BRUCE DICKINSON - The Mandrake Project (1er mars 2024)

Nouvel album avec Roy Z !                  



Renowned around the world as one of the greatest and most distinctive heavy metal vocalists of all time, IRON MAIDEN's Bruce Dickinson will release a brand new solo album in early 2024 on BMG. Titled "The Mandrake Project", it sees him reunited with long-time musical collaborator and producer Roy Z.

"The Mandrake Project" will be Dickinson's seventh solo album and his first since "Tyranny Of Souls" in 2005.

Dickinson explains: "This album has been a very personal journey for me and I am extremely proud of it. Roy Z and I have been planning, writing and recording it for years, and I am very excited for people to finally hear it. I'm even more excited at the prospect of getting out on the road with this amazing band that we have put together, to be able to bring it to life. We're planning to play as many shows as we can in as many places as possible, for as many people as we can! As for what 'The Mandrake Project' actually is… all will be revealed soon!”

The first live shows to be announced are in Mexico and Brazil in April and May 2024, with further touring plans to be revealed in due course.

"The Mandrake Project" tour dates:

April 18 - Diana Theater, Guadalajara, Mexico
April 20 - Pepsi Theatre, Mexico City, Mexico
April 24 - Live Curitiba, Curitiba, Brazil
April 25 - Pepsi On Stage, Porto Alegre, Brazil
April 27 - Opera Hall, Brasilia, Brazil
April 28 - Arena Hall, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
April 30 - Qualistage, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
May 02 - Quinta Linda, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil
May 04 - Vibra, Sao Paulo, Brazil


In March 2022, Bruce told Consequence about his next solo album: "I've been working on it, on and off, since 'Tyranny Of Souls'. But between lockdowns and albums and MAIDEN tours and everything else, I'm looking for a clear space to actually nail and say, 'Okay, this is what it's gonna be,' and get [Bruce's longtime collaborator Roy ['Z' Ramirez] to put some backing tracks down. And then we can do it. So we're at the point now where we've already got — I don't know — anywhere between 50 and 70 percent of the material for the album, depend[ing] on what we pick, from things we've already got. And I think we'd like to tweak it a little bit."

Back in December 2017, Dickinson said that his next solo LP would likely include a reworked version of "If Eternity Should Fail", the opening track on IRON MAIDEN's 2015 disc "The Book Of Souls". At the time, he said that he had about "half" of his seventh record already written and he also confirmed that "If Eternity Should Fail" was originally penned as a Dickinson solo track.

He told Finland's Kaaos TV that the original plan was for his next solo record to be "a whole concept album, which was gonna be called 'If Eternity Should Fail'. And 'If Eternity Should Fail' was the title track to my new solo album," he said. "And a bit like [Dickinson's 1989 solo song] 'Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter' [laughs], it got commandeered for IRON MAIDEN. So if I did do another solo album, which I think I will, I might just stick to my original plan and have that as the title track. I mean, I did write it — it was the first track that I wrote for it. So, yeah, I'd probably still include that song. But it would be… the feel would be slightly different — not very much, though — from the MAIDEN version."

In 2015, Dickinson told France's Hard Force magazine that "If Eternity Should Fail" ended up being used by IRON MAIDEN after bassist Steve Harris heard the demos that Bruce was working on for what was supposed to be his next solo album. "And [Steve] went, 'That's a really cool song. Can we use that? That's gonna be the opening song on the album,'" he recalled. "And I went, 'Yeah, okay.' And he was already writing, I think… He was already thinking of 'The Book Of Souls' as being the title, so he told me about the Mayan thing. And I'm, like, 'Yeah, that's cool. Okay. Yeah, I see where you're going.' But in my case, that song was written as part of a story. So the spoken word at the end is the beginning of a story that goes through the whole album. And one of the characters is Dr. Necropolis; he's the bad guy. And the good guy is Professor Lazarus; he raises people from the dead. So that introduces Necropolis in the spoken-word thing. And I asked Steve… I said, 'Look. Okay. I get having the song…' 'Cause it opens up with, 'Here is the soul of a man.' 'Yup. Get that. But what about the end?' I said, 'Will people understand what this is about? Because this is nothing to do with the Mayans or anything. This is to do with… I'd come up with a concept album that doesn't happen.' [Laughs] And he [went], 'No, no, no. It's just talking about souls and everything, and it sounds great.' I went, 'Okay.' [Laughs]"

Dickinson made his recording debut with IRON MAIDEN on the "Number Of The Beast" album in 1982. He quit the band in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career and was replaced by Blaze Bayley, who had previously been the lead singer of the metal band WOLFSBANE. After releasing two traditional metal albums with former MAIDEN guitarist Adrian Smith, Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999 along with Smith. Since then, Dickinson has only released one more solo album (the aforementioned "Tyranny Of Souls") but has previously said that his solo career is not over.

La pochette ressortie du dossier photoshop d'un PC des années 90

J'espère que c'est pas ça la pochette !

Teaser du 1er single Afterglow Of Ragnarok qui sort le 1er décembre. La démo de If Eternity Should Fail (qui apparait sur The Book of Souls de Maiden mais était au départ prévu pour un album solo de Dickinson) sera en face B.



"It was important to set the tone of the project with this track," Dickinson explains. "As befitting its title, it's a heavy song and there's a great big riff driving it…but there's also a real melody in the chorus that displays the light and shade that the rest of the album brings… and just wait until you see the video!"

"The Mandrake Project" is a dark, adult story of power, abuse and a struggle for identity, set against the backdrop of scientific and occult genius. Created by Dickinson, scripted by Tony Lee and stunningly illustrated by Staz Johnson for Z2 Comics, the series features 12 episodes that collect into three graphic novels and will be launched in 2024.

An eight-page comic prequel to "The Mandrake Project", titled "Afterglow Of Ragnarok", is included within the vinyl seven-inch single booklet which accompanies the single of the same name and sets the scene for the story to come. The seven-inch single also features Dickinson's original solo demo version of the song "If Eternity Should Fail", which first appeared on IRON MAIDEN's album "The Book Of Souls" in 2015.

Le groupe qui l'accompagnera en tournée a été annoncé (passage à l'Olympia le 26 mai 2024 et au HellFest).

Premier extrait pas mal du tout avec son clip de série Z qui va bien.

Nouveau morceau !

C'est sorti !

Grosse promo française, le Bruce :

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-radio/le-monde-d-elodie/je-raconte-des-histoires-bruce-dickinson-sort-sans-iron-maiden-son-septieme-album-solo_6349282.html?fbclid=IwAR2JZkrNeCInBFU3wgvMq2koqKxL7ELD1zPyYs6JC2KBn3bMwFY3USPbSb8

https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/la-radio-de/la-radio-de-du-samedi-02-mars-2024-8426898

(il doit y avoir des fans de heavy à Radio France)

Le tournée a débuté ! Comme prévu pas de Roy Z dans le line up (bizarre...) mais deux guitaristes et un clavier en plus de la section rythmique.

Setlist:

Nouveau clip :


Et la prestation du groupe au Hellfest :