Iron Maiden return with new single, The Writing On The Wall
The band's first new song in six years comes with a beautiful animated video created in collaboration with two former Pixar executives
It's been quite awhile since we last heard new music from metal legends Iron Maiden – six years in total.
That wait ends today with the band's new single, the appropriately epic The Writing On The Wall. Written by Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith & frontman Bruce Dickinson, the song was produced by Kevin Shirley with assistance from the band's bassist, Steve Harris.
The song's beautiful music video was created by two former Pixar executives – Mark Andrews and Andrew Gordon (both of whom are massive Iron Maiden fans) – and the London-based animation studio BlinkInk.
You can give the song, and its video, a spin below.
“I had a pretty clear idea of the concept to accompany the song and when I met Mark and Andrew, on Zoom, it quickly became clear we were all very much on the same wavelength, and this was reinforced with the addition of Nicos and his young BlinkInk team," Dickinson said of the video in a statement. "Our weekly team Zoom meetings were then usually both highly creative and a lot of fun!
“I’m very proud of the way the video turned out, it’s more like a mini-film really. I knew it was going to work out as soon as Mark brought my treatment to life with his incredible storyboards – I thought we could make something very special together. I think we did and hope our fans will agree. In fact it’s pretty much created by Maiden fans!”
No word yet on whether or not this is the lead single from a potential follow-up to the band's last studio effort, 2015's The Book of Souls, but we'll definitely keep our eyes peeled.
In the meantime, if you're craving some more Adrian Smith hard-rock guitar heroics, you'd do well to check out his new album with Richie Kotzen.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.