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BRUCE DICKINSON
The Mandrake Project

BMG (2024)
Rating: 8.5/10

It’s crazy to think that Bruce Dickinson’s last solo outing Tyranny Of Souls was released nearly two decades ago, and even crazier that his debut solo album, Tattooed Millionaire, was issued 34 years ago. Damn, time really does fly. The Mandrake Project is the Iron Maiden frontman’s seventh full-length solo record and arguably one of his best when it comes down to production. It’s also a very heavy platter and thankfully far more trim than the last Maiden snoozefest (2021’s Senjutsu).

There’s no denying that Dickinson (alongside Roy Z) knows how to write a good tune and the early stages of this ten-track affair serves up some extremely memorable choruses along with the darkened chugs of album pre-release singles ‘Afterglow Of Ragnarok’ and ‘Rain On The Graves’, both of which boast hefty riffs. Both tracks were a perfect way of teasing fans and enticing them into this well constructed metallic lair, but maybe some wouldn’t be fully prepared for the diversity within.

Bruce has always been adventurous with his solo works and that continues with the almost pop-rock of ‘Many Doors To Hell’, the sombre ballad ‘Face In The Mirror’ and the epic yet sporadically subtle ‘Fingers In The Wounds’. I’m sure there will be listeners craving songs that resemble Iron Maiden and to an extent Dickinson delivers with the colossal ‘Sonata (Immortal Beloved)’ and the gloomy doomier rock of ‘Eternity Has Failed’. As with a lot of Bruce’s work there is always an air of melancholy although that’s probably down to those familiar operatic banshee wails.

As with any Dickinson solo project there isn’t a bad song in sight. In fact, Bruce is as powerful as ever, but it’s also a stark reminder that as Dickinson slowly drifts towards his seventies these type of rock frontmen just don’t come along that often. Savour then such grandiose statements as spaghetti western cum 80s goth rock galloper ‘Resurrection Men’, majestic slow builder ‘Shadow Of The Gods’ and the chunky, and initially almost funky speedster ‘Mistress Of Mercy’.

There are variations aplenty here for another brooding powerhouse of a concept opus that comes accompanied by a vast comic book series. The Mandrake Project sounds dark, dramatic and cinematic and has more in common with Soundgarden than those all too overlong recent Maiden records, and for that I’m thankful. This isn’t just a project that Bruce Dickinson has created, but another world that we are blessed to be part of.

Neil Arnold

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