the explosion. Another melody is teased before the song cuts out, with Harris repeating his intro lines. As his bass fades out, the synths fade in, providing a perfect resolution to Senjetsu. Though we certainly hope this isn’t Maiden’s final studio effort, if it is, I can’t think of a better song to end their career on.
Senjetsu is not an album that sounds like classic Iron Maiden, however, it has already cemented itself as a Maiden classic. The British band’s best album since Reagan’s presidency takes you on an emotional rollercoaster from the battlefields of Japan, Ireland, and Europe, to the plains and jungles of the Americas, through different periods of time, and everywhere in between. If you have the patience to sit through the nearly 82 minute run time, which I hope this review has compelled you to do, not only will you not be disappointed, but you will be made an Iron Maiden fan for life. Up the irons!
