Tyranny of Souls

Bruce Dickinson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 24, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sanctuary Records
• ASIN: B00099HFKA
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,084 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Kerrang!

"The glorious sound of a heavy metal master in full flight."

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."

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go on....be ABDUCTED by Tyranny of Souls....haw haw haw, July 15, 2005

By 

Suetonius Paullinus "Paul, Music Critic" (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tyranny of Souls (Audio CD)

I must apologise for that title. But in all seriousness this is an album that can't be missed. As we'd expect from Bruce's great solo record (the utterly timeless Chemical Wedding, brilliant Accident of Birth being the two predecessors to this album), Tyranny of Souls continues Bruce's solo successes.

Its not easy for a fan in Australia to get hold of these albums. Solo Bruce needs to be imported from overseas; the record shops are often unwilling to do it, and if they will they say 'Oh, it will be 6 to 8 weeks'. In short, Amazon is a lifesaver for any fan of non-mainstream music. I only just got my copy but it was well worth the wait, this is a great record

I'll tell you an interesting anecdote. I showed the album to my younger brother after saying 'just got Bruce Dickinson's latest solo album'. He said 'when did he find the time to do that?' I then thought about that and realised just how much Bruce has been doing since 1997's Accident of Birth. Think about it, we had AOB in 1997, Chemical Wedding in 1998, then Bruce went back to Maiden and recorded Brave New World (2000), did a MASSIVE tour, had some time off, recorded Dance of Death (2003), had another big tour, and then after all this he's managed to give us another solo album in 2005. That's about 5 albums in 7 years, plus touring. Not too shabby by any standard; compares VERY well to other artists of Bruce's age/generation. MEtallica, for example, having released load/reload (essentially the same material recorded mostly at the same time - they just 'polished' up the reload material after the load tour) in 1995/6, then did NOTHING for about 7 years when they released the dismal St Anger. (Live Albums (S&M) and Cover Albums (Garage Inc) don't count. So it took Metallica some 7 years to release a RUBBISH album, but Bruce manages to release 5 great to excellent albums in that time.

Given that Bruce has been VERY busy, has the quality suffered on Tyranny of Souls? Absolutely NOT, you wouldn't even know he'd been so busy that he had to record with Roy Z whenever he could at small intervals. Not only this, but apparently he really hurt his back and so could only sing for about 10 minutes and then had to lie down.

Now we turn to the album itself. Bruce doesn't pull any punches with this effort; he said himself he was worried about living up to the Chemical Wedding. While Tyranny of Souls doesn't equal or better that effort, (and who would reasonably expect it to?) it is a worthy successor, full of great music from Bruce.

Mars Within is a short intro that leads into the best track - Abduction. This is a blazing song with awesome lyrics and singing! Not to mention guitar work from Roy. Then comes 'soul intruders', another excellent track. We then get served the wonderful 'Kill Devil Hill'. A weird name, but a great track with an outro reminiscent of 'The Alchemist' from Chemical Wedding. We then get served a more laid back, calmer acoustic track 'Navigate the Seas of the Sun'. This is a great mood change and IMHO it is a beautiful song that showcases Bruce's excellent voice in a different style to his singing elsewhere.

Some have criticised the latter half of the album. I personally can find little fault with it. River of No Return has a great guitar riff and it works well. Power of the Sun is another excellent track. Devil on a Hog is a more 80's rocker in tempo at least, but it has some great vocals by Bruce that I can't fault. I love the vocal melody. 'You won't see my face no more, my machine has left the floor'

Believil comes next. THis is a very sombre track, I find it even a little scary...Bruce manages to sound almost evil when he sings it. It's probably my least favourite song on the CD but that's not to say it isn't still great. Finally the wonderful title track closes the album, with the first four lines stolen right from MacBeth (not a bad thing - MacBeth ROCKS).

Bruce doesn't sound tired or creatively spent, on the contrary he is positively inspired! This is an album DEFINITELY worth getting for your collection. If you like solo Bruce, (and you must or you wouldn't be here) then you HAVE to get this album.

While I do miss Adrian Smith, personally I don't think the album is much the worse without him. PErhaps he could have added an element that would have allowed it to equal the Chemical Wedding. PErhaps he wouldn't have made much difference. At any rate, the album is great notwithstanding.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Didn't you come this way before? A million years ago..., May 27, 2005

By 

The Bret Man "The Bret Man" (Riverside, IA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tyranny of Souls (Audio CD)

Have no fear kids, Bruce is back! I've been a BIG fan of Bruce's music since "Accident Of Birth" came out, and this album is again another pleaser with heavy riffs, great hooks, and powerful, passionate vocals throughout. The opening track, "Mars Within" is like a dark fanfare,(sounds a lot like the beginning of "The Alchemist" from Chemical), setting the mood for this opus with ethereal-yet-heavy keys & guitar and segues nicely into "Abduction". A fast & heavy track. The rest of the record varies in mood from heavy and dark to inspired and uplifting, and back again for the final tracks, "Believil", which reminds me of Dio a bit, and the last track, "A Tyranny Of Souls", which is classic Bruce all the way.

I'm giving this record 4 stars only because Bruce has done some better work, (Accident & Chemical), but this is a VERY strong 4 stars, and in my opinion far outshines other modern metal. A thoughtful, inspired, and very musical album from Bruce & Roy Z. A great sonic exploration into the dark. Enjoy....hehehehehe.........

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, but not quite as good as the last 2., June 14, 2005

By 

Jason "jrd" (Junction City, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tyranny of Souls (Audio CD)

A Bruce Dickinson album is always cause for celebration and Tyranny of Souls is certainly no exception. It is a terrific album and is a joy to listen to. It is not quite as good as Accident of Birth and Chemical Wedding which are about as perfect as heavy metal gets and are worth 5 stars. There are a few songs here that are a tad weaker than what one usually expects from Bruce, but overall this album is fantastic. Devil on A Hog is pretty poppy for Bruce's standards but is a lot of fun and a really good song. Abduction rocks. The final song, Tyranny of Souls, is just fantastic, and worth the price of the CD alone. It goes in so many directions and is so heavy, crazy, and beautiful all at once. One should also note Bruce's vocals on this album. They have not sounded better since Powerslave. I can only imagine what this album would have sounded like with the ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC ADRIAN SMITH. I would not doubt that his presence would have ratcheted it up another star as Adrian brings quality and credibility to anything he does. Anyway, it is still a really good album, highly recommended, and certain to please any Bruce fan.