Tyranny Of Souls
reviewed by Prodigal
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take on this album
1. Mars Within (intro......)
As all of todays metal albums seem to have an intro, why should Bruce be any different?......this one is very dark and spooky, a good indication of what is to follow
2. Abduction
Excellent start to the album, a nice and pacy Maiden style track with some really short'n'heavy rapid fire machine-gun style drums/riffs and some blistering solos from Mr Z..... great and mighty chorus from Mr D.
3.Soul Intruders
Wow!........what a brilliant and heavy intro. This really bounces long....with some really excellent guitar work here - and some soaring vocals from the Master.......and with a really crushing ending - makes this one of the standout tracks of the album.
4.Kill Devil Hill
This is a wonderful track, great lyrics "so we are breathing our dreams, like the Icarus of old" What makes this a real standout track is the lovely and cool, mostly acoustic section at the end...beautiful and haunting. Why can't Maiden do tracks like this....??
5.Navigate The Seas Of The Sun
Best track on the album by far - mostly acoustic - with a tremendous performance by Bruce,one of his best ever in my opinion. Not much else to say except this is musical perfection.....
6.River Of No Return
Another bouncy and pleasing track with some lovely melodies and a really brilliant solo from Roy Z......nice keyboards from Mr Mistheria here!
7.The Power Of The Sun
Not much to say about this fast paced track - it mostly keeps up the quality of this album with really great solos and typical Bruce vocal gymnastics......especially the weird intro!
8. Devil On A Hog
Fabulous title to this interesting and very cool hard rocker. If I didn't know better I would say this is about Bruce's departure from Maiden: "I used to sit at Gods (Steve?) right hand, but I quit that show to do my one night stands" Perhaps I'm just seeing things!!
9.BeliEvil
Another great title! A REALLY spooky and dark track........with some really heavy and powerful drums - along with some lovely lyrics "Lava streams of molten flesh."......The carcass stirs it will not die"........ Slipknot, Slayer - eat your hearts out!!
10.Tyranny Of Souls
I much prefer albums to have their title tracks at the end 'cos you know it's going to be quality...And this one certainly is. Really agressive and powerful in style.....great angry vocals from Bruce and some brilliantly inventive solos from the Z man
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Very difficult to compare with Chemical Wedding 'cos that album is pretty much the best 90's metal album done by anybody in my opinion and CERTAINLY destroys everything Maiden did since SSOASS. It does miss Adrian's unique style I feel and also, that "The Power of The Sun" isn't up to the quality of the other tracks.
Very Minor quibbles though, and had Bruce not done Chemical Wedding I would say this is is best ever solo effort. As it is, i reckon it's his second best!!
Highlights:
Kill Devil Hill, Navigate The Seas Of The Sun, Abduction, Devil On A Hog
Prodigals Star rating:
9.9 / 10
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