Bruce Dickinson - Accident of Birth (1997)^{Release ID: 1171}

An improvement to be sure, but I do believe its quality has been greatly exaggerated. This is an album full of great heavy Metal tracks, some catchy vocal lines and decent riffs. Songwriting has definitely been expanded from his first three solo albums, and there’s a decent amount of variety to this one.

But does it compare to most of Maiden’s work? Absolutely not. The album is quite reliant on Bruce’s vocals – which do sound great, but even with that said, most of his vocal performance in Maiden was better, and even the song “Tears of a Dragon” on his second solo album tops everything on this. Musically, again, it’s stronger than all his previous solo albums, but about on par with Maiden’s weakest material.

Looking at this album in isolation, not comparing it to Maiden, and not relying on Bruce’s legendary vocalist status, all it is, is a pretty damn solid Heavy Metal album. No more, no less. In my ears it is not the legendary classic many people seem to claim. It does end up being kind of weird when my favorite songs on the album are the softer/more Hard Rock songs (the last three).

You know what, despite my love affair with Bruce Dickinson’s incredible run of form with Iron Maiden throughout the 1980’s, I kinda ignored former front man Bruce Dickinson’s early 90’s solo albums. They weren’t exactly being hailed as modern-day classics at the time & my taste had moved into significantly more extreme areas by that stage so it wasn’t until 1997’s “Accident Of Birth” that I found enough encouragement to give Bruce’s solo work a chance & this was largely because of the mountain of praise his fourth album “Accident Of Birth” was receiving. The return of former Maiden buddy Adrian Smith on lead guitar was certainly a drawcard as well & the combination didn’t disappoint with many critics claiming the album as not only a return to form but one of the best metal albums of the year.

But those of you thinking that you’re in for a Maiden record under a different name better think again. “Accident At Birth” may feature those glorious higher register vocal hooks that we’re all so fond of however the instrumental component certainly doesn’t sound all that much like Maiden. There’s a down-tuned chug to the guitar tone that’s much more in line with the groove metal sound that was so popular during the 1990’s & the strong focus on melodic guitar harmonies is nowhere to be found. This was clearly a band that was looking to become relevant in a late 90’s market that had moved on from the classic heavy metal sound but still wanting to keep a foot in the camp of past glories through Bruce’s inimitable qualities.

I can’t say that the instrumentation is half as interesting as Maiden’s best work. It really does play a supporting role to the vocals which isn’t such a bad thing as Bruce is in fine form here but it does see the album’s potential to compete with his best 80’s work having a definite cap placed on it. The lead guitar work is obviously top notch & is often presented in a way that sees the solos creating crescendos that represent the climaxes of the songs. The strength of the album is in its general consistency & overall professionalism though. There’s only really one track that I struggle with in the fairly cheesy symphonic rock ballad “Man Of Sorrows” but the rest of the material ranges from quite enjoyable to genuinely mind-blowing. The two tracks that reside on the high side of that equation are “Taking The Queen” & “Welcome To the Pit” for me, neither of which sit amongst the more celebrated tracks on the album but I’m sure you’re all aware that I don’t run with the pack in that regard. Those are the songs where the chunky riffs hit me hardest &, more importantly, the anthemic vocal hooks grab my emotions in the most violent fashion. They’re prime examples of Bruce at his very best & I regard them both as sitting amongst the very finest heavy metal anthems of the 1990’s.

1998’s “The Chemical Wedding” album is generally regarded as Bruce’s best solo work & rightfully so in my opinion however “Accident of Birth” isn’t very far behind it with “The Chemical Wedding” winning out due to a greater quantity of genuine highlight tracks. They’re both very solid outings that do their level best to remind you of why you love classic Maiden so much but don’t quite hit you as hard or as long as those 1980’s albums from your youth did. But that’s not to say that these are disappointing records by any means, particularly if you’re a Maiden or Samson tragic. Both of them are high class efforts that should appeal to any fan of the classic heavy metal sound.

For fans of Iron Maiden, Dio & Halford.