Bruce Dickinson
Accident Of Birth

THE REVIEW

"Accident Of Birth" was a true bolt from the blue, the classic comeback move that makes you firmly grasp the helm of your vessel again after years of storm.

Let's tell things as they were, in the mid-Nineties, dear Bruce's career seemed to be heading towards a dead end. Having left the Iron Maiden after yet another exhausting tour, the one revolving around "Fear Of The Dark" and the monstrous Monsters of Rock '92 in Reggio Emilia, the most famous Air Raid Siren of heavy metal had the pressing need, after "only" twelve years at Steve Harris’s court, to try new paths.

"Tattooed Millionaire", released in '90, which among others featured the faithful Janick Gers on the six strings, was more of a pastime than anything else, a mere diversion to escape the usual album-tour-album routine with Iron Maiden. It's only with "Balls To Picasso", four years later, that things started to get serious, since Eddie The Head was by then a memory of the past and from that moment on, Bruce's own face would very often appear on the covers. The album, despite the good reviews, did not seem to gain particular interest, and the same fate befell the following "Skunkworks", an attempt to embrace more modern sounds (after all, we were in the full post-grunge and alternative metal era) which wasn't too appreciated despite the good ideas. The Skunkworks, an attempt to start a new band that could align with Dickinson's solo aspirations, had a short life due to divergent views and they preferred to split rather than spoil the relationships too much. At that point, what to do?

Despite the intentions, the search for new sounds far from the classic heavy metal, which had made him one of the standard-bearers of the genre, did not yield the expected results, paradoxically precisely in years when his former partners, Iron Maiden, were experiencing lean seasons and fans were loudly calling for his return.

The solution, the only feasible one, you might say, at this point was to return to the sound that had made him famous and to those stylistic coordinates that had allowed him to express himself at best.

Recalling many of the musicians who had taken part in the second chapter of his solo career, that "Balls To Picasso" of '94, Bruce and the trusty Roy Z, guitarist and leader of the Latin rockers Tribe Of Gypsies, sat together at a table and laid the foundations to restart a career that had frankly offered little satisfaction in recent years. This also needed to consider two not insignificant factors: that tornado called grunge, which years earlier had made heavy metal heavyweights seem like Eighties war relics, had by then transformed into a light breeze, and that an old acquaintance of our Bruce had agreed to collaborate on his new album, namely Mr. Adrian Smith. The arrangements initially foresaw participation in a few tracks, but he would end up playing on the entire album and throughout the tour: not bad as a new acquisition.

The public, tired of a thousand experiments, turned their attention back to sounds closer to classic heavy, in Europe Helloween, Blind Guardian, and Hammerfall were omnipresent at any heavyweight event, and good Bruce Dickinson already had on the launchpad an album that, nearly twenty years after its release, is still remembered as one of his best works ever. Supported by a well-seasoned lineup, plus a pair of axes of absolute caliber, "Accident Of Birth" proved to be, in all probability, the best work Air Raid Siren had done since the magnificent "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son."

"Freak" makes it clear straight away that the experiments of the last albums are just a memory, here there’s space only for heavy metal in its best form. The excellent production, curated by Roy Z himself, highlights musicians in a state of grace, spirited and compact. "Starchildren" confirms the excellent impressions of the previous track, while "Taking The Queen," which after a softer beginning, grows in intensity, shows why Dickinson has always been one of the most appreciated singers in the field. "Darkside Of Aquarius" seems to come out of "Piece Of Mind," while "Road To Hell" and "The Magician," fast and captivating, anticipate some of those tracks that in the 2000s would help to restore artistic virginity to Iron Maiden after not very convincing albums. "Man Of Sorrows," enriched by a heartfelt interpretation and violins and piano, is one of the peaks of the entire album, not incidentally also selected as a single, whereas the concluding "Omega" and "Arc Of Space" show that to make metal, you don't necessarily have to hit the accelerator.

Great care is also given to the lyrics, which tackle the most varied themes, from fantasy to personal stories, as well as in the cover art, drawn by none other than Derek Riggs, the historic illustrator to whom Maiden still owes at least part of their success today.

The album, followed by a great tour, brought Dickinson back to the top, just in time to remind those who had forgotten that the power metal of the time did not spring out of nowhere and there were those who, in a genre directly emanating from the more classic heavy, had helped to forge it in twenty years of honored career. The flattering reviews and excellent public response would pave the way not only for the subsequent, excellent "Chemical Wedding" the following year, which sagaciously reconfirmed in full the team of this album but would also urge a certain Steve Harris (and his managers) to wonder if it wasn't time to renew ties with the runaway Bruce and, while they were at it, with his friend Adrian. For talking about "Chemical Wedding," however, and what would follow, there will surely be other opportunities: for now, let's enjoy this "Accident Of Birth" again and a Bruce Dickinson at his very best.

• Bruce Dickinson, vocals
• Adrian Smith, guitar
• Roy Z, guitar
• Eddie Casillas, bass
• Dave Ingraham, drums

"Accident Of Birth":

1. Freak
2. Toltec 7 Arrival
3. Starchildren
4. Taking The Queen
5. Darkside Of Aquarius
6. Road To Hell
7. Man Of Sorrows
8. Accident Of Birth
9. The Magician
10. Welcome To The Pit
11. Omega
12. Arc Of Space