It’s been a year to the day since ‘Senjutsu’ was released and still, I find myself wondering whether to like it or not. A year ago today, I got up at 5am specifically to sit and take in the latest aural musings from Eddie & the Boys. I was full of excitement as I quickly got some coffee and breakfast together so I could just enjoy the music. I remember, upon hearing opener and title track ‘Senjutsu’, a sense of wonder and mystery as Nicko’s drums rang out as through from the Far East. He did a similiar trick on the opener for 2010’s ‘The Final Frontier’ but with bizarre, disjointed sci-drums rather than tribal drums of the Orient. Same trick. Different outcome. Regardless, ‘The Final Frontier’ turned out well so there was a precedent set.

And yet, over the course of its not inconsiderable 81 minutes runtime, I was left not knowing what to make of Maiden’s effort made during lockdown. Despite it being six years since ‘The Book of Souls’, it felt rushed and unfinished. I’ve spun it dozens of times since on streaming and vinyl but I just can’t get any real opinion on it.

So, on its first anniversary, I am going to write this blog whilst listening to the album for the unknownth time and see if I can come to some kind of thought on it as a whole.

Senjutsu – Tribal drums ring out solo as though at the back of a cave as water trickles down. Guitars march forth to accompany the sense of foreboding. Bruce’s vocals step in adding more weight, and gravitas. The main lick is both tragic and optimistic which runs in parallel with the lyrics. Some may call the pace a plod. I’d argue the song moves along with gradual intent much like the subject matter. There’s some nice stepped guitar work during Bruce’s plea at the bridge section.

Initially, the keys used throughout added an element of mystique but they became problematic later.

Stratego – The gallop. Not as quick as previous albums but Nicko’s well into his sixties yet, still, to be able to pull it out is a marvel in itself.

With that, the pace picks up from the opener. We get Bruce layered over Bruce for the chorus and more typical lyrics from this era of Maiden namely forsworn, battle-hardened and contemplating over the need for certain actions to take place. Dave Murray’s all-too-brief solo is lovely but the keys…the keys. I said they’d be problemtatic and still, they bug me. It’s as though they hired one person to press two keys on a keyboard that made the sound of musical kettles. The song finishes on a military drum flourish.

The Writing on the Wall – Starts out like Maiden’s first Americana song. Then the drums and lead guitars kick in with a solid beat and riff. No Johnny Cash-style song here. Just Maiden having a pop at the world’s ruling class. Far more their thing.

So far, this song has been the one that showcases Nicko’s variety, grace, weight and groove. He does so much here yet it all seems so effortless. Bruce’s voice is a showcase and the first solo is a nice appertif to the highlight of this song. Adrian’s marvellous solo. Despite being the more straight-edged of the three guitarists, the man can pull some beautiful guitar out his hat when he wants and, as a result, this song really belongs to him.

Lost In A Lost World – And now…for something completely different. It’s almost as though the first three tracks were more typical Maiden. Here, however, we start with Bruce uttering regrets and pain over acoustic guitar and melancholic chant.

Then the band kick in and raise the transcendental lyrics up. The instruments provide a strong platform to support the ever increasing weight of the lyrics and Bruce’s voice. For my first several listens, I felt the guitar following the lyrics was just lazy. Now, I hear it more as a way of reinforcing what Bruce is saying. And with that weight, the listener needs a break. Enter the instrumental section. It does let the band do their thing for a bit which does add some nice layers and let the listener focus in on each instrument. But, again, those damned keys. They add nothing here and only make themselves a nuisance when trying to listening to Dave Murray’s bluesy solo. And it’s still two keys used!

Still, the track itself is an interesting departure from what the band have done before. It could easily have been a solo track on a Bruce Dickinson album but to be on a Maiden album does highlight that the band want to keep pushing.

Days Of Future Past – And they continue moving on. Metronomic, automatonic guitars meet foreboding lyrics before guitars change pace less than one minute in and smack you. It’s not heavy. Just unexpected, like being slapped by a priest.

Two-thirds in, the band mellow and military drumrolls enter with those keys above them. There’s a nice movement of styles from Nicko in such a short time. A shade over four minutes.

