BRUCE DICKINSON – “Resurrection Men” (2024 BMG CD single)
The Mandrake Project is a dense album. It takes a lot of time to absorb and understand. The concept goes way over my head, but the songs are heavy and the direction is metal. Bruce Dickinson is nothing if not ambitious, and of course that means taking the new album on the road. His live band this time out includes the always reliable Dave Moreno on drums, and Whitenake bassist Tanya O’Callaghan. Bruce has released two singles from the album with exclusive B-sides, and the second is “Resurrection Men”.
“Resurrection Men” is long for a single, at almost six and a half minutes. It is loaded with drama, and the acoustic intro really sets a mood. Then it goes into something more western, like from a Clint Eastwood film, with interesting percussion. That soon subsides and we go full electric. This song lunges all over the place, from slow grinding verses to quiet bass-driven parts, and a powerhouse chorus. Ultimately it’s not really single material, but that’s one thing that makes this release so interesting. It’s also impressive how Bruce continues to sing with such lung power.
Live from Sao Paolo comes “Afterglow of Ragnarok“, the first single from The Mandrake Project. A song about “what happens after the end of the world,” according to Bruce. It is tight, and does not deviate far from the original cut. The live setting is unforgiving, but even without multitracked vocals, Bruce nails it. The stage energy is palpable, and Moreno kills it on drums.
The most exciting track is the very first live version of “Abduction” from Tyranny of Souls. This one absolutely smokes, with breakneck pace, lightning drum fills, and melodic guitar harmonies. A lot of solo Bruce stuff could almost be considered Iron Maiden made modern, louder and more intense. “Abduction” falls into that category. This live version has some really cool guitar solo work, very different from Roy Z’s on the album.
It is truly wonderful to see artists such as Def Leppard, Deep Purple, and Bruce Dickinson releasing physical singles with actual B-sides in 2024. Keep it up.
I never say this, but this time it’s true: Our first weekend at the cottage was absolutely perfect. Without a hitch. Exactly as planned, right down to the last detail. And loaded with new music!
The road trip began at 5:15 on Thursday night, April 25. Traffic was heavy, but not as heavy as the music! (We may need to look for another route out of town next time, as it took us almost half an hour just to escape Kitchener.) I had decided early in the week that the first road album of 2024 had to be Invincible Shield by Judas Priest! I had no doubt it would be one of the best road albums of the year. So confident was I, that I packed up my copy for Friday night’s Grab A Stack of Rock – Top 11 Albums to Play with the Windows Down. And I was right. “Crown of Horns” was the singalong track, though there were no duds. The album comes to a natural close on “Giants in the Sky” which has a classic Priest ending, but it’s not over yet! The bonus tracks give you a little extra road play, with a second ending in “The Lodger”. Brilliant album that kept us energized for the drive.
Priest couldn’t take us the whole way. When the Invincible Shield had ended, we moved onto Bruce Dickinson’s Mandrake Project. I haven’t had the time to absorb it yet, but Jen really enjoyed the album as we pulled down our little dirt road and into the driveway.
Everything was exactly as I left it back in October.
Taking my speakers out of storage, and making myself comfortable on the cool front deck, I chose the first porch album of the season. I didn’t want something as heavy rocking. Nor did I want something mellow and acoustic. This calls for the Arkells!
“We got gas in the tank to go all night,” sang Max Kerman from my porch. I danced away to this perfect evening. Rally Cry is the album I connected with the least last summer, being more political and less personal. This time it hit all the right spots, scratched all the itches, and began the season on the right note.
Jen noticed that I was joking around and more giddy than usual.
“Because I’m happy,” I said. “I feel alive again. This is what I had been waiting for.”
Friday was forecast as a summery, sunny day. We started early by picking up the first steaks of the season at the Beefway. We chose one porterhouse and one ribeye. This is our place to buy meat. There’s nobody better around. We stocked up on fish, pies, bacon and cooking oil. I had duck for lunch, and hot dogs and hamburgers in the evening.
For now, it was time for the main event: the first Grab A Stack of Rock from the cottage! It was a 3 PM afternoon show, and Jex was on board with his Top 11 Road Songs, in contrast to my album picks. Once again, everything went really well! Though Jex was late with work (the only unscripted thing about it), it will go down as one of my favourite shows ever. The roaring fire in the background was something new. I love playing with my visual setting, on Grab A Stack of Rock, at the cottage. Thank you Jex for an amazing start to the year. I hope we can do more, but even if we can’t, I got to do the fireside show that I had hoped for. Scratch that off the list.
The rain began Saturday, but it only got warmer. Another day on the front porch was in order, but first we went into town to see what was new.
We hit up a thrift store. I keep seeing all these guys on Facebook buying everything they can at thrift stores. I don’t know what they do with the CDs afterwards. Do their play their new Trisha Yearwood albums? Do they try and flip them? I found nothing in the gospel and country that they had, except for one signed CD by an unknown artist. The Facebook people would have bought them all; I chose none. I don’t buy for investment and I don’t really need a lot of music “on spec” when I barely have time to enjoy what I own.
Saturday was a weird day. It’s hard to explain exactly what happened, but as the day went on the feeling got more intense. I was having Deja Vu feelings every few minutes. It wasn’t specific memories, just…overall feelings. They were usually centered around people from my childhood, but I don’t know why. I would be cooking steaks in the back yard, and having Deja Vu feelings from grade school, but I was unable to nail down any specific memories. It was just a weird feeling like, “I have done this before,” but unable to identify a specific memory. I just felt like it was childhood. It intensified at dinner time. Perhaps the aromas of the cooking brought me back to Saturday dinners at the table, with steak and corn. Our steaks were perfect.
I mentioned earlier that everything went down without a hitch. That is not entirely true….
The Toronto Maple Leafs shit the bed. We shall not discuss this. It is not a good subject.
Otherwise, everything went perfect. I was starting to feel sad on Sunday morning, as I did the dishes and packed my bags up. Deciding what to bring back home and what to leave behind, I felt sad.
“Not this time,” I said, and I fought it back.
We played Kiss on the way home. Unmasked, Rock and Roll Over, and Asylum. These albums of childhood happiness drove the sadness away, and I woke up Monday morning feeling good.
This year’s first weekend at the cottage was a diametric contrast to 2023, which ended prematurely when I decided to go home early.
2023’s first weekend began with anxiety, as my former co-host was focused only on her solo show, and did not seem to care at all what I was doing. That weekend was not just supposed to be my return to the lake, but also hers. This is where we met (online) and bonded. I could not wait to return and do it again. She couldn’t seem more disinterested. She began stripping online that weekend, and I knew the friendship was all but over. I knew that was a road I could not follow, and I knew she wanted me to, even though she refused to come right out and say it. The writing was on the wall, that cold and rainy weekend. Within seven days, the friendship had ended, as I knew it would. She would never join me at the cottage again, even though we had spent six months planning it.
Not this time.
2024 is off to the right start. Even if Jex can’t do as many summer shows with me this year, we accomplished what we set out to do. An amazing weekend was had. The music we road tested passed the gauntlet, and we are ready to get on with the summer.
BRUCE DICKINSON – “Afterglow of Ragnarok” (2023 BMG 7″ single)
In 2024 we will be graced by a new Bruce Dickinson platter, his first solo album since Tyranny of Souls in 2005. He’s back with Roy Z, and a forthcoming concept album called The Mandrake Project. This single is billed as a “prequel”. It comes with a beautiful, full colour comic book insert, installed in the middle of the gatefold. The story will be fully revealed next year, but this is a project that Bruce has been working on a long long time…
Witness: The B-side “If Eternity Should Fail”, a demo version of a song that Iron Maiden re-recorded on The Book of Souls. It’s not the first time Maiden have lifted a song from Bruce’s solo compositions! He remarks in the liner notes that the song is radically re-imagined on the final Mandrake Project album, but that the keyboards on this demo actually made it to the Maiden version! Bruce on keys, Roy Z on bass and guitar. It’s really not that different at all! The drums are most noticeable. Presumably this is a drum machine. Roy’s bass work is pretty cool too. It introduces the character of Necropolis, who will feature on the album.
The A-side, “Afterglow of Ragnarok”, is promising. Drums thunder, in cavernous hugeness. Downtuned guitars provide a metallic gutpunch, with a riff that is as solid as any in Bruce and Roy’s impressive history. The chorus is another demonstration of power and melody. A Bruce classic, this will be.
Looking forward to The Mandrake Project, we are. Bruce’s solo work has often rivalled Maiden in quality, not to set expectations too high. This single is a positive omen.
BRUCE DICKINSON – “Resurrection Men” (2024 BMG CD single)
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