Iron Maiden Fans React to Samurai Eddie on New Album Cover

Iron Maiden have finally announced their new album, Senjutsu, and, along with it, came the latest incarnation of the band’s iconic undead mascot Eddie, who now appears as a samurai.

Many had suspected that this new Eddie would be of the samurai variant, which was first seen on the can for the ‘Sun and Steel’ edition of Iron Maiden’s popular Trooper line of signature beers and later featured prominently toward the end of the music video for the new single “The Writing on the Wall.”

The beloved skeletal fixtures that has adorned dozens of album covers, single art, T-shirts, posters, Maiden’s own Legacy of the Beast mobile game and more has been created anew, now resembling the centuries-old elite and decorated warriors who served to protect Japan from the 12th century through 1876.

Fans have quickly begun to react to Eddie as seen on the cover of Iron Maiden’s 17th full length (out Sept. 3) and successor to 2015’s The Book of Souls, celebrating the latest addition to the metal legends’ visual legacy.

See those reactions, and the new album cover, below. View over 40 years of Eddie artwork even further down the page.

Iron Maiden, Senjutsu Artwork

Iron Maiden Fans React to Samurai Eddie on New Album Cover