Bruce Dickinson: Iron Maiden’s New Video Was Inspired by Rammstein’s “Deutschland”

Francis, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Published on:

Last week, heavy metal gods Iron Maiden released their first new song in six years, “The Writing On The Wall,” via a beautifully-animated music video. Now, in a new interview, Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has revealed that the video was inspired by a source that might seem odd to some: Rammstein’s sprawling music video for their 2019 single “Deutschland.”

Speaking to Kerrang!, Dickinson says, “I said to Rod [Smallwood, Maiden manager], ‘Have you seen the video for ‘Deutschland’ by Rammstein?’ That, to me, is a groundbreaking video. That’s astonishing. Now, I’m not suggesting we do that, because we’re not Rammstein. But think of what we could do that would have the equivalent impact for us. So, I wrote storyboard for the vid, tweaked it a little bit, and gave it a happy ending.

“Well, kind of a happy ending – Adam and Eve start again, but with Eddie going, ‘I’ll still get you in the end.'”

Check out Iron Maiden’s video for “The Writing On The Wall” below:

“The Writing on the Wall” will appear on Iron Maiden’s upcoming new album Senjutsu, due out on September 3rd and available for preorder.

We’re all really excited about this album,” says Dickinson of the album. “We recorded it back in early 2019 during a break in the Legacy tour so we could maximise our touring yet still have a long set-up period before release to prepare great album art and something special as a video. Of course the pandemic delayed things more – so much for the best laid plans… or should that be ​strategies’!?

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!”

Check out Senjutsu’s tracklist and cover art below.

1. Senjutsu
2. Stratego
3. The Writing On The Wall
4. Lost In A Lost World
5. Days Of Future Past
6. The Time Machine
7. Darkest Hour
8. Death Of The Celts
9. The Parchment
10. Hell On Earth

***

Words by Chris Krovatin