Wickerman1204
Educated Fool
I remember him saying that Finger in the Wounds and 'Afterglow of Ragnarok' were written in 2023. But yeah, nothing more.
Last edited:
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
I think so too and really hope for that.
I don't think he wanted to sound like this or that band. It just happens, you know. Some of the older bands have a trademark sound.
So new single next week for sure.
That's great to hear, but I prefer to make my own judgement. I have no doubt that the album will be great and strong.
Well Ragnarok is not that exciting only because of its slow chorus and really short solo (it should have been longer; and I don't think the song needs a melodic interlude anymore), but imo the song is much stronger and interesting than some songs in his last 3 albums.
A very good start and more importantly - a memorable song. And you know, some masterpiece albums have some ''weaker songs'' (compared to the other songs) on them, not that Ragnarok is such song.
This.
Face In The Mirror will be a ballad (acoustics and naive solo played by Bruce). Bruce even said that one of the promoters told him why he didn't choose it as a single. Believil is straight out of TCW.
The only songs without advance info are: Fingers In The Wounds and Mistress Of Mercy. I think Wounds will be like Road To Hell and Mistress could/should be a faster song too (given the last 3 songs).
Edit: I really hope Wounds will be one of the highlights because of its length. Something like Power Of The Sun was for TOS. But sadly no info so far. Mistress is another curious song/title. I don't think it will be a slow/mid-tempo song. 4 in a row, no, no.
Last edited:
redandtheblack92
Came to witness the death of the Celts
I think it was Afterglow & Many doors to hell that were written in 2023
Wickerman1204
Educated Fool
You may be right.
Bruce, to clear up the chronology:
When did you write, record and produce the album?
I got back together with Roy in 2014 to seriously work on it. We looked at what songs we had lying around for ages and worked on some raw demos. The problem is that our demos always end up on an album; we never lose anything completely, something always survives.
Among other things, we had the tracks “Resurrection Men” and “Rain On The Graves”; it was only later that I rediscovered “Sonata” - that's over twenty years old! I had completely forgotten that we had recorded it one night just for fun.
Eternity Has Failed' is in the Iron Maiden version 'If Eternity Should Fail' ("THE BOOK OF SOULS", 2015
- editor's note) out for almost ten years now and was, so to speak, the first impression of "THE MANDRAKE PROJECT". The track is central for the album! How was its evolution from your solo plans to Iron Maiden and back?
“If Eternity Should Fail” was originally supposed to be the title track of the album. It comes from a Marvel comic, from a 'Doctor Strange' episode of the same name. I had already thought about making a comic - just a single one, to have a cool extra to the album, after I had already proposed the Iron Maiden comic covers for "THE FINAL FRONTIER" and loved it.
So I thought, if there's a comic, it needs a story - but what should it be? I wrote a very simple outline of the story, which was based on the title song from “ACCIDENT OF BIRTH”: It's about a guy whose stillborn brother is in the underworld, in limbo.
He himself, on the other hand lives and torments himself with the question of why he has survived, why God has done this to him, and that he wants to see his brother again. Thinking further: What if there was an invention that could bring his brother back? So I developed two characters, Dr. Necropolis and Professor Lazarus, who both have different ideas about what could be done with such an invention - one is the good guy, and the other wants to gain a lot of money and power with it. So much for the original idea for the one comic. It's very Marvel-esque: good versus evil. Now I wondered: if it's going to be an album with a story, then there should be something like a narrative voice. I just put it at the end of the demo, to see how it sounds. Steve (Harris, Iron Maiden bass player - editor's note) heard it and said he liked it and asked if we could use it for the Maiden album. I said, why not, I don't know exactly when I'll have time to do the solo album anyway; and either way I can re-record the track.
“Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter'”ended up on a Maiden album, but didn't make it anywhere else (Dickinson originally released the track on the “A Nightmare On Elm Street 5” soundtrack and wanted to include it on his solo debut “TATTOOED MILLIONAIRE” (1990) - editor's note).
But there was no reason not to re-record my song later with a slightly different twist.
Instead of finally working more intensively on your solo material after "THE BOOK OF SOULS" fate put obstacles in your way. How did that affect everything?
Back then, as you know, I got throat cancer, which cost me a year. Then in 2017 things became hectic with Maiden because we had to make up for lost time.
Shortly afterwards, a strange illness paralyzed the world and we weren't allowed to do anything. Except for one thing: I was initially in Paris during the lockdown and was able to catch up on all my Netflix series that I hadn't had time to watch, work on the script and design for "The Writing On The Wall" video. All via Zoom because we couldn't meet physically. While I was binge-watching "Sons Of Anarchy", I remembered the Eddies as "Four Bikers of the Apocalypse".
I admired the writer of the series, Kurt Sutter, who also wrote 'The Shield' and other cool stuff.
Through a mutual friend, also a writer, we eventually had a series of Zoom conversations between the three of us - just out of boredom.
So we would tell each other crazy stories for fun and played with ideas. In the process, I mentioned my idea for the comic about Dr. Necropolis - it had become much more complex and darker. And Kurt went for it. He said it had substance. That really surprised me and motivated me to keep working on it. During one of the next conversations we took turns spinning the plot further -thankfully he gave me his ideas. (laughs)
It developed further to the point where it was it was clear that I was going to make the album - but what was to become of the story? Should I write it down and send it to Netflix? Kurt said they would throw it in the trash, along with the nine million other ideas they get sent every week,
and instead suggested: "Make a comic!"
The original idea for a comic had become more concrete with your coincidental lockdown acquaintance.
How did that develop into the comic series that we are about to see?
Kurt helped me a lot, and all as a friendly service. He showed me how a comic script should be structured, and I started writing it, sketching out characters and developing a background story. I had a lot of material and asked for someone I could talk to about it and develop it further.
He suggested the New York company Z2 - with whom my management Phantom worked on the 40th anniversary edition of "PIECE OF MIND", so I could visit them in New York and present my idea to them. They asked if I had come up with all this on my own.
"We've never seen anything like this from a musician before." I was unsure: "Is that good or bad?" (laughs) "It's very good, but are you
aware that this can't be a single comic? It's a big project that would take three years, about twelve episodes of 34 pages each,
and in the end would take on 'Watchmen'-like traits." I've always wanted to do that, but never had anyone to do it with!
The comic medium was new to you. During the further development, you sought appropriate support.
How did you find the well-known collaborators on your project?
To continue working on the album, I was in Los Angeles, The editor responsible for me at Z2, Rantz Hoseley, who lives there, came by and introduced me to Tony Lee, who was attending a comic convention. He's a British author, Eisner Award winner, and has worked on 'Dracula', '2000 A.D.' and 'Doctor Who'. I told him the story and he said it was pretty dark and he wanted to be involved.
So I had someone to help me finish the script. He then suggested the illustrator: Staz Johnson. His sketches already
thrilled me! For the cover of the comic we had a good man, but he didn't quite fit - then came the suggestion to ask one of the big names
who, however, might not be interested at all: Bill Sienkiewicz is not only on the A-list in the comic world, but as an artist in general! We
zoomed in with him: "Hey, I'm a heavy metal singer. Can I tell you the rough story of my comic and a bit about the background?"
Meanwhile, there was an underlying philosophy; we built it from the summary of the twelve episodes. Everything happens because
characters interact and set the events in motion - and then there's the why. Why do they do, what they do, who are they and what drives them? Behind all of this is a worldview that underpins it and towards which everything is heading. Like in 'Watchmen': In the end you realize that the future is bleak. Does free will have any meaning for any of us, or are we all puppets of circumstances?
That is the philosophy of 'Watchmen', and we follow a similar one; it's not immediately obvious, but the further we progress, the stronger and clearer it becomes.
I presented this to him and Bill said: "Now I'm interested!" Bill is now in for all twelve parts of the comic! I can hardly believe it ... And
we got an incredible quote from him!
I can't reproduce it verbatim, but it basically says: "THE MANDRAKE PROJECT" is the craziest, most surreal monster of a project
project I've ever been involved in. And I worked with Alan Moore." Unbelievable.
It all sounds as if the comic came about very naturally, without any constraints, pressure or business conduct!
(laughs) No, there's no business behind it. It's all creativity! In this sense: The director of the first video ("Afterglow Of Ragnarok" by Ryan Mackfall- editor's note) decided to put the William Blake quote at the beginning. I love that!
Of course, as an avowed William Blake admirer ... The poet even plays a role in the comic!
Blake is a spiritual leader for Necropolis at the beginning - and I'm sure he will reappear later ...! Blake's work raises many questions about the nature of the universe and the purity of the act of creation. That's why the album sounds the way it does: there was no
pressure to make something commercial or uncommercial or whatever.
It was about playing with sounds and ideas. We kept asking ourselves: Have we heard anything like this before?
A lot of the stuff on the album has never been heard like this before! It's like cooking: Whoever was the first to come up
the idea of drizzling chocolate sauce on steak, invented neither steak nor chocolate - but bringing the two together creates something great!
There are a lot of thought structures on the album, that are really interesting; they tickle your brain.
I'll give you anexample: "Resurrection Men".
The track begins with Wild West influences and later opens up to Stoner and Epic Metal...
Exactly! I had this song whose lyrics refer specifically to the comic: The "Resurrection Men" are Dr. Necropolis and Professor
Lazarus. They are the ones who bring you back; the time of death is the only moment in which the human
human soul can be extracted. "At the point of death we'll take you to the end. Eternity has failed you once again. You've done the deal and so the story ends." You want to live forever, then pay and we'll extract your soul. I had the chorus, I had the verses,
and I had a kind of intro. I played it to Roy as a demo.
I played the guitar and wondered what this button could do: Tremolo!? Blupp! Ding! "Oh wow, cool, I like that! I've got an idea. Play the intro again." It sounded like Tarantino was writing an intro for a metal song. So I played this
Dick Dale surf guitar intro with AC/DC chords...
