Last month, metal titans Iron Maiden announced their 17th studio album – and first in six years – Senjutsu.
Proceeded by the six-minute epic, The Writing on the Wall, the double album has now been joined by a second single, the slimmer, but still classically Maiden Stratego.
Written by guitarist Janick Gers and bassist Steve Harris – the latter of whom co-produced Senjutsu – Stratego gallops along briskly with electric guitar harmonies galore, frontman Bruce Dickinson's operatic cries and a cinematic solo.
You can give it a spin below.
The follow-up to 2015’s The Book Of Souls, Senjutsu was recorded at Guillame Tell Studio in the suburbs of Western Paris and produced by Kevin Shirley, who also produced The Book of Souls.
“We recorded it during a break in the Legacy of the Beast tour,” Dickinson said of the album. “So we could maximize our touring yet still have a long set up period before release to prepare great album art and something special as a video. Of course the pandemic delayed things more – so much for the best laid plans – or should that be ‘strategies’?
“The songs are very varied, and some of them are quite long. There’s also one or two songs which sound pretty different to our usual style, and I think Maiden fans will be surprised – in a good way, I hope!”
Senjutsu is set for a September 3 release via Warner Bros. You can check out its cover art and track list below.
To preorder the album, step right this way (opens in new tab).
Iron Maiden – Senjutsu:
- Senjutsu
- Stratego
- The Writing On The Wall
- Lost In A Lost World
- Days Of Future Past
- The Time Machine
- Darkest Hour
- Death Of The Celts
- The Parchment
- Hell On Earth
