ALBUM REVIEW: The Mandrake Project – Bruce Dickinson
It was never a question of IF the world would see another solo album from BRUCE DICKINSON, but more when. Almost 20 years have passed since he last released a record on his own – that being 2005’s Tyranny Of Souls – but you can cut the man some slack for the gap given that, six years prior, he had re-joined IRON MAIDEN and spent the whole of the 21st century leading them back to the top of the heavy metal mountain, a summit they had sat proudly on during his first stint from 1981 to 1993. When it became common knowledge that two of the tracks from 2015’s monolith The Book Of Souls had originally started as works for a new solo album, the anticipation for more Dickinson work only grew; on Friday 1st March, it comes to fruition. Released via BMG and coupled with an original graphic novel series, The Mandrake Project – Dickinson‘s seventh studio album – is finally here.
Dickinson‘s time away from MAIDEN saw limited commercial success, but the strength of the material he was writing means there are still plenty who will take his work of the 1990s above what his former bandmates were producing with Blaze Bayley behind the microphone. As such, part of The Mandrake Project‘s strength is that there are a number of moments which tip the hat to the back catalogue, that will make listeners – to quote the title track from 1997’s excellent Accident Of Birth – think “Welcome home, it’s been too long, we’ve missed you.”
The aforementioned arrives towards the end of the pacey Mistress Of Mercy, a strong slab of alt metal that boasts an infectious chorus. Prior to this, opening track and lead single Afterglow Of Ragnarok harks back to the measured, crushing guitars on The Chemical Wedding as Roy Z, Dickinson‘s regular partner-in-crime on his solo ventures, shows he hasn’t missed a beat. Then, there’s Eternity Has Failed, reworked slightly from If Eternity Should Fail that appeared on The Book Of Souls. Slower but no less heavy than its counterpart, the flute intro adds an authenticity the MAIDEN synth trumpets can’t and the rawer production means it’s somehow even darker than before.
The album isn’t flawless, however – nearly 66 and having battled throat cancer, nobody is expecting Bruce to be as perfect vocally as he was a few years ago, but he falters badly on the final track Sonata (Immortal Beloved), particularly in the middle where he’s in spoken word mode. Musically it doesn’t shower itself in glory either; the ending is a confusing, proggy mess. Earlier on, Resurrection Men is on course to be a fun curveball with its classic gallop, more outlaw country feel and what sound like bongo drums, but then it changes tack to something more akin to doom and the track loses all identity.
However, these aside the rest is excellent – Rain On The Graves has a SABBATH-cum-GHOST feel in its guitars and morose lyrics; Many Doors To Hell is a straight-up driving hard rock track that evokes, among others, SCORPIONS and UFO; and Face In The Mirror is a lovely, acoustic foil that shows the better side of Dickinson‘s pipes – he might not completely possess what he had in his prime, but he’s retained far more than other singers of his age.
Plenty have pined and hoped for BRUCE DICKINSON to bring out more music under his own steam; The Mandrake Project will more than suffice. Sure, there are a couple of wobbles, but otherwise this is an hour of well-crafted songs with some belting highs. The man himself has already said he’s got ideas for a follow up: we can hardly wait.
Rating: 8/10
The Mandrake Project is set for release on March 1st via BMG.