Iron Maiden have released a music video for their new song ‘The Writing on the Wall’, the first music from them in six long years, as per Loudwire.

It brings to an end a calculated and cryptic teaser campaign that drove their fans crazy, as they desperately attempted to work out what all the clues meant.

A new album was suspected all the way back in 2019 but clearer clues started to appear earlier this year – flyers for ‘Belshazzar’s Feast’ began appearing alongside the letters ‘WOTW’ on social media, which is now confirmed as standing for ‘Writing On The Wall’. Some investigation reveals that ‘Belshazzar’s Feast’ comes from the Book of Daniel in the Bible and this is also where the phrase “to see the writing on the wall” comes from.

And so it finally all led to ‘The Writing on the Wall’. The song was written by lead singer Bruce Dickinson and guitarist Adrian Smith. It’s also worth checking out the animated video which was made in collaboration with Pixar’s Mark Andrews and Andrew Gordon and the London animation studio BlinkInk.

“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,” Dickinson said. “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!!”

For more on this topic, follow the Metal Observer.

Love Metal?

Get the latest Metal news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more

Check out ‘The Writing on the Wall’ by Iron Maiden:

YouTube VideoPlay

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine