According to Billboard, IRON MAIDEN‘s latest album, “Senjutsu”, has entered the Billboard 200 chart at position No. 3, making it the band’s highest-charting LP ever. The British heavy metal legends previously peaked at No. 4 with their last two studio releases: 2015’s “The Book Of Souls” and 2010’s “The Final Frontier”.
Of “Senjutsu”‘s 64,000 equivalent album units, album sales comprise 61,000, making it the top-selling album of the week.
“Senjutsu” was released on September 3 via BMG. IRON MAIDEN‘s first LP in six years was recorded in early 2019 in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Harris. It was preceded in July by a highly acclaimed animated video for the first single “The Writing On The Wall” made by BlinkInk based on a concept by Dickinson with two former Pixar executives. It followed a month-long teaser campaign and global “treasure hunt” for clues about the track title and concept.
For “Senjutsu” — loosely translated as “tactics and strategy” — the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Harris. With a running time of a little under 82 minutes, “Senjutsu”, like their previous record “The Book Of Souls”, is a double CD/triple vinyl album.
Back in May 2019, Italian web site Maiden Concerts first speculated that IRON MAIDEN was putting the finishing touches on a new album. The site concluded that the LP was nearing completion after gathering social media evidence that all six members of the band, their wives and Shirley were in Paris at the same time. The producer even posted new pictures of Guillaume Tell Studios, where MAIDEN recorded “Brave New World” (2000) and “The Book Of Souls”, saying he was finalizing a major project.
During MAIDEN‘s summer 2019 North American tour, Dickinson hinted at new material, telling the crowd at the group’s Oakland, California concert: “New IRON MAIDEN songs — sooner than you think.” At MAIDEN‘s Nashville show in August 2019, Dickinson said that fresh music from the band wasn’t “beyond the bounds of possibility,” adding that a new MAIDEN record was essentially a “certainty.”
“Senjutsu” marks MAIDEN‘s sixth album to be produced by Shirley, who has worked with MAIDEN for the past two decades.
In addition to MAIDEN, Shirley has collaborated with dozens of notable acts, including Joe Bonamassa, JOURNEY, DREAM THEATER and LED ZEPPELIN.
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