Afterglow of Ragnarok - A chilling, earthy reïntroduction of Roy Z's downtuned, guttural guitars as memories of the past flash before our eyes - then the axeman kicks into a groove as Bruce Dickinson reëmerges from his immortal slumber as the solo machine starts rolling again. Yes, he's a little older and a little rougher around the edges, but make no mistake: the spark is still there. "Afterglow" has an incredible chorus that immediately brings us right back to the same magical place from which the singer once carved a name for himself outside of the Maiden camp. Sure, it's no
Chemical Wedding, but it still sounds like the man is having fun coming up with new ideas and belting them out for all the world to hear. Some of the high notes sound more strained, particularly in the pre-chorus, but overall this is a killer reëntry into Bruce's solo career.
Many Doors to Hell - The party continues with one of Roy's coolest fucking riffs. There are a lot of awesome riffs in Bruce's solo work, but I just cannot get this one out of my head. The rest of the song is just fun, fun, fun. Bruce says it's about a vampire but there are plenty of lines in here that could tie into his Lazarus/Necropolis plotline. Rhyming "leave us" with "grievous" is one of the cheesiest things he's ever done. I dig it!
Rain on the Graves - Ever since this single dropped my feelings on it have continued to fluctuate. I think those almost spoken verses are pretty cool, the chorus is fun if repetitive, the double-tracked solo is pretty sweet, good groove throughout as well. But I also think this is one of the album's least interesting tracks overall. When it came out I almost thought it was more interesting than "Afterglow", but perhaps that had more to do with a much better music video. Overall it's good, but the album had better material waiting for us.
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Resurrection Men - Really interesting track with all those spaghetti western motifs. Love Bruce's use of the bongos for extra texture. The verse is a bit odd but it doesn't really phase me. Love the chorus! The change-up into the stomping, Sabbathy groove is odd even though I enjoy the section itself. "Some sayyyy we rob graves - in truth, we DIG." Bars fr. I don't think the song quite returns to the same heights it had previously, though. The vast majority of it is strong, but the structure holds it back a bit.
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Fingers in the Wounds - A good song. The hook is pretty cool although it's repeated a bit much for the short runtime. Love the inventive instrumental. I just think this one doesn't quite go far enough for me to be fully satisfied.
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Eternity Has Failed - Let's start with the negatives: "If Eternity Should Fail" felt more complete despite Bruce having 10-some years to perfect this one. I really like the second verse section of the original. Beyond that, though, this is a really cool reïnvention of a song that's become one of latter day Maiden's most popular. The slower pace lets it rumble more, the flute intro is a nice touch, but including a guitar solo in the instrumental really transforms this one. Some tasty playing from Roy here. Good shit.
Mistress of Mercy - A dark, brooding intro giving way to a fiery riff and verse. This track is super underrated. That chorus is probably the best one on the album. Love the shifts in pace throughout. Lyrically this is an ode to music, although I can see some parallels with the album's main concept. The chorus lyrics are terrific, by the way: "
Far from the old ways - Sleepers all awake. Lost in the harmony... the majesty... the ecstasy." Fucking brilliant. One of those lines I wish I'd written myself.
Face in the Mirror - A pretty cool acoustic/piano ballad with a simple but effective chorus. One of the less-good songs on the album but I've really come to enjoy it with time.
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Shadow of the Gods - Best song on the album, I think. Not perfect, but really strong throughout. I love how it starts quietly, grows in bombast, changes gears completely and turns into a raging metal number, before wrapping up in rapturous fashion. Some more great lyrics from Bruce even though I really don't know what the hell he's singing about. But a moment like, "One drop creates the light... one drop - will fill the night!" Awesome. This song is the sleeper hit, I feel. Don't pass this one over.
Sonata (Immortal Beloved) - Definitely the record's most controversial track, but I think it's super interesting and overall a really good song. Yeah, you can tell that the majority of it is Bruce just making shit up as he goes along. It has a lot of cohesion though. Compare this to the snoozefest that was "Midnight Jam", it's kind of insane that both tracks were born from similar circumstances. The chorus is an absolute belter. The biggest thing for me though is all the textural stuff that Roy is throwing in. Some really tasty guitarwork especially at the end, proving he's still got it. I dunno, I think this one gets more hate than it deserves. It's a unique track and holds together quite well.
Overall,
The Mandrake Project is a really strong return to Bruce's solo career and while it has its issues (I'm still not the biggest fan of the production), Bruce himself seems energized by it and Roy has a lot of good moments throughout. Not perfect, but a nice return and I hope to see more from the man/men in future.
And here are my final rankings of each of the albums now that we've gone through them all:
- The Chemical Wedding (1998) - My favorite album from any artist. A rich tapestry of renaissance metal that more than proved that Bruce had a voice outside Maiden.
- Accident of Birth (1997) - A top 10 album for me. Every song is just brilliant, the perfect thing to revitalize Bruce's career.
- Tyranny of Souls (2005) - Can't really touch the two albums that came before it, but despite being a bit of a throwaway release between Maiden albums, the songs are all awesome and Bruce sounds great.
- Skunkworks (1996) - Bruce tries his hand at alt rock and the result is really strong. Don't let people tell you otherwise. The best stuff on here rivals anything he's ever done.
- The Mandrake Project (2024) - Doesn't reach the same heights as my top 4, but is a pretty consistent record that never reaches the lows of my bottom 2. The best material makes you remember why you fell in love with Bruce Dickinson, the solo act, to begin with.
- Balls to Picasso (1994) - A more serious stab at making music than Tattooed Millionaire and it's got some killer tracks, but not all of it comes together and there are a few missteps along the way. Very cool history though and a good chunk of the bonus tracks are worth your time.
- Tattooed Millionaire (1990) - A silly throwaway release that's really fun but also really dumb. I enjoy spinning it from time to time, but the difference between this and where he would end up going later is just night and day.
Had a lot of fun going through this as part of the game and I hope you guys have too! Definitely looking forward to the finale, I genuinely have no idea how the Top 10 is gonna turn out. This game has surprised me more than once.
