Bruce Dickinson

Album is online on YouTube and Spotify since a few hours ago.

If anyone is kind enough, please post screenshot of the booklet with the lyrics.
A few days ago, I took the trouble to transcribe all lyrics to Genius website but of course there are mistakes.
For me, the lyrics are a big part of the music and I'd love to read them as soon as possible.

And, for those who whine about fans who pre ordered the album and still download the leaks, know that where some people (like me) live, we can only buy imports and it may take anything from a week to a month. In fact, today I got my pre order of the comics....

So, please, if anyone has the booklet, take a moment of your time to share the screenshots.

Thanks
 
So... The Mandrake Project turned out pretty great in the end. Both Rain and especially Afterglow are among the weakest tracks on the album. Sonata isn't nearly as messy as some people were dreading, and Mistress of Mercy is my favorite song of the year so far. There's a lot of cool experimental stuff going on in many of the tracks. The album doesn't sound particularly much like any of Bruce's previous ones, but the closest comparisons are Tyranny and Chemical for sure.
 
So I will say that the Spotify version sounds a bit cleaner & more refined than the leaks. There is a small difference.

My CD has been dispatched from Bruces store. So Bruce can’t give me shit now for leaks :D

Now that the album is out (officially), I shall post my long m, comprehensive review tonight.
 
Most of the songs stucked to my head. That's good sign since I needed >5 approaches to Senjtsu to warm up. Eternity is weakest track at the moment and only cool thing about it is that it is different than maiden version. I guess that this is the case of being first version released. Afterglow and Rain - i like then better in context of the album.
 
Alone in the office today, so... Let's get through the album.

SKipped Ragnarok. Now playing Many Doors To Hell...

A good song. Like Bruce harmonizing with himself like the old school Maiden. Good vocals. Not sure about the first bridge chorusing effect during the first bridge. And the snare could be tuned a tad higher for this song.

If they play this live it will be a good crowd participation number. A very good song.
 
Streaming the album (legally) now. So far the songs I like are Afterglow, Resurrection Men, Mistress of Mercy, and Face in the Mirror. I’m saving the last two songs for the morning.
:innocent:
 
Last edited:
Skipped Rain... Now playing Resurrection Men.

Interesting intro. Sets the mood quite well. Agian the too-low tuned snare, which I'm not a fan of (maybe because I have been listening to too much Stewart Copeland lately). The song has a good drive, but I don't understand that sudden tempo change to fuzz guitars, could have been executed better. I think the chorus of this song would benefit if they left just one voice (without doubling). Second change from the fuzz part back to the first style is executed much better. Love the surf parts, however, I think they should include bass on the 2nd go-around on them as they sound kinda dry.

Again, a good song.
 
Fingers in the wounds...

A rock song in the vain of Bruce's solo career. The low-tuned snare works here. Love the acoustic guitars and synths on this one.

Kashmir/Perfect Strangers/Innuendo middle part is great.

This is the first one that I think could've been a Maiden track.

Best one so far IMO, but the other 2 might grow on me and overtake them.
 
Eternity Has Failed

Ah, Nicko is so missed on this one. So flat compared to the Maiden version. Great solos in the instrumental section. Is it just me or has Roy tried to play in styles of Maiden guitarists? Middle sounds to me like Davey's style and the last part like Janick's style. Glad they changed the intro.

In short, intro and the instrumental break are better than the IM version. Everything else feels flat and falls short thanks to Nicko's brilliance
Miss H's solos at the end too.
 
So, first, I'm listening on Apple Music and it's muuuccchhh better than the leaked album. The leaked album's horrible quality killed the magic for me. But now I'm regaining.
My favorite is Shadow of the Gods. When you imagine that song with Dio and Halford it becomes something else. And Sonata... What a beauty... I think Bruce misled everybody on that, referring like it's an experimental song on a Beethoven sample with his improvised vocals... It's not like that, it's in the league of Eternal.
I think this is Fear of the Dark of Bruce, meaning it's an eclectic album with songs from many different genres. It's like a "best of" collection from the things he's working for the last 15+ years. I don't know if this is a positive analogy, yet Fear is one of my least favorites... But time will tell, sometimes eclectic albums work with more listenings...
I think as artists get older they return to their roots, and we see many Deep Purple, Van der Graaf Generator, Arthur Brown, Black Sabbath, Priest, Floyd influences all over.
The Page&Plant-esque (Orphaned Land?) oriental middle-east part in Fingers in the Wounds is one of the good surprises of the album.
There are some great new ideas in the alternate-universe Eternity but I need to adjust to them. The very ending talking part which is quickly fades out is weird, they could've finished without it and it could be a more powerful finish with that doubled chorus.
The bass guitar we couldn't hear in Tyranny (and on most of his solo albums) now is very up on the mix, I'm trying to lower it on equalizer...
I loved the classic Maidenesque melody in the middle of Mistress. How did Steve miss this very Maidenesque song, is a mystery to me : )
His vocals mostly sound great, yet on some parts, like the beginning of Resurrection Men, he is struggling. Did he sing that part only one time, or just preferred it and left it like that... There are other parts that could be fixed vocally. (And on parts like that I thought we blamed Steve wrongfully)
Some interesting notes about the credits as I noticed on Apple Music:
Other than Eternity, Mistress and Face is also written and composed only by Bruce.
And on Apple Music's credits other than Roy, Mistheria and Dave Moreno we see Adrian, Dave, Nicko and Steve on Afterglow as the performers???
 
Starblind said:
So, first, I'm listening on Apple Music and it's muuuccchhh better than the leaked album. The leaked album's horrible quality killed the magic for me. But now I'm regaining.
My favorite is Shadow of the Gods. When you imagine that song with Dio and Halford it becomes something else. And Sonata... What a beauty... I think Bruce misled everybody on that, referring like it's an experimental song on a Beethoven sample with his improvised vocals... It's not like that, it's in the league of Eternal.
I think this is Fear of the Dark of Bruce, meaning it's an eclectic album with songs from many different genres. It's like a "best of" collection from the things he's working for the last 15+ years. I don't know if this is a positive analogy, yet Fear is one of my least favorites... But time will tell, sometimes eclectic albums work with more listenings...
I think as artists get older they return to their roots, and we see many Deep Purple, Van der Graaf Generator, Arthur Brown, Black Sabbath, Priest, Floyd influences all over.
The Page&Plant-esque (Orphaned Land?) oriental middle-east part in Fingers in the Wounds is one of the good surprises of the album.
There are some great new ideas in the alternate-universe Eternity but I need to adjust to them. The very ending talking part which is quickly fades out is weird, they could've finished without it and it could be a more powerful finish with that doubled chorus.
The bass guitar we couldn't hear in Tyranny (and on most of his solo albums) now is very up on the mix, I'm trying to lower it on equalizer...
I loved the classic Maidenesque melody in the middle of Mistress. How did Steve miss this very Maidenesque song, is a mystery to me : )
His vocals mostly sound great, yet on some parts, like the beginning of Resurrection Men, he is struggling. Did he sing that part only one time, or just preferred it and left it like that... There are other parts that could be fixed vocally. (And on parts like that I thought we blamed Steve wrongfully)
Some interesting notes about the credits as I noticed on Apple Music:
Other than Eternity, Mistress and Face is also written and composed only by Bruce.
And on Apple Music's credits other than Roy, Mistheria and Dave Moreno we see Adrian, Dave, Nicko and Steve on Afterglow as the performers???
Click to expand...
Apple Music loves to mess with credits
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top