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Rating: BRUCE IS BACK!
After 7 years of silence, the voice that made the legendary Iron Maiden's fortune returns in better form than ever (just look at what happened when he left them to focus on his solo project...), accompanied by guitarist-producer Roy Z who had already contributed with his technical skill in previous works.
Personally, I felt a bit of Adrian Smith's absence and his style on this album, but I can still say I'm more than satisfied with the work done. Without wanting to make too many comparisons with the previous "The Chemical Wedding," which has already secured its place as one of the best Metal albums overall, and not just of Bruce's solo career, "ToS" presents itself as an epic album but with an occasionally dark atmosphere (and after all, this was what was announced), interspersed with "Navigate the seas of the Sun," a semi-acoustic ballad with a more "relaxed" tone.
Everything I hoped for is here, that is, choruses, heavy riffs (more so than in Maiden) and super-fast solos, not to mention the still -fortunately- high and piercing voice of the Air Raid Siren. In truth, to fully appreciate it, I had to listen to it more than once, unlike the previous album which immediately impressed me, but with this, I certainly do not want to belittle it, but rather to say that perhaps the compositions are less direct and more elaborate.
Quickly going through the 10 tracks present, the second one, "Abduction" (the first one, "Mars Within," is an intro) starts with a gallop and features a catchy melody (in addition, a rather ugly video was made from it in my opinion) as does the third "Soul Intruder"; "Kill Devil Hill" is one of the epic yet dark tracks I mentioned earlier, particularly appreciating its unbound and melancholic ending accompanied by piano notes; after the already mentioned ballad, it continues with "River of no Return," which features a nice chorus, and "Power of the Sun" (one of my favorites) in typical Dickinson style; "Devil on a Hog" has something Hard-Rock and again a nice refrain, while with "Believil" and the last "Tyranny of Souls," we return to darker and more unsettling yet still epic sounds.In conclusion, an album I waited for a long time and that did not disappoint me at all, especially for the absence of unnecessary fillers present instead in the latest Maiden work, thus for those who appreciated the previous albums (particularly "Chemical Wedding") I can only recommend it.
Now let's just hope we don't have to wait that long again to hear Bruce at work...
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Abduction (03:50)
Abduction
I wake in sweat you've come to steal my life away
Some strange electric glow of artifical day
The power breakers close, the grid of darkness falls
Shining gleaming black as night, burning all the light
[chorus:]
What do you want from me?
I sense your mastery...
There's something you won't ever find
So have your way with me, this prisoner is never free
Rip me up, leave me behind...
Are you the truth to sit in judgement on my sins
Evil laser gadgets come to penetrate my skin
The hanging judge is open and I'm damned before his eyes
Another genesis that failed - how many more have tried?
[chorus:]
What do you want from me?
I sense your mastery...
There's something you won't ever find
So have your way with me, this prisoner is never free
Rip me up, leave me behind...
[solo]
And so the story goes I dreamt this long ago
Highways hidden in the sand reveal the truths I know
They took my worthless heart and spat it through their eyes
Abduction means the end for me, a million years of misery
[chorus:]
What do you want from me?
I sense your mastery...
There's something you won't ever find
So have your way with me, this soldier's lost his victory
Rip me up, leave me behind...
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Other reviews
By carloirons
"It is precisely what any fan of Iron Maiden... might desire the most: an album without Harris’s progressive ambitions, with immediate but also epic music."
"The only flaw of this record is that it ends too soon."
