This is the thread where we talk about Iron Maiden!!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpuwr9fF7kw

I like it.

there's too much fucking shit on me (Neanderthal), Thursday, 19 August 2021 18:44 (three years ago) link

good chorus, nice gallops, good riffs/instrumental breaks, but not a lot of fat.

there's too much fucking shit on me (Neanderthal), Thursday, 19 August 2021 18:46 (three years ago) link

It's such a great track. Considering how much Kevin Shirley hates anything that isn't big, beefy riffs, this track was a shocker. It's far and away the "hookiest" track on the album, though.

A. Begrand, Thursday, 19 August 2021 18:58 (three years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Senjutsu time motherfuckers

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Friday, 3 September 2021 04:51 (three years ago) link

The other night I dreamed I was at a Maiden gig presided over by an old, bald Bruce. They were playing "The Trooper" and cleared the area in front of the stage so a marching band could walk in and play along. When the marching band came in, though, the two sounds didn't mesh at all and merely created a droney mess. And that was my first Iron Maiden dream, as far as I can recall.

john landis as man being smashed into window (uncredited) (Matt #2), Friday, 3 September 2021 08:51 (three years ago) link

Iron Charles Ives Maiden

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Friday, 3 September 2021 13:22 (three years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsXW4COarLU

StanM, Friday, 3 September 2021 16:41 (three years ago) link

Streaming it for the first time. What are we thinking, ILM?

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Friday, 3 September 2021 22:41 (three years ago) link

I need another listen but I was disappointed on first listen, cos it sounded like they went back to their pre-Book of Souls sound.

but i'm gonna give it another as it was 1 am when I listened.

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Friday, 3 September 2021 22:42 (three years ago) link

I am digging "Stratego" kinda.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Friday, 3 September 2021 22:43 (three years ago) link

Okay, I already watched the "Writing on the Wall" video when it came out before.

It's just as I remember - Decent, not mind-blowing but not embarrassing, maybe 90 seconds too long.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Friday, 3 September 2021 22:51 (three years ago) link

I live-tweeted my thoughts on Thursday, and then put an edited version into my newsletter. Here it is:

Start with this: I don't like the cover art. It looks like a video game package, or a bootleg T-shirt.

Opening with an eight-minute not-fast song — the title track — was a bad idea. You need to get the listener's heart pumping right out of the gate. Why do so many bands fuck this up lately? (The drumming is really great, though.)

Track 2, "Stratego." And now we're galloping. This should have been the opener. There's an unfortunate "eyes/surprise" rhyme, and the synths are more prominent than I expected, but there are some excellent air-raid-siren moments. Bruce Dickinson really is an incredible singer.

Track 3, "The Writing on the Wall." I like the main country-metal riff, but things get kinda pirate-metal in the middle, which I'm not so into.

Track 4, "Lost in a Lost World." Starts off slow (and doesn't even sound like Dickinson singing), but gets rippin' after two minutes or so (of 9 1/2). Very heavy, bass prominent in the mix in a really good way.

Track 5, "Days of Future Past." The slow intro is a fake-out; at just 4:04, this is the shortest song on the record, and it rips. Big riff, operatic chorus, more excellent drumming.

Track 6 (last track on Disc 1), "The Time Machine." Oof, Dickinson just sang the words "impish whim." A lot of keyboards on this song, and more pirate-metal/sea-chantey riffing, plus a heavy breakdown/noisy guitar solo that feels super pasted-in. Not really feeling this.

Track 7 (first track on Disc 2), "Darkest Hour." Begins and ends with waves and seagulls. I think it's about Churchill or something. Slow, heavy, mournful, operatic...could be a leftover from A Matter Of Life And Death, honestly. (AMoLaD is my favorite 21st century Maiden album, so I'm OK with this.)

Track 8, "Death of the Celts." This is the shortest of the next 3 songs and it's 10:20. *Lots* of synth, and the verses are long and singsongy. Here come the guitar solos; will everybody get one? There's certainly time. (Turns out the answer is, yes, everyone will get at least one guitar solo.)

Track 9, "The Parchment": the main chugging riff almost reminds me of recent, proggy-heavy Opeth. The lyrics are ignorable; this song exists to justify the five minutes of guitar wank in the middle and at the (faster) end, and I'm fine with that.

