True to its trademark style of the last two decades - A review of Iron Maiden's Senjutsu

Heavy metal flagship Iron Maiden has been on autopilot ever since singer Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith rejoined the band twenty-two years ago. The gaps between albums successively increased from two years over three, four and five years to six years as we speak. Album tour cycles were followed by historic or compilative tours. The six records released since then offered a balanced mixture of atmospheric and progressive epics with shorter traditional heavy metal songs. The albums got always longer and the last two outputs have been double records.

When purchasing Senjutsu, you should therefore already know what to expect from the ten new songs. Among the epic songs, opening title track ''Senjutsu'' oozes with cinematic atmosphere and seemingly progressive structures that the band has actually been exploring for more than two decades now. The track offers a few fresh surprises however in form of more dominant keyboard sounds and varied drum patterns that show Nicko McBrain's best album performance since A Matter of Life and Death. While the song doesn't offer huge surprises, it's certainly contemporary Iron Maiden at its best and should please fans of old and new date.

There are actually quite a few similarities between Senjutsu and A Matter of Life and Death. ''Darkest Hour'' for instance is a gloomy ballad with melodic, reduced and simple guitar tones, atmospheric, decent and warm keyboard sounds and relaxed samples of wave sounds. Bruce Dickinson manages to unfold his emotional vocals splendidly in this slow-paced tune. The track recalls the menacing undertone of ''The Longest Day'' as much as the melodious passion of ''Out of the Shadows''.

The shorter songs on this album are also the strongest ones. ''Days of Future Past'' is a concise song that fans have been craving for as it combines fast verses with a mid-paced chorus you won't forget anytime soon. This is an excellent candidate for the next single and future live shows.

First single ''The Writing on the Wall'' comes around with an inspired music video and interesting instrumental passages in form of the slow, epic and cool folk sounds in the introduction. Despite its cinematic approach, the song features all classic heavy metal trademarks such as melodic double guitar leads, dominant bass guitar passages and tight drum play. The track never overstays its welcome and is crowned with a passionate chorus that proves once again that Bruce Dickinson is still one of the very best heavy metal singers in the world.

My personal highlight remains second single ''Stratego'' that is based upon a galloping riff but explores melodic blues rock guitar sounds, decently employed keyboard sounds enhancing the mysterious atmosphere of the track and strong vocals in a charismatic chorus that makes for the band's greatest single since ''Different World''.

As much as this record works well in the context of Iron Maiden's trademarks established since the beginning of the new millennium, it also has several flaws that need to be pointed out. Several tracks recall songs the band has recorded in the past and lack charismatic, fresh and unique approaches.

The songwriting is at times by the numbers, It has become so predictable that it is occasionally dull. This is most obvious in Steve Harris' tracks as the closing three tunes overstay their welcome and aren't distinctive enough from one another.

While Bruce Dickinson delivers the goods on the vocals, Nicko MBrain offers his strongest performance in a decade and a half and the use of keyboards adds unusual soundscapes, the other instruments fail to leave deeper impressions. The bass guitar patterns remain unique but always sound the same as Steve Harris fails to explore new grounds. The guitar play involving three musicians isn't exploited to its full potential as the record is missing some truly passionate solos or technically impressive passages.

The production might once again be discussed controversially. I would say that it sounds more organic, epic and atmospheric than on the two immediate predecessors but other fans might call the guitar sounds and keyboards too melodic and complain about the lack of tightness in the rhythm department. In my opinion, the production is acceptable but a tighter mastering could have made a very good heavy metal record an excellent one.

At the end of the day, most people can agree that it's a great thing that British heavy metal flagship Iron Maiden is still releasing new music so late in its outstanding career. The band could simply sit on its laurels and focus on occasional touring cycles but the sextet instead came together to record eighty-two minutes of new music released in a clever way throughout the past few months. Even though Senjutsu might be considered a slightly below average release in Iron Maiden's impressive discography, the sextet's seventeenth studio album is still a very good heavy metal album that is dynamic and entertaining while occasionally lacking an adventurous spirit.

Final rating: 77%