Tyranny of Souls

Tyranny of Souls

Track Listings

1. Mars Within (Intro)

2. Abduction

3. Soul Intruders

4. Kill Devil Hill

5. Navigate The Seas Of The Sun

6. River Of No Return

7. Power Of The Sun

8. Devil On A Hog

9. Believil

10. A Tyranny Of Souls

Editorial Reviews
Revolver Magazine
the singing is just fu*$ing amazing. …the subtle emphases, the burst of color, the actorly way with a lyric.

Product Description
In the seven years since his last solo release, Bruce Dickinson made a hugely successful return to Iron Maiden, recording two acclaimed albums and touring the globe several times.

Tyranny Of Souls sees him renewing his collaboration with guitarist/producer Roy Z. Z has worked with Bruce since 1994's Balls To Picasso album and most recently produced Judas Priest's reunion album.

A staggeringly powerful album, Tyranny Of Souls takes the listener on an adventurous journey, beginning in punishing fashion with apocalyptic drumming and fiery guitar work before "Navigate The Seas Of The Sun" supplies what Bruce calls "a little chill-out moment."

From there it builds to a spectacular conclusion with the ultra-heavy title track.

The album's piece de resistance is its title track. At turns soothingly melodic and staggeringly powerful, it can only be described as a juggernaut. "The opening part was also cribbed from the three witches in Macbeth. Basically, it's what the whole track ended up being about - the supernatural manipulating people from behind their backs."

Lyrically, the album dips in and out of sci-fi and aviation-related areas. There are no prizes for guessing what the song "Abduction" is about, but "Soul Intruders" is a distant cousin, Bruce wondering aloud whether "there are loose spirits floating around the universe. They can zap into our bodies and inhabit us, a bit like a computer virus, and we don't even know they're there. When we die, they just attach themselves to somebody else."

Tyranny of Souls

Tyranny of Souls,Bruce Dickinson,Sanctuary Records,Hard Rock,Heavy Metal,Pop,Rock

Average customer rating:

Worst of the 3

great as always

A Tour de Force of Classic Metal

A great followup to "The Chemical Wedding"

As good as what he has done with Iron Maiden

Tyranny of Souls
Bruce Dickinson
Manufacturer: Sanctuary Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Chemical Wedding

Tattooed Millionaire

Accident of Birth

A Matter Of Life And Death

Balls to Picasso

ASIN: B00099HFKA
Release Date: 2005-05-24

Tracks:

Mars Within (Intro)
Abduction
Soul Intruders
Kill Devil Hill
Navigate The Seas Of The Sun
River Of No Return
Power Of The Sun
Devil On A Hog
Believil
A Tyranny Of Souls

Album Description

In the seven years since his last solo release, Bruce Dickinson made a hugely successful return to Iron Maiden, recording two acclaimed albums and touring the globe several times.

From there it builds to a spectacular conclusion with the ultra-heavy title track.

Customer Reviews:

Worst of the 3.......2007-07-25

Definitely the worst of the 3, Accident of Birth being #1, Chemical Wedding #2. Not much to speak real fondly of on this one. Buy another Maiden instead!

great as always.......2007-06-24

just another great album from bruce.underrated like always but why change now?the vocals are incredible the music is great,hope he does more himself and maiden are only getting even better,if thats possible! buy it if you dont it is surely your loss.

A Tour de Force of Classic Metal.......2007-04-25

First off, I love the Bruce/ Roy Z. combination. This may have been recorded in Karloffornia, but it is British metal at its best. It is progressive but never wimpy. It is dynamic, explosive, and awash with a strange atmosphere from the intro "Mars Within." Newer metal bands and producers could learn a lot about dynamics and atmosphere from this album. As others have stated, TOS continues the same vein from Chemical and Accident but perhaps less cohesive. I don't agree that it suffers from Adrian Smith's absence though; check out the solos from "Soul Intruder" or the title track. Roy can riff with Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, or anyone. This CD displays precision coexisting with pile-driving power.

Some tracks are closer to Iron Maiden, "Power of the Sun" and "River of No Return" but I like the energy and passion of this CD better than recent Maiden releases. That's not so much a put-down of Maiden; hearing Bruce's solo work emphasizes what's best about Maiden. I agree with the reviewers who like this production better than Maiden's. I implore Steve Harris to listen to and embrace this sound.

"Abduction" and the title tracks are my favorite cuts from this album, but most of it is captivating and hypnotic. This compares favorably with anything Bruce has done before and is well worth the 7 year wait. TOS is somewhat uneven, so I give it 4 1/2 stars in relation to the rest of the Bruce/Maiden catalog, but the inimitable vocals definitely rate a 5.

P.S. "Believil" does sound like Dio.

A great followup to "The Chemical Wedding".......2006-07-25

For those who were dissapointed with Iron Maiden's lackluster production on the "Dance of Death" album get Bruce's latest solo album Tyranny of Souls now!

Like its predecessor studio album "The Chemical Wedding", Tyranny of Souls is a great sounding CD with great songs and some very heavy guitars courtesy of Roy Z and co.

Some fans have commented that Adrian Smith is missing from this album, but i disagree.. if you know your Maiden, you know Dave Murray is the main soloist and Steve Harris the main songwriter, with Adrian providing some solos here and there.

The main ingredients that make this album great are Roy Z.'s modern, heavy guitar sounds, top notch production skills and songwriting and Bruce's voice.

Steve Harris and the rest of Iron Maiden should take a cue from the clean sound and heavy guitars on this album. A must for any Maiden fan!

As good as what he has done with Iron Maiden.......2006-06-28

While not in the league with a Piece of Mind, this recording is just as heavy, but not as progressive as other Maiden recordings, like Number of the Beast.

Think a bit more simplified with all the quality songwriting, performance and production.

Average customer rating:

Bruce At His Best

Tyranny of Souls
Bruce Dickinson
Manufacturer: Sanctuary
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock & Metal | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0009J8IMO
Release Date: 2005-06-27

Tracks:

Mars Within (Intro)
Abduction
Soul Intruders
Kill Devil Hills
Navigate the Seas of the Sun
River of No Return
Power of the Sun
Devil on a Hog
Believil
Tyranny of Souls

Album Description

Japanese pressing includes the bonus track 'Eternal'. Bruce has collaborated with guitarist/producer/writer Roy Z in Los Angeles to create this album that is adorned with a 15th century depiction of hell by Hans Hemling and continues this theme to explore dark apocalyptic themes delving into science, theology and his love of flight, with thought provoking, intelligent and menacing lyrics that are sure to leave the listener's mind unsettled. Heavy riff-laden songs and explosive virtuoso guitar work from Roy joined with the definitive Dickinson soaring vocals make this ground breaking album a tour de force of modern Metal. Victor. 2005.

Album Details

Includes the Bonus Track "Eternal".

Customer Reviews:

Bruce At His Best.......2006-06-22

Bruce Dickinson has had a pretty consistant decade. Ever since his Accident Of Birth solo CD, he's done nothing but truly excellent heavy metal music. Tyranny Of Souls, however is unique among them: It is Dickinson's first solo album since rejoining Iron Maiden in 1999. Would anything be different this time?

Reassuringly, Tyranny Of Souls is not a departure from the music Bruce made on his last solo album, The Chemical Wedding. Tyranny uses that album's sound as its starting point, but actually grows and progresses as you listen to it.

Mars Within is an instrumental bit that sets up the first song, Abduction. It's one of Bruce's heaviest, but then he takes it even heavier with Soul Intruders. This is metal just as awesome as Bruce's best work.

Then we get a little anthemic with Kill Devil Hill, easily one of the best melodies Bruce has ever written. Navigate The Seas Of The Sun is a Maiden-esque power ballad, it could have fit right in with anything on Dance Of Death.

At this point we realize that lyrically, Bruce Dickinson is well versed in science fiction. If you're into Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov as well as Iron Maiden, trust me, you're in heaven.

When I tally up the songs on this album, I get a score something like this:

Instrumental fluff - 1 track
Killer songs - 8 tracks
Boring songs - 1 track
Bad songs - 1 track

You do the math yourself: This is a pretty strong album.

Incidentally, the two songs that I don't consider "killer" are the bonus track Eternal, and the dumb-titled Believil. Eternal is just too slow, and inferior to similar songs on previous albums. Believil is one of those slow dirgey songs that tries to sound modern and fails. I usually snooze through those two.

However, the sheer awesome metal quality of the rest of this album makes it a must-have. For the metal nerds, you'll want to know that it's Roy Z on guitar again, and David Ingraham back on the drums. You can't lose!