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Rating: I want to go out on a limb, I know I will probably exaggerate, I will make mistakes, but I have to do it: "Skunkworks" is one of the most interesting albums in Dickinson's solo career. It's not a stance on my part, but I want to emphasize with all my heart that one cannot go against such a work.
"Skunkworks" was not born as a simple album, but as a real project, involving Alex Dickson on guitar, Chris Dale on bass, and the Italian Alessandro Elena on drums (it’s no coincidence that Bruce composed a B-side titled "I'm In A Band With An Italian Drummer"). The former Iron Maiden vocalist wanted to try to infuse a sound to his band that completely cut ties with his musical past: songs of minimal duration; solos that are not a moment of Dickson's virtuosity, but an integral part of the structure of the individual pieces; lyrics reduced to a few lines. It was clear and obvious that all the Maiden fans wouldn't like it, making "Skunkworks" a commercial flop. But certainly, sales do not determine the quality of a good album. As happened with "Chameleon" by Helloween, we are faced with an album to listen to again and to reevaluate.
With this album, Dickinson seems to blend in a very personal mix of Metal and Grunge/Indie, making this work one of the most original of his solo career. It starts with one of the lighter songs on the album, "Space Race", almost a foretaste for the following tracks: "Back From The Edge" throws us into the fray immediately, with guitars alternating to create a beautiful stereo effect and giving more suggestion to the song; "Inertia" is instead direct, angry, a real slap in the face; "Faith" is certainly the most hard rock-oriented song, with a biting riff and a simple solo that perfectly fits the soul of the song. "Solar Confinement" is wonderful, in my opinion the best song on the record: unfortunately, we hit the first stopping point with "Dreamstate" and "I Will Not Accept The Truth", probably the least original and brilliant of Dickinson's entire work. Don't worry: "Inside The Machine", "Headswitch", and "Meltdown" make us once again understand why this album is worthy of praise! Fast, unexpected, adrenaline-filled: these seem to be the main ingredients for the conception of the songs on “Skunkworks.” Concluding our journey are "Octavia", a very catchy semi-ballad, the powerful "Innerspace" and "Strange Death In Paradise", which carries with it some echoes of the vocalist's past, and turns out to be one of the most articulated songs on the album.
Grab the CD. Put it in the stereo or your Walkman. Press play and enjoy it again, keeping in mind that this is not the usual Bruce, that this is not "The Chemical Wedding", nor "Accident Of Birth", that this is not the usual Heavy Metal album with a sound similar to the Maiden: this is the first and last work of "Skunkworks", a project born and died in 1996. We listeners killed it. Long live Skunkworks.
Tracklist and Lyrics
03 Inertia (03:03)
These are the pictures, these are the feelings from the frontline
Living in silence, feeling the deafness like heavy smoke
Smiling with strangers, counting the days like a spring coiled up inside
Welcome to your future, welcome to your book of lies
Fingers crawl through pages, nothing changes
Living here...
Inertia � no wish to move at all
Inertia � everthing�s a stone wall
Inertia � history lets you die
A ragged pile of silent accusers, smell the blood of strangers here
No eyes, no ears, no smell, no taste, the mouth of the maggot is full of this place
Murdered conscience, the pressure is crushing heads, like paper lanterns now
Unbreakable grip, a dead hand driving us forward to the end
Kicking through the traces, a thousand years from now...
Inertia � no wish to think at all
Inertia � everthing�s a stone wall
Inertia � history lets you die
Inertia � no wish to move at all
Inertia � everthing�s a stone wall
Inertia � history lets you die
06 Dreamstate (03:49)
Well you bred me
Well you fed me
Well you made me what I am
Sometihng for nothing
Good for nothing
well...
It's a dreamstate, a dreamstate
To kill me with kindness you'll just have to wait
You say I'm nothing
You say I'm nothing
Never gonna be something well then
that's the life for me
your expectations
your reservation
aw, c'mon please...
It's a dreamstate, a dreamstate
You bought into the vision so you don't have to wait
A dreamstate of bliss
A dreamstate of bliss
A dreamstate...
Now I'm standing up here before the judge
Juries got their head where the sun don't shine
everybody's lying on my case
they're lying on me
lying on me...
lying on me...
lying on my case
Eyes above me, eyes above me
Never realised there was someone
Else in here
No resolution
And no conclusion
Do I believe?
In a dreamstate, a dreamstate...
You fell for it sucker, you fell for the bait
A dreamstate of bliss
A dreamstate of bliss
A dreamstate
09 Headswitch (02:14)
What would induce you to swear your allegiance to God, tonight?
Joined at the hip to a million-volt switch of the light � alright
You want to find out, what the planet�s about
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky...
Your eyes are black as they see the red ball of the sun,
and they're blind
Dribbling with come as the volts start to arc through your mind
Cruel, but it's kind
Like father, like son, chop off the head and the body lives on
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky...
Like father, like son, chop off the head and the body lives on
Heaven that made you has screwed you and laughed
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky...
10 Meltdown (04:34)
Hey, you wait, cringing in the dark, you create what you always fear
A puppet of hatred, dishing out poison
You use me for bait, your begging bowl of lies,
chain letters of sniveling compromise
I can smell the difference, your truth and your fiction, you and your
Twisted convictions
Were you my friend when I belonged?
Were you my friend when I was strong?
Were you my friend when I was weak?
Were you my friend when I was crawling, calling...out of my head?
Cold, like your blood, the snake is always cool
When things get tough, you slither on the ground
You cover up your tracks when I'm around
It's over now my friend, your dog has had its day
It's payback time for what you had to say
You're stuck with the life you made,
Stuck with the plans you made
Stuck with everything you are
Were you my friend when I belonged?
Were you my friend when I was strong?
Were you my friend when I was weak?
Were you my friend when I was crawling, calling...out of my head?
Everything's gonna happen now, everything's gonna happen now
Everything's gonna happen now, everything's gonna happen now
Were you my friend when I belonged?
Were you my friend when I was strong?
Were you my friend when I was weak?
Were you my friend when I was crawling, calling...out of my head?
Crawling, calling, out of my head
Crawling, calling, out of my head
12 Innerspace (03:32)
I see the scars of action all writhing 'round your face
Too much inactivity and home�s a lonely place
Throw away your beauty, �cos you know that it won't last
Throw away your present, you've been living in the pas
Come on, take a trip with me
Across the bridge of lunacy
Fire up some beast and ride the skywaves
I've thrown away my images, they're all so distant now
Discovery was a stranger then, welcome to my house
Whatever demons torture me, I love them like a friend
Nothing lasts forever but the certainty of change
I'd rather move around and be, than figure out life and what it means
Fire up some beast and ride the skywaves
Don't wanna waste my time on you, if you can't travel this way too
Fire up some beast, we'll ride the skywaves
And when the fireball�s work is done
and we are part of the nuclear one
The whole damn thing begins again
Our glory days have just begun
A fiery sideslip, then we're gone
I'll see ya monday morning
Anyway, I'm coming back
Anyway, I'm coming back
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