Album of the Week 35-2021: Iron Maiden – Senjutsu
Like ‘The Book Of Souls’ before it, Iron Maiden’s new album ‘Senjutsu’ is an unnecessary double album. Not to bash the albums, as ‘The Book Of Souls’ is my favorite post-‘Brave New World’ Maiden release and ‘Senjutsu’ is quite good, but the former would have fit on one disc had its worst song been cut. With 82 minutes of playing time, ‘Senjutsu’ required even less pruning and Steve Harris’ solo compositions are always too long these days anyway. However, particularly the first disc of ‘Senjutsu’ contains some excellent material that should please everyone who stuck with the band for all these years.
At this point, Steve Harris is like a writer in need of a good editor. Nothing on ‘Senjutsu’ is anywhere near as awful as ‘The Red And The Black’ or ‘When The Wild Wind Blows’, but even his best solo composition here – the brooding, vaguely Middle-Eastern sounding ‘The Parchment’ – is far too long. This is often caused by sections that are repeated too often, but his obsession with cyclic songwriting also means that you can see the final minute of each song coming from a mile away. It’s either exactly the same or very similar to the beginning without exception.
Having said that, most of Harris’ songs have a dark vibe reminiscent of ‘The X Factor’ that suits them. Adrian Smith easily contributed the best material though. The semi-ballad ‘Darkest Hour’ initially felt too long, but grew on me through Bruce Dickinson’s best vocal performance on the album and a fantastic guitar solo section. Opening with the title track seemed like a strange choice, as it constantly seems to work towards climaxes that don’t come, but that’s exactly what makes the song so engaging. That and the interesting rhythms. ‘Days Of Future Past’ is a short, unpretentious rocker.
Smith’s other composition ‘The Writing On The Wall’ is the most atypical Maiden track on ‘Senjutsu’ with its long atmospheric intro full of acoustic and clean guitars creating almost a western vibe. It isn’t until Dickinson’s voice enters that it starts to sound like Iron Maiden. More typically Maiden is ‘Stratego’. The melodies are slightly more melancholic than on their classic work, but the gallop is there and it has a great chorus. Out of the other tracks, ‘Death Of The Celts’ – clearly a sequel to ‘The Clansman’ – is probably the best with its dramatic atmosphere, although ‘The Time Machine’ contains some cool guitar ideas.
Making ‘Senjutsu’ a two-disc album does emphasize how much better the first one is. None of the songs on the second disc is outright bad, but most of them are overlong and ‘Hell On Earth’ just misses the mark despite some good melodies. Scrapping some songs and sections to make it fit on one disc would have definitely made ‘Senjutsu’ a tighter and better listening experience, but it certainly beats out the uneven ‘The Final Frontier’ and the tired-sounding ‘A Matter Of Life And Death’. For what it is though, ‘Senjutsu’ is quite good. Better than most bands this far into their career could wish to be. And it’s housed in by far their greatest album cover since Derek Riggs stopped making them.
Recommended tracks: ‘Senjutsu’, ‘Stratego’, ‘The Writing On The Wall’, ‘The Parchment’
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