You recorded that yourself?
Yes,I played it myself. I asked Roy to replace it and do a better recording, but he refused. I asked him if he was crazy; I don't play the guitar!
He just said, "You do now!" (laughs)There are a few moments like that on the album where he just let me do things and then kept them.
...
When did you write, record and produce the album?
I got back together with Roy in 2014 to seriously work on it. We looked at what songs we had lying around for ages and worked on some raw demos. The problem is that our demos always end up on an album; we never lose anything completely, something always survives.
Among other things, we had the tracks “Resurrection Men” and “Rain On The Graves”; it was only later that I rediscovered “Sonata” - that's over twenty years old! I had completely forgotten that we had recorded it one night just for fun.
Eternity Has Failed' is in the Iron Maiden version 'If Eternity Should Fail' ("THE BOOK OF SOULS", 2015
- editor's note) out for almost ten years now and was, so to speak, the first impression of "THE MANDRAKE PROJECT". The track is central for the album! How was its evolution from your solo plans to Iron Maiden and back?
“If Eternity Should Fail” was originally supposed to be the title track of the album. It comes from a Marvel comic, from a 'Doctor Strange' episode of the same name. I had already thought about making a comic - just a single one, to have a cool extra to the album, after I had already proposed the Iron Maiden comic covers for "THE FINAL FRONTIER" and loved it.
So I thought, if there's a comic, it needs a story - but what should it be? I wrote a very simple outline of the story, which was based on the title song from “ACCIDENT OF BIRTH”: It's about a guy whose stillborn brother is in the underworld, in limbo.
He himself, on the other hand lives and torments himself with the question of why he has survived, why God has done this to him, and that he wants to see his brother again. Thinking further: What if there was an invention that could bring his brother back? So I developed two characters, Dr. Necropolis and Professor Lazarus, who both have different ideas about what could be done with such an invention - one is the good guy, and the other wants to gain a lot of money and power with it. So much for the original idea for the one comic. It's very Marvel-esque: good versus evil. Now I wondered: if it's going to be an album with a story, then there should be something like a narrative voice. I just put it at the end of the demo, to see how it sounds. Steve (Harris, Iron Maiden bass player - editor's note) heard it and said he liked it and asked if we could use it for the Maiden album. I said, why not, I don't know exactly when I'll have time to do the solo album anyway; and either way I can re-record the track.
“Bring Your Daughter... To The Slaughter'”ended up on a Maiden album, but didn't make it anywhere else (Dickinson originally released the track on the “A Nightmare On Elm Street 5” soundtrack and wanted to include it on his solo debut “TATTOOED MILLIONAIRE” (1990) - editor's note).
But there was no reason not to re-record my song later with a slightly different twist.
Instead of finally working more intensively on your solo material after "THE BOOK OF SOULS" fate put obstacles in your way. How did that affect everything?
Back then, as you know, I got throat cancer, which cost me a year. Then in 2017 things became hectic with Maiden because we had to make up for lost time.
Shortly afterwards, a strange illness paralyzed the world and we weren't allowed to do anything. Except for one thing: I was initially in Paris during the lockdown and was able to catch up on all my Netflix series that I hadn't had time to watch, work on the script and design for "The Writing On The Wall" video. All via Zoom because we couldn't meet physically. While I was binge-watching "Sons Of Anarchy", I remembered the Eddies as "Four Bikers of the Apocalypse".
I admired the writer of the series, Kurt Sutter, who also wrote 'The Shield' and other cool stuff.
Through a mutual friend, also a writer, we eventually had a series of Zoom conversations between the three of us - just out of boredom.
So we would tell each other crazy stories for fun and played with ideas. In the process, I mentioned my idea for the comic about Dr. Necropolis - it had become much more complex and darker. And Kurt went for it. He said it had substance. That really surprised me and motivated me to keep working on it. During one of the next conversations we took turns spinning the plot further -thankfully he gave me his ideas. (laughs)
It developed further to the point where it was it was clear that I was going to make the album - but what was to become of the story? Should I write it down and send it to Netflix? Kurt said they would throw it in the trash, along with the nine million other ideas they get sent every week,
and instead suggested: "Make a comic!"
The original idea for a comic had become more concrete with your coincidental lockdown acquaintance.
How did that develop into the comic series that we are about to see?
Kurt helped me a lot, and all as a friendly service. He showed me how a comic script should be structured, and I started writing it, sketching out characters and developing a background story. I had a lot of material and asked for someone I could talk to about it and develop it further.
He suggested the New York company Z2 - with whom my management Phantom worked on the 40th anniversary edition of "PIECE OF MIND", so I could visit them in New York and present my idea to them. They asked if I had come up with all this on my own.
"We've never seen anything like this from a musician before." I was unsure: "Is that good or bad?" (laughs) "It's very good, but are you
aware that this can't be a single comic? It's a big project that would take three years, about twelve episodes of 34 pages each,
and in the end would take on 'Watchmen'-like traits." I've always wanted to do that, but never had anyone to do it with!
