Review CD Review - Bruce Dickinson - The Mandrake Project

album review

TageRyche

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BRUCE DICKINSON
The Mandrake Project
BMG - 2024

The Mandrake Project, the seventh solo album from Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, has taken a long and winding road with me since it was originally released back in March.

While I'm a fan of both his solo work and Iron Maiden, the first couple of songs that got released as videos to coincide with the album's release left we feeling that something was missing. I can't quite explain what, but for whatever reason, the songs didn't quite do it for me.

That didn't stop me from buying the album when it came out though. However, it took me quite a while before I even started listening to it. And that turned out to be more than a bit of a detriment for my own musical enjoyment.

Maybe I was distracted or time has changed my ability to get into the album, but as I started listening to The Mandrake Project this time around, I was getting into it...A LOT!

Working with producer Roy Z (who co-wrote 7 of the album's 10 cuts as well as playing bass and guitar on some of the tracks), Dickinson has fashioned a dark and heavy album that has a conceptual theme driven home by a variety of songwriting styles. Accompanying the album is a comic book miniseries (sold separately) whose full story is billed as "a dark, adult story of power, abuse and a struggle for identity, set against the backdrop of scientific and occult genius." (PS: I have the first issue of the comic series.)

The opening line for the first song "Afterglow of Ragnarok" really sets the stage for what is to come on the album in full. The line "I am your very soul, the one you do not know" hums with dark story potential and the song itself doesn't disappoint. It's got a magnificently heavy vibe to the music and when you factor in Dickinson's forthright vocal performance, the song just POPS!

The thing I like about a clever turn of phrase in the lyrical content in songs like "Many Doors to Hell" is just how unexpected it is that any particular line stands out in your mind, even though you should be expecting it at this point in Dickinson's career. I mean, how can you not love the line "My fingers turn the pages of the book of life that's yet to come"? In the song's main lyrical passages, the music does have an uptempo drive to it but at the same time, the almost cagey way Dickinson delivers the lyrics gives the song a feeling of not quite having cut loose just yet. Of course, in the song's chorus, the vocal gets louder, faster and more intense (with a nice little hook to make said chorus stand out). Over the second half of the song, it becomes more of a flat out and fiery rocker.

There was a video made for the song "Rain on the Graves". And when I saw it, I think the way the vocals were done were the reason for me not quite getting into it at that time. Now that I've had time to really sit with the song, Dickinson's performance here is actually something I find myself enjoying. It is just a step above being a straightforward spoken word style in the main passages. Like I said, at first I didn't "get" it, but now I love the rhythmic feel that develops in the performance. The chorus features more of a traditional hard and heavy musical score and straight up singing but what made this song end up being enjoyable to me was discovering just how much I missed out on the vocals the first time around.

Try as I might, even after all this time, I'm still not sure I particularly enjoy the song "Resurrection Men" all that much. Musically, the song has sections where the pacing reminds you of being at a gallop on horseback, with a midsection that's more of a stomping rock pace to break things up a bit. But I guess I just didn't really get into the song's lyrical content. And while the "Air Raid Siren" of Dickinson's vocals were on full display, it still seemed to me at least, that there were stretches where it was a bit too overwrought in the performance.

I know, I know...who am I to criticize that kind of thing when I can't carry a tune in a bucket, right? But this is my review and that's what I thought so we'll all just have to live with it.

For "Fingers in the Wounds", the music just bursts out of the speaker as the song starts but it quickly drops into a much slower groove for the first verse of the lyrics. There's a corresponding rise in tempo and intensity for the song's chorus but the rise and fall nature of the song's music works wonderfully with the overall performance.

It's funny that I am a huge fan of the Iron Maiden song "If Eternity Should Fail", and yet it took me a minute to realize where the song "Eternity Has Failed" had come from when I heard it through that first spin of The Mandrake Project album. With a slightly different title and some changed music and lyrics, the song does become it's own new beast but I'll be damned if I didn't love this version just as much as the Maiden track too. Gus G. makes a guest guitar solo appearance on the song as well.

The rhythm section has a brief moment in the spotlight opening up the song "Mistress of Mercy". But that brief moment quickly gives way to a more hard hitting heavy and fast tempo fueled by plenty of guitar licks and riffs. It's a pretty straightforward metal track but man does it really resonate throughout the track.

As much as I love every bit of metal pyrotechnics that Bruce Dickinson has been involved with over these many years since I became a fan of both him and Iron Maiden, I have a soft spot for the softer material that he has done at the same time. And that comes shining through ever so brightly once again on the song "Face in the Mirror". It's much slower than pretty much all of the other material on The Mandrake Project. The delivery is "softer" and you've got an incredible vocal from Dickinson. There's a slight uptick in tempo during the chorus but the overall, the song is focused and in that slower moving groove start to finish. And it's a pretty damn good song!

"Shadows of the Gods" starts in that same kind of slow style, establishing a kind of atmospheric tone to the track. Well, for the first section anyway. As the song progresses, it develops a bit more of a harder edge before finally breaking out into a full-on rocker as the song moves headlong towards its encompassing end. I also liked the way the vocals had an added edgy growl during the more metallic portion of the track.

The Mandrake Project closes with a nearly 10-minute epic entitled "Sonata (Immortal Beloved)". With the song alternating between a mid and up tempo musical styles, I found myself enjoying the drawn out dark vibe the song conjured up in my mind.

While my first impression of the album (based on two songs) was, shall we say less than charitable, it is a good thing I waited for a good long while before digging into the album in full. That extra time allowed me to really sit inside the music and suddenly there it was right in front of me! Yes, The Mandrake Project is a darkly compelling album with nearly every song having the ability to hit home with you as Bruce Dickinson's passion project finally comes to both life and light...showing everyone that sheer artistry continues to run through his veins and metal fans are all the more entertained because of this is one hell of an album!

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