Iron Maiden are to release their 17th studio album ‘Senjutsu’ on September 3.
The ‘Run to the Hills’ rockers – who consist of Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Nicko McBrain and Janick Gers – have recorded their first LP in six years in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley, with Harris serving as a co-producer.
The band released an acclaimed animated video for the first single ‘The Writing On The Wall’ last week, made by BlinkInk based on a concept from Dickinson with two former Pixar Executives.
It followed a month-long teaser campaign where fans were given global ‘treasure hunt’ clues about the track title and concept.
‘Senjutsu’ – which is loosely translated as ‘tactics & strategy’ – features Samurai-themed cover artwork from Mark Wilkinson, based on an idea by Harris.
The record has a running time of just 82 minutes and will be a double CD/Triple vinyl album, just like previous album ‘The Book Of Souls’.
Steve said: “We chose to record at Guillaume Tell Studio in France again as the place has such a relaxed vibe. The setup there is perfect for our needs; the building used to be a cinema and has a really high ceiling so there’s a great acoustic sound.
“We recorded this album in the same way we did ‘The Book Of Souls’ in that we’d write a song, rehearse it and then put it down together straight away while it was all fresh in our minds.
“There’s some very complex songs on this album which took a lot of hard work to get them exactly as we wanted them to sound, so the process was at times very challenging, but Kevin is great at capturing the essence of the band and I think it was worth the effort! I’m very proud of the result and can’t wait for fans to hear it.”
Lead singer Bruce added: “We’re all really excited about this album. We recorded it back in early 2019 during a break in the Legacy tour so we could maximise 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!”
The tracklisting for Senjutsu is as follows:
1. Senjutsu
2. Stratego
3. The Writing On The Wall
4. Lost In A Lost World
5. Days Of Future Past
6. The Time Machine
7. Darkest Hour
8. Death Of The Celts
9. The Parchment
10. Hell On Earth