Bruce Dickinson

??? Why on earth was Sonata described as so touching? I had so high expectations because I love it if music makes me feel emotional.
Yes, it is unusual for Bruce and his voice is special but apart from that it is totally mundane.

It is something every advertisement jingle composer would write for a customer who wants music for the scene where the car with the couple drives through the romantic landscape
 
TheMercenary said:
New interview of Bruce Dickinson in the french magazine Rock'n'Folk. :)

www.rocknfolk.com

Bruce Dickinson : "J'ai besoin de satisfaire mes urgences créatives"

Bruce Dickinson revient en solo avec un projet des plus mystérieux. Nom de code : "The Mandrake Project". Rencontre.
www.rocknfolk.com www.rocknfolk.com
Click to expand...
3 years of Covid? Why does he keep harping on this every now and then. It was for almost a year and a half (give or take 4-5 months). Covid hit us in 2020 and he recorded 2 songs in 2023. He toured with Maiden in 2022 & 2023. I’m pretty sure it’s not 3 years
 
Ben Beast said:
But if I look past the repetition I must say I'm little bit sad Bruce didn't go forward with the original plan of concept album about Lazarus and Necropolis. Lyrically Afterglow, Resurrection Men, Eternity are very interesting. Would have liked to see where the story (with the music) goes. Guess I have to buy the comics
Click to expand...
The story of the concept album definitely would have been interesting. Maybe most of the songs would have been closer to his previous 3 albums style.
 
I think the album gets even better on further listening and I also like that the fact that Bruce didn't recycle the AOB and TCW era style and feelings.
The album definitely has varying tones and styles similar to BTP. I expected much more from Sonata..and it hasn't quite yet opened for me.
 
Terry1958 said:
??? Why on earth was Sonata described as so touching? I had so high expectations because I love it if music makes me feel emotional.
Yes, it is unusual for Bruce and his voice is special but apart from that it is totally mundane.

It is something every advertisement jingle composer would write for a customer who wants music for the scene where the car with the couple drives through the romantic landscape
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't hear anything special on it (except Bruce's younger voice). I'm glad that people enjoy it, but for me it's pure filler and quite boring.

redandtheblack92 said:
3 years of Covid? Why does he keep harping on this every now and then. It was for almost a year and a half (give or take 4-5 months). Covid hit us in 2020 and he recorded 2 songs in 2023. He toured with Maiden in 2022 & 2023. I’m pretty sure it’s not 3 years
Click to expand...
It's just one of the marketing slogans he uses for why it took so long. Maiden, cancer, Maiden, pandemic, Maiden. Only now does he have the time to focus on his solo album, at least according to Bruce. One could argue that he could've released it sooner but it wasn't a priority at the time(s).
 
On the contrary I think this album shows why Roy Z producing a maiden album would not 'solve' anything. And also that its not Harris and his style that alone makes Bruce sometimes sound strained.

Very informative listen, this Mandrake Project has been so far. Also in terms of Brruce's latter-day artistic sense of over self importance. Shades of Empire of the Clouds in some tracks, and not because of length but due to their overblown soundtrack feel while still sounding only half developed. Which I don't think is the direction Maiden should ever take.
 
redandtheblack92 said:
3 years of Covid? Why does he keep harping on this every now and then. It was for almost a year and a half (give or take 4-5 months). Covid hit us in 2020 and he recorded 2 songs in 2023. He toured with Maiden in 2022 & 2023. I’m pretty sure it’s not 3 years
Click to expand...

He also conveniently seems to forget his never ending autobiography solo tour when listing the reasons why it took so long to finish the album.
 
Terry1958 said:
??? Why on earth was Sonata described as so touching? I had so high expectations because I love it if music makes me feel emotional.
Yes, it is unusual for Bruce and his voice is special but apart from that it is totally mundane.

It is something every advertisement jingle composer would write for a customer who wants music for the scene where the car with the couple drives through the romantic landscape
Click to expand...

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course. But I have to admit that I'm also disappointed.
I’m sure that many people could record something like this as a demo in a fairly short time because the musical ideas are nothing special.
But this is supposed to be the new Bruce Dickinson masterpiece.
And the fact that the lyrics always just repeat "save me" instead of something more specific that hits you hard doesn't help either.
 
i liked metal pilgrim's review, it's honest and objective:


and here are my rates for each song:
Afterglow: 8
Many Doors: 7
Rain on the Graves: 6
Resurrection Men: 6
Fingers: 7
Eternity: 8
Mistress: 7
Fingers: 4
Shadow: 9
Sonata: 8
So the total is 70 and the average is 7. Which is fair for this album I think. I did cut some points from some songs for the poor production or some vocal problems (such as Resurrection Men).
 
Helmuth Von Moltke said:
Very informative listen, this Mandrake Project has been so far. Also in terms of Brruce's latter-day artistic sense of over self importance. Shades of Empire of the Clouds in some tracks, and not because of length but due to their overblown soundtrack feel while still sounding only half developed. Which I don't think is the direction Maiden should ever take.
Click to expand...

Isn’t that the definition of most long songs by Steve from the last 20 years? :p
 
The style (or rather direction; vocal ideas too) and production of TMP is definitely not for Maiden. Their aim is richer, not heavy on vocals. As a production, only TOS is for them.
 
GhostofCain said:
Isn’t that the definition of most long songs by Steve from the last 20 years? :p
Click to expand...
Steve gets a pass from me. Yeah, he's gotten over indulgent as time went on. He doesn't let song length limit his songwriting, which is not necessarily a good thing. That said, he still manages to write brilliant melodies on every album. Take the second half of The Red And The Black or most parts of Hell On Earth; there's a lot to criticize Steve for, like his input on productions or his increasingly nonsensical and even grammatically incorrect lyrics, but damn can the man still write a melody.
 
of course he can do whatever he wants to do and during this time he overcame a cancer battle and divorce process and tragic death of his wife (exwife)... these are life stopping events and he didn't stop a bit which shows his extraordinary determination and life force.
but on the other hand, he puts his solo carreer on the very side of the things he is doing; for a long time he was like a ceo for this airline company, going to meetings, being a business man, investing on that zeppelin idea... and all that standups, writing/promoting the book, motivation talks, writing animation scripts for maiden, making or organizing the beer franchise... this project was under the shadows of all of these.
but anyway we got the album, it's not bad at all, and i'm grateful that he is still making music. and hope he can make another one in a shorter time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top