Senjutsu

Senjutsu is the seventeenth album on which Iron Maiden pushes its epic bent further, carefully stacking riffs, melody, key changes and quiet pauses within long songs. The Eastern image the title suggests is not mere decoration but connects to the whole album’s calm tension and distinctive strategic air. From the weighty title track “Senjutsu” and the dashing “Stratego” to the lead single “The Writing on the Wall” and long pieces including the over-ten-minute epic “Days of Future Past,” the album shows a grander, more dramatic development toward the finale. Steve Harris’s bass powerfully leads the songs’ progress, and the three guitars widen the songs greatly while keeping their own colors. Its major distinction is being an Iron Maiden record for immersing yourself carefully over time, rather than sprint-like immediacy. Bruce Dickinson’s singing surely carries the center of the grand narrative. Proving that, even as veterans, their creative drive and grand scale have not dimmed at all, it is an engaging, powerful work.