BravePicks 2024 - BRUCE DICKINSON's The Mandrake Project #2
December 29, 2024, a week ago
In 1994, BraveWords & Bloody Knuckles magazine was born and here we stand 30 years later celebrating the past 12 months of music on our anniversary! What an incredible ride it has been and it's far from over! And during the past three decades, we've literally seen/heard thousands of releases and this is the time of the season when we crown the finest! The BraveWords scribes have spoken, so join us each day this month as we count down to the BravePick of 2024!
Remember, everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! Stay tuned at the end of December for BraveWords' writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), What/Who Needs To Stop In 2024? and Metal Predictions For 2025.
BravePicks 2024
2) BRUCE DICKINSON - The Mandrake Project (BMG)
Good things come to those who wait. The wait seemed to last an eternity with Bruce Dickinson tied to his Iron Maiden duties, however the resurrection of his solo career finally occurred at the beginning of March with The Mandrake Project.
More than just an album, it is also tied to a comic book written by Bruce. Ever the creative individual and storyteller, The Mandrake Project is everything a Bruce fan could ask for – a powerful concoction of his previous solo works The Chemical Wedding and Tyranny Of Souls. It’s a diverse showcase of talents, traditional heavy metal, Deep Purple-inspired rock, shadowy ballads, epic works, and a chilling conclusion.
A breathtaking achievement, The Mandrake Project hits #2!
Scribe Nick Balazs rated The Mandrake Project a 9.0, proclaiming the album is “another example why he is one of the best of all-time.” An excerpt of his review:
The Mandrake Project is a logical progression and mixture of Chemical Wedding and Tyranny Of Souls with notes of his early material. It’s thundering heavy metal with some rockier moments and an overhead of nebulous darkness and mysticism. Some songs hit right away, like the robust opener and first single “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” with its unusual chorus and the brilliant follow-up in the Deep Purple-ish “Many Doors To Hell” – one of the best songs he’s ever written. “Mistress Of Mercy” possesses a feel akin to “Road To Hell” plus a main riff reminiscent of Velvet Revolver’s hit “Slither”. Second single “Rain On The Graves” is like a beefed up track from the Balls To Picasso-era and fits much better in the context of the album and while its chorus is simple and repetitive; it’s a definite earworm.
Others take more to sink in like “Resurrection Men” with a western type feel and a chorus with a rockier outlook that could have fit on Skunkworks. The song takes a turn in the middle section with a classic Black Sabbath groove with Bruce crushing it vocally. Second last tune “Shadow Of The Gods” is definitely William Blake inspired and broods with gloomy basslines as Bruce paints picture of a complicated world before exploding into electric guitars at the 4 minute mark with aggressive vocals; the softer concluding section harkens back to “Chemical Wedding” in its rhythm and vocals. These two songs are expertly crafted and grow upon each listen.
BravePicks 2024 Top 30
3) FLOTSAM AND JETSAM - I Am The Weapon (AFM)
4) CRYPT SERMON - The Stygian Rose (Dark Descent)
5) KERRY KING - From Hell I Rise (Reigning Phoenix)
6) BORKNAGAR - Fall (Century Media)
7) SEBASTIAN BACH - Child Within The Man (Reigning Phoenix)
8) GRAND MAGUS - Sunraven (Nuclear Blast)
9) IOTUNN - Kinship (Metal Blade)
10) NILE - The Underworld Awaits Us All
11) EVERGREY - Theories Of Emptiness (Napalm)
12) THE CROWN - Crown Of Thorns (Metal Blade)
13) NECROPHOBIC - In The Twilight Grey (Century Media)
14) DJEVEL - Natt Til Ende (Aftermath)
15) INTRANCED - Muerte y Metal (High Roller)
16) KITTIE - Fire (Sumerian)
17) BLACKTOP MOJO - Pollen (Cuhmon Music Group)
19) RIOT V - Mean Streets
20) PORTRAIT - The Host
21) ROTTING CHRIST - Pro Xristou (Season Of Mist)
22)SAXON - Hell, Fire And Damnation (Silver Lining)
23) ULCERATE - Cutting The Throat Of God (Debemur Morti Productions)
24) POWERWOLF - Wake Up The Wicked (Napalm)
25) ENSIFERUM - Winter Storm (Metal Blade)
26) OPETH - The Last Will And Testament (Reigning Phoenix Music)
27) DARK TRANQUILLITY - Endtime Signals (Century Media)
28) MORGUL BLADE - Heavy Metal Wraiths (No Remorse)
29) THE DEAD DAISIES - Light 'Em Up (Independent)
30) MÖRK GRYNING - Fasornas Tid (Season Of Mist)
