Really digging it after 5-6 listens. I had high hopes but this exceeds them.
It's definitely fairly diverse (a good thing IMO), as rumored.

Weakest song is "Rain On the Graves", IMO.

3 songs in and its good, not great yet, but good so far.

I just finished listening to the album and I am not feeling it guys. Some songs are just too long, for no reason at all, Sonata (Immortal Beloved) and Shadow of the Gods are together almost 20 minutes long. I don't understand what Bruce wanted to do with this album, it isn't as heavy as the other solo material that he released, and his voice work is one of the worst that I have listened to in his whole career (he straight up goes out of tune on some songs). The version of Eternity Has Failed is almost identical to the one in the Book of Souls, I don't understand why he re-recorded a song and changed almost nothing.

Hard 40% or 4/10 for me, I don't think I will listen to this again soon.

Really liking it... though, this kind of heavy, dark material is a pretty easy sell for me. Bruce is also my favorite singer of basically anything, so hearing him do what he's good at is always good.

I like that it doesn't really try and rewrite the old stuff he did. Roy Z has that simple riff style but they work it into really interesting songs that don't feel dumb. There's always a lot of atmosphere - this is a really moody thing, and I always like that.

"Fingers in the Wounds" and "Resurrection Men" with the tribal drum sounds, I love it. "Mistress of Mercy" is a nice mean, biting piece of metal. "Many Doors to Hell" - also really cool.

The new "Eternity Has Failed" - this was a weird one since it did sound like he maybe over-extended himself trying to differentiate it from the Maiden one, which sounded a little easier and more natural. This one did sound quite striking though.

Last two songs were refreshingly strange and out-there in the mode of some of his more odd older solo work; I'm glad he didn't just do the easy thing with those... really nice, somewhat experimental and emotive way to end.

Dunno if there's anything on here at the level of "Omega," "Darkside of Aquarius" or "Book of Thel" but I'm looking forward to more listens anyway.

I will agree that it drags a tad at the end, but overall a solid album. I think Bruce sounds better here than he did on the last few Maiden albums. Less strained. For a guy at his age with the miles he has on his voice I'll take it. Fingers in the Wound and Many Doors to Hell were strong tracks. This version of Eternity was pretty good, but not sure its any better or worse than the Maiden cut.

I'll be buying it. I'd give it a solid 70% on first listen. Not great but a good album. Maybe that will change with more listens.

I don't think its as good as Accident, Chemical, or Tyranny. I'd put it on par with Balls, which I am probably in the minority in saying is a good album.

Maiden haters were waiting for a short and sweet album. Bruce Dickinson is not a one-trick pony. It's a very atmospheric album.

Well its only got a single song over 8 minutes so that is good. Its probably my least favorite on the album but its not bad.

I like that he didn't even try to do a big obvious chorus or whatever for that final song. Refreshing.

I agree that it is a good, not great, album that probably needed to be a bit shorter. It definitely surpassed my expectations.

I do get the feel these are essentially vocally-based songs that have been arranged to be metal in the studio. I know Bruce can write riffs (Powerslave! Revelations!) and play a bit of guitar, but all the other solo albums do benefit from writing closely with instrumentalists. It's way below Tyranny of Souls which still had more of a band vibe.

Mistress of Mercy/Freak, yep, but I've always thought Freak had a rather generic metal main riff (it's not far off St Anger, for instance) so I don't think it's so much self-plagiarism as just retreading. The difference is that otherwise Freak is a much better song, just a blazer to kick off the album which does the job perfectly.

Also much of Sonata seems to be a nod to "Midnight Jam", an extension of "Taking the Queen" from Accident of Birth that's on his 2001 Best Of bonus disk.

The way the new tour is being promoted I'm pretty sure it will be very heavy on this album, at least five songs/half an hour from it, if not more. If there's an hour/10ish songs otherwise, after one song from each album and the songs he has to do (Tears, Bush and probably Millionaire) there's not much room left for deep cuts (like, Omega/Arc of Space, imagine that), or more than one song off Tyranny of Souls. Most venues are sold out, probably could still get a ticket on return but I don't see myself going. If I paid and it ignored ToS and most of the Chemical Wedding/Accident of Birth for this I'd be gutted.

No way... Eternity Has Failed is very very different from If Eternity Should Fail... It's more atmospheric, it's doomy, it breaks at minute 3:30 (not at minute 4:54 like the Maiden version), it has guitar solos in the middle (and not at the end while it's playing in the background along the vocals in the Maiden version), and the outro acoustic, rather than outro it is an ornament that falls short

Maiden has an extremely distinguished way of writing and playing, and yeah "Eternity Has Failed" just doesn't sound like Iron Maiden. It's obviously the same idea but it's not played the same.

edit... on second play "Sonata" is fucking awesome. Album isn't too long at all. This really works and flows well.

Some setlist musings here:https://planetradio.co.uk/planet-rock/news/rock-news/bruce-dickinson-interview-planet-rock/

Not a fan of it. It's such a strange album to listen to. Fairly sure some of the vocals on it are from years ago.

I thought it was pretty great on first listen: diverse, interesting arrangements, Bruce sounds great. Maybe the guitar tone wasn't as fiery as some previous Roy Z jobs - but I need to give a listen through my stereo before making any proper judgements. It's not as great as The Chemical Wedding but very few albums are. Can't wait for the tour!

Finally able to sit down and properly listen without all the crazy shit I was doing yesterday, and there's a lot going on here. Lots of cool stuff. I think it'll be a keeper.

Here's a really good interview with him. Very wide ranging: https://www.stereogum.com/2253452/bruce ... le-on-you/

I like what he says about staking it out in the 90s and doing his own thing. He's a creative guy. It's inspiring.

Reading the lyrics too and they're quite good actually. I didn't realize it wasn't a concept album really. He hasn't lost his touch - poetic, insightful...

It's good, I like it, more on the subtle side than the last three.

Interesting video about the making of Resurrection Men and the bongos lol.



So good to see how excited he still is after all these years to be in the studio and make some noise.

These reflective, mellow moments near the end of it really make this its own thing and consolidate what it is... quite far from the stodgy tribute to 25 years ago I was somewhat expecting from the singles. Really interesting work.

it's a bummer Roy Z isn't going to tour with him, but interesting to remember the "Air Raid Over Europe" 2002 festival shows were essentially his Skunkworks band: Alex Dickson on guitar with Chris Dale bass - through them he got Robin Guy on drums and Pete Friesen from Alice Cooper on second guitar. Hence why they did Back From the Edge and Innerspace.

honestly Tears of the Dragon is such an iconic solo, it's a shame Roy isn't back on the road playing it. Alex always just played the initial bit the same then went off on his own way. it'd be quite cool if these two guitarists traded off the Roy Z parts (especially that run, you probably know the one I mean) and harmonised a bit.

amazing to see the few-hundred capacity venues Bruce played on the Chemical Wedding tour... well those days are certainly gone

A few more listens and its a good record. Its a solid listen and something worth grabbing for the physical collection. I think a rating of 75% is fair. Glad Bruce and Roy found time to put out another one.

3.6 roentgen.

My first listen so far and it's certainly better than recent Maiden. I don't think it will be on a level with AoB/TCW but if it comes close to Tyranny I shall be a happy man.

Truth be told, I've never been a huge fan of Bruce's vocal antics, but while I listen to early and mid-era Iron Maiden mainly for the guitars, I listen to his solo work for both his vocals and Roy Z.

After a bunch of listens I don't think this has anything to envy of Accident or Chemical Wedding. The only thing I could say is that those old songs are so ingrained in our memories that it's hard for anything to match the feeling, but this album does a great job... love the adventurous parts of it, love how it goes between hard-ass metal and the more atmospheric parts and love the existential, philosophical lyrics. Again a very well rounded piece of work. I'd say I rate it higher than Tyranny anyway. Has more meat on the bone and I don't think any of these songs are weak.

I liked the album, but didn't love it. The opener and closer are probably my favourite tracks, but in general there's a lack of energy and upbeat songs, save for a couple tracks in the middle. I don't think that's a bad thing, but compared to the 3-4 classic albums, it doesn't quite measure up for me.

Don't want to complain too much about it, but I also felt like the mix was a bit off - the drums are pushed a bit too high and the vocals are farther back in the mix than I'd expect. I got used to it but I was hoping for something a bit more forward.

I do agree this is better than recent Maiden though, and I'll probably come back to it a few times at least, which is more than I can say for a lot of albums.

Agreed. I find the mix to be less than ideal, too.

I think it's great record, worth exploring. I'm greatly grateful that on of my childhood's heroes is still able to produce top-notch music and sound great with new ideas. There is so much going on, different themes and vibes, mood switching...really great record!

Not really understanding the high reviews this is getting. Sounds really bland to me. Maybe it'll benefit from repeated listens, but so far it's really mediocre and nothing stands out.

yea, didn't do much for me on the first listen, will give it another spin to see if anything sticks.

Man, funny about tastes with the last few posts - every song has been stuck in my head like an ax murder victim for days.

The more I'm listening the better this is getting.

Bruce and the band played their first show yesterday at Whiskey A Go-Go.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bruce-di ... b5309.html

He still sounds fantastic:

Brilliant that The Alchemist is getting played live. He promised some setlist changes for the gig tonight, so I'm thinking the first "official" show will probably be set mixed of the two Whiskey nights and he'll have some songs on rotation, he mentioned he wanted to do that too in an interview.

shame no Tattooed Millionaire or Skunkworks songs, and only one Tyranny of Souls debut. But great sets nonetheless, will be good if he doesn't feel the need to do any Maiden songs although Powerslave, Revelations, The Prisoner etc would hardly get a thumbs down from me (even Run to the Hills he has a full right to play since he wrote part of it). Playing The Alchemist seems to be a bit of a fulfilment from the last proper tour he did, rather than the 2002 festival shows with Dickson and Dale which had to have a best-of vibe. The only Chemical Wedding song that's never been played live now is Machine Men?

Frankenstein? No one should be playing Frankenstein except for Overkill. If he wants a vocal break tell them to play Transylvania or Losfer Words.

Songs penned by Steve Harris, the former of which appears on a Paul Di'Anno record...?

As opposed to songs penned by Edgar Winter?

Yes. As he's still in his main band, Bruce's solo gigs should be as far removed from Iron Maiden as possible.

Yeah, no need for any Maiden at a solo Dickinson show.

If Bruce wants an instrumental he should write one.