One year had passed since
Bruce Dickinson had left Iron Maiden. Bruce felt he had to do something different and I must say that this album is nothing like Maiden. Bruce's vocal is there allright, but the guitars have a lot more edge to them compared to Maiden's guitars. ("Powerslave" is maybe the exception in this case).
But back to the album at hand.
Cyclops: A great opener. A weird intro, but when the song gets started it's a fairly okay track. I don't know if the melody and the drive of the song is good enough for it to be almost 8 minutes long. But it is, so what can I do about it. The last part is filled with some cool guitars by axeman Roy Z.
Hell No: Moving on to this track, which has a quiet intro, but soon picks up pace. An okay drive in the song, but still something is missing. I don't know if it is the guitars I want to be more heavy, or simply because the melody could be better. You decide.
Gods of War: has one of my favorite intro in the last decade. Somehow, it has just stuck to my mind. I have noticed in the last few years that I have sung the intro a couple of times. Very good drive and energy in that intro. The guitars sound almost as heavy you want it to. The production maybe fails a bit here. But definitely one of the better tracks of this album.
1000 points.: is an okay track as well. A little weird in the start, but Roy Z makes it happen, with some cool guitar work. An okay chorus for this one.
Laughing In The Hiding Bush: Now this is more like it! Starts of with a great drive and bombastic sound. Bruce sings this one really cool. Nice guitars in this one.
Change of Heart: Bruce goes soft on us. Reminds me to much of his previous album "Tattooed Millionaire". And that album I really don't like!
Shoot all the Clowns: Well an standard track on this album. Strange lyrics though. I can not make up my mind whether or not the chorus is cool or not. I think I will have to go with medium-rare. Or something like that. Is that rap?!?
Fire: Well an okay track I guess. Somehow it is just not good enough. You know Bruce can do better.
Sacred Cowboys: A very cool track. Cool guitars and a great catchy sing along chorus. One of the best song from this album. Sounds very much like something Bruce would write at this point in his carreer. And so he did. I wonder. is there perhaps a guest apperance from
Zakk Wylde on this one?! Of course not, but some of that guitar work reminds of him.
Tears Of The Dragon: By far the best track on the album. Bruce has penned this himself, and it has a great feeling when you listen to it. Often called "The
Dungeon Song" by some of my long time mates. Great accoustic intro and a I-will-smash-your-face guitar solo. Great work guys.
The overall quality of this album is just to low, even though "Tears of." makes it worthwile. The melodies needs that final edge, but this is very much what I expected from Bruce back in 1994. He has said himself, he was burned out at the time. Up in the saddle and try again Bruce.
Written by
Ulrick Monday, July 29, 2002
Show all reviews by UlrickRatingsUlrick: 5.5/10Members: 5.5/10 - Average of 1 ratings.
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