Rock and metal icons Iron Maiden have announced their 17th studio album Senjutsu, and first album of new material in six years, on September 3.

Recorded in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Maiden founder member and bassist Steve Harris, the album announcement was preceded by the acclaimed animated video for the first single ‘The Writing On The Wall’, based on a concept by lead singer Bruce Dickinson with two former Pixar executives.

Said Harris: “There’s 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.”

Bruce Dickinson said, “We’re all really excited about this album. The songs are very varied, and some of them are quite long. There’s 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!”