The comic medium was new to you. During the further development, you sought appropriate support.
How did you find the well-known collaborators on your project?
To continue working on the album, I was in Los Angeles, The editor responsible for me at Z2, Rantz Hoseley, who lives there, came by and introduced me to Tony Lee, who was attending a comic convention. He's a British author, Eisner Award winner, and has worked on 'Dracula', '2000 A.D.' and 'Doctor Who'. I told him the story and he said it was pretty dark and he wanted to be involved.
So I had someone to help me finish the script. He then suggested the illustrator: Staz Johnson. His sketches already
thrilled me! For the cover of the comic we had a good man, but he didn't quite fit - then came the suggestion to ask one of the big names
who, however, might not be interested at all: Bill Sienkiewicz is not only on the A-list in the comic world, but as an artist in general! We
zoomed in with him: "Hey, I'm a heavy metal singer. Can I tell you the rough story of my comic and a bit about the background?"
Meanwhile, there was an underlying philosophy; we built it from the summary of the twelve episodes. Everything happens because
characters interact and set the events in motion - and then there's the why. Why do they do, what they do, who are they and what drives them? Behind all of this is a worldview that underpins it and towards which everything is heading. Like in 'Watchmen': In the end you realize that the future is bleak. Does free will have any meaning for any of us, or are we all puppets of circumstances?
That is the philosophy of 'Watchmen', and we follow a similar one; it's not immediately obvious, but the further we progress, the stronger and clearer it becomes.
I presented this to him and Bill said: "Now I'm interested!" Bill is now in for all twelve parts of the comic! I can hardly believe it ... And
we got an incredible quote from him!
I can't reproduce it verbatim, but it basically says: "THE MANDRAKE PROJECT" is the craziest, most surreal monster of a project
project I've ever been involved in. And I worked with Alan Moore." Unbelievable.
It all sounds as if the comic came about very naturally, without any constraints, pressure or business conduct!
(laughs) No, there's no business behind it. It's all creativity! In this sense: The director of the first video ("Afterglow Of Ragnarok" by Ryan Mackfall- editor's note) decided to put the William Blake quote at the beginning. I love that!
Of course, as an avowed William Blake admirer ... The poet even plays a role in the comic!
Blake is a spiritual leader for Necropolis at the beginning - and I'm sure he will reappear later ...! Blake's work raises many questions about the nature of the universe and the purity of the act of creation. That's why the album sounds the way it does: there was no
pressure to make something commercial or uncommercial or whatever.
It was about playing with sounds and ideas. We kept asking ourselves: Have we heard anything like this before?
A lot of the stuff on the album has never been heard like this before! It's like cooking: Whoever was the first to come up
the idea of drizzling chocolate sauce on steak, invented neither steak nor chocolate - but bringing the two together creates something great!
There are a lot of thought structures on the album, that are really interesting; they tickle your brain.
I'll give you anexample: "Resurrection Men".
The track begins with Wild West influences and later opens up to Stoner and Epic Metal...
Exactly! I had this song whose lyrics refer specifically to the comic: The "Resurrection Men" are Dr. Necropolis and Professor
Lazarus. They are the ones who bring you back; the time of death is the only moment in which the human
human soul can be extracted. "At the point of death we'll take you to the end. Eternity has failed you once again. You've done the deal and so the story ends." You want to live forever, then pay and we'll extract your soul. I had the chorus, I had the verses,
and I had a kind of intro. I played it to Roy as a demo.
I played the guitar and wondered what this button could do: Tremolo!? Blupp! Ding! "Oh wow, cool, I like that! I've got an idea. Play the intro again." It sounded like Tarantino was writing an intro for a metal song. So I played this
Dick Dale surf guitar intro with AC/DC chords...
You recorded that yourself?
Yes,I played it myself. I asked Roy to replace it and do a better recording, but he refused. I asked him if he was crazy; I don't play the guitar!
He just said, "You do now!" (laughs)There are a few moments like that on the album where he just let me do things and then kept them.
...
redandtheblack92
Came to witness the death of the Celts
Second teaser out on Bruce’s insta. Can hear a bit of the track in the background. Sounds dark.
Virtually a deathblow for the album.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Thanks for sharing. Is this the whole interview?
So Rain On The Graves is from 2014 too.
It seems Resurrection Men won't be that dark, well at least the intro - I hope it's cool, although the description doesn't sound too promising. Maybe something like IESF intro? Bruce mentioned last year that he played with a ''tribal instrument'' on the album. For this song? It was called a standout song and in a way it's like a title track to the album, so it should be good.
It's really curious that (so far) Roy let Bruce to play a whole intro and a solo on the album. Let's hope it sounds good and Roy delivers with his solos.
I really liked this bit: It was about playing with sounds and ideas. We kept asking ourselves: Have we heard anything like this before?
A lot of the stuff on the album has never been heard like this before! There are a lot of thought structures on the album, that are really interesting; they tickle your brain.
