BRUCE DICKINSON Accident of Birth 2LP Vinyl NEW 2017

Freak
Toltec 7 Arrