It appears that IRON MAIDEN are possibly teasing fans with a series of clues both online and IRL in recent weeks. And some rather clever metalheads who have taken to the net as of late seem to think it just may be happening. And they even have a date. July 15.
The series of clues is pretty extensive, and the good people over at Loudwire have done a great job of combing through and detailing all of it. Gotta send some love to Metalsucks as well.
Here’s what we have thus far:
Flyers for ‘Belshezzar’s Feast’ were spotted oat this year’s mini Download Pilot festival displaying the words “Live forever,” “man or beast” and “heaven or hell” on the flyers, along with two sets of numbers: “15/07” and the Roman numerals “IMXVII.”
It’s been speculated that the first number is a reference to the 15th of July and that the second stands for Iron Maiden 17. Iron Maiden’s next album will be their 17th.
New @IronMaiden music coming July 15.. or have I completely lost the run of myself? Veerrrrrrry intrigued either way. pic.twitter.com/9COAs2AL77
— Edwin McFee (@edwinmcfee) June 28, 2021
2. When you emailed an address on the flyer got responses with lyric-like lines that work in the acronym “WOTW” with the first letter of each sentence, such as in the second paragraph here:
I have received the following communication.@bels_feast #Belshazzarsfeast pic.twitter.com/P54ddSTwMJ
— ????ogan Miller (@LoganTMiller) June 29, 2021
Belshazzar’s feast is a story from the Book of Daniel in the Bible commonly known as the story of the writing on the wall.
The phrase “WOTW” appeared on a recent Maiden tour flyer:
3. Frank Turner wore a “Belshazzar’s feast” t-shirt at a Download Festival interview, and nonchalantly unzipped his hoodie to reveal it when the interviewer asked if Turner had heard anything about a new IRON MAIDEN album:
4. IRON MAIDEN singer Bruce Dickinson wore the same shirt during a Sky News interview:
5. A newly created Twitter account, @bels_feast (displaying the name ‘Daniel’), has been circulating similar images. Some Reddit users (who else?) noticed that the account only follows 16 other pages, each of which corresponds to one of Iron Maiden’s 16 albums:
6. Iron Maiden’s official Twitter account made a sly “WOTW” reference, this time as “Walker on the wing:”
LIMITED TIME OFFER – Pick up your IMFC England shirt using the discount code IMFCEURO20 and save 20%!https://t.co/WDbiU503k3#IronMaiden #England #Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/uGh5hdWi8O
— Iron Maiden (@IronMaiden) June 29, 2021
7. A video of what says it is a “new Iron Maiden song” called “Writing on the Wall (Belshazzar’s Feast)” appeared on YouTube via an account titled Daniel Belshazzar. The music certainly sounds like IRON MAIDEN though. Check it out yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAmDThyVdmQ
IRON MAIDEN’s last album, ‘The Book of Souls’ came 6 years ago now.
Let’s see what happens on July 15.