Bruce Dickinson
Tattoed Millionaire

Our Bruce is at an important moment in his career: he has sung on 5 grand albums of the best band in the world of the current heavy metal (Iron Maiden, of course) that will make the history of hard rock, has done immense and significant tours with the same band, and has now become the leader of the Irons. Who would have ever thought he would want to make a solo album? And yet...

Invited to write a song for the soundtrack of the film "Nightmare On Elm Street 5, The Dream Child," he got into it, and, together with the new Irons guitarist Janick Gers, bassist Andy Carr and drummer Fabio Del Rio, he wrote and recorded his solo debut in just a few days. The song, "Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter", written in just ten minutes by Bruce himself, is in the bonus CD in the limited edition. It will later become a single for the subsequent Irons album, "No Prayer For The Dying."

This album, almost written by chance and for fun, does not claim to want to enter the history of rock, but it's a good hard rock album, not exactly heavy metal, in which the musicians have fun and give a good demonstration of their skills. It starts with "Son Of A Gun", dolorous and intense, with a furious and expressive chorus. It's one of the best on the album and among the best overall of Bruce's early albums and compared to the singer's latest works, it holds up well, but the fact remains that they are slightly different genres. The second track is "Tattooed Millionaire" which, even in the video, targets American bands that claim to play out of passion but do so only for profit. Bruce's is a cry of disdain for those who tarnish the world of rock by making only commercial albums. The song itself is a good hard rock, willingly replayed live for many years, which also had decent success as a single. Then comes "Born In '58", which starts slow and acoustic and hardens in the chorus, where Bruce talks about his childhood.

"Hell On Wheels" talks about a fellatio while driving a car, not bad, but not exciting, like the next "Gipsy Road" which turns out a bit boring. "Dive! Dive! Dive!" on the other hand, is more lively and sparkling; it will give the name to the live recorded in the short tour following the album ("Dive! Dive! Live"). "All The Young Dudes" (another song chosen as a single), is a cover of a song written by David Bowie and recorded by Mott the Hoople. Bruce chose it because it was a beautiful song without cover versions, and he did well because it is very pleasant to listen to; slow and calm, and almost sweet, it is one of the best on the album. "Lickin' the Gun" is neither here nor there, "Zulu Lulu" is equally lively but more catchy. It closes with "No Lies", which adds nothing to the album and presents the usual hard rock already heard in the rest of the album. A special mention goes to the bonus disc of the expanded version: besides the original version of "Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter", there is the wonderful "Darkness Be My Friend", entirely acoustic, sad, and melancholic. Some live songs are also interesting; among them stands out "Riding With The Angels", beautiful hard rock recorded by Bruce with his first band, Samson, and a cover, both in studio and live, of AC/DC's "Sin City".

In conclusion, it's a nice record, nothing shocking or excessively exciting, but worthy of a listen for all fans of the Irons, Bruce, and hard rock.