Bruce Dickinson

CA Bryers said:
ALL solo albums are going Dolby Atmos, and some are getting "reimagined," like BtP getting heavier
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The ''reimagined'' bit is curious. Does that mean they could change or add different ideas to some songs on some albums? That would be a big surprise and quite unexpected. For BTP they had some recorded stuff from back then. It's great that he and Roy have so many demos and ideas from all years. For me it's cool when a song from one album sessions is used for another album, nothing is wasted and is a throwback moment in time. I certainly hope so for the song called Nightmares. And it seems they have a good amount of leftovers from the new album sessions.
 
Chemical Wedding 9.5/10
Accident of Birth 7/10
Tyranny of Souls 7/10
Skunkworks 6.5/10

The Mandrake Project

- Afterglow Of Ragnarok 3/10 - The riff is pretty generic IMO. Weak melodies and verses where Bruce is out of tune. Chorus is ragged. Bruce is like a karaoke version of himself on that one. Take a single vocal track and remove echoes and reverbs and that's what will be left.
- Many Doors To Hell 6/10 - It'd be a banger for me if not for vocals. I don't like Bruce's sound in highs. It's not the range it's more like current weird signing technique. It's as if he had something in his mouth, trying to sing.
- Rain On The Gravers 4/10 - I like the riff. Nothing unexpected but does not torment my as much as Ragnaroks... Overall I don't like the melodies and lyrics but I like couple of instrumental licks here and there. Chorus could be so much better.
- Resurrection Men 6/10 - I actually like the instrumental part for most of the song. I really like the melodies and the mood of the verse but... Bruce sounds terrible.... Chorus again is half-baked. Everything seems so unpolished on this album. I really dig "I rise from slumber You call my name" part but the instrumental between those sections is a big mess.
- Fingers In The Wounds 6/10 - I like the instrumentals and it's actually the first song on the album that I enjoy Bruce's vocal. Melodies are pretty neat
- Eternity Has Failed - 5/10 - I like instrumentals more than Maiden version. I don't like the voice in that one and actually I prefered his voice on the demo the most. What I don't like is that for most of the vocals are taken from IM version... It's pretty lame from Bruce to do that. You can hear how differently he sings the verse "When the world was virgin [...]" from the second "There are strange believers in all of us. Chorus sounds even worse than Maiden version where I already did not like the singing. I don't like the changes in lyrics. It as if Bruce spent 5 minutes on those. I love what Misteria is doing in this song.
- Mistress Of Mercy 5.5/10 - I really like how it starts. I like those verses, there's this wail from Bruce but I don't mind it here that much. Unf The bridge part is weak. Chorus is a little on the generic side... I do enjoy the experimental part of this song though...
- Face In The Mirror - 6/10 - I believe Bruce recorded his voice a couple of years ago for this one. Like 15? I do really enjoy verses and his voice here. Also I generally enjoy his voice in the chorus but when it comes to melody and idea behind it, well, it could be better. The are some harmonies and howls in the last chorus that were recorded lately, by the new old Bruce and those sounds horrible.
- Shadow Of The Gods - 7/10 I love the intro, love the voice, sounds like a younger Bruce. I love the chorus but it's out of tune in some parts. The problem is when the song gets heavy. The riff is generic, vocal melodies are weak. This could be a classic for me but it's not. I'm listening to this song again and again but only the first 4 minutes.
- Sonata - 7/10 - I love the mood of the song. Younger Bruce again. Melody is ok though a little selfripoff (Cyclops or something from BTP) but it's not rehearsed at all so the singing is a little hesitant. It's like a demo where Bruce sings this song for the first time ever... And he is out of tune in a couple of moments. Middle part reminds somehow of Tenacious D Tribute or something and I don't like that. He could have skipped that spoken part. I really like how it ends. Reminds me of Queen.

Overall I'm disappointed. Uneven, unfinieshed and sang badly :/ I'd say it may be his worst album.

5/10
 
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After a full weekend of listening, I like this more than I did after the first run through but I'm still struggling to give it anything higher than a 6 or 6.5 or so.

I just can't believe how painful some of the vocals on this are. Many Doors To Hell's chorus just grates on me to no end.

Highlight to me is definitely Shadow of the Gods, that tune rules.
 
CA Bryers said:

Interesting bits about Roy not being on the tour (he had a lot going on at home and in the studio) and also the remixes (ALL solo albums are going Dolby Atmos, and some are getting "reimagined," like BtP getting heavier--oh, and he's rethinking adding Skunkworks songs to the set).
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Maiden Dolby Atmos when?
 
Even though I'm not completely sold on The Mandrake Project, the one thing I do like about it is how none of the songs (except for Eternity for obvious reasons) sound anything like something Maiden would do. I'm glad this is truly a solo project in that sense, warts and all.

Keeping it positive here, I also really like the addition of keyboards. That is a huge sonic difference here compared to Bruce's previous material.
 
Donner said:
Even though I'm not completely sold on The Mandrake Project, the one thing I do like about it is how none of the songs (except for Eternity for obvious reasons) sound anything like something Maiden would do. I'm glad this is truly a solo project in that sense, warts and all.

Keeping it positive here, I also really like the addition of keyboards. That is a huge sonic difference here compared to Bruce's previous material.
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I agree with this, especially the keyboards.

I will also add that, despite my dislike of certain songs and parts, I find each track to be pretty unique. The album certainly doesn't bleed together (in the way that Skunkworks and TOS do).
 
Listening to this for the second time and wow that transition in Resurrection Men is exactly as awful as I remembered. Maiden has lately been having a fair amount of those bizarre two completely different songs glued together feeling moments, but this is bordering on parody.

Also the guitars sound like farts and the sample drums have literally no power in them. Why is the snare in particular so low?
 
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