Just days after Maiden gave us a new ‘SFX version’ of the video for ‘Writing on The Walls’, the band is back with more. Tweeting earlier today that new track ‘Stratego’ will be available on all streaming platforms as of 6 pm BST. Which was accompanied by the cover of the single, which takes on a very different tone to previous singles with its bold red colour.

New track alert!

‘Stratego’ will be dropping on to your favourite streaming platforms from 6pm BST (UK time) today!#IronMaiden #Senjutsu #Stratego pic.twitter.com/Wvty4UMscP

— Iron Maiden (@IronMaiden) August 19, 2021

The band has been preparing for the album with various endorsements, but none more out of place than their partnership with ASDA. In the past, the only sign of the band in a supermarket may have been on the front of a magazine. But, now across 226 ASDA’s, you will be able to pick up a copy of the band’s Lager brand, Trooper, with a new ‘Sun and Steel’ themed beer and shirt, alongside your Weetabix’s.

“There are few bands in the world that can provide such a breadth of products that their fan base love and we’re delighted that Asda respect music enough to partner with us across several sectors,” –  Derek Allen, Warner Music’s Senior Vice President of Commercial

The album is shaping up to be an exciting release, and defiantly one to follow. Especially as the band is set to headline Download Festival 2022. You can get your tickets here.

The film depicts bassist Steve Harris, frontman Bruce Dickinson and producer Kevin Shirley discussing the record at Paris’ Guillaume Tell Studio, where the band also recorded their last album from 2015 ‘The Book of Souls’.

Dickinson stated “It’s been a very, very good experience, I think this is a better album than Book Of Souls. I really do. I haven’t heard it all back yet because I’ve been in the middle of doing it.” he then added, “I think it’s more complex than Book Of Souls, It’s certainly more varied. And I think there’ll be a genuine couple of surprises. There’s one of two songs that’ll have people going, ‘Eh? Is that Iron Maiden?’”

Harris also said “It’s part of the beauty of doing a new album. We never know what we’re going to do, there’s no preconceived idea about what to do and it just is what it is. It’s a representation of where we are at any given time.”

Dickinson also recently spoke to Kerrang! where he revealed that he recorded some of the new Iron Maiden album while on crutches following an injury to his Achilles tendon.

‘Senjutsu’ can be pre-ordered here. It is titled after a Japanese term loosely translated to mean ‘tactics and strategy’, and is usually applied in combat situations. It will feature 10 tracks, including their recently-released single ‘The Writing On The Wall’ and will also include Samurai-themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris.

The band recorded the album in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and was co-produced by Steve Harris. Titled ‘Senjutsu’ roughly translated from the Japanese for “tactics and strategy,” the record will be packaged in a similar style to their previous album ‘The Book Of Souls’, as a double CD/Triple vinyl album (pictured below).

This latest project will follow on from their new single ‘The Writing On The Wall’ which was released on Thursday, July 15 with a music video that received much acclaim for its animated style.

The band’s co-producer Steve Harris stated that “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.”

He then went on to say “There are 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.”

Iron maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson then also 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 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 are 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 record will be released on a multitude of formats from a standard 2CD Digipak or Special Edition Coloured Vinyl to a Super Deluxe Boxset. All these formats will be available to pre-order from tomorrow Wednesday, July 21.

Iron Maiden, ‘Senjutsu’ Tracklist

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