Customer Reviews

Chemical Wedding

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Despite the fact that I'd been a serious Maiden fan for a couple years now, I only recently got around to getting some of Bruce's solo work. It took quite a few listens for me to fully appreciate this album, but I think this is the best of his last 3 solo albums, and it stands up pretty well to the best IM albums. (It's not as good, I don't think, but it gets pretty damn close.) Though the sound is somewhat modernized, it's still decidedly Maiden-ish, making it a fairly fresh and extremely well executed twist on the classic metal sound. Certainly, all Maiden fans need to get this album.

The most surprising thing about this album is the guitar tone. It is *severely* down tuned, sounds like all the way down to A, to me. Now, I'm opposed to down tuning in general, but this seems like a fairly odd thing to do for a classic/power metal album. And maybe it would work better with a higher tuning, as it is pretty odd sounding at first with the rumblingly modern, bass-heavy guitar attack. But, after you get used to it it works fine, and provides an added darkness and intensity to the sound.

Of the 10 tracks, there a 2 decidedly weaker ones: 'Killing Floor' and 'Gates of Urizen'. The former is a rocker hurt by its rather grating chorus, while the latter is a somewhat balladish, atmospheric piece that fails to really intrigue me all that much. As usual, neither of these tracks are *bad* precisely, but they don't add too much. Everything else is excellent, however. It opens with 'King in Crimson' a fine counterpart to any classic IM opening tracks, with a severely in your face chorus and a fierce vocal performance from Bruce. (Who is brilliant throughout the album, as usual) The title tracks is a ballad, which nicely utilizes the low tuning to create a brooding, dark sound, and has a great, soaring chorus. (The kinda thing you expect from Bruce) 'The Tower' is a more overtly IM-esque piece, a bit faster and less dark than the prior tracks, and a nice running bass/dual lead middle break. Not the best thing here, but a very solid album track. 'Book of Thel' is excellent, a long, epic track, but with perhaps the best, most energetic chorus yet heard on the album. 'Jerusalem' is a fine ballad. Personally, I actually like to hear a metal ballad every now and then that doesn't bow to the metallic nature of the band, and eventually transform into a regular metal song. Certainly, this track has some distorted guitarwork, but it never loses the focus on the lyrical vocal melodies. 'Trumpets of Jericho' is probably my favorite track. It's just another semi-epic rocker, executed perfectly with another stunning, soaring chorus, and plenty of thundering riffs. 'Machine Men' is another straight ahead rocker. Again, nothing you haven't heard before, but with the powerful chorus that makes it totally worthwhile. 'The Alchemist' slows things down a bit, as it's an atmosphere-laden, semi-ballad, with Bruce's most affecting vocal performance on the album. It also contains a little reprise of the 'Chemical Wedding' chorus, which concludes the album nicely.

Yeah, I'm done. Any fan of traditional heavy metal has to have this.

Wow! If there was ever an award for the best under-the-radar Metal album, Bruce's The Chemical Wedding would be a serious contender for such a prize.

The Chemical Wedding is a straight-forward Metal album, but it does have a little bit of a Nu-metal element because of the obvious down tuning of the guitars, especially in the rhythm section. Nontheless, its still a great album.

