![]() In modern times the Crown retains a special relationship with the City, indeed the Sovereign is the only person who outranks the Lord Mayor in the City, and even so the Lord Mayor’s permission is sought before the Sovereign enters the City. Both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother were members of Livery Companies. Monarchs of note such as King James I, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I have all been members of Livery Companies. The involvement of the Royal Family with the Livery Companies is by no means a modern phenomenon. They continue to set the City apart from other parts of the United Kingdom. Over the intervening 950 years the City has won powers and privileges that were unheard of at the time, but have gone on to form the basis of modern parliamentary representative democracy. That writ established, or perhaps more properly confirmed, the status of the City of London as a special place with a unique and lasting relationship with the Crown. This writ confirmed that the City would not be adversely affected by the Norman conquest, and that the status quo existing from the time of the Anglo-Saxon kings would remain in force. One of William the Conqueror’s earliest official acts following Coronation on Christmas Day 1066 was to re-affirm the rights and privileges of the City of London in a writ dated 1067. When he wails "Love in anger, life in danger" over the anthemic closing moments of the latter track, it resonates as the story's protagonist is no longer a seeker but a seer.The City of London has a very long standing relationship with the Crown and the Royal Family. Bruce Dickinson may not have access to the upper registers of his youth, but his voice is still plenty powerful, and it's become richer with the weariness and wisdom of age. Even the lofty Steve Harris-penned closers, the Powerslave-referencing "The Parchment" and the weighty, yet stirringly melodic "Hell on Earth," feel immediate and vital. The serpentine arrangements and sonic detours into everything from Spaghetti Western-inspired groove metal ("The Writing on the Wall") and maximalist, major key art-rock ("The Time Machine") to lilting folk-metal ("Death of the Celts") show a flair for innovation that artists who've been in the game so long rarely aspire to. Despite an overarching preference for midtempo pieces, Senjutsu never lumbers. Apart from the nimble "Stratego," which bears the instantly familiar galloping gait of classic Maiden, the ten-song set leans hard into the band's progressive tendencies. Commencing with one of the band's best openers in years, the potent "Senjutsu," treats the prosaic cruelties of war with equal parts melancholy and might. Clocking in at just over 80 minutes, the epic Senjutsu is another distended late-career triumph, albeit one that requires multiple spins to set up camp in your Homeric metal-craving cranium. Instead, the band has continued to add new material to their arsenal, fleshing out the nooks and crannies of past glories with expansive, prog-minded efforts like The Final Frontier (2010) and Book of Souls (2015). ![]() ![]() The reigning monarchs of the new/old wave of British heavy metal movement, it would be perfectly acceptable for Iron Maiden to rest on their considerable laurels and just pick-slide and fist-pump their way through a seemingly endless cycle of continent-spanning stadium tours.
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