Review Summary: "I came from nothing before nothing began, broke the window of existence and became a man"
It's evident from
Accident of Birth's opening track, titled "Freak", that Bruce is in a straight-up, no-nonsense, kick in the face metal mood. The crushingly heavy guitar tone and upbeat drums paired with Bruce's air raid siren vocals make for the ultimate kick in the teeth for an opening track, and set the tone very nicely for Bruce's return to Kick-ass metal. After his progressive rock side project Skunkworks tanked the previous year, Bruce had no choice but to return to the genre that made him a household name in the first place, and boy, are the sounds of it ever sweet. With 12 tracks of nothing but awesome, catchy and truly memorable metal tunes, Bruce Dickinson's
Accident of Birth is truly the return to form that we all wanted.
With this album, Dickinson welcomes the addition of Roy "Roy Z" Ramirez, a renowned metal guitarist, and Adrian Smith, another ex-Iron Maiden member (at the time). And while H's guitar work doesn't sound like anything you'd get on a Maiden release, it still bears the signature "H" sound. Roy Z's style is a bit more comparable to Janick Gers', how it's a bit rougher and more rock n roll than Metal, but it still adds a lot to the sound, and gives the album a sense of individuality. Rod Smallwood also took over management duties, and thus he was managing both Iron Maiden and Brucey's solo band at the same time. And as expected, none of the tracks sound like Maiden, save for "Road to Hell". But then again, if you've heard even a few seconds of Brucey's solo work, you'd know it sounds nothing like Maiden. The lyrics are much darker and t times even frightening- some of the songs are rife with anti-religious lyrics ("
Jesus had his day off when they pulled you through" from the eponymous track), speak of demonic cults, explore the apocalypse and other alarming themes. But the dead giveaway there is the album's title, accident of birth. It's referring to a time when Dickinson's mother told him that he was the result of a botched abortion- whether or not that is true, what we do know is that he was a birth that was simply never meant to be. Dark, much? And the cover art, with a jester bursting out of a man's stomach with a baseball bat full of nails. Such pleasant happy and fluffy imagery, right?
Well that's just where it begins. Songs like "Starchildren" (which could easily be a factor in Disturbed's sound) are proof hat Miden had completely left the building for Bruce back then. The said song is a mid-tempo rocker with great riffs and an excellent chorus, with lines like, "
You don't need a god, cause I'm here now!", and is probably the "single" of the album. "Darkside of Aquarius" is a catchy, Thin Lizzy-esque track about there being a fifth horseman in the apocalypse. The song's message implies that the apocalypse already is happening right now, and that we can't see it. Scary stuff. "Road to Hell" implies that Jesus himself was a sinner, and that we all have to accept the fact that everybody sins, and nobody can ever be first to "cast the stone". Lyrical themes play a big part in this album, and they truly reflect Bruce's mind and hunger for a darker, edgier and heavier style. On top of that, his vocals are as great as ever. His vocal performances in the last two tracks- the proggy "Omega" and the soft, Spanish guitar drenched ballad "Arc of Space", both about religious suicide cults, are among the best in his career. There's never a moment in the album where his voice falters, dips, or wavers. He isn't called the air raid siren for nothing!
If I had any complaints about the album, it's that the production is a bit too bright. The guitars sound very thin and pushed to the edge, the bass often sounds muted and the drums lack the punch they should have. It doesn't detract from the enjoyment, though it would have been nice to have had a smoother mix for such an album. But even that being said,
Accident of Birth is one intense, heavy punch in the gut of an album that never once ceases to impress, is always entertaining, and proves that Bruce does work well on his own. And admittedly, it would have been great to have seen Maiden incorporate this style of music into their sound in the nineties, but in another way, it's good they didn't- this style was meant for Brucey on his own, and was a style he made exclusively his. With not a single dull song to name,
Accident of Birth is a must-own for Maiden fans, for Bruce fans, and is an excellent start for people new to Brucey's solo material who want to explore the frontier his creativity outside of Maiden took him to.