King in Crimson kicks off the album with it's heavy riffs and Bruce's siren vocals, then Roy Z and Adrian Smith come in and give us a very Maiden-esque pair of solos. The pace is then slowed down for the title track. The Chemical Wedding is a nice mid-tempo tune with a very catchy chorus and some good guitar licks. Then comes The Tower, which opens with a neat rhythm part with only the bass and drums, but then the twin guitars kick in leading up to the very catchy chorus. The Tower is one of my favorite tracks from the album. Then the album hits a bump with Killing Floor, which isn't necesarily a bad track, but it just doesn't do much for me largely in part because of it's chorus. However, the Book of Thel comes next and more than compensates for the Killing Floor. The song starts out with a nice keyboard section with a nice little guitar lead, but then a vicious riff kicks in and off we go. Book of Thel is easily the best track in the album. Then comes Gates of Urizen, which isn't a standout track, but it's still an enjoyable ballad-ish tune with some very good vocals from Bruce and some nice guitar solos. Then comes Jerusalem, which opens up with a nice acoustic introduction, but then builds up to a nice rocker with quite possibly the best guitar solos in the album. Jerusalem also showcases Bruce's great vocal range, as he starts out the song on a rather low note, but then shifts up a gear the second time around the chorus. So after two ballad-ish songs, a fast and heavy tune is thrown in: Trumpets of Jericho, which is a very rhythm-heavy song with a memorable chorus. Then comes Machine Men, which has a riff-driven intro that sounds very Maiden-esque (and actually reminds me a bit of the riff in Flash of the Blade from Maiden's Powerslave). Anyhow, Machine Men is a good track that is followed by The Alchemist, which is one of the highlights of the album. The Alchemist has a bit of a spooky intro and the song is transformed into a mid-rocker with one of the best choruses in the album. The Alchemist's ending is also instilled with the chorus from The Chemical Wedding, which ties the album together very neatly. Then come the bonus tracks which have some good material. I especially like Return of the King, which has a nice uplifting mood and a nice happy-chorus that reminds me a little of the chorus on Rainmaker from Maiden's Dance of Death.

To sum it up; The Chemical Wedding is a great album that I highly recommend for any fan of metal, or just good music in general. If you're a Maiden fan, you definetaly need this in your collection. If you haven't done so yet, purchase this album!

After leaving Iron Maiden after their 1993 tour for their terrible 1992 album "Fear of the Dark" (which came after 1990's equally bad "No Prayer for the Dying"), vocalist Bruce Dickinson would release a couple of really good solo CD's entitled "Balls to Picasso" and "Skunkworks" which were met with mixed reviews.

Most people/critics scoffed at the fact that Bruce was actually trying to do something different than just straight ahead metal and more in the realm of what was going on in the early 90's music wise with the gruge explosion of Seattle.

But on his next CD "Accident of Birth", this release would see Bruce returning to the world of metal music and it was met with much acclaim by people as a return to form for Bruce.

His last solo CD in 1998 before returning to Iron Maiden in 1999 was "The Chemical Wedding" and like the new liner notes in this remastered & expanded edition of this fantastic CD states, nobody was expecting this album to be as awe inspiring as it turned out to be.

Basically, this album is what Maiden should have been doing throughout most of the 90's instead of the dreck that they would release near the end of Bruce's tenure as singer and throughout their terrible 2 albums with Blaze Bailey before thankfully getting Bruce back behind the mic.

Over the years, all of Bruce's 90's solo stuff had gone out of prints and Sanctuary records has seen fit to remaster, release and expand all 4 of his 90's solo offerings so that people who haven't heard or were aware of his solo stuff can now see what Bruce was up to while he was out of Maiden.

The Chemical Wedding has a bit of a slower feel than Accident of Birth but that slower feel benefits the album's darker and more foreboding feel. Not to say that there are some awesome up tempo tracks on here (like the awesome track Tower), but this is a more brooding album and it benefits from that approach immensely.

Producer/guitarist Roy Z. and ex-Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith even strung their guitars with bass strings on a few tracks to give the songs an even deeper feel.

From start to finish, this album is majestic and a wonder to behold for fans of classic metal or just great music in general. Bruce's voice is awesome as usual and his band on this CD (which was the same lineup he had on Accident of Birth) is smoking throughout.

Maybe it was the high quality of this album which caused the troubled Iron Maiden to come crawling back to Bruce.

This expanded edition really doesn't sound all that different despite being "remastered", but the original release sounded great to begin with.

The real reason why this particular re-release is warranted is due to the inclusion of 3 bonus tracks in the fantastic "Return of the King" (which was only found on the Japanese release of The Chemical Wedding). The other 2 tracks (Real World & Confeos) are from the CD single for The Killing Floor. "Real World" has some great music despite a bit of a repetitive chorus and "Confeos" is sort of a joke (but cool) track in which the boys are clearly having their tongue stuck in their cheek.

Along with the other 3 reissues, the new liner notes are excellent and they also designate who did what guitar solo where.

I've always thought that all of Bruce's solo material was great stuff and in some ways better than what Maiden has been doing for quite some time.

It's a great thing that these 4 out of print CD's have been given a new lease on life for people to discover without having to pay hefty prices getting the original Cd's off of Ebay.

Any fan of metal or just great music in general would do wise to pick this up as it's easily (so far) his crowning achievment of his 6 solo Cd's so far.

I really like this album because its very heavy and yet melodic. This album doesn't contain any of the Blues influenced songs that Bruce Dickinson has included in albums like Balls to Picasso. The Chemical Wedding is an album that every Heavy/Power Metal fan would enjoy greatly. This album is filled with extremely fantastic guitar riffs and solos by Adrian Smith and Roy Z. The lyrics are intense and interstingly written. The rhymes are exquisite and its the closest any band, including Iron Maiden, can get to the Classics of Old - Somewhere in Time and Powerslave. Like these two albums, enjoying "The Chemical Wedding" requires understanding the lyrics and the various elegant stories behind it, of Alchemy, Poetry and Prophecy.

I do not intend this to be a long review. Here's what I'll say: If you are a Maiden fan ... This will make you forget Maiden (at least for a while). If you are a Dickinson fan, this will make you a fanatic. If you love metal....buy this CD.

The Chemical Wedding is an epic masterpiece of metal...start to finish.

If you don't know where to start with Bruce, start here. This is a milestone in heavy metal. All the songs here rock, except for maybe the bonus tracks on the remastered edition, but even then they are still quite good. As far as what tracks are "good", don't pay attention to what anyone writes here. The tracks have many layers and you will find the songs you like and the songs that aren't as "intriguing" to you. Many of the songs I play over and over are songs others don't think are the best tracks... and you will make your own choices. If you have all of Maiden and you need a fix and you don't have this disc... then BUY IT NOW.

While Iron Maiden had faded off into irrelevancy, Bruce Dickinson was as popular as ever, for while he didn't have any hit songs, he was leading the charge of metal into the 21st Century. Some people have said that "Accident of Birth" and "Chemical Wedding" should count as the Iron Maiden albums bridging the gap between "Fear of the Dark" and "Brave New World," but really this is different than Iron Maiden. Both are melodic, but here the songs are more riff-based, and there's stronger musicianship, especially in the guitar solos. A thousand reviewers have already mentioned that Adrian Smith and Roy Z put bass string on their guitars, but I wanted to mention that fact because even though the guitars are heavier, they don't sound like seven-strings for whatever reason. This gives the riffing a unique sound and is one of many unique things about this album.

1. King In Crimson 10/10- Perfect way to start out the album, especially with the uber-heavy guitar part in the beginning; gets the listener ready and lets him/her (okay, "him") know what to expect. Nothing groundbreaking, but still one of my favorites.
2. Chemical Wedding 10/10- Were it released about ten years ago, would have been a big hit in England (I mean it's better than some of those songs that Maiden releaed in the early 90's). I like the chorus and guitar solos especially.
3. The Tower 10/10- This song has the best chorus in the entire album. Adrian Smith's guitar parts remind me somewhat of Maiden, but for me it actually helps the song.
4. Killing Floor 7.5/10- Not really a bad song, but it just doesn't add anything to the album. The weak chorus is what really does the song in.
5. Book of Thel 10/10- Longest song on the album, but doesn't really feel like an epic. Fantastic guitar riff that shows up throughout most of the song. Good guitar interlude and I like the use of piano in the song.
6. Gates of Urizen 7/10- Once again, the weak chorus is what really does this song in.
7. Jerusalem 10/10- Even though this isn't even seven minutes long I consider it the epic of the album. And oh what an epic it is. Quiet beginning lead up to a memorable chorus ("Let it Rain!") and has a moving guitar solo in the middle. I would consider this to be Dickinson's greatest song in his solo career.
8. Trumpets of Jericho 9/10- Weird vocal parts and riff in the middle, but after I got used to it I can say that I now enjoy it alot. Great riffing throughout.
9. Machine Men 8/10- Anyone that enjoyed the fantasy lyrics and melodies of Iron Maiden will love this one. Probably the closest that Bruce gets to old-school Iron Maiden on the entire album.
10. The Alchemist 10/10- I like the chorus and the guitar work as well as Dickinson's singing is great, but the best part of the song is how in the end it switches to the chorus of "Chemical Wedding." Doing this sort of ties the album together. An effective song to end the album with.

As for the bonus songs, "Return of the King" was pretty good, but I didn't care for the two others so much. There isn't really that much of a difference between this and the original recording, so if you already own this, don't feel the need to go out and buy the remaster, but if you like I was and interested because of all the good reviews, buy this right away. I think this is Bruce Dickinson's best solo album, and I would go so far as to say my favorite Maiden related album of all time.

Yes, I know its a bold statement, but it is fact an honest statement on what I believe is simply the most incredibly powerful metal album I have ever heard, and one that I think bridged that amorphous gap between the metal of old, and today's much more aggressive metal. The vocals are incredible, the songwriting is simply unmatchable, and the hardness, and raw edge of the album is unmistakable. Moreover, almost all of the songs are unforgettable, a lyrical juggernaut, with incredible riffs and choruses.

When I first purchased the album years over 10 years ago, everyone I knew who for whom I played the album was simply mesmerized (I always got the same question, Who the heck was that? When I told them it was Bruce formerly, at the time, of IM, people were knocked out of their seats- I remember this vividly- people marching out of my house to go buy it) I have never owned an album that I have listened to more than I did Chemical Wedding. It was in my cd player for well over one year,maybe two, and I listen to it regularly still. If I have only one complaint about it, it is that I would like to drums to have been given more prominence (but that is as minor a complaint as one can make)

I only recently realized that it got remastered with some new songs to boot (which are all fantastic). And Although I am a huge fan of IM, I do not think that anything they have done, or that even Bruce has done can equal the pure emotional journey that is "The Chemical Wedding". As far as the quality of the songs, the title track, King in Crimson, The Tower, Book of Thel, Jerusalem, Machine Men and The Alchemist are in my opinion flawless masterpieces. They are equal parts ageless metal anthems, as they are complex rock masterpieces, and frankly I have no idea how Bruce even pulled it off. I was back then, and continue to be now, amazed at the greatest of this CD. The remaining songs are each very good in their own right, and I especially like Killing Floor's monster riffs. The spoken poetry in the album lends a depth to it that gives it a feel that you have gone on a journney once the album reaches the end. To be honest, you actually have. Simply amazing and incomparable to anything else I have ever owned metal wise. I sincerely hope that anyone who reads this will purchase it.

Never in my life have I been an Iron Maiden fan...but when a friend of mine introduced me to this album by lead singer Bruce Dickenson, I was lulled into a cacophony of metal riffs and still powerful vocals that have no doubt resonated through years of so-so metal bands and influnced hundreds of bands. I have been told numerous stories of Iron Maiden's unwaivering devotion to their fans, and in light of the Metallica divorce from their fan base and all the other sellout bands, this kind of loyalty deserves true respect, and after hearing this album in it's entirity and hearing the stories, I say rock on Iron Maiden and Bruce Dickenson and I feel that I missed out on years of not being a fan of this prolific metal band.

Bruce's best solo effort ever! This is a must-have for any fan of the Master of Heavy Metal. Roy "Z" Ramirez' iconic Aztlan-Rock chops bring a new depth to an already formidable rock presence. Alchemy themes correspond gracefully to this organic overture of driving rhythms and piercing Bruce Dickinson vocals. "The Chemical Wedding" is unlike anything else, in it's unique themes and pristine lyrical/musical performances.