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Rating: "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":
- Freak
- Toltec 7 Arrival
- Starchildren
- Taking The Queen
- Darkside Of Aquarius
- Road To Hell
- Man Of Sorrows
- Accident Of Birth
- The Magician
- Welcome To The Pit
- Omega
- Arc Of Space
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Freak (04:15)
He rides the wave, aspiring slave
The prince of darkness plays his games
You’re hypnotized, under velvet skies
He breathes the red wind ’cross your eyes
Who leads you to the dark secret?
Who leads you to the dark secret?
Your life is lost, your soul is damned
But it feels too good to make a stand
Bad is bad, but this is worse
Let judgment come, you love this curse
When you look at man you’re like a god
Swimming in the tide of life
Somersault into the flood
Washes you away
Who leads you to the dark secret?
Who leads you to the dark secret?
Who is your mistress that leads you to the dark secret?
Who is your mistress who leads you to the dark secret?
[spoken:]
Who is your mistress that leads you to the dark secret?
Who is your mistress who leads you to the dark secret?
Who is your mistress that leads you to the dark secret?
Who is your mistress who leads you to the dark secret?
Who leads you to the dark secret?
Who leads you to the dark secret?
Who leads you to the dark secret?
Who leads you to the dark secret?
03 Starchildren (04:17)
I came from nothing before nothing began
Broke the window of existence and became a man
No sympathy for fools, my star is black and burned
I tilt toward the light, I suck your souls into my might
We are starchildren, coming out of nowhere and to nowhere return
Starchildren, a hundred million souls sucked out in one breath
I shiver at the threshold of your waking hour
The knowledge that you seek is my source of power
I live apart from you, but I know the things you do
No angel can save you how?
You don't need a god, coz I'm here now
I am starchildren, coming out of nowhere and to nowhere return
Starchildren, a hundred million souls snuffed out in one breath
Do I fulfill your deepest need for prophecy?
I am the ruler that you seek, so come to me
Come to me
We are starchildren, coming out of nowhere and to nowhere return
Starchildren, a hundred million souls snuffed out in one breath
Starchildren, I'm the ruler of existence in your space and time
Starchildren, to penetrate your future is my only crime
Star...
05 Darkside of Aquarius (06:42)
The first hellrider came, on wings of plenty in the dark
Poured out his poison and he blew away his mark
The fascist from the east is coming, mothers hide your sons
The second hellrider came, from flaming seas and molten sands
Pipers playing Hell's commands
Poured out his poison, with his promises of promised lands
Blackened toungues of lying leaders
Here come the riders as the wheel of kharmas running out of time
Here come the riders as the wheel of kharmas running out of time
The third hellrider came, teaching brothers to kill brother men
And the fourth hellrider waits, on an acid trip for an acid world
Wars of old religious fools and superstitious men
Throw some scary Tarot cards and...
Here come the riders as the wheel of Dharma's running out of time
Here come the riders as the revolution's stepping into line
The dark side of Aquarius has robbed us of our souls and minds
Here come the riders as the wheel of Dharma's running out of time
From the starlit sky, on the silver sea
A lonely silver surfer, comes to push the wheel for me
A lonely silver surfer, comes to push the wheel for me
Gotta move, gotta move, gotta move that wheel right 'round
Gotta move, gotta move, gotta move that wheel right 'round
Gotta move, gotta move, gotta move that wheel around
Gotta push the wheel of Dharma round
Push the wheel of Dharma round
Push the wheel of Dharma round
Push the wheel right round, right now yeah
I've gotta move the wheel of Dharma, gotta move the wheel of Dharma
Gotta move the wheel of Dharma, move that wheel right around
Gotta move the wheel of Dharma, gotta move the wheel of Dharma now
08 Accident of Birth (04:23)
Journey back to the darkside, back into the womb
Back to where the spirits move like vapor from the tomb
The centre of the cyclone blowing out the sun
Break the shackles of your union to the light
I might've had a brother, as I was born they dragged him under
To the other side of twilight, he's waiting for me now
Nativity was lost on me, I didn't ask, I couldn't see
What created me? What and where and how?
Welcome home – it's been too long, we've missed you
Welcome home – we've opened up the gates
Welcome home – to your brothers and sisters
Welcome home – to an accident of birth
Feel our bodies breathing as you try to stop believing
There's nothing you can do about your shadows
You can fight us, you are like us
And your body will betray you
Lay down and die like all the others
Where are the angels and their wings of freedom?
Jesus had his day off when they pulled you through...
Welcome home – it's been too long, we've missed you
Welcome home – we've opened up the gates
Welcome home – to your brothers and sisters
Welcome home – to an accident of birth (to an accident of birth)
Visions growing dim as the daylight fades away
A spinning, twisting black hole, it's your dying day
Welcome home – it's been too long, we've missed you
Welcome home – we've opened up the gates
Welcome home – to your brothers and sisters
Welcome home – to an accident of birth
Welcome home – it's been too long, we've missed you
Welcome home – we've opened up the gates
Welcome home – to your brothers and sisters
Welcome home – to an accident of birth
09 The Magician (03:54)
I am the teacher, come to reach ya
Take the old words back to you
You were lost, but I found you
And it's your choice what to do
I've learned a few things as I've traveled through the years
Through the door of evermore...
I came through fire, came through water
Through the oily serpent's kiss
Climbed the mountain, chased the dragon
Thrown myself in the abyss
Do I make myself familiar to you now?
'Cause I've been around you
And I'm glad I found you...
I am the living flame, and I teach the holy games
Teach the secret of the dance
Throw the future in the runes
Kick the sand in Satan's face
I'll put Jesus in his place
Shaman or priest, it's all the same
The Magician is my name
(woah-oh-oh, oh-oh)
The Magician is my name
(woah-oh-oh, oh-oh)
The Magician is my name
(woah-oh-oh, oh-oh)
The Magician is my name
(oh-oh)
And magic is my game
Now I know you, and you know me
We have secrets we can share
We can build a new tomorrow
From the trash of yesterday
It won't be the last time
And I'm glad I found you...
I am the living flame, and I teach the holy games
Teach the secret of the dance
Throw the future in the runes
Kick the sand in Satan's face
I'll put Jesus in his place
Shaman or priest, it's all the same
The Magician is my name
(woah-oh-oh, oh-oh)
The Magician is my name
(woah-oh-oh, oh-oh)
The Magician is my name
(woah-oh-oh, oh-oh)
The Magician is my name
(woah-oh-oh, oh-oh)
The Magician is my name
10 Welcome to the Pit (04:43)
You come on down to the pit
Come on down to where the vipers spit
I've been waiting for you down here
Cover your eyes with the velvet hands of darkness
Cover your eyes with the velvet hands of darkness
I don't even know your name, you won't even see my face
But you choose to play my games, welcome to the hard place
I'll bring you back from the brink
Are you surprised in every way that you like it?
Are you surprised that you want it?
Cover your lips with the wicked tongue of silence
Cover your lips with the wicked tongue of silence
I don't even know your name, you won't even see my face
But you choose to play my games, welcome to the hard place
Back to back, you ride the snake
You feel it strike, you feel it bite ya...
Cover your eyes with the velvet hands of darkness
Cover your eyes with the wicked tongue of silence
I don't even know your name, you won't even see my face
But you choose to play my games, welcome to the hard place
I don't even know your name, you won't even see my face
But you choose to play my games, welcome to the hard place
I don't even know your name, you won't even see my face
But you choose to play my games,
Now can you feel the hard, the hard... place...
11 Omega (06:23)
The ashes drift away, smoke of our confusion
We turn our frightened faces to each other, say goodbye
Waited for the sign, waited for the moment
Waited for the miracle to arrive, I guess the lied
Look at your future, take a look at your burning sky
Look at your future, look at your burning sky
The others they have gone, who wants to live forever
With nothing left to hold on to the past that we once knew?
We believed in heaven, we believed in angels
With arms of purest white, to hold us, catch us when we fall
Look at your future, take a look at your burning sky
Look at your future, now look at your burning sky
Now it's omega zero day, the red star shines it's last rays,
The sun that gave us life yesterday
Is now the sun that takes our lives away
Take a look at your future, look at your burning sky
Look at your future, look at your burning sky
Now it's omega zero day, the red star shines it's last rays,
The sun that gave us life yesterday
Is now the sun that takes our lives away
Now it's omega zero day, the red star shines it's last rays,
The sun that gave us life yesterday
Is now the sun that takes our lives away
12 Arc of Space (04:18)
There, on a lonely desert hilltop
The pilgrims huddle closer
Waiting for a sign, the coming silver shrine
The Arc Of Space and time
Truth, oh the truth is never clear
Perhaps again next year
Hope lives on, beneath the blazing sun
One day you'll come
In my heart I reach you
In my heart I reach out to you
In my heart I touch the face of god
It's all a dream somehow
(repeat 2 times)
Truth, oh the truth is never clear
Perhaps again next year
The hope lives on, beneath the blazing sun
One day you'll come
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Other reviews
By carloirons
"The sound is aggressive, heavier than the contemporary Irons."
"Among the best songs in Bruce’s entire solo production, it becomes a concert classic where the audience sings along with Bruce the long final tail."