Yeah, maybe it will also be a mid-tempo song, with some faster parts. I think it will have a soaring/high chorus though. I also hope those sounds in the teasers won't be part of the studio song. Maybe part of intro, although I think and prefer the song to not have one and just start with a bang.
Metal Hammer Germany 02/2024
My translation
Interview (part 2):
I had that thought with 'Rain On The Graves', where a lot of things sound very spontaneous and you also seem to apply unusual vocal techniques.
The piece has a very special genesis. I was at a wedding in a very beautiful part of England, the Lake District. Many 18th and 19th century poets lived there, including William Wordsworth.
He is buried in Grasmere,where the wedding took place. So I went on a little pilgrimage, walked around the church and looked for William Wordsworth. And there he was!
It was raining, gray, gloomy, very British, very melancholy. I thought of rain on gravestones - I liked the expression; I didn't know what to do with it, but one day I might be able to use it for lyrics for a song. I stood there for half an eternity. I can't say exactly why ... Was it
the irony of seeing that all that is left of this great poet is a square stone in the ground? And what would he think of it? I pondered these thoughts.
Then Roy and I were sitting opposite each other with guitars in his living room; we hadn't spoken much for half an hour, strummed and waited for something to kick off and get us out of a little creative lull.
I said, "Z, why don't we do something in the style of early Fleetwood Mac, something bluesy,something like 'Green Manalishi' or 'Oh Well', with a simple beat, and 'Crossroads'-style, where a guy meets the devil, something with that kind of vibe."He hits an occult-sounding riff, we played around with it, and then the line "There is rain on the graves" comesto mind again. It developed so quickly, my brain was exploding with ideas and we had to record it immediately so that we could sort it out later. We then came to the middle section, andI realized: It no longer sounds like Fleetwood Mac. (laughs out loud)
But that's the point: you start with something and end up somewhere completely different. Then I wrote the lyrics; the vocals in the chorus are quite high, and I could have sung the verses in a different key but I liked the way my voice sounded ...
...namely deep, rushed, and a bit Spoken Word-like ...
Yes!"In a country churchyard ..." - it sounds a bit like Johnny Cash. I thought that was cool and we left it at that.
Then we sent it to Mistheria (aka Giuseppe Lampieri, who completes the studio band along side drummer Dave Moreno - editor's note) in Rome and asked him to do whatever he wanted with the keyboards. He sent about twenty keyboard tracks back to us, from which we were to choose what we wanted. I listened through them, and before the bridge it literally blew me away: "Holy fuck, turn that up!" In the sixties there was this
artist Screaming Lord Such, this madman who was brought on stage in a coffin to jump out of it screaming.
That keyboard sounded to me like Screaming Lord Such with his insane organ player.
While recording, I asked Roy if we could put an effect on my voice; not all the time, just on occasional words. He doubled the voice and lowered
it down an octave. It now sounds like a voice from hell - that fits perfectly, because we're talking to the devil at a cemetery."I'll be here when you're long gone, I'll see you in that grave." That's how we work; we threw ideas around and saw what fits. As a result we added lots of little details to the pieces,vlike little Easter eggs. That's what makes the songs interesting!
My attention span is very short; I get bored quickly. With a lot of Maiden songs we end up repeating the chorus an awful lot.
"The red and the black, the redand the black, the red and the black." Somehow that seems to work live, but personally I think to myself: Okay, yes, we've already done that. Now, can we please move on to the next idea?
When we were working on 'Eternity Has Failed', I re-recorded the song again, actually went further back tothe way it was on the demo, to a more
Black Sabbath-esque' Heaven And Hell'-vibe. I played the keyboard part at the beginning in Roy's living room; the keyboard sound I had chosen
was "trumpet" because I had Tarantino or Morricone in my head. ButI only played it on a modest keyboard, and it was never my intention that it would end up on an album. I wanted real Mariachi trumpets to get people in a wild west or desert mood right from the start!
Roy then found this Peruvian flutist who brought in this ghostly flute playing; these are not Mariachi trumpets but I didn't mind because it sounds fantastic.
You were talking about things that have never been heard from you before this album. For me, the one that stands out is 'Shadow Of The Gods': a larger than life piece that evolves from an orchestral ballad into prog rock before it gets heavy!
It was written in 2014 and was almost finished at the time, we just had to put real drums on it, and I have recorded a few more vocals for the heavy part. I had already thought about the comic and the idea of putting the human soul in a kind of gel. That's what the lyrics are about: "One drop creates the light" - it is the act of creation of the universe. A very cool song! When we recorded the track, we didn't yet have
5.1 and Atmos mixes - but now we do. There is a stereo mix of the album, which sounds great, but the Atmos mix sounds incredible! On certain
tracks it works better than others. For many heavy metal bands it doesn't make much sense to mix in Atmos because the sound has to be frontal - there is very little that moves in the room. Some of our songs like 'Many Doors To Hell' don't differ much from thes tereo mix.
But 'Shadows Of The Gods' - wow, the Atmos mix is incredible, because there's space and timpani and brass - the orchestra
just flies around. It works wonderfully!
...
My translation
Interview (part 2):
I had that thought with 'Rain On The Graves', where a lot of things sound very spontaneous and you also seem to apply unusual vocal techniques.
The piece has a very special genesis. I was at a wedding in a very beautiful part of England, the Lake District. Many 18th and 19th century poets lived there, including William Wordsworth.
He is buried in Grasmere,where the wedding took place. So I went on a little pilgrimage, walked around the church and looked for William Wordsworth. And there he was!
It was raining, gray, gloomy, very British, very melancholy. I thought of rain on gravestones - I liked the expression; I didn't know what to do with it, but one day I might be able to use it for lyrics for a song. I stood there for half an eternity. I can't say exactly why ... Was it
the irony of seeing that all that is left of this great poet is a square stone in the ground? And what would he think of it? I pondered these thoughts.
Then Roy and I were sitting opposite each other with guitars in his living room; we hadn't spoken much for half an hour, strummed and waited for something to kick off and get us out of a little creative lull.
I said, "Z, why don't we do something in the style of early Fleetwood Mac, something bluesy,something like 'Green Manalishi' or 'Oh Well', with a simple beat, and 'Crossroads'-style, where a guy meets the devil, something with that kind of vibe."He hits an occult-sounding riff, we played around with it, and then the line "There is rain on the graves" comesto mind again. It developed so quickly, my brain was exploding with ideas and we had to record it immediately so that we could sort it out later. We then came to the middle section, andI realized: It no longer sounds like Fleetwood Mac. (laughs out loud)
But that's the point: you start with something and end up somewhere completely different. Then I wrote the lyrics; the vocals in the chorus are quite high, and I could have sung the verses in a different key but I liked the way my voice sounded ...
...namely deep, rushed, and a bit Spoken Word-like ...
Yes!"In a country churchyard ..." - it sounds a bit like Johnny Cash. I thought that was cool and we left it at that.
Then we sent it to Mistheria (aka Giuseppe Lampieri, who completes the studio band along side drummer Dave Moreno - editor's note) in Rome and asked him to do whatever he wanted with the keyboards. He sent about twenty keyboard tracks back to us, from which we were to choose what we wanted. I listened through them, and before the bridge it literally blew me away: "Holy fuck, turn that up!" In the sixties there was this
artist Screaming Lord Such, this madman who was brought on stage in a coffin to jump out of it screaming.
That keyboard sounded to me like Screaming Lord Such with his insane organ player.
While recording, I asked Roy if we could put an effect on my voice; not all the time, just on occasional words. He doubled the voice and lowered
it down an octave. It now sounds like a voice from hell - that fits perfectly, because we're talking to the devil at a cemetery."I'll be here when you're long gone, I'll see you in that grave." That's how we work; we threw ideas around and saw what fits. As a result we added lots of little details to the pieces,vlike little Easter eggs. That's what makes the songs interesting!
My attention span is very short; I get bored quickly. With a lot of Maiden songs we end up repeating the chorus an awful lot.
"The red and the black, the redand the black, the red and the black." Somehow that seems to work live, but personally I think to myself: Okay, yes, we've already done that. Now, can we please move on to the next idea?
When we were working on 'Eternity Has Failed', I re-recorded the song again, actually went further back tothe way it was on the demo, to a more
Black Sabbath-esque' Heaven And Hell'-vibe. I played the keyboard part at the beginning in Roy's living room; the keyboard sound I had chosen
was "trumpet" because I had Tarantino or Morricone in my head. ButI only played it on a modest keyboard, and it was never my intention that it would end up on an album. I wanted real Mariachi trumpets to get people in a wild west or desert mood right from the start!
Roy then found this Peruvian flutist who brought in this ghostly flute playing; these are not Mariachi trumpets but I didn't mind because it sounds fantastic.
You were talking about things that have never been heard from you before this album. For me, the one that stands out is 'Shadow Of The Gods': a larger than life piece that evolves from an orchestral ballad into prog rock before it gets heavy!
It was written in 2014 and was almost finished at the time, we just had to put real drums on it, and I have recorded a few more vocals for the heavy part. I had already thought about the comic and the idea of putting the human soul in a kind of gel. That's what the lyrics are about: "One drop creates the light" - it is the act of creation of the universe. A very cool song! When we recorded the track, we didn't yet have
5.1 and Atmos mixes - but now we do. There is a stereo mix of the album, which sounds great, but the Atmos mix sounds incredible! On certain
tracks it works better than others. For many heavy metal bands it doesn't make much sense to mix in Atmos because the sound has to be frontal - there is very little that moves in the room. Some of our songs like 'Many Doors To Hell' don't differ much from thes tereo mix.
But 'Shadows Of The Gods' - wow, the Atmos mix is incredible, because there's space and timpani and brass - the orchestra
just flies around. It works wonderfully!
...
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
Interesting info. I like the description of Rain On The Graves (it's great that it ended up different from the original idea imo). Voice effects (again; hopefully done well), high chorus (I knew it), prominent keys... sounds really interesting. And - lots of little details sounds great.
Shadow Of The Gods - orchestral ballad, prog rock, heavy part... hmm, curious song. I hope the album won't end with 3 slow songs in a row. It would be interesting to hear some orchestral bits though. Bruce seems to like the song quite a bit.
It seems the album will have quite a few spoken word parts! I'm not usually a big fan of such features, but we'll see.
So that's why Ragnarok has such a short solo
... seriously, odd decision by Roy. Repetition is needed in the long songs (Bruce's solos songs are usually 5-6 minutes long), even only for some part to be memorable, and in his latest written songs, there is heavy repetition of some parts.
redandtheblack92
Came to witness the death of the Celts
I know man. I do hope we get a promo of the actual song tomorrow. That’ll be better. For the actual whole song, God knows when he’ll release it.
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
A nice one indeed!
Azas
Endless Summer
Part of the interview about Rain On The Graves is pure alchemy/gold/top tier material. It's pure literature if you know what I mean 
He mentioned Green Manalishi, I like that song in Judas Priest execution.
He is aware about repetitive Maiden choruses, yet he chooses to flow with the flow..
I like what he did with Eternity has Failed, will be interesting to hear how it sounds.
And Shadow of the Gods... My hopes are certainly up, after reading this interview. @Melony, many thanks for the job you've done.
He mentioned Green Manalishi, I like that song in Judas Priest execution.
He is aware about repetitive Maiden choruses, yet he chooses to flow with the flow..
I like what he did with Eternity has Failed, will be interesting to hear how it sounds.
And Shadow of the Gods... My hopes are certainly up, after reading this interview. @Melony, many thanks for the job you've done.
Last edited:
Metal Hammer Germany 02/2024
My translation
Interview (part 3):
After everything you told us about the songwriting and production process of "THE MANDRAKE PROJECT" it's obvious that there was no alternative but to visit Roy Z in L.A. to play with and capture ideas. So it would have been impossible to finish the album as it is
during the pandemic.
No, that wouldn't have worked for us. The first two songs that we wrote immediately when we got back together were 'Afterglow
Of Ragnarok' and 'Many Doors To Hell' - they have nothing to do with the concept of the comic or the things surrounding it. We asked ourselves: "Does that bother us?" - "No, let's get on with it!" The comic now exists for itself. You don't need to know the album to be able to read the comic;
you don't have to read the comic to enjoy the album. But if you know both, then they intertwine with each other
and increase your enjoyment of the project as a whole.
You refuse to call it a concept album. It is rather a networked "Bruce Dickinson Universe" that is opening up.
It's a world of its own! I have created a world without realizing it. Take the last song on the album, 'Sonata', it's the oldest of them all. One day Roy watched a movie, 'Immortal Beloved' (German title: ‘Ludwig van B. – Meine unsterbliche Geliebte’ , 1994 - editor's note) with Gary Oldman, about Beethoven, had a moment of inspiration and decided to sample and loop the beginning of the 'Moonlight Sonata'; he spent the day adding guitars, keyboards, layers of sounds, a drum computer - ten minutes long. Why and what for, he didn't know yet. We were sitting
late one night and he played it for me. It seemed like a trance number; I had no idea what to do with it vocally. But we went
spontaneously into the studio to see what would happen. And 80 percent of the finished song came from this one take! A complete stream of consciousness.
But the lyrics had already been written...?
No, the lyrics are what came out of my mouth when I closed my eyes and imagined being in a dark forest.
That's the reason why there is no classic second verse. I sang the first verse and went straight into something that then revealed itself to me as a
chorus afterwards. "Save me now ..."
I asked myself, what and about what I was actually singing ...(Bruce recapitulates his stream of thought) It's a fairytale,
but something is wrong. It's Sleeping Beauty, but in an evil version. The prince is coming ... the prince? No,
the king is coming ... to get his queen back! 'Taking The Queen'! The henchmen from 'Taking The Queen' ("ACCIDENT OF BIRTH"- editor's note) are still standing around her, but they are demons.
The King returns ... to kiss her and bring her back. Because he loves her? No, because he needs her. He needs her because ... otherwise he will
lose his kingdom. So it's not the right reasons.
It is also a meditation on what beauty means. "Your beauty will not last." The Queen cries out "Save me! Save my beauty" because
she thinks she is getting old and it will be terrible. This is a worry that I know bothers women much more than men. Generally speaking, women are often tormented by the thought of getting old, of no longer being desirable. Men basically don't give a damn.
Many women I know say that men mature, women fade away; they believe they have to work on themselves to stay beautiful. But no, you don't have to. You age, like all of us. You look great. You look interesting. That's what was in my head when I came up with the text. And it is
tragic: "Love has brought you here, and love will tear you apart." It has this great solo at the end.
As we enhanced the piece, I wrote and sang a second verse, and there was one more little thing I wanted to fix because it wasn't quite right.
But the spoken word part, "The king returned and all was silent", all that came from one take. I put it aside, completely forgetting that I had ever done that until Roy pulled it out again on a CD.
Leana (Dolci - editor's note), my girlfriend at the time, now wife, heard it when we were driving around L.A. and I played her demos. She
said: "What song is that? This is incredible. It makes me want to cry." - "Oh, this, I don't really know what to do with it because it's so different." -
"That's exactly why! You can't not do this." She was the deciding factor in putting the piece on the album. I'm so glad we did that.
It closes the album perfectly.
Also through the cross-reference to "ACCIDENT OF BIRTH". It brings the album full circle.
It's a 58-minute journey - with "Face In The Mirror", for example, it takes completely different paths. And at the end you realize that
you've been on an emotional rollercoaster. At the beginning you think: Yeah, that's heavy! And then suddenly it gets dark and sad. It's great!
SEBASTIAN KESSLER
My translation
Interview (part 3):
After everything you told us about the songwriting and production process of "THE MANDRAKE PROJECT" it's obvious that there was no alternative but to visit Roy Z in L.A. to play with and capture ideas. So it would have been impossible to finish the album as it is
during the pandemic.
No, that wouldn't have worked for us. The first two songs that we wrote immediately when we got back together were 'Afterglow
Of Ragnarok' and 'Many Doors To Hell' - they have nothing to do with the concept of the comic or the things surrounding it. We asked ourselves: "Does that bother us?" - "No, let's get on with it!" The comic now exists for itself. You don't need to know the album to be able to read the comic;
you don't have to read the comic to enjoy the album. But if you know both, then they intertwine with each other
and increase your enjoyment of the project as a whole.
You refuse to call it a concept album. It is rather a networked "Bruce Dickinson Universe" that is opening up.
It's a world of its own! I have created a world without realizing it. Take the last song on the album, 'Sonata', it's the oldest of them all. One day Roy watched a movie, 'Immortal Beloved' (German title: ‘Ludwig van B. – Meine unsterbliche Geliebte’ , 1994 - editor's note) with Gary Oldman, about Beethoven, had a moment of inspiration and decided to sample and loop the beginning of the 'Moonlight Sonata'; he spent the day adding guitars, keyboards, layers of sounds, a drum computer - ten minutes long. Why and what for, he didn't know yet. We were sitting
late one night and he played it for me. It seemed like a trance number; I had no idea what to do with it vocally. But we went
spontaneously into the studio to see what would happen. And 80 percent of the finished song came from this one take! A complete stream of consciousness.
But the lyrics had already been written...?
No, the lyrics are what came out of my mouth when I closed my eyes and imagined being in a dark forest.
That's the reason why there is no classic second verse. I sang the first verse and went straight into something that then revealed itself to me as a
chorus afterwards. "Save me now ..."
I asked myself, what and about what I was actually singing ...(Bruce recapitulates his stream of thought) It's a fairytale,
but something is wrong. It's Sleeping Beauty, but in an evil version. The prince is coming ... the prince? No,
the king is coming ... to get his queen back! 'Taking The Queen'! The henchmen from 'Taking The Queen' ("ACCIDENT OF BIRTH"- editor's note) are still standing around her, but they are demons.
The King returns ... to kiss her and bring her back. Because he loves her? No, because he needs her. He needs her because ... otherwise he will
lose his kingdom. So it's not the right reasons.
It is also a meditation on what beauty means. "Your beauty will not last." The Queen cries out "Save me! Save my beauty" because
she thinks she is getting old and it will be terrible. This is a worry that I know bothers women much more than men. Generally speaking, women are often tormented by the thought of getting old, of no longer being desirable. Men basically don't give a damn.
Many women I know say that men mature, women fade away; they believe they have to work on themselves to stay beautiful. But no, you don't have to. You age, like all of us. You look great. You look interesting. That's what was in my head when I came up with the text. And it is
tragic: "Love has brought you here, and love will tear you apart." It has this great solo at the end.
As we enhanced the piece, I wrote and sang a second verse, and there was one more little thing I wanted to fix because it wasn't quite right.
But the spoken word part, "The king returned and all was silent", all that came from one take. I put it aside, completely forgetting that I had ever done that until Roy pulled it out again on a CD.
Leana (Dolci - editor's note), my girlfriend at the time, now wife, heard it when we were driving around L.A. and I played her demos. She
said: "What song is that? This is incredible. It makes me want to cry." - "Oh, this, I don't really know what to do with it because it's so different." -
"That's exactly why! You can't not do this." She was the deciding factor in putting the piece on the album. I'm so glad we did that.
It closes the album perfectly.
Also through the cross-reference to "ACCIDENT OF BIRTH". It brings the album full circle.
It's a 58-minute journey - with "Face In The Mirror", for example, it takes completely different paths. And at the end you realize that
you've been on an emotional rollercoaster. At the beginning you think: Yeah, that's heavy! And then suddenly it gets dark and sad. It's great!
SEBASTIAN KESSLER
Last edited:
GhostofCain
Ancient Mariner
What kind of women is he surrounded by?
Leana Dolci?