Iron Maiden today revealed their brand-new track, The Writing On The Wall, with an eagerly anticipated global YouTube video premiere. The song was written by Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith & lead singer Bruce Dickinson, produced by Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Maiden bassist and founder-member Steve Harris.
Bruce Dickinson initially had a concept for the video which came to fruition in collaboration with two Award-winning former Pixar executives and long-standing Maiden fans Mark Andrews & Andrew Gordon. The pair have over 50 years of animation industry experience between them at the very top-level including work on The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Brave, Monsters Inc & Finding Nemo. With partners lining up to get involved with the project they chose BlinkInk, a London based animation studio celebrated for their work with a variety of global brands from Adidas to Coca-Cola and a number of high-profile music videos.
In BlinkInk director Nicos Livesey, another long-time Maiden fan & kindred spirit, they found a man who shared the collective vision for the track – resulting in the final film which features the very first glimpse of a stunning new incarnation of Eddie in spectacular 3D form.
Bruce comments “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.”
Director, Nicos Livesey takes up the story: “We quickly found the expertise we wanted, and people were literally throwing themselves at me to work on a Maiden video – we had more than 60 people in 13 countries from Brazil to France, & Romania to the U.S.A. to add something to the clip and I’d say their love, passion and understanding of the band shines through every frame. They were a dream team for the producers and myself to manage.”
37 Responses
Impressive video, okay song. Probably, like it better after I hear it more, sounds cliche, yeah,yeah the powers that be desecrate Mother Earth, the end is near.
Yes, Rob, I did not care for the heavy handed message, either. The world is dark enough, some lightness please…
I get you. I kinda thought it would be a Steve Harris song. He’s written a lot on the subject. The song I like overall but the subject matter has been done.
Donald,
Yes, like War Pigs.
Not impressed……sounds like an Irish Jingle….would have been a great Thin Lizzy song….where’s the power chords?… A long way from Aces High ……..and where’s the Galloping Bass?….it done Galloped down the road !!
Flippin AWESOME!!!!!!
It’s Southern Rock..it sounds like mid ’90s Molly Hatchet…but not as good…they should’ve went balls to the wall with the guitar solos. Vocals should’ve been louder in the mix.
I really liked the video, I liked the song too , the riff was very familiar to me ive heard it before or a riff very close to it like they lifted it and changed a chord or two…can’t quite put my finger on it , but overall pretty impressive ~