Bruce Dickinson

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Yeah I dig this one. Completely get the Fleetwood Mac inspiration. Chorus is repetitive but in a very classic rock 'n' roll way. And the video is so much better than the previous one.
 
Sounds like something Cathedral woud've done on 'The Guessing Game' with Bruce singing (wonderfully, I must say). I like it a lot.
 
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GhostofCain said:
Exactly. I am not sure what is the point in re-mixing Balls to Picasso either. It sounds exactly like Bruce wanted it to sound in 1994. Him saying that it should have sounded heavier only started much later!
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True. I remember an interview in the Chemical Wedding era where he said he and Roy had talked about re-recording "Cyclops" in particular with the Molossian guitar sound that he used on much of TCW. I do remember him not being happy with the overall sound of BtP after it was released and wishing he could have had Roy do it, but I don't remember him lamenting that it wasn't heavy enough.

Despite its weaknesses, I still really love that album and would be up for a cleaner, possibly heavier sound to it. That said, I also agree with most others on the forums who can't see where Skunkworks can really be improved on sonically.

With "Rain on the Graves" out now too, I'm really getting eager to hear the whole album. It's a departure from the sound he and Roy had cultivated over their last three albums together, and it's 2/2 songs so far with really catchy choruses (apart from the lyrical repetitiveness of RotG). The melodies are definite earworms. The more spoken style of his verses on this one reminds me a little bit of "Confeos." Oh, and MUCH better video than "Ragnarok." Cheesy still, but good cheese.
 
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Wow this is even worse than afterglow. Disliked the verse section. Can't help but feel that all this campy theatrics is a distraction from the music. None of these songs sound polished but this one flows better than afterglow which sounded like various sections stiched together in a home studio. The positive for me once again is the chorus and that there is a solo in this song. Overall in my opinion the rest of the songs have some heavy lifting to do if this is to be at least as good as TOS.
 
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I do wish I didn't watch the video. It really detracts and gives a really bad impression and as such drags down the perception of the song itself.
Next song he releases, I'm not watching the video!

I don't like the overdubs (laughing), some bits sound really dated, like 1960's dated.
I feel this would be a decent song if on the Balls to Piccasso or Tattooed Millionaire albums, but if compared to Skunkworks, AOB, CW, TOS it is a major step backwards. I mean, there was a really good run Skunkworks, AOB, CW, TOS but now this takes us back to the likes of those first two albums which were just a creative outlet side project and hence a mishmosh mess of hit and miss stuff.
 
Expecting this album to be tcw 2 is like expecting new maiden album to be powerslave 2.

I like the vibe that this song have. It is exactly something I was expecting from Bruce. Good singing and nice melodies. Overall I think that this song works better than Afterglow which was ok song but with couple moments that ruined it for me.

New Bruce AND Priest album - best year ever.
 
I like it. I'm a fan of the theatrics, Bruce's performance, and Roy's solo. But is it me is the production really bad, at some points the vocals sound like a demo. Still a better song than Ragnarok though.
 
Melony said:
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?
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Interesting that here Bruce says Maiden uses lots of repeating of the chorus formula and he gets bored, but now on the newest single, that is exactly what he does - repeats the chorus.

Okay, but about the song - video is better than AoR, song is okay, chorus also okay, but I liked AoR's riff more.

But one thing we have to remind ourselves, is that new Bruce album is not new Maiden album. We are not going to get Maiden heaviness, melodies, etc, we get Bruce's and Roy's vision about music. Bruce is fully free do to what he exactly wants and is happy with. And hopefully it is good enough that it makes us happy aswell.
 
Bruce and catchy choruses: that´s like a chemical wedding....
Loved ROTG immediately! AoR needed more spins to appreciate. Overall I prefer Rain.
 
Not to keen on this spoken word parts.I think it's been done a million times.Not by Bruce obviously.Love the chorus and the solo. Judging by these two first songs this will be a very different sounding Bruce's album.
 
I missed the premiere, but this is a very unexpected song. It seems Bruce's original idea for it prevailed, although he said the otherwise. It has that early 90's solo vibe (Tattooed Millionaire/Balls To Picasso) which is not bad ofc, but I think it was better for its time.
Roy promised even heavier and deeper stuff than TCW, but forgot to mention that it didn't live up to some of the vocals and riffs.
This is a very different song than anything on his last 3 solo albums - and I get that Bruce wants to try different things on every album, but I hope that the rest of the songs will have more of his classic solo style. Bruce is at his best when he does pure metal.
It will probably be the ''Devil On A Hog'' of the album, especially with its style.

The video is classic Bruce and I liked that the whole band was in it. Cool costumes, Bruce.

As for the song: 2nd mid-tempo single. I don't think it was that good of a decision. It's because of the specific verses, but with such a chorus this could have been epic like ''Soul Intruders'', for example.

Does the song have an intro? It will fit.

Bruce sounds so good, the chorus is great and (example of) catchy. It saved the song.
Roy's solo is very cool (some Adrian vibe to it); it's a double solo, classic Roy. But ofc it could have been a bit longer. The riff fits the song.
I don't have a problem with the repetition because the chorus is the best part of the song, but the last repeat of it (basically the outro) should have been with the same high notes, not a bit different imo.

I'm not really a fan of the verses. Yeah, they're fun, but it's not my thing. Such type of verses were better on BTP.
The song could have had a short melodic interlude after the solo methinks (like in most TOS songs), you know some weird and dark sounds. I'll say it again, you just can't beat 2 guitar attack in metal!
I don't like the laughs, I prefer the song without them and want Bruce's screams instead.
The keys after the verses (basically the pre-chorus wow) are a nod to Deep Purple and sound nice, albeit somewhat empty.

Overall, a nice song with a fun vibe, but with a title like Rain On The Grave - this should have been a song straight out of TCW. Bruce and Roy can make much better and interesting songs. For example, the chorus lyrics are lazy for Bruce. And I hope a drummer like Dave Moreno was used at his full potential on the other songs.
 
Donner said:
They chose this as a single to represent this album? Yikes.
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I think Bruce chose it because it's a different song. Or maybe the whole album will be a departure from the sound on his last 3 solo albums.
Azas said:
In some strange way, to me this song is a step back to Bruce's early solo era. It's more hard rock than modern heavy metal.
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Yeah, the outro vocals remind me of TM album.
Jer said:
Well, that was a simpler song. Enjoyable enough, with a good riff, a catchy chorus, and a nice solo, but it didn't make a big impact on me out of the gate.
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I agree.
riff said:
Song itself is a little plodding and the verses are too corny for me.
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I really hoped this would be a dark and fast song like Abduction, Soul Intruders or Kill Devil Hill. It would have been better imo.
Iron Lurker said:
I like the song well enough. Bruce sounds fantastic, IMO.

I think Bruce's biggest mistake is waiting 19 years to release his next solo album. Expectations and hype too high for many that won't be met.
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This. But I think if the album had been released a few years after the last one, the expectations would have been high again.
Vaenyr said:
I don't ever wanna hear anyone complain about repetition in Steve's songs. :D
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Bruce really needs to stop saying that because his latest songs are full of repetitive parts.
Mosh said:
That's it. I like Ghost a lot but they are a novelty band, I have higher expectations for Bruce Dickinson.

The first singles for an Iron Maiden or Bruce Dickinson album are almost never stellar though, so I'm still going into this with an open mind.
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I agree with your fist comment. About the second one, it was never like that with Bruce's lead singles, at least for me.
redandtheblack92 said:
The overall melody has a strong Book of Thel vibe.
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A bit yes, but Book Of Thel's chorus is just too good.
Jadukor said:
Overall in my opinion the rest of the songs have some heavy lifting to do if this is to be at least as good as TOS.
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For sure.
MindlessPieces said:
I feel this would be a decent song if on the Balls to Piccasso or Tattooed Millionaire albums, but if compared to Skunkworks, AOB, CW, TOS it is a major step backwards. I mean, there was a really good run Skunkworks, AOB, CW, TOS but now this takes us back to the likes of those first two albums which were just a creative outlet side project and hence a mishmosh mess of hit and miss stuff.
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I can agree with that.
Meliegree said:
Expecting this album to be tcw 2 is like expecting new maiden album to be powerslave 2.
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I don't think anyone was expecting TCW 2 (especially with 1 guitarist) and I don't think Bruce wants to repeat it (that's pretty tough), it's just that Roy teased something along those lines. Ragnarok was a right step (minus the chorus) for that, but not Rain.
Ben Beast said:
But one thing we have to remind ourselves, is that new Bruce album is not new Maiden album. We are not going to get Maiden heaviness, melodies, etc, we get Bruce's and Roy's vision about music. Bruce is fully free do to what he exactly wants and is happy with. And hopefully it is good enough that it makes us happy aswell.
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Of course, but we all know they can do better, right.
 
He’s experimented quite a bit. Just hoping for the rest of the album to be catchy. He could’ve done a better chorus on Rain. It’s just repetitive. I like the Ragnarok chorus a lot more. There’s emotion in that chorus & the lyrics are better.
 
I would give Rain On The Graves a 6-7/10. Ragnarok is 7-8/10.

Rain has a better solo and a bit more impactful chorus (because it's with high vocals), but I think Ragnarok as a whole song is more solid. Both songs are catchy in their own way.

It's hard to believe that Rain and If Eternity Should Fail are from the same sessions. And I'm not talking about the styles, but rather some transitions (Steve is a master at this!). The solo has a great transition though.

I have to say the singles so far are enjoyable and good enough, but the whole album better deliver with more (instant) classic and stronger material if it wants to be remembered in time. I really hope the big experiments are only on Rain and Sonata.
 
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