Track 10, "Hell On Earth." The jokes write themselves, especially when you realize you're only halfway through the three-minute bass-and-synth intro. Very dynamic (dramatic quiet parts, REALLY LOUD PARTS), but honestly I kinda...wish it was an instrumental?

Conclusion: It's a 21st century Iron Maiden album — too long (82 minutes), 100% the product of their own musical comfort zone, but these fuckers can really play, and when they want to be they're still pretty amazing. 7/10, will probably never play front to back again.

but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 3 September 2021 22:54 (three years ago) link

i’m digging it so far, partway into disc 2

always impressed by how great they are at adding texture & different melodies within their longer songs to keep interest, i rarely find them plodding or boring

the Time Machine is a highlight so far, also Hell on Earth

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 3 September 2021 23:51 (three years ago) link

Aid & Dave just fully crushing their solos, how are they always so fuckin brilliant?

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 3 September 2021 23:52 (three years ago) link

i feel like i will def relisten to this over the coming weeks, already looking forward to hearing the whole thing again

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 3 September 2021 23:54 (three years ago) link

they definitely do the 'long' songs better hear than they did on Brave New World, which beat choruses into the ground.

second listen now!

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Friday, 3 September 2021 23:57 (three years ago) link

aw i like Brave New World

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 4 September 2021 00:05 (three years ago) link

i like it, but I never loved it like some others did.

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Saturday, 4 September 2021 00:16 (three years ago) link

TIL that Clansman & Blood Brothers ate tied together storywise, and Death of the Celts on this new album is the continuation (hence the musical references in the solos)

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 4 September 2021 00:18 (three years ago) link

*are

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 4 September 2021 00:18 (three years ago) link

oh cool!

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Saturday, 4 September 2021 00:28 (three years ago) link

My review is at PopMatters.

https://www.popmatters.com/iron-maiden-senjutsu-album-review

Like all other 2000s Maiden albums, it takes time to settle in. I love the record a lot, but it took at least four listens for me to get there.

I was super impressed by the Pitchfork write-up. Sincere piece, no snark, understood the band's late-career direction. And like it said, anyone who wants a "Trooper" rewrite can go listen to any of the many, mighty fine trad metal traditionalists out there. Maiden isn't allowing to do that.

A. Begrand, Saturday, 4 September 2021 02:57 (three years ago) link

(sorry, Maiden isn't GOING to do that)

A. Begrand, Saturday, 4 September 2021 02:58 (three years ago) link

this is definitely growing on me a lot. they didn't wanna do a Book of Souls 2, and I was big on BoS cos it was full of riffs and ponderous long sections. but this brand of Maiden is good too.

and it doesn't suffer from the problems I had with, say, Dance of Death, or A Matter of Life and Death.

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Sunday, 5 September 2021 15:35 (three years ago) link

I'll give it a second listen this week, I think.

but also fuck you (unperson), Sunday, 5 September 2021 15:36 (three years ago) link

i really underestimated the melodic mastery of the album the first few times.

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Sunday, 5 September 2021 15:44 (three years ago) link

it's won me over. I don't love *every* song, but once I got over my pre-conceived desires,I found myself enjoying it a lot more.

Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 00:43 (three years ago) link

:D

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 01:27 (three years ago) link

My final decision was that I liked a few songs, the album was a little more ponderous than I like even though they do that sort of thing way better than anyone else. Ultimately they're making themselves happy and not tarnishing their legacy. I won't listen to it nearly as much as the classics but I'll add it to my collection without hesitation and added "The Writing on the Wall" to my Best of 2021 Spotify playlist.

Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 01:34 (three years ago) link

"Stratego" aside (it's their best short song since "Rainmaker") the two I keep going back to are the title track and "Hell on Earth". There's such a consistent feeling of gravitas to this album, from start to finish, that we've never really heard from Maiden before, and for me that's pretty darn appealing.

A. Begrand, Tuesday, 7 September 2021 06:32 (three years ago) link

three months pass...

Tickets on sale for NA, and tickets in hand for myself, VG and Mr. Veg for Oakland. Up the Irons, etc.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 December 2021 18:13 (two years ago) link

FUCK i didn't even know.

next October, Tampa! woo

Cool Im An Situation (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 8 December 2021 18:16 (two years ago) link

Well now you do!

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 December 2021 18:20 (two years ago) link

i’m gonna see iron maiden next year i swear to fuckinn satan

STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 8 December 2021 18:24 (two years ago) link

Wisdom

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 December 2021 18:25 (two years ago) link

MAIDEN \m/

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 8 December 2021 18:26 (two years ago) link

While you all wait, I recommend a preorder of this:

https://www.prestomusic.com/books/products/8895730--denim-and-leather-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-new-wave-of-british-heavy-metal

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 8 December 2021 18:27 (two years ago) link

Sioux Falls, huh.

bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 8 December 2021 18:31 (two years ago) link

Second ever gig was Maiden on the No Prayer for the Dying tour in late 1990. It was at Wembley Arena (a pretty shit now dead venue) and I remember being terrified about the kinds of people who might be there. Five minutes of being in there and I thought 'shit, I've found my people'. 30 years ago! Would love to see them again next year.

Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Wednesday, 8 December 2021 19:03 (two years ago) link

the last four times I saw them were completely mindblowing each time.

Cool Im An Situation (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 8 December 2021 19:11 (two years ago) link

yeah the last Sacramento show was fun as hell. its always a good sign when the audience is already rocking out to the pre-show songs on the PA (to be fair Maiden are always great at priming the audience esp playing Doctor Doctor right before the show starts, everyone loses their shit its so great)

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 8 December 2021 19:42 (two years ago) link

feel like I always make friends at these shows too. last time, I was sitting next to I think a Norwegian guy (I had bought his friend's ticket off of StubHub) and this funny guy a row back, and we were chatting the whole time.

the guy to my left vanished for a while, leaving his seat unoccupied, then randomly, two ladies invaded our row, despite not having tickets there, so now we had 11 people occupying the area of 10 seats. so now we were packed in tight, and the lady to my left kept passive aggressively putting her hands on my shoulder to try to get me from colliding with her (which was only happening because her and her friend weren't supposed to be there anyway!).

and then the Norwegian guy came back from getting a beer and yells "WHO ARE YOU TWO? THAT'S NEANDERTHAL'S SEAT, YOU ALL DON'T SIT HERE, YOU GET OUT OF NEANDERTHAL'S SEAT NOW!" and they went scurrying away, right as "Flight of Icarus" was starting.

the Piece of Mind trio was really dope at that show. that was....2019 i think?

Cool Im An Situation (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 8 December 2021 20:00 (two years ago) link

Waited too long, worst seats I ever had for Maiden lol.

But I'm taking a friend

hopefully this review helped someone (Neanderthal), Saturday, 11 December 2021 04:46 (two years ago) link

“And what’s your friend’s name… Edward T. Head.”

“RARGH.”

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 11 December 2021 05:41 (two years ago) link

nine months pass...

So VG and Mr Veg and I can report that Maiden remain Maiden in the best of ways. Allow me to explain via tweets.

So yes, @IronMaiden, and if I had to sum up last night: pic.twitter.com/LVXy8voYUp

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) September 28, 2022

But some further additions. Thanks to @sharonjoy76 and Clay for the good company! pic.twitter.com/W6b43R9Ni8

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) September 28, 2022

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 28 September 2022 17:08 (two years ago) link

It was a blast - can confirm

They always have great crowds but the crowd last night to me felt like the most energized I’d seen in recent memory, Bruce is sounding amazing - i think the break maybe helped rehab his voice - and the stage sets, if you have not yet seen the Legacy tour, are fucking killer… so stunning

Also not for nothing but i love that in the 20 years i have been seeing them, they never have shit sound, even the way they mike the drums is fucking glorious, they really are in many ways the gold standard for all big touring bands imo - professional, joyful, and always mindful that they are Putting On A Show <3

maiden fucking rules

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 28 September 2022 18:15 (two years ago) link

can't wait to see em again

stank viola (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 28 September 2022 22:40 (two years ago) link

two weeks pass...

i'm going wednesday :)

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 17 October 2022 18:13 (two years ago) link


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