Iron Maiden Take Inspiration From The East For Senjutsu

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Iron Maiden Take Inspiration From The East For Their 17th Studio Album, Senjutsu

Brand new double album shows band maintain razor sharp creative edge as Samurai Eddie unleashed after video debut

BMG is thrilled to announce the release of IRON MAIDEN’s 17th studio album Senjutsu, their first in six years, on September 3rd. It was recorded in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Steve Harris.

It was preceded on Thursday July 15th by an already highly acclaimed animated video for the first single “The Writing On The Wall” made by BlinkInk based on a concept by Bruce Dickinson with two former Pixar Executives. It followed a month-long teaser campaign & global ‘treasure hunt’ for clues about the track title and concept.

For Senjutsu – loosely translated as ‘tactics & strategy,’ the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Steve Harris. With a running time of a little under 82 minutes, Senjutsu, like their previous record The Book Of Souls, will be a double CD/Triple vinyl album.

Steve says “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 Dickinson continues, “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 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! “

The full tracklisting is:

1.            Senjutsu (8:20)                                Smith/Harris

2.            Stratego (4:59)                                 Gers/Harris

3.            The Writing On The Wall (6:13)   Smith/Dickinson

4.            Lost In A Lost World (9:31)           Harris

5.            Days Of Future Past (4:03)            Smith/Dickinson

6.            The Time Machine (7:09)              Gers/Harris

7.            Darkest Hour (7:20)                        Smith/Dickinson

8.            Death Of The Celts (10:20)           Harris

9.            The Parchment (12:39)                  Harris

10.         Hell On Earth (11:19)                      Harris   

Senjutsu will be released on the following formats and available to pre-order/pre-save from Wednesday July 21st at www.ironmaiden.com:

• Standard 2CD Digipak
• Deluxe 2CD Book Format
• Deluxe heavyweight 180G Triple Black Vinyl
• Special Edition Triple Silver And Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)
• Special Edition Triple Red and Black Marble Vinyl (Details to follow)
• Super Deluxe Boxset featuring CD, Blu Ray and Exclusive Memorabilia
• Digital album [streaming and download]

 IRON MAIDEN ENDS WEEKS OF ONLINE SPECULATION TO REVEAL FIRST NEW MUSIC IN 6 YEARS WITH SPECTACULAR, STATE OF THE ART ANIMATED VIDEO: “THE WRITING ON THE WALL” 

PIXAR ALUMNI & BLINKINK DREAM TEAM COLLABORATE WITH MAIDEN TO CREATE A SIX MINUTE VERITABLE FEAST INCLUDING THE LATEST INCARNATION OF EDDIE IN STUNNING 3D FORM

WATCH IT HERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBnW7bZHEE

IRON MAIDEN today revealed their brand-new track, “The Writing On The Wall,” with an eagerly anticipated global YouTube video premiere. The song was written by Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith & lead singer Bruce Dickinson, produced by Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Maiden bassist and founder-member Steve Harris.

Bruce Dickinson initially had a concept for the video which came to fruition in collaboration with two Award-winning former Pixar executives and long-standing Maiden fans Mark Andrews & Andrew Gordon. The pair have over 50 years of animation industry experience between them at the very top-level including work on The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Brave, Monsters Inc & Finding Nemo. With partners lining up to get involved with the project they chose BlinkInk, a London based animation studio celebrated for their work with a variety of global brands from Adidas to Coca-Cola and a number of high-profile music videos.

In BlinkInk director Nicos Livesey, another long-time Maiden fan & kindred spirit, they found a man who shared the collective vision for the track – resulting in the final film which features the very first glimpse of a stunning new incarnation of Eddie in spectacular 3D form. 

Bruce comments “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. 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!!”

Director, Nicos Livesey takes up the story: “We quickly found the expertise we wanted, and people were literally throwing themselves at me to work on a Maiden video – we had more than 60 people in 13 countries from Brazil to France, & Romania to the U.S.A. to add something to the clip and I’d say their love, passion and understanding of the band shines through every frame. They were a dream team for the producers and myself to manage.” 

