Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project – 2024

The Mandrake Project is the seventh solo album by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson. It has been all over social media for several months now. Or so it seems. And I guess it’s as much anticipated as Mick Mars’s solo album The Other Side of Mars. I haven’t really thought anything about the project so far. It seems like a publicity stunt to release a long-awaited solo album at this time. But of course, I wanted to hear it. I wanted to hear it as soon as it was available.

So, now it has been released. What is worth the wait and all the publicity on social media? Was it as good as you should expect after such PR? No, I don’t think so. I have a problem with the initial track. It sounds like Bruce Dickinson is using some kind of distortion on his voice. That is a big no-no for me. Very few songs benefit from making the vocals sound worse. I don’t like the production very much either. The sound is way too dark and the bass is overwhelming. I wouldn’t mind so much if it were clearer but it’s more or less a mess I think.

Complicated

Furthermore, the melodies are either so complicated (or boring) that I don’t ‘get’ them. Bruce is showcasing his singing abilities and they’re good, great even. But there’s no hooks in the songs. Possibly one or two of them have interesting guitar parts but that’s it. Not until the closing few songs on The Mandrake Project do I get something that I find really worth listening to. It’s a shame really.

The total length of The Mandrake Project clocks in i just under an hour and there are 10 songs. Some are quite long. So, I guess you should label it as some kind of progressive rock at the end of the day. It’s not Metal really even though I did place it under that category as well as Hardrock. it is pretty hard some of the time though so there might be part metal in there after all. Bruce Dickinson is involved in writing all the songs. A few tracks are co-written with Iron Maiden colleagues Steve Harris and on one occasion Adrian Smith. And Roger Ramirez is credited on a few songs as well.

At the end of the day, I’m disappointed. it might not be the worst solo effort from Bruce Dickinson but certainly not worth the wait from the previous album Tyranny of Souls from 2005.