Bruce Dickinson

What I'm trying to figure out is why Bruce sounds so much better on this new track (and entire album most likely) than he does on Maiden's latest work. I love Senjutsu and think he sounds phenomenal, but on Ragnarok, his singing doesn't sound like it's aged at all since Tyranny of Souls. Production tricks? Enthusiasm? The benefit of a singer writing songs for his voice? I had my son listen to the song and he said "Holy Shit, Amazing Father of Mine! By gum, Bruce sounds amazing, and much younger than on the recent Maiden albums! You can quote me on this!"
 
chaosapiant said:
What I'm trying to figure out is why Bruce sounds so much better on this new track (and entire album most likely) than he does on Maiden's latest work. I love Senjutsu and think he sounds phenomenal, but on Ragnarok, his singing doesn't sound like it's aged at all since Tyranny of Souls. Production tricks? Enthusiasm? The benefit of a singer writing songs for his voice? I had my son listen to the song and he said "Holy Shit, Amazing Father of Mine! By gum, Bruce sounds amazing, and much younger than on the recent Maiden albums! You can quote me on this!"
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I beg to differ. He definitely sounds way different than he did on Tyranny of Souls and age has definitely taken its toll on his voice. That being said, he does not sing the word salads prepared by Steve, so that definitely helps him sound more comfortable than on Maiden’s recent songs.
 
chaosapiant said:
What I'm trying to figure out is why Bruce sounds so much better on this new track (and entire album most likely) than he does on Maiden's latest work. I love Senjutsu and think he sounds phenomenal, but on Ragnarok, his singing doesn't sound like it's aged at all since Tyranny of Souls. Production tricks? Enthusiasm? The benefit of a singer writing songs for his voice? I had my son listen to the song and he said "Holy Shit, Amazing Father of Mine! By gum, Bruce sounds amazing, and much younger than on the recent Maiden albums! You can quote me on this!"
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I could imagine Steve preferring the first take, rather than cutting numerous takes, all in the name of "capturing the live feel". So he just goes "yeah that's good enough", and then that performance ends up on the album warts and all.
 
GhostofCain said:
I beg to differ. He definitely sounds way different than he did on Tyranny of Souls and age has definitely taken its toll on his voice. That being said, he does not sing the word salads prepared by Steve, so that definitely helps him sound more comfortable than on Maiden’s recent songs.
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+ I really think it mainly just comes down to the lower key. Imo Bruce’s best performance on Senjutsu was Writing on the Wall, a song he wrote the vocal parts for and in a lower key as well.

To put it in perspective, Afterglow is still in a much lower key than TWOTW.
 
Ascendingthethrone said:
The saga of annoying my wife continues. I have now changed the background on her phone from a picture of our beautiful two year old to a picture of ‘Terminator Bruce’.

To be fair, I do this regularly when there is a big Maiden related release. Before TWOTW came out, I kept putting the Belshazzar’s feast posters up everywhere and I kept asking her if she had an invite.
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You still have many lessons to learn, young Padawan. I once took my wife to a lecture Bruce was giving at Heathrow Airport about his career in aviation on a very cold winter day. We walked in the snowy weather to listen to Bruce tell some tall stories about flying…




















and 10 years later she is still my wife!
 
Trevoire said:
I'm definitely getting the vibe that Bruce thinks his whole story/movie/comic is much better than it actually is but frankly I'm cool with whatever he enjoys stretching his creative legs with.
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Well said, I agree.

Concept aside, the quality of the video is super low and I think there must have been a way to do it more tastefully even on this budget. But I'm happy if he's getting a kick out of realising his vision. On a positive note, I have to say I liked seeing Bruce in the clip! When it cut to him for the first time and he started the first verse I was like: hell yeah, there he is.

The song is fantastic, I already love it and it gets better the more I listen to it. It's a true Bruce Dickinson track, no doubt about it. The main riff and the verse vocal line sound badass (probably my favourite part of the song). The chorus makes me quite nostalgic, because it's such a classic Bruce melody. I've seen some people not digging the bridge, but I think it's great. The transition works well musically and the change of mood makes the song richer and helps the melodic chorus stand out. Overall, Bruce's performance is perfect. He delivers in the higher parts, but I like him particularly in this comfortable lower register. The production could be better, it's quite muddy, I think.
 
Just woke up from my sleep and hearing Afterglow again. Yes I think this song has grown on me. I wake up and it’s in my mind. The dark section before the chorus is actually pretty good. Takes sometime to understand the transition. Cannot wait for the album!!
 
THESEVENTHMARINER said:
I could imagine Steve preferring the first take, rather than cutting numerous takes, all in the name of "capturing the live feel". So he just goes "yeah that's good enough", and then that performance ends up on the album warts and all.
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I reckon that there isn't much money in selling albums, hasn't been since people started downloading music for free. The money is with concerts and merch and selling brand on items like beer, monopoly etc. So why bother producing albums every two years, why bother spending much to get a great sounding album? For a hugely popular and established band like Iron Maiden, all they need is to get an album out every now and then and keep people coming to concerts. Rod Smallwood has the business plan and it doesn't require frequent albums or high production albums. This is a business, it isn't charity.
 
redandtheblack92 said:
Just woke up from my sleep and hearing Afterglow again. Yes I think this song has grown on me. I wake up and it’s in my mind. The dark section before the chorus is actually pretty good. Takes sometime to understand the transition. Cannot wait for the album!!
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I still don't hear a smooth transition. All the sections feel a bit patched together. I wish he wouldn't do these ultra high notes when he sounds so amazing in lower register. Was listening road to hell just to remind myself why I loved about the past solo albums
 
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