The intricate and painstaking process of the making of the video can be read about in more detail here: https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/nicos-livesey-blinkink-iron-maiden-the-writing-on-the-wall-animation-150721.

You can hear the song and watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBnW7bZHEE

 IRON MAIDEN LIVE ALBUM COMING NOVEMBER 20TH  

'NIGHTS OF THE DEAD,   

LEGACY OF THE BEAST: LIVE IN MEXICO CITY' 

BMG are pleased to announce the release of IRON MAIDEN’s new double live album on November 20th worldwide. Containing over 100 minutes of classic Maiden music and available in multiple formats, including a limited edition Mexican Flag, triple colored (180g) vinyl and a limited edition deluxe 2 CD book format, Nights Of The Dead, Legacy Of The Beast: Live in Mexico City was recorded during the band’s three sold out arena shows there in September 2019 and is a celebration of their Legacy Of The Beast World Tour which began in 2018 and will finish next Summer in Europe.   

The track-listing is:  

Churchill’s Speech  

Aces High 
Where Eagles Dare 
2 Minutes To Midnight
The Clansman 
The Trooper
Revelations
For The Greater Good Of God 
The Wicker Man 
Sign Of The Cross 
Flight Of Icarus 
Fear Of The Dark
Iron Maiden
The Number Of The Beast
The Evil That Men Do 
Hallowed Be Thy Name
Run To The Hills   

Iron Maiden founder and bass player Steve Harris comments: 

“When the final leg of our 2020 Legacy tour this summer had to be cancelled due to the COVID pandemic, the whole band was very disappointed and deflated and we know our fans felt the same. We’d been really looking forward to bringing the show to even more countries and although we’ve been able to reschedule most of our European own-shows for 2021, we thought we’d take a listen to the recordings from the tour so far and see if we could create a definitive live album souvenir that everyone, everywhere could enjoy. I’m very pleased with the results, especially as this set list includes songs which have never made it to a live CD before, such as ‘For The Greater Good Of God,’ and other older songs like ‘Where Eagles Dare,’ ‘Flight Of Icarus,’ ‘The Clansman’ and ‘Sign Of The Cross’ which haven’t been included in our live set releases for many years.  

We’ve never released a live album from Mexico before and I think this recording does justice to the passion and joy of our Mexican fans who always give us such a fantastic welcome whenever we play there.” 

Maiden manager Rod Smallwood adds: 

“All the shows on the tour so far have been amazing and our fans have loved the whole Legacy extravaganza with the elaborately themed stages, props and drapes, not to mention the killer set-list!  When our 2020 tour got cancelled, putting together a live album seemed the obvious thing to do and I think Steve, along with co-producer Tony Newton, has perfectly captured the essence of the 70,000-strong crowd across these three nights in Mexico City. The album serves both as a celebration of this tour, which almost two million fans have already seen, and as a taster for, hopefully, next year’s final run for anyone who hasn’t yet experienced the show.” 

The album will be available in these formats:   

- 2 CD Digipak  

- Limited edition deluxe 2 CD book format  

- Heavyweight 180g triple black vinyl   

- Limited edition heavyweight 180g Mexican Flag triple colored vinyl  

- Digital (streaming and download).   

For more information go to www.ironmaiden.com   

LEGACY OF THE BEAST 2021 EUROPEAN TOUR FINAL LEG: 

JUNE 11                     POGE NARODOWY, WARSAW, POLAND  

JUNE 13                     BUERGERWEIDE, BREMEN, GERMANY  

JUNE 15                     SINOBO STADIUM, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC  

JUNE 16                     STADIUM OPEN AIR, WIENER NEUSTADT, AUSTRIA  

JUNE 19                     OLYMPIC STADIUM, BARCELONA, SPAIN  

JUNE 21                     ESTADIO NACIONAL, LISBON, PORTUGAL  

JUNE 24                     SONIC PARK, BOLOGNA, ITALY  

JUNE 26                     MERCEDES-BENZ ARENA, STUTTGART, GERMANY  

JUNE 27                     SPORTPALEIS, ANTWERP, BELGIUM  

JUNE 30                     WALDBUEHNE, BERLIN, GERMANY  

JULY 03                      ULLEVI STADIUM, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN  

JULY 08                      RHEIN-ENERGIE-STADIUM, COLOGNE, GERMANY  

JULY 10                      GELREDOME, ARNHEM, THE NETHERLANDS  

JULY 11                      LA DEFENSE ARENA, PARIS, FRANCE  

Monsters of River & Rock
My Life as Iron Maiden's Compulsive Angler 

Adrian Smith

November 3 | BMG Books | Hardback & eBook
Legendary Iron Maiden guitarist takes you to the final frontier of fishing. 

“Back at the hotel, I sat back, glass of wine in hand, and studied the tour itinerary... Let’s see, Hartford, Connecticut ... big carp in the Connecticut river ... Montreal, smallmouth bass in the St Lawrence ... Winnipeg, always fancied having a go for those big catfish in the Red river ... and so on. The endless road and winding river ...”  

LOS ANGELES, CA ­– August 21, 2020 ­– Adrian Smith, the legendary lead guitarist of 100-million- album-selling band Iron Maiden, is well known in the Maiden community as a celebrated angler whose fishing gear travels with him as he tours across the world. In his first, very personal riverside memoir, Monsters of River & Rock, Smith takes us with him on an incredible journey through the highs and lows of life—both on the road and on the riverbank. “If you’re a trout fisherman, there’s a bit of trout fishing in there,” Smith explains. “There’s a lot of course fishing. There’s some sea fishing, fly fishing. There’s a lot of different kinds of fishing.”

Adrian got hooked on fishing as a child growing up in East London, plundering ponds and bomb craters on the Hackney Marshes for newts and sticklebacks, and catching perch from the Grand Union Canal while on outings with his father. Things began to get more exotic when the young angling enthusiast grew up to become lead guitarist in one of the most successful rock bands in history and started traveling the world playing to millions of fans. But once a fisherman, always a fisherman. The gear went with him, the fish got bigger, the adventures more extreme.

Adrian’s rock and roll experiences add a fresh dimension to his unique memoir. “I could have written a straight-out fishing book,” Adrian elaborates, “I thought, to make it different, it would be good to include some music stories.” It is fishing that helps keep him balanced during a rigorous tour schedule.  For him, the book illustrates “why you look forward to going fishing when times get a bit hard.” 

Welcome to the world of Adrian Smith, as he clocks in to his day job furthering the geographical boundaries of hard rock, and clocks out to explore far-flung rivers, seas, waterways, lakes, and pools on his fearless quest for fishing nirvana. His adventures range from his first sturgeon, a whopping 100-pounder from Canada’s swirling Fraser River that nearly wiped him out mid-Maiden tour, to a close shave with a large shark off the Virgin Islands while wading waist-deep for bonefish. Not to mention an enviable list of specimen coarse fish from the UK that made him a cover star of the course-fishing bible Angler’s Mail (biggest chub of the season, August 2009).  

Charming, funny, and moving in equal measure, Monsters of River & Rock is the ultimate fishing-fantasy armchair read and is also the story of a rock star in a fast-moving world who seeks peace and tranquility at the water’s edge – no matter where in the world he happens to be.  

About the Author  

Adrian Smith was born in Hackney, East London, on February 27, 1957. He joined Iron Maiden at the end of 1980. Adrian is the band member who has collaborated on the most side projects outside of Iron Maiden, as well as writing and recording a series of albums in the early '90s, before rejoining the band. Iron Maiden has sold 100 million albums, and tours the world playing to millions of fans. Onstage, Adrian uses Jackson and Gibson guitars. Offstage, he is an avid tennis player, however his main hobby is fishing. He takes his rod and gear out on tour with him wherever he goes. This is his first book.  

Watch the book trailer and hear Adrian talk the process of writing his memoir at vimeo.com/447854831 

For more information go to: 

monstersofriverandrock.com