Well, dear listeners, we've reached the end of our Maiden Voyage. Ed and Stu discuss the second half of Iron Maiden's 17th studio album, Senjutsu. There is a significant and nearly catastrophic drop-off in quality with the second half of this album and the guys are not happy about it! The guys discuss how Billboard's change in how they track album performance to account for the rise in streaming adversely affected Iron Maiden's chart success with Senjutsu. They reached #3, but if Billboard used its old measurement of pure album sales, Maiden would have had their first #1 album! Wowsers! Ed and Stu talk about some other stuff, but really they mostly just suffer through the back half of this very uneven album. Way to end on a high note!

Thanks for listening along with us. It was a long journey made longer by our own ineptitude, but if you've continued to listen, we appreciate you. Keep the show in your feed because Ed and Stu are making plans for more content!

Hugs and kisses! XOXOXOXOX

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

 

THIS IS IT! We have reached the final (so far?) Iron Maiden album with Senjutsu! Their 17th studio album was released in September 2021, just one day shy of 6 years after their last album, beating the record set by The Book of Souls for the longest stretch between studio album releases. The album gets off to a strong start and Ed and Stu discuss the album's positive commercial and critical reception, and how Senjutsu marked the band's highest ever charting position on the Billboard 200, reaching #3.

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

We're back for the second half of Iron Maiden's first double-album, The Book of Souls. Ed and Stu discuss Bruce's health, the length of this album and the band's longest ever song (Empire of the Clouds at over 18 minutes), and the commercial and critical success of this album. We're so close to the end, beloved listeners! One more album to go!!!

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

We're nearing the end of our work as Ed and Stu discuss Iron Maiden's 16th studio album, The Book of Souls. The band's first ever double album was released in September 2015, over five years after their last album release, marking the longest stretch between two Maiden albums to this point. The guys follow-up on some grammy controversy talk, the band's impressive tour schedule and the corporate shuffling of deck chairs that seemingly ended a 30-year relationship with EMI but nothing really changed. Mega corporations are stupid!

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

Ed and Stu are back to discuss the second half of The Final Frontier. This was the band's longest album when it was released and Ed challenges Stu to guess the second and third longest albums. The fellas talk about some of the artwork released in connection with the album and barely survive the worst two back-to-back tracks to appear on any Iron Maiden album! It's getting rough out here for your intrepid hosts!

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

We're heading into outer space to cover Iron Maiden's fifteenth studio album, The Final Frontier! Ed and Stu discuss the end of the band's 30-year relationship with EMI records (sort of), the half live action, half animated video for the album's title track, the band's non-stop work schedule since the last album and how insane it is that the band's first Grammy for Best Metal Performance comes from this album! 

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

As we continue talking about the band's fourteenth studio album, we discuss the "easy" recording process, how Steve Harris and co-producer Kevin Shirley decided not to master the tracks to achieve a more live sound, and the story of how the band's 2005 tour preceding this album devolved into animosity with their co-headliner in North America, Ozzy Osborne, leading to Sharon Osborne sabotaging Iron Maiden's final show of the US part of the tour! 

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

We're covering Iron Maiden's 14th studio album, A Matter Of Life And Death, released in late August and early September of 2006. The album has a loose theme around war and religion and also being a real slog to get through! AMoLaD received generally good reviews and was named best metal album of the year by multiple magazines. Rolling Stone gave it 3 out of 5 stars, saying the band was aging gracefully but adding they now march where they once galloped. Do our intrepid hosts agree? Find out!

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

Ed and Stu continue their coverage of Iron Maiden's thriteenth studio album, Dance of Death. This half of the album features the band's first fully acoustic track, "Journeyman," and the first song co-written by drummer Nicko McBrain, "New Frontier," which is, of course, about the dangers of human cloning. Everyone was talking about human cloning in 2003! This side of the album also features another classic war-based epic, "Paschendale."

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.

This week we discuss Iron Maiden's thirteenth studio album, Dance of Death, which was released in 2003. We talk at length about the album art, which may be one of the worst album covers of all time, and provide a history lesson about the Cathars in connection with "Montsegur," one of the band's greatest late-era songs. 

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If you are enjoying the show, join us on the Maiden Voyage Patreon to support what we're doing! Patrons are our best friends!   Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Maiden Voyage Podcast. We're desperate for your approval!   Send questions, comments and praise to [email protected]   Follow Stu and Ed on Bluesky.   Visit the Vintage RPG website to check out Stu's other podcast, Vintage RPG, and sign up for the newsletter for an in-depth dive into the art & history of tabletop roleplaying games, and check out unwinnable.com for the best cultural commentary around.   Check out Stu's book, Monsters, Aliens and Holes in the Ground, from MIT Press. Pick up a copy directly from MIT Press, from your local bookstore, or from an online book seller that doesn't suck, like Bookshop.org.    The Maiden Voyage illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Bluesky and Instagram.   Maiden Voyage is recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Ed Coleman. The show is produced by Ed Coleman and Stu Horvath.   Theme music composed by Sam Retzer, under license from SmartSound.   This podcast is a labor of love based on decades of devoted fandom. We strongly encourage listeners to buy Iron Maiden's albums or listen to them using your favorite streaming music service to support these heavy metal legends. To check out the cover art for the band's albums and singles, visit the band's excellent website.