BRUCE DICKINSON — Accident of Birth (review)

BRUCE DICKINSON — Accident of Birth album cover Album · 1997 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
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.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

I, the Destroyer Black Metal
SVARTFJELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 7 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 7 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 7 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 7 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 7 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed