Album Review: Bruce Dickinson - The Mandrake Project

It's been nineteen years since Bruce Dickinson last released a solo album, and I've spent nearly all of that time being the contrarian who says the 'trilogy' he ended with are better than anything Iron Maiden has ever done. Yes, I do say that honestly. The music Bruce and Roy Z were making was heavier than Iron Maiden, as intellectual as Iron Maiden, and less prone to the wordy fits of non-melody Steve Harris sometimes gets caught up in. They boiled down everything that is great about classic heavy metal, updated it with a thick and modern sound, and just wrote some great songs.

Can they do it again all these years later? That's why an album like this is interesting even before we start listening to it. Capturing that magic is probably an impossible task, so what they need to do is find a new entry point to greatness. Bruce's songs have mostly (I'll never understand what is so great about "Empire Of The Clouds" other than it dragging on forever) been the best material on the Iron Maiden records, but writing two or three songs every five years is different than seeing through an entire album. That's especially true when the album is a larger conceptual work with a whole graphic novel to go along with it. Bruce is taking on a task with a high risk of failure.

The album opens with "Afterglow Of Ragnarok", which is a bridge between the past and the present. Roy's riffs have a deep and thick tone, heavy with the chunk and groove that makes Bruce's solo music sound so different from Iron Maiden. It's a mid-paced thumper that lets Bruce build the drama into the sturdy chorus. As a song that could have fit right on "Tyranny Of Souls", it's a fine opener, until the small dose of harsh vocals at the end sounds like they're trying too hard.

"Rain On The Graves" is the counterpoint to that track, easily the worst song on any of these Bruce/Roy collaborations. The spoken word verses are cringe-worthy, and then the chorus barely escapes the old Iron Maiden repetition. It's a weak composition all the way around, and truly sounds to me like a song that was written with the comic book in mind, which is not how an album should be made. It sort of works in the context of the music video, where Bruce is hamming it up like a silent horror movie from the early days of cinema, but that doesn't come across when you're listening to the music by itself. What you have is a legendary vocalist talking over a couple of mediocre riffs. It's a massive misstep.

Another misstep is the production. This has happened with other older artists, and it leaves me wondering if all the years spent on stage and in the studio has damaged their hearing more than anyone wants to admit. This record doesn't sound very good, to be honest. Compared to the previous records Bruce and Roy have made together, this one sounds smaller, sort of hollow, and a bit lo-fi. There's less crunch to the heavy guitars, there's no depth at all to the mix, and occasionally Bruce's voice gets far too much echo put on it. It sounds like a record that was recorded and mixed by people who are missing frequencies from their hearing, and it makes me sad. Two decades later, records should be sounding even better. And yet, when "Fingers In The Wound" tries to have keys behind the guitars, there's no room at all for them, and the sound is a flat mess of noise I can't decipher.

Bruce also seems to have learned the wrong lesson from his main gig. This album ends with three long, slow ballads in a row. Each one overstays its welcome a bit for how much melody they contain, but the three of them in succession means this record is friction that laughs at the conservation of momentum. It's the same effect "Senjutsu" suffered, with it's three ten-minute epics stacked at the end of the double record. This album would certainly end on a better note if it didn't drag out the farewell for so long.

I feel like I need to grade this record on a curve. Since it is following up three of my favorite metal records of all time, holding it to that standard feels unfair. There are no songs here like "Book Of Thel", "Darkside Of Aquarius", or "Tyranny Of Souls", and I don't think I was expecting there to be. That said, the songs have a way of sneaking up on you, where even the slow recitation of "Face In The Mirror" eventually winds up capturing your attention. The good songs here are quite good, but they have to pull up the first bit of sagging bloat Bruce and Roy have given to us.

Taken entirely on its own without context, "The Mandrake Project" is actually a good record that has grown on me a fair bit since my first listen. It may not be a year-end favorite kind of record, but the songs get better every time I revisit them. The problem is that records don't exist without context, and when I listen to "The Mandrake Project", I can't help but think about how terrible the first impression it made was, which only highlighted the fact this is not those records I have two decades of attachment to. Knowing I had to warm up to it, which again I will remind you I have, means I will always remember that initial disappointment.

I'm the person who has been wanting this solo record more than more Iron Maiden albums, and if I'm telling you this album is not the easiest thing to swallow, take that as a warning. Anytime I think about the word 'mandrake' when it comes to music, Edguy's record is going to remain the default.