The Time Machine – This opens like it was a draft version of ‘The Legacy’ from 2006’s ‘A Matter of Life and Death’. No bad thing. That was an excellent way to close an album. Here, mid-way through the album, it marks a shift in tone for what’s to come. And yet, the structure is similiar to the previous song. Quiet opening then band smacks you about. However, the breakdown is something to behold. It does sound like they are trying to start up a time machine of their own. Bruce is in full swing preaching profundly with great purpose in his delivery. The chorus adds an interesting country acoustic element over Bruce’s sci-fi vocals.

Another progressive breakdown that appears busy then out busts a scything solo to clear things up and the band is marching forth to another verse. Bruce very much captain of this track.

The song cranks down tragically and ends.

Darkest Hour – Seashore and seagulls? On a Maiden track? How bizarre! And yet, not so given the previous two offerings. Bruce begins with melancholic reflection asking yet more profound questions. The band offer some bright to the dark of the lyrics.

The chorus is reminscient of ‘Wasted Love’ but works better here as it’s stronger and triumphant. The solo invokes images of Churchill himself commanding squadrons of Spitfires to head over to enemy territory through clear skies before being embroiled in the murky depths of dogfights and rescue missions.

Murray’s ending flourish adds further brightness and optimism to let the song end as it began but more hopefully.

Death of the Celts – Here we go. The first of a trilogy of Harris-penned songs. Opens with Celtic licks and one key being held down for far too long.

We move to a gentle jig as Nicko starts to time himself in. Bruce’s vocals are clean and clear as though his voice is the landsacpe upon which he can describe what will take place upon it.

Then the clash of guitars and drums. War is starting. The music is as muddy as the battles they reflect. The chorus is sharp like the sword that can turn the tide of it.

The breakdown is where we get to business. Curiously, some Irish folk elements blink in and out. Generally, the ‘prog’ part of this song doesn’t really go anywhere and just dances around and around like a ceilidh in a small room until someone smashes down the wall to let the big guitar solo in. It sounds like Murray starts it then we move to Janick then to Adrian. Each move increases in tempo, heaviness and complexity yet are all very short.

We get a lull like the battle is losing energy where the men are waiting for their second wind granting the commanders time to plot the next move. But rather than continue the battle to the end, the band elect to end it right there and then. Somewhat anti-climactic unlike its predecessor, ‘The Clansman’.

It finishes with the same key being pressed too long. Would have been better as a straight and silent finish.

The Parchment – A sense of Biblical foreboding as guitars quietly menace themselves before breaking out with keys (why?!) and plodding drums. All three guitarists are doing the same riff until Bruce comes in and is accompanied by one guitarist following his delivery. It’s as though they couldn’t write a more interesting part for one of the guitarists and decide to have him follow Bruce rather than repeat the riff of the other two.

There is a slightly interesting riff that steps up and down but repeats far too much and the drums don’t help as they follow the guitar.

On the first solo, we do get a curious two-string (?) lick but, ultimately, it doesn’t do much. The second solo tries harder and has a greater scope spread between two guitarists. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much for my ears. And this is six minutes into a twelve minute song. I’m already done.

Lyrics are going for epic and profund but are often vague. Bruce’s delivery props up words that would make little impact on their own except confound those who read them.

However, as a hymn, it may work and that’s all I could think of, and still do, when listening to this one. More keys over Bruce’s soaring exit into a key change with two-and-a-half minutes to go. And it’s not that big a change. It’s like the band went from walking to walking a little quicker. Another solo enters the fray and we do get a significant uptick in speed and intensity from the musicians. Why not just cut the song in half and have a slow, methodical beginning that moves into a rush to the finish? I wasn’t in the studio though I’d love to have been a fly on the wall.

Hell On Earth – The only one of the three closing tracks that warrants its runtime. Guitars strum and pick with a sense of dread and horrific anticipation then start to brighten up into, what I see as, a holy introduction to an aplocalypse. We hear Harris’ bass properly for the first time as a guitar sings defiantly against the undercurrent of the riff trying to bring it down. More keys. Why?

More vague lyrics delivered with great intent by Bruce. It’s not so much a coherent story, more notes taken down where Harris forgot to actually write some lyrics. One guitar, again, follows Bruce rather than do something else to back him up. The chorus, however, is a triumphant uprising and, if played live, would get a huge crowd response.

Solo enters the two guitarists get something to do as they’re given a clean break to interact.

We melloe once more and await another build-up, this time given by Bruce who seems to be quietly praying before switching into a soaring bark. It’s a subtle but sudden keychange that’s so smooth you won’t even get whiplash.

Another solo but it’s really just a bridge to let the chorus repeat.

First guitar outro effectively non-verbally sings through the same melody as Bruce delivered the verses. The real outro is the same as the intro so we have a bookend. And that’s it. Quiet, bit of apocalypse, quiet, The end.

And still, I can’t make heads nor tails of it. It seems like, during lockdown, the band had to come up with stuff whilst located in different parts of the world, write it, record it then send it in for mixing. Fans, like myself, would have been quite happy to have waited another year or two. In fact, I don’t think anyone was really crying out for a new Maiden record because we got so little of ‘The Book of Souls’ played live that legions would have queued up if the band announced they were including ‘Empire of the Clouds’ in the setlist.

What this playthrough of ‘Senjutsu’ has done is reiterate to me that I don’t think this album was needed. If ‘The Book of Souls’ ended up being their final album, it would have been a great sendoff and a terrific end to a magnificent run of original albums created in the 21st century by a group of men who, at the time, were in their late fifties to early sixties. Here, they’re a group of men almost all eligible for a bus pass and I think they have tried too hard where, frankly, they didn’t need to. It seems to me that lockdown presented an opportunity for them to make something, stick it out and see what happened like some bonus content that just came spur of the moment.

Where lockdown really worked for some acts (Agnes Obel, Cradle of Filth and Rammstein among my favourites), I don’t think it’s really worked for Maiden.

I was in Paris back in June to see the band play at the La Défense Arena. It was for the continuation of the current leg of the ‘Legacy of the Beast’ tour and they included the first three tracks of ‘Senjutsu’ which sound really good live, especially Adrian’s masterful solo from ‘The Writing On The Wall’. However, as they careered through the setlist, I didn’t find myself wondering why they left songs from the rest of the album out. I didn’t stand there hoping they’d play ‘Hell On Earth’ or ‘The Time Machine’ unlike previous tours where I did want them to play a specific song or five off the latest record. Here, the first three tracks did it for me. The crowd didn’t seem that fussed by the openers either. No one seemed to know the words. Maybe that was just the French being French and refusing to fully give into anything English.

I think my original thoughts for this record still stand. It seems like they have tried to revisit stuff from the 90’s, focusing on ‘The X Factor’ and ‘Virtual XI’ and the 00’s, specifically ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ and try to merge them with current ideas. For me, the fact I’m still undecided about probably says more than if I had a set opinion. It’s Maiden trying to outdo themselves again and, this time, I don’t think they managed to pull it off. Fair play to them for continuing to push but, on this occasion, I think where Steve Harris said, with a few albums under his belt, that he’d like to do fifteen albums then one or two for luck, it looks like he’s just about run out of it on this one.

The problem now is, whilst ‘Senjutsu’ is not the worst Maiden album, it falls short of its predecessor. If Maiden were to end now, the final album wouldn’t be the flourish that ‘The Book of Souls’ would have provided. To actually end their career in the way they deserve, the next album will need to be something truly remarkable, but with album cycles taking longer due to longer touring cycles, the guys will be in their late sixties and seventies at that rate. Would it be possible for them to trump something they put out in 2015? I think an indicator to the answer will come when Bruce Dickinson’s long-awaited seventh solo album appears later this year. If that serves as a worthy successor to 2005’s ‘Tyranny of Souls’, fans may feel confident about the next Maiden record.

As it stands, ‘Senjutsu’ was neither terrible nor remarkable which isn’t what I expect to say about my favourite band’s latest album. Like the artwork, it’s better thought of as sitting outside the pantheon.