 Welcome to the Metal Voice. Hey Allen. The Mandrake Project. This is the seventh studio album by Iron Maiden's vocalist Bruce Dickinson. It will be released on March the 1st. It has been 18 years since this is last. 18, 19, 18, 19. 18, 19, 19. Oh, we're 2024, you know. You know what? It's been 10 years him and Roy Z have been working on this album. It's insane. It's a concept album. It's a dark story about power and abuse and a struggle for identity set against the backdrop of scientific and occult genius. Also, there's a comic book by Z2 that illustrates this whole idea and this concept of the story. It was created by Bruce Dickinson, scripted by Tony Lee with a stunning illustration by Stas Johnson or Z2 Comics. Release date March 1st. We got teased before Christmas, right? With the afterglow of Ragnarok and now the whole album with, like you said, the whole package. All right. Overall thoughts. Yeah, man. Bruce Dickinson obviously saw him on his first solo tour for a tattooed millionaire. Didn't really get into maybe his other stuff until maybe the chemical wedding and the tyranny of souls. But this one is, you know, after the Ragnarok, I didn't like it as much as you did. Listen to this whole album. You know, I thought it was something really, really different for him. But then going back and listening to like the chemical wedding and tyranny of souls, you can see a lot of similarities. You know, it's been so long, like you said, you got to go back and revisit, but you do see some similarities. It's not like it's unique because I thought it was Bruce. I got the kind of opposite feeling of that. I found that, okay, accident of birth, the chemical wedding and tyranny of souls, those three albums, there's hints of, you know, sounds and vibes on this album. But I wouldn't say there's repeat. No, no, no, no, no. There's no repeat. It's not like, oh, man, that just sounds like, you know, the song off of accident of birth. There's no repeats on this. There's not like he's copying something from the past. Just little hints and little vibes and little feelings and little sounds. Like I said, I listened to the whole album and I said, oh, this is really different. This is something really different for Roy and Bruce. But then listening to tyranny of souls, you know, he gets, oh, well, it's not all that different. It's not, it's not like a complete 90 degrees in an opposite direction, 180. You can think he said there's little hints of some of the prior stuff in this album. So I would say like in production wise, I listened to Bruce's past albums, and I think this is definitely a step up in terms of production, bigger, brighter, bolder, right? I love how, like I listened to it on headphones and I listened to it on stereo and it's, it's, it's well placed. All the instruments are perfectly placed, you know, all the mix, the mix is right. Yeah, or is he not only a producer, guitars and he was on a little bit of bass work on this. So. All right, let's just go through the songs. Our thoughts, quick feelings on the songs, right? Yeah. After glow of Ragnarok. I don't know if it was a video that kind of turned me off, it seemed to be a little over, what's the word, like for over dramatic performance. The song's good, but I don't know, we're just listening to a song without the video, I kind of enjoyed the song a little bit better. But I, you know, I kind of started when they led with this always a concept album and everything, but I think there's a stronger song on the album. I loved it. It sets the tone for the rest of the album. It's sort of, it opens it up. It's like a compact prog rock song. The opening track is brilliant. All right. Many doors to hell, what did you think? I love it. I love it. I mean, you know, it's a really catchy song. It's a very rude of this song. It's like a rock and roll riff, you know. It's really one that I think is one of the stronger ones on the album. Where Aaron Maiden as of lately, you know, longer tracks, more of a rougher production. This is where his solo career, Bruce differs from Aaron Maiden, you know, quick to the point, catchy, melodic, big production, beautiful midsection, you know, floating guitar, lead track, lead solos by Roy Z. I don't know, straightforward upbeat. And it's just to the point. That's what I would agree. All right, yeah. Rain on the Graves. I know this has been very polarizing for a lot of Maiden fans, right? Some people love it. The others not so much. Yeah, you got a new video that came out for that. I think it's kind of got a nice groovy beat. I love to break down with the chorus. It is an eerie video and an eerie song. Again, it's, you know, a great track. I really enjoyed this album and this is another strong track. To me, it was the devil went down to Georgia. Remember that song where? Yeah, Charlie Daniels. Charlie Daniels band and a little bit of deep purple, you know, dramatic keyboard moments. So I think the real fans of Bruce Dickinson's solo years, they'll appreciate this song. Whereas the Maiden fanatics of the golden era of Maiden, I want Rothschild again 30 times. They not so much, right? They might not get it. So but I love it. I think it's another great song. Yeah, something really different. That's what Bruce does on his solo work, right? He's not, he's not afraid to go out there and try new things. That's for sure. And then this is an example. I mean, I can't see Maiden doing this song at all. Yeah. Right. That's, I guess, that was my point, right? Yeah. He even got a deep purple vibe, even a deep purple vibe, which Bruce loves, right? So that's really cool. No, I like this. I like this a lot. Resurrection man. Resurrection. Yeah, it's got a little bit of a, you know, western feel to the intro. It's the slow middle eight. It's got a really like a black Sabbath feel to it, you know, six minutes. I think it could have been a little tighter, but six minutes, 24 seconds of the track. It's not my favorite on the album, but it does have a few, like I said, that breakdown in the middle with the black Sabbath feel to kind of a more of a new me. Yeah. Yeah. It's not one of my strongest tracks on the album, but it's a good listeners. For me, again, I'm going to keep saying this, Alan. This, Alan, this is brilliant. Flamenco guitar, like you mentioned, a little Latin beat going on, and that's probably from Roy Z's heritage, right? Bruce soaring into this big vocal, and then you got, is that Geyser Butler there? Is that Tony Iomi in the midsection, right? Playing those Doom chords. And then it goes back to sort of this atmospheric sequence. And then the Flamenco guitar comes back in. I don't know, man, I'm a huge Prague fan. And to me, this is it's a compact Prague song. They're not going off for 20 minutes, like 2112 here. It's all just like a compact little changes, a lot of tempo changes, a lot of just a lot of everything. And just it's all mixed in. To me, it wasn't long enough. I don't know. That was my feeling. I love it. Again, another 10 out of 10 for me, brilliantly executed. Brilliant, brilliantly executed. Brilliantly executed. All right. Fingers in the wounds. I like this track a lot. He's got a lot of more orchestral feel to it. There's even a bit of a sound. This is an Arabian sounding break. So something, again, this is what I, you know, 339, three minutes, 39 seconds. I think this is kind of what Bruce does best, because really a hymnoroi kind of really changing it up and not afraid to do something new or some new sounds incorporated that, which is something, you know, made and has always been strong on. Yeah, I think you nailed it. The symphonic, the orchestration piece, maybe on the chorus in the beginning, and it's got a man of sorrows, a vibe, but it's bigger than that because of the symphonic sounds. And I liked that little Arabic groove there that's happening, you know, in the middle, which makes it another twist, another little twist. That's really cool. So I agree with you. It's a great track. And here we go. Now we're doing a cover song of a cover song of a cover song. Eternity has failed instead of if eternity, if eternity should fail. So notice the slight little change in the wording there. Yeah, yeah, with the intro, you know, Bruce is releasing his inner Jethro Tal. And, you know, I face song is a great song. Here's another example of that. I didn't really go back and compare the two to see all the different changes besides the intro. But it's just a great song. I enjoyed it when it was Lisa Maiden. I enjoyed it equally on this album. So what I did, Alan, is exactly what you just said. I went back and I compared each song. And again, I didn't get all the lyrics. I'm not sure the lyrics are identical, but instead of saying eternity has failed, he says on the chorus, if eternity should fail. Actually, Book of Souls was if he should fail. This one was eternity has failed. And the difference is there's in the midsection, there's a guitar solo. Now that's replaced by a keyboard solo, a very yes, mini-mogue like keyboard solo. But the production is a lot beefier than the Maiden sort of caveman sound, we'll call it off a Book of Souls. I find it's more balanced. The little keyboard sort of lurking in the background makes the song a little more full and more balanced, if you ask me, than to the original. I do like the original as well, but this one's, I enjoy it more. So a cover. You didn't enjoy it more. Okay. I don't know, I kind of like the Maiden version a little better. Mistress of Mercy. Yeah, I mean, it's got a little bit of a psychedelic sound to it, especially at the end. You know, it reminds me of Samson, Bruce's band Samson. You know, it's more of a straightforward, catchy, anthemic. This could easily have been a Samson song. And really, there's another twist and turn here. If you listen really carefully, there's a jazz fusion, chaotic guitar sound. And at the end, there's some sort of chaotic, jazzy playing with the drums, which I haven't heard on any of Bruce's past solo albums. And that definitely is an injection of Roy Z and all his little influences that he puts into songs, always twists and turns out, always twists and turns. The Chemical Wedding, maybe a hint of the tower if people know that song from the Chemical Wedding. There's a little bit of that there. Face in the mirror. Now we're going slow. We're slowing down a little bit. I really enjoyed this. I think the last songs on the album are even stronger one can argue than the first songs on the album. Go ahead, keep going. I'm going to give it a go. I mean, I really like this acoustic and now you've got an acoustic guitar, more of an acoustic sounding track and the lyrics are great. The singing is great on it. I really enjoyed Face in the Mirror. I think I enjoyed the song. Every part of the song except the chorus I found because he sings Face in the Mirror, it's just sort of like a boring melody, maybe. If there's any track that I didn't like so much is this song, but The Saving Grace is the acoustic guitar that you mentioned. It reminds me a bit of Taking the Queen from Accident of Birth, a little bit of that. It's an okay track, Man of Sorrow-ish type of song, but I find that the chorus is a little bit of a letdown. It's a little too predictable in melody-wise and lyric-wise, but it's not a horrible song. It's just a little predictable. Shadow of the Gods. Yeah. I mean, this one, you wanted to talk about Prague, like you said earlier. I mean, this is a perfect example of that, right? I mean, it starts off kind of moody, right? And then kind of slower, and then gets more of a groovy feel to it. And then by the end, you're just thrashing along. It's like a thrash song. I don't know. It'll cut me into seven minutes. It is one of the longer tracks on the album. And yeah, there's so much going on there. You have to listen to it three or four times. I really appreciate everything that's going on in that song. So I really enjoyed that track. Yeah, me too. It starts off with a nice little piano piece, like Empire of the Clouds, off a Book of Souls. And then Bruce is like crooning, singing dramatically. And then it's what you said. It goes back into this little black Sabbath hypnotic riff, and Bruce is like barking out the lyrics. And it does clock at 7.02. And I think the people who want the trooper are not going to be happy with this song. Again, it's a mini Prague sound. This is what I wrote to describe it. Emotional, atmospheric, bombastic. Yeah, I got moody, groovy, and then thrashing. Yeah. So close. On the same page. All right. The last track, Sonata Immortal, you love it. I love the guitar tone on this song. Yeah. If we ever get around to interviewing Roy Zee, I mean, that's one of the questions I would have had for me. But what he did on different, on this song compared to others, song of the album, guitar wise. It's the longest track on the album to close it out. Does it set up something for another concept album 10 years from now? But yeah, it's a great way to finish the album. And I think it's another strong track. I mean, they're all like he said, they're all very strong albums. I'll give you my take on this. Eerie, elegant, completely out of the box, the goose bump, bump stuff. I don't know, I thought this was a good, this clocks at nine minutes and 51 seconds. And then he's screaming, save me now. He's just saved me now. He's just, he's drowning, right? That type of vocal, dramatic, whining in a like this minor key. And it does start off with a little bit of a techno beat, if you remember that. But man, this song really opens up and it's eerie. It's dramatic and it's elegant. And it's just, I don't know, just another favorite track of mine. I took all these songs. The only one that's kind of weak for me would be Face in the Mirror. But you know, Alan, I'm calling it right here. I'm calling it right here. Album of the Year, for me. Oh, wow. These are big words. These are big words. Yeah. I mean, you know, choosing a lead single, I think even Bruce said he had problems doing this. There's so many strong tracks on that. You know, Rain on the Graves is a great follow-up. But I mean, you know, many doors to hell could have been a strong lead off single as well. So there's obviously a concept here that, you know, a common book and a whole story that goes along with this. So the sequence is important. But yeah, yeah, you know, like I said, giving it a listen, listen to the whole thing, I thought it was really something different, something that we've probably all been waiting for all this time. And everybody's, this is probably one of the most anxiously awaited albums of this year, 2014. So, yeah, I'm anxious to see what the reaction is overall. I think it's, like you said, this is already your choice for the early in 2014 for album of the year. And that's what I usually do. See what how everybody else compares to this album. That's the case, right? Now you guys are the best part for everybody else throughout the years. You know, Alan, you know, it's amazing. This album reminds me of Operation Mind Crime in the sense that you could listen to every song by itself and it's not really connected as one concept, right? Sorry, one song, I mean, like you could listen to every song individually. And it feels like they're all by themselves, the songs, you don't have to listen to them in a sequence as one piece, like 2012 would be a song where you have to listen to it in one piece, listening to bits and pieces of it just doesn't make sense. But this album works on multiple levels, it works on the level of listen to it as one piece, as one concept, one story, or you can listen to it as you like this song or that song individually. And it worked out well. What do you think the vocals for me? I mean, Bruce, unbelievable. Stunning. You know, and with Kevin Shirley, you and I discussed this on past reviews of The Maiden Owl was like, when everybody playing live in the studio, he's always like, I'm screaming to just be heard. And he's on a higher range. And you know, sometimes it's not a pleasant listen. But for this, I mean, this is Bruce and his element. And this is really in his comfort zone. And I think his vocals are so the strongest we've heard in a long time personally. You know what, everything you said, absolutely true, man. Three guitars, he's yelling over the guitars. Drums. He fades. It sounds like sometimes he's just yelling over the guitars. Here, you nailed it, man. He's in the sweet spot. He's exactly where he needs to be vocally. And he could express himself, you know, with his range, with his, with his emotions, and he could really bring out the lyrics and people can hear them. And I don't know. It's just, Alan, I said it. This is the album of the year. I don't know. Maybe there's something else that might be impressed. Like I said, everybody's gonna have to match up this all year long for you. Right? This is what you'd be comparing it to anything else is released after this. You're gonna say, ah, not as good or hey, I know it's a long participant. I mean, even when we saw him do his live an evening with Bruce Dickinson, he said, I got an album coming out. Everybody was like, at first in shock. What are you talking about? And then the eruptions of applause because everybody's 2005 was a long time ago. Yeah. Well, any final thoughts? I highly recommend the album. It was a pleasant listen. I'm sure it's gonna go very well. They'll probably chart well. Bruce and his element, Bruce and Roy doing what they do best took decades in the making. But they came up with something really of quality. And I think I've actually seen the comic book see how that plays out. So there's any more videos being planned? I'm going to say this for the fans who love Bruce's solo work, they're going to love this album. They're going to think it's his best album because they could appreciate because they could appreciate because they could appreciate the diversity in sort of the songs, right? But the guys, those hardcore, hardcore, hardcore, made in fans who just want another ace as high, they might be disappointed. And the metalheads who enjoy diversity will love this album as well. So yeah, it's got a bit of everything. You're right. Now that you mentioned it, you know, yeah. And the sequencing, I think the sequencing has done really well and the musicianship, I mean, it's just a really great listen. Again, like I said, my first impression after seeing a listen after a little Ragnarok, you know, I'm glad to see that the album was even stronger than just the leads off single. And actually, this is my last note when people put it on for the first time. It's a lot of music to absorb, like a lot. There's a lot of things going on. You need to have multiple listens to truly suck up everything that's going on. And once you do, you'll see that brilliant, brilliant album. Brilliant album. An early favorite for Jimmy K at the Metal Voice for album of the year. Candidate. Leave your comments. Tell us what you think so far.