optisailor2002 Ever since the discovery of Iron Maiden, they have been my personal favourite band of all time. However, 1994-1998 marked some of my least favourite years of the band, not only with the departure of guitarist Adrian Smith (which resulted in the delayed listening to No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark), but also of the iconic voice of the band, Bruce Dickinson. The years without Bruce Dickinson saw the band release the disappointing The X Factor and Virtual XI. Fortunately, the same period of time saw Bruce Dickinson releasing some of his strongest solo materials, in particular The Chemical Wedding.

Unlike the increasing progressive and overtly dark direction that Maiden had been taking over the years, The Chemical Wedding sees Bruce Dickinson presenting some good old heavy metal without all that desperate efforts in sounding different. The album starts off strongly with King in Crimson, and Bruce Dickinson's vocals are immediately recognisable, and unlike the raspy style that he attempts on No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark, his vocal quality here is markedly smoother and more fluid, certainly sounding better than the strained attempt at sounding aggressive. Songs like Gates of Urizen are perfect for displaying the vocal prowess of Bruce Dickinson, and the reason why he remains one of my favourite vocalists becomes self-explanatory. The presence of fellow Maiden member, guitarist Adrian Smith is also significant, with the guitar solos that are unleashed extremely familiar, giving fans of these dark years of Maiden something that they can finally identify with. Add to that the often duelling guitar solos between Adrian and Roy Z, with each displaying their unique playing styles, makes for one hell of a fun and dynamic listen.

Bruce Dickinson also proves his abilities as a songwriter on the album, with the music sufficiently bringing out the dark feelings with an equally dark album concept that lies beneath the album, and penning music that suits the various emotions of the various songs. For example, the title track Chemical Wedding has a somewhat sad and melancholic melody to it, fitting to the lyrics on the song, while Killing Floor has a respective aggressive sound to it, and it is on this track where Bruce Dickinson attempts a pseudo-growl, adding to the fierceness to the song. There are also epic tracks such as Book of Thel and closing track, The Alchemist, with each running for more than 8 minutes long, and Book of Thel being the personal favourite track, especially with the drum fills in the middle of the track, and the epic feel of the song through the numerous transitions present throughout. The usage of keyboards on the track also helps in building and maintaining that tension in the air. The Alchemist sees a short reprise of the title track Chemical Wedding towards the end, and is the perfect close to this epic journey.

Lyrics-buffs who have found the epic lyrical concepts that Maiden albums often have nothing to worry about here as well, with The Chemical Wedding containing perhaps some of the darkest lyrics that Bruce Dickinson has ever penned, making the reading of the lyrics an outstanding journey in itself. The only minor complaint here are the slight nu-metal moments on Machine Men, that kinda spoil the mood a little. Overall, The Chemical Wedding is an album that more than makes up for the Maiden years and albums without Bruce Dickinson, and is perhaps even superior to most material that Maiden has put out to date.

Originally written for http://www.heavymetaltribune.com/

friso Bruce Dickinson - Skunkworks (1996)

This is a lonely album in the Bruce Dickinson discography; it's style is quite unique. No cheesy hard rock (like on the debut), no mixed bags like Balls to Picasso and yet no semi-trash metal like it's two successors. Skunkworks focuses on effective song-writing with traditional heavy metal arrangements and a slightly experimental mind-set. All songs are relatively short, but most of them are really catchy.

This album has two kinds of songs. Space Race, Back from the Edge, Inertia, Faith, Solar Confinement, Inside the Machine, Meltdown, Octavia and Innerspace are all great melodic songs that have memorable moments. Most of them are up-tempo, but all are melodic and powerful. Bruce's vocals are brilliant and all songs have some instrumental parts and a sufficient (but often simple) guitar solo.

The other kind of songs are Dreamstate, I Will Not Accept the Truth and Headswitch. All have a very distinctive (negative) atmosphere but fail to get my full attention. Headswitch might appeal to some, because it's a chaotic up-tempo and psychedelic song.

The ending track Strange Death in Paradise is a low paced ending track with a strong ending section. A good ending.

Conclusion. This album is mainly attractive for it's good song-writing and I think it's easily underrated. Memorable stuff. Four stars.

arcane-beautiful Perfection really.

After a few shifty moments, Bruce really just looked at his previous albums, flirting in trad metal, avante garde metal, hard rock...this, a more progressive and heavier release really saw him match up to something that was compatible with Maidens back catalogue.

With concepts relating to William Blake poems, occult and some pretty interesting tales.

Musically, the album is flawless, with both Roy Z and Adrian Smith giving amazing performances. Bruce's vocals are also a change from his rhaspy period into the more operatic high tenor tone we all know and love.

The album to me is one of my favourites of all time, If im to be honest. I can listen to this album, and never tire of it.

1. King In Crimson - Amazing start. Kick ass song and great chorus. I also wonder, is their any sexual innuendo in the song. 10/10

2. Chemical Wedding - Beautiful arrangment and melodies. Great slower moment. 10/10

3. The Tower - Great lyrics and amazing melodies. The middle section does kick some serious arse. 10/10

4. Killing Floor - When Bruce screams Satan, you really feel an evil urge in your soul. Great arrangment and kick ass song. 10/10

5. Book Of Thel - The most proggiest song on the album. Great lyrics and some interesting images conjured forth. 10/10

6. Gates Of Urizen - Great melodic chorus and interesting slow moment in a quite metal based album. 10/10

7. Jerusalem - An odd take on the classic English anthem. Its pretty interesting though. 10/10

8. Trumpets Of Jericho - What a thumping riff. Great song, epic and great chorus. 10/10

9. Machine Men - I don't like this song that much, but to be honest, its still pretty good. I think it has some stupid lyrics really. 8/10

10. The Alechmist - Great arrangment and I like the returning theme from the title track. 10/10

CONCLUSION: I think this album deserves alot more recognition. I reccomend it from the bottom of my heart

Pekka After the remarkable lack of success and subsequent dissolvement of the Skunkworks band, Bruce Dickinson contemplated giving up music altogether, but when Roy Z suggested making a good old heavy metal record, he thought what the hell, let's do it even though nobody will probably care. He also asked his former Maiden mate Adrian Smith to play on a couple of tracks, but he ended up playing on all of them and becoming a permanent member of his solo band, which once again consisted of the Tribe of Gypsies, with whom he had recorded the Balls to Picasso album.

While his last two solo works were quite unfocused efforts with varying quality, everything about Accident of Birth tells that this time Dickinson and his pals knew what they were doing. Metal is the name of the game, and this time it's heavy and melodic all the way through, except for the couple of ballady type songs, which in good Bruce D solo tradition shine as the definite highlights of the album. But while the highs of this album are somewhat as high as on for example Balls to Picasso, the general quality of the other tracks is considerably higher.

Freak opens the album with power, and followed by a short synth-flavored interlude Starchildren continues the high quality onslaught. The calmer but just as powerful Taking the Queen leads to Darkside of Aquarius, one of the biggest masterpieces of Bruce Dickinson's solo career. Immensely atmospheric and heavy, led by a wonderful bass pattern and crowned with mysterious lyrics, this is one of the overlooked pieces of gold that Dickinson produced while being away from Maiden. Road to Hell is one of his most Maiden-like solo tracks, and that brings forth a problem. This song begs for the patented Nicko McBrain ride-cymbal beat, but not wanting to emphasize the Maidenness of the track, Dave Ingraham plays a sort of an upside down version of it, making the track very ungroovy. Other than that he does a first class job on this album as well as the others he's done with Dickinson. The title track of the album is one of the finest, and heaviest Bruce solo tracks as well, but the latter half of the album is dominated by the three gentler acoustic-based songs, Man of Sorrows, Omega, which evolves to a great mini-epic, and especially the gorgeous Arc of Space, perhaps the finest ballad of his solo career.

On this album Bruce Dickinson realized what he was good at - heavy pieces of traditional metal and atmospheric ballads. After the commercial and arguable artistic failure of Skunkworks, Accident of Birth was a great return to form. Or not a return really, as this was the first completely good and balanced Bruce Dickinson solo effort. Very recommended.

Pekka After Bruce Dickinson's Balls to Picasso backing band The Tribe of Gypsies found a record deal on their own, he was forced to find new people to work with. A young guitarist called Alex Dickson became his new songwriting partner, and completing the line-up were bassist Chris Dale and the Italian drummer Alessandro Elena. The four of them called themselves Skunkworks, but when they had their album in the can, the record company of course insisted that it be released under the familiar Dickinson name to help sales.

At this point in his career Bruce Dickinson hadn't yet formed a recognizable face as a solo artist, his first album being plain hard rock, and the second a more metallic effort which also included his softest and weirded recorded moments. So now, the third album and the third sidekick brings along the third style. Skunkworks is Dickinson's attempt at capturing the alternative rock and metal spirit, with forays into a stoner kind of vibe. A couple of chords, a fragment of melody - if they're good then it's good to go.

Tracks like Faith, one of the highlights, could come from Balls to Picasso, and it's the most melodic numbers like Solar Confinement, Back from the Edge and Inside the Machine that I find most enjoyable, the first two especially being a forgotten Bruce classics. But then after the first five excellent tracks, the opener Space Race perhaps excluded, the band slows down for Dreamstate and I Will Not Accept the Truth, which can not hold interest in the same way, which goes for Headswitch as well, a full blown stoner rocker with a nice riff but nothing else. Interesting as an experiment, though. Innerspace is another quality track at the end of the album, but the closer Strange Death in Paradise is another less enchanting slow paced track, but luckily it grows to make a fitting ending to the album.

Usually I'm more of a fan of the slower numbers, but on this album it almost goes the faster the better. Some good stuff of the more familiar kind, and some experiments that didn't take off quite as well. A nice album worth listening to, but by no means essential.