“Stratego” by Iron Maiden

Generally speaking, there is no genre of song that tends to be more difficult to decipher than heavy metal. Heavy metalists are such that they tend to rely significantly on imagery, of the lyrical variety in particular as far as their songs are concerned. 

And such is the case with Stratego. Indeed even before getting through the first verse, we are met with a higher number of complex metaphors than is usually found in an entire standard pop song.

But as we have argued in the past, understanding these tracks is more based on feel than wording because no one, besides maybe die-hard Iron Maiden fans and the such, is likely to really understand all that’s being said anyway. 

And what it all boils down to, under our estimation, is the vocalist being in some type of extremely burdened state. That’s not to say that such stresses are job-related or anything like that. Rather, it can be said that he is a product of the times, an individual who is not only laden by concerns for society at large but also himself being lost in the grand scheme of things. 

So even though this song doesn’t directly speak of concepts like, say the apocalypse, it is clear that the narrator has been influenced by such an understanding of the trajectory of society nonetheless. 

And with him being fully submerged in this less-than-ideal world, he is also finding it challenging not being personally consumed by the negativity.

Song’s Title (“Stratego”)

Meanwhile, the title of this song does not appear to be an officially-recognized word in modern English. Rather as most commonly used, “Stratego” is actually the name of a board game. 

But the term is derived from ancient Greece and as implied points to the concept of military strategy. 

So all lyrics considered, how the title would fit into this narrative, besides obviously being inspired by the name of the album overall, is as being symbolic of the narrator trying to put together some type of tactic to overcome this mental anguish that he’s going through.

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden is a heavy metal band you’ve likely heard of before. And why? This is because they’ve been around now for nearly five decades. And the crew has featured the same six-man lineup since the 20^th century. 

This includes founder Steve Harris, who serves primarily as bassist as far as performing is concerned. 

Then there are also the following guitarists:

• Janick Gers
• Dave Murray
• Adrian Smith

And to complete the lineup, we have the following:

• Nicko McBrain (the band’s drummer)
• Bruce Dickinson (frontman of the band) 

And Iron Maiden have reportedly sold hundreds of millions of records worldwide, “despite little radio or television support”.

“Stratego”

This track is from Iron Maiden’s 2021 project Senjutsu. The project in question happens to be their 17^th studio album overall. It is also the first they’ve come out with since 2015’s hit “The Book of Souls”. 

The song was written by aforementioned bandmates Harris and Gers, and it was recorded in 2019, a couple of years before its release. 

Steve Harris, who is 65 years old as of the release of this track, also produced it. He did so alongside one of the band’s regular collaborators, Kevin Shirley.

Parlophone Records issued this track as the second single from Senjutsu on 19 August 2021. The undertaking’s lead single, “The Writing on the Wall“, was made public about a month prior.