Iron Maiden yesterday revealed their new track, The Writing On The Wall, in a YouTube video premiere. Written by Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson, the song was produced by Kevin Shirley, with Steve Harris co-producing.
The premiere follows weeks of online speculation after ‘Belshazzar’s Feast’ posters appeared at the Download Pilot.
The concept for the video came from Bruce, and he collaborated with two Award-winning former Pixar executives and long-standing Maiden fans Mark Andrews and Andrew Gordon, who have worked on films such as The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Brave, Monsters Inc & Finding Nemo.
“I had a pretty clear idea of the concept to accompany the song,” Bruce said. “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!!”
London based animation studio BlinkInk completed the piece, a fantastic film that gives the first look at a new incarnation of Eddie in 3D form.
“We quickly found the expertise we wanted, Director Nicos Livesey said, “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 and Romania to the USA 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.”
You can find out more about the intricate and painstaking process of the making of the film here.
