Bruce Dickinson has always had a flair for the dramatic, whether it's the costumes in Iron Maiden, his love of the macabre, the TV shows about Spontaneous Human Combustion. He's always been theatrical part of Britain's biggest metal band. This is always been obvious of you've listened to any of his solo albums, starting with the two featuring Adrian Smith, Accident Of Birth and The Chemical Wedding (influenced by Aleister Crowley and William Blake) and continuing with Tyranny Of Souls, his last solo record released in 2005. There he was joined by guitarist/producer Roy Z, drummer Dave Moreno and keyboard player Mistheria and now nearly 20 years later Dickinson's latest solo venture, The Mandrake Project sees him reunited with this trio for a multimedia, conceptual record that is swamped in drama and theatricality.
Just 10 tracks tell this story of power abuse and the occult, the detailed filled out by the comic series that will accompany the album, set for 12 quarterly issues. Of course these songs have been in gestation for a long time, Dickinson is a busy man, and like with his first solo record there is a cross over between this exploration craft and the Maiden Mothership. On Tattooed Millionaire he recorded Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter, it was picked up by The Irons, re-recorded and gave them their only number one. On The Mandrake Project there's a song named Eternity Has Failed which is a slightly different (shorter) version of If Eternity Should Fail that appears on 2015's Book Of Souls.
Clearly an album with a long production history behind it, the songs never seem too ott, they all keep reasonably good time, making for an enjoyable if not a little brief listening period. Though Dickinson has said he’s already working on a new record so it could be just the first part of a bigger project. Co-written with Roy Z, first single The Afterglow Of Ragnarok, gallops like a Amon Amarth-like Viking metal, more down-tuned than anything Maiden would do but with some musical similarities, though Bruce’s Air Raid Siren goes into a growl at some points, Many Doors To Hell, is back on familiar territory, though with big hard rock organs>
That flair for the dramatic coming on Rain On The Graves and Western soundtracks are heard on Resurrection Men as Mistress Of Mercy had to be considered to be a Maiden album opener at some point. The Mandrake Project is a welcome return after 20 years to the solo side of Bruce Dickinson, let’s hope the next one doesn’t take as long! 8/10
Blaze Bayley – Circle Of Stone (Self Released)
In recent years, with Absolva doubling as his main tour support and backing band Blaze Bayley has been churning out brilliant solo albums, in between relentless bouts of touring with this band and Wolfsbane, he’s very much in a purple patch but all of that almost came to a screeching halt while touring War Within Me, as Blaze suffered heart attack in 2023, requiring a quadruple bypass. However ‘The Man Who Would Not Die’ is now back in fine fettle with his eighth album under the Blaze Bayley banner (he’s released albums as Blaze too), entitled Circle In Stone, the cover art depicts massive stone totems ala Stonehenge, so perhaps you'd expect some Spinal Tap silliness but no, the 60 year old still has the power and pathos of singers half his age.
Blaze Bayley – Circle Of Stone (Self Released)
In recent years, with Absolva doubling as his main tour support and backing band Blaze Bayley has been churning out brilliant solo albums, in between relentless bouts of touring with this band and Wolfsbane, he’s very much in a purple patch but all of that almost came to a screeching halt while touring War Within Me, as Blaze suffered heart attack in 2023, requiring a quadruple bypass. However ‘The Man Who Would Not Die’ is now back in fine fettle with his eighth album under the Blaze Bayley banner (he’s released albums as Blaze too), entitled Circle In Stone, the cover art depicts massive stone totems ala Stonehenge, so perhaps you'd expect some Spinal Tap silliness but no, the 60 year old still has the power and pathos of singers half his age.
On these twelve tracks we’re treated to more anthemic heavy metal, tinged with some introspection at times (The Broken Man) but mostly delivered with the big boisterous voice of Bayley. Yes bits of it sound like Maiden (Ghost In The Bottle), the Appleton brothers, Chris and Luke, peeling off those gorgeous dual harmonies, but that’s what the public want but just a homage, this is retro styled metal that comes from all over the place, from the blustering hard rock of Wolfsbane (Mind Reader), the more grandiose prog elements brought in on the Infinite Entanglement trilogy (A Day Of Reckoning) and also some thrashy speed metal on the title track which features guest vocals and guitar from Niklas Stalvind of Swedes Wolf, though he pops up a few times. Drummer Martin McNee punishes his kit as Karl Schramm doubles down on the riffs with his bass.
With tracks such as Rage and Absence bringing the heavy metal thunder, a song such as Until We Meet Again is the complete flipside, using acoustic guitars, reminding me of his collaboration with Thomas Zwijsen, though here there are female vocals and violin for some folk balladry to close out Circle Of Stone. Bayley’s ability to tell a story through music is what has endeared him to his loyal fanbase and this set of tracks have been forged by adversity and determination, taking a more emotional route through some self-reflection. 8/10
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