Review Summary: Bruce Dickinson's strongest solo album, Accident of Birth is a brilliant record with exceptional songwriting, excellent musicianship, and an inspired performance by Bruce Dickinson himself.
Bruce Dickinson’s solo career was a unique period of originality and creativity, which was unfortunately overshadowed by his association with Metal Legends Iron Maiden (or former association as it was for most of the 90’s). Exactly why is a mystery, because while I actually enjoyed Iron Maiden’s The X Factor, Virtual XI was disappointing and really embarrassing at moments. Despite this, the albums with the name Iron Maiden on the cover still charted higher than the albums with the name Bruce Dickinson on the cover in most of the world.
In reality though, what did people expect? The name Bruce Dickinson was still synonymous with Iron Maiden in the early 90’s, and Bruce Dickinson’s solo debut Tattooed Millionaire was (let’s face it) a pop metal album with very little distinguishable characteristics from other pop metal acts. After leaving Iron Maiden though, Bruce Dickinson still soldiered on, determined to make a name for himself which people would not associate with his former band.
The beginning of his career did not go so well though. Balls To Picasso and Skunkworks were mostly ignored even by Iron Maiden fans and garnered little success or appreciation. After failing to generate much excitement in the metal community, Bruce Dickinson teamed up with former Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith to release 1997’s Accident of Birth. Without a doubt, this is the strongest Bruce Dickinson solo release to date, superior even to its successful follow-up Chemical Wedding.
What though, makes Accident of Birth the best Dickinson solo album compared to his other works? Let’s start with Dickinson himself. In 1997 he mostly abandoned his more experimental musical approach and just decided to release a straightforward heavy metal album. And while it wasn’t without its softer moments, the crushing power exhibited on tracks like Starchildren and opener Freak marked the long-awaited complete return of Dickinson to his metal roots. Returning with him also is his mostly operatic vocal style seen especially on the classic Iron Maiden albums, which is more than welcome here. Only in rare moments does Bruce’s ‘No Prayer’ rasp appear on the album, but even when it does show up, it’s utilized effectively and adds to the atmosphere, which is something Steve Harris never could do while Bruce was still in Iron Maiden. Such is the case on the song Darkside of Aquarius, the album’s impressive epic of nearly seven minutes.
All of Bruce’s guest musicians are in fine form on here as well. In particular, the two guitarists Roy Z and Adrian Smith are standouts. These two together make a great team, good enough to match and even surpass the Murray-Gers guitar duo of Iron Maiden for most of the 90’s. The riffs and melodies they provide are sure to stir up feelings of 80’s nostalgia, particularly on tracks like Darkside of Aquarius and Road To Hell (one of Dickinson and Smith’s best collaborations in the 90’s).
Spaced well throughout the album are softer, sometimes completely acoustic tracks, which take nothing away from the powerhouse metal songs surrounding them. Omega and Man of Sorrows tie for the best of these songs, although technically Omega’s heavy middle section would probably disqualify it from the category of ‘softer songs’. Taking The Queen, which tells a demented fairy tale of sorts, is another softer standout, although undeniably its greatest moments are in its epic-sounding heavier chorus,
The last important thing to note about this album is its lyrics. Wisely, Dickinson avoided modern mainstream radio clichés when writing Accident of Birth. In the place of sappy love song lyrics found in most modern radio songs, Dickinson crafts spectacular tales of fantasy, tragedy, death, and the apocalypse. The best lyrics would have to be on Omega, telling a grim story about the burning-out of the sun and the loss of faith in religion:
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 they lied
(Omega, First Verse)
All in all, Accident of Birth is highly recommended to fans of 80’s and early 90’s metal. With this album, Bruce Dickinson reaffirms his status as one of metal’s most creative and best songwriters and singers. In addition to marking the start of a period of musical excellence that continues today, Accident of Birth stands out on its own as one of metal’s best 90’s albums.
