To give a bit of background me 'n' Bruce Dickinson fell out after maidens 2nd
gig in Belfast on the 'Fear of the Dark' tour, he was leaving the band, just
fulfilling obligations and he was going through the motions Ever felt down
or ripped off by one of your favourite bands? I was! Considering the on the 1st occasion that I saw him, on the 'No Prayer…' tour, Dickinson owned the stage, he prowled it, it was his……

Fast forward to about 1999, I heard a voice on a TV I wasn't watching, it was
Background noise, I knew the voice. Then there was a bit of a song, it was awesome, Turned out it was a programme about spirituality in music and Bruce was talking about 'TCW' I went out next day and got the cd at a record fair.

From the opening chords of the Chemical Wedding Bruce Dickinson & his band
make a bold statement of intent. Based on the writings of William Blake, The
Chemical Wedding is one of the most underrated metal albums of the past 10
years.

Dickinson is on fine form on this album lowering his vocal tone giving an
increasingly broody & menacing slant to the proceedings. The opening track
'King in Crimson' kicks in with a heavy down tuned riff that makes you wonder
if they can contain this intensity throughout the album.

There are Maidenish flourishes but with Adrian smith playing on the disc
it's somewhat inevitable. The title track is the second on the disc and
opens with a solid riff before mellowing. The trademark air-raid vocals are
there but the intensity of the music is something you've never heard Bruce
sing with before. The album continues in a similar brooding vein until
track 7, Jerusalem, which, mellows before the final onslaught of the final 3
tracks.

Production wise the album is similar to Halford's stunning 'Resurrection' with
Roy Z's influence stamped over both CDs as producer & performer, but this
CD is a better produced and written album than anything maiden have done in
years it's a stronger, heavier album and it does make me wonder just
how much Bruce was paid to rejoin Maiden, who with Blaze Bailey were dead in the water. The good thing in that Bruce is to record a follow up to 'TCW'

Now, that'll be worth waiting for

SAV