Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth
Accident Of Birth is one of those rare and really special highlights in the history of classic Heavy Metal. Bruce's solo career has been highly successful with many great albums, this one being his best in my opinion. It has all the elements needed for making a most phenomenal record.

With Adrian Smith at his side you could expect a lot of Iron Maiden influences in the songs, and it is not wrong to say that there are some. Still, I think that the album has a style that, even though it's very traditional, has a signature of its own. Much of that comes from the diversity of the songs, from hard grooving stuff like Starchildren, to more atmospheric and epic in Taking The Queen, over to more aggressive and powerful elements as in the title track. All being huge cuts.

All tracks are performed with great talent and a high level of perfection. Bruce's voice is as good as ever, just listen to him sing the beautiful and divine Arc Of Space, it sounds phenomenal. The different styles and approaches he manages to come around shows stunning capacity. Adrian Smith and Roy Z are what I call super guitarists. The classic, very melodic, Smith solos sound as great as in the mid to late eighties with Iron Maiden, and the groove and detail in Roy's rhythm guitar is fantastic.

The drums and bass have a very important part to play in the songs. I like the direct and very participating way the rhythm section is working. Eddie Casillias' way of handling the bass is extremely tight and if you listen to only that instrument, you can really hear all the great passages it creates.
The drums from David Ingraham take up a lot attention, and great variations are found here and there. One word for the rhythm section on this entire album would be solid.

One of many favourite songs is the brilliant gloomy Darkside Of Aquarius. The way it slowly builds from a quiet bass melody with guitar harmonies, into a Heavy riff that really sets the song into pace sounds fantastic. The many different passages, especially the twin lead guitar parts really come together in a spellbinding way.

Throughout the record the sound is crystal clear and mega grooving. All instruments and vocals are perfectly fitted: To sum up I find the production about perfect.

Road To Hell has all the elements a thrilling song needs. A cool drum intro, a catchy chorus, a rhythm with a very positive melody, and a solo that displays some rather technical guitar playing. The energy that comes to life here is really astonishing.

I have come to like Man Of Sorrows more and more with time. This very quiet song had to be heard many times before I got everything out of it. The atmospheric piano/keyboard beginning sets a great dark mood that is held up through the song. The chorus is huge, and Bruce sings with a graceful power like something divine had struck him. The minor details in the keys are interesting element that makes the song even more compact. The depressing lyric about guilt and frustration is working really well with the musical side.

My absolute favourite is clearly the one in a kind Omega. I will go as far as to say that this is one of the best songs ever written. All the elements in this song just melt together in a beautiful way. The fantastic acoustic guitar creates a great calm rhythm, which is broken by a hard guitar riff and some tight drums. A special highlight is the mellow lead guitar setting in at 1:21. The atmosphere in the slow middle section gets me every time. You can sense the keyboard in the background, and just listen to the guitar solo, it's genius. The song's fast part is also working to perfection, the lead guitars are screaming with power, and a lot of energy is released. The fantastic spiritual and poetic lyric sets just the right context for the music. This one simply must be heard.

The Magician is a track that is very traditional Metal all the way. A straight-ahead song with pounding bass, and a great deal of really thick and tight rhythm guitar work. The chorus is brilliantly sung and all in all this is one awesome melodic piece.

The only elements that I can point out as not quite as fantastic is a couple of minor details. The first one is in the opener Freak, where the noise elements in the middle don't really fit that well. The wild but still melodic guitar leads are fitted in nicely, and the song have a pretty cool groove, a great and special song all in all.
In Welcome To The Pit we find a slow and very vocal driven song, I simply love the deep rhythm guitar. My critical comment goes for the chorus that I find a bit too tame to really get me going. Anyway the harmonious lead parts and the slow grooving bass is great elements. So two minor critiques in an otherwise about perfect album isn't much.

Of course there also is the lyrics that are varied in style and quality, some acceptable, but most of them amazing. The supernatural is touched upon in an interesting way in The Magician; Freak on the other hand has a very short and strange lyric.
Some songs have a personal perspective that touches upon faith and thoughts about the big questions in life; I find those especially cool, while others are focusing on mysteries and strange phenomenons.

In my opinion this is one of the best albums ever made, it features stunning passages over and over, fitted together brilliantly and performed with amazing ability.

Written by Tommy
Monday, April 28, 2003
Show all reviews by Tommy

Ratings

Tommy: 9.5/10

Members: 10/10 - Average of 1 ratings.



Member ratings

Profile pictureDark Lord

Rating: 10/10
A true masterpiece.... · Read more ·

This article has been shown 8254 times. Go to the complete list.



RevelationZ Comments


Comment by Ulrick (Anonymous) - Tuesday, April 29, 2003
amazing!! we almost agree on this one!! :-)


Comment by MW (Anonymous) - Tuesday, April 29, 2003
One of the greatest metal-albums!


Comment by Mads (Anonymous) - Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Yes Yes Yes... this album is brillient and kicks ass...
Mads Erdland Aanum


Comment by Ulrick (Anonymous) - Tuesday, April 29, 2003
If you should rate it Mads, what would you say?


Comment by Mads (Anonymous) - Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Well I have given my comment under your review a 9 just like you... Sir Ulrick...
Mads Erdland Aanum


Comment by kevtallica (Anonymous) - Thursday, May 1, 2003
come on now, how cna this not be a 10? Perfect album. And is Roy Z. just not the most under-rated person in the heavy metal community? Anything he has touched is pure genius. I have heard all of his metal stuff and haven't heard anything bad. Helloween-The Dark Ride, Halford-Crucible, Bruce Dickinson-AoB, Chemical Wedding,Rob Rock-Rage of Creation. Pure hard rock/metal, listening to Rob Rock right now...wow!


Comment by Ulrick (Anonymous) - Thursday, May 1, 2003
You're right. Roy deserves more credit than he actually gets.


Comment by MIGS (Anonymous) - Monday, May 5, 2003
Great production,i must say!!!
I think is very important to say that Black sabbath is the source of inspiration for Roy Z.

I agree with the 9,5.....but to me the greatest Dickinson record is for sure "Chemical wedding"...


Comment by Mads J. (Anonymous) - Thursday, February 5, 2004
Yeah, with Accident Bruce has created one of the strongest Heavy Metal albums of the 90's. Songs like Darkside of Aquarius, Starchildren and Road To Hell are instant faves once listening to the album, but also the intriguing title-track and the atmospheric Man Of Sorrows needs to be mentioned...excellent songs.

In my opinion, opposed to you Tommy, the only problem with this album is the production. I've never liked the boring and quite undramatic sound that is on (almost) all the albums Roy Z. has produced. In my humble opinion this guy should stick to his guitar...But again, still a great album, though it could have been better...9/10

Great review!


Comment by Tommy (Member) - Thursday, February 5, 2004
Profile picture

View Profile


Comments: 74
Ratings: 31
Hey Mads J., and thanks for the kind words. Yes I guess we see the sound quality rather differently.
I simply love Roy'z flair for making a thick and powerful sound that nevertheless stays very focussed. His work on the marvellous and ultra dark The Chemical Wedding is some of the best ever in my opinion, that's got to be one of the heaviest guitar productions of all time.
We can discuss this more at the end of the month :)

Tommy
RevelationZ Magazine

Posted by Tommy
Thursday, February 5, 2004

Comment by nihilist (Anonymous) - Friday, February 6, 2004
Yes,agree on everything you write,I also like "Omega" a lot,album is pure masterpiece 10/10...but "Chemical wedding" is 11/10 :)


Comment by lars aanum (Anonymous) - Friday, February 6, 2004
it´s not skunkworks :-)


Comment by Alberto (Anonymous) - Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Agree with the general comments about a great album, in my opinion with the Chemical Wedding (i like this one a little bit more) 2 of the best albums in the last 10 years in the classic metal genre, quite ahead of those from Iron Maiden during the same period of time.
As some people had said, Roy Z deserves much more credit than he has ever gotten. And i would point our B.Dickinson as the best voice and most representative in Metal (after the God, Halford)


Comment by Reaper (Anonymous) - Sunday, May 16, 2004
Wonderful album. Prefer Chemical Wedding, but only just.


Comment by dusk8 (Anonymous) - Friday, June 4, 2004
This album is fantastic!
I also think Freak is under-rated


Comment by jumblee (Anonymous) - Friday, June 10, 2005
B+


Comment by Blue (Anonymous) - Sunday, December 10, 2006
Trully awesome album.


Review by Dark Lord (Member) - Friday, August 21, 2009
Profile picture

View Profile


Comments: 33
Ratings: 89
A true masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10

Posted by Dark Lord
Friday, August 21, 2009










Review by Tommy
None

Released by
Raw Power - 1997

Tracklisting
1. Freak
2. Toltec 7 Arrival
3. Starchildren
4. Taking The Queen
5. Darkside Of Aquarius
6. Road To Hell
7. Man Of Sorrows
8. Accident Of Birth
9. The Magician
10. Welcome To The Pit
11. Omega
12. Arc Of Space


Style
Heavy Metal

Related links
Visit the band page

Bruce Dickinson - Official Website

Other articles
Balls To Picasso - (Ulrick)

Accident Of Birth - (Ulrick)

Live at Wacken Open Air 2002 - (Ulrick)

Tyranny Of Souls - (Tommy)



Z supported shopping






Ratings
1 - Horrifying
2 - Terrible
3 - Bad
4 - Below average
5 - Average
6 - Good
7 - Very good
8 - Outstanding
9 - Genius
10 - Masterpiece
666 - Unrated

More details...


Daily Spotlight
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
CoverThis record won't change the world!This record won't be a future classic like "Appetite for Destruction" and "Use your Il....
Read full review















Retro Reviews

(Stuart)
Queen - A Night At The Opera
CoverSince I'm normally the go-to guy for the heavier end of the metal spectrum on RevelationZ, I thought I would branch out and review something a little different. And quite frankly you wont....
Read full review






(Michael)
Night Ranger - Midnight Madness
CoverPersonally I wasn't too fond of this record when it came out, because I wasn't into AOR. However, one had to recognize there was something unique about Night Ranger, which justifies this record to be ....
Read full review








Archive
 · Albums of the month
 · Retro Reviews
































Back to the top - © 2002-2011 RevelationZ Magazine - Back to the top