Iron Maiden have released their first new music in six years with the track ‘The Writing On The Wall’ – listen below.
The metal band, whose 16th album ‘The Book Of Souls’ arrived in 2015, teased back in April that they had something “very, very exciting” in the works. “I think it’ll be worth the wait, put it like that,” said guitarist Adrian Smith.
It came after frontman Bruce Dickinson revealed last year that the group were back in the studio working on new material.
Today (July 15), Iron Maiden made their long-awaited return with a spectacular, six-minute single after teasing their comeback online. ‘The Writing On The Wall’ was written by Smith and Dickinson, with Kevin Shirley and bassist Steve Harris on production duties.
The song arrives with a suitably epic animated video, the creation of a collaborative team including former Pixar executives Mark Andrews and Andrew Gordon (The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo).
Dickinson explained: “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!!”
Details of Iron Maiden’s upcoming new album are yet to be revealed.
Speaking back in October 2020, Dickinson said that Iron Maiden had been “working together a little bit in the studio” after the band was forced to cancel last year’s ‘Legacy Of The Beast’ tour (the Europen leg was recently postponed until 2022).
“In the meantime, what are we doing? Well, we’re doing bits of writing,” Dickinson said. “I’m talking to Steve [Harris, bass]. We’ve been working together a little bit in the studio. On what, I can’t tell you, ’cause they’d have to kill me.”
In April, Adrian Smith said that fans would be “delighted” over what was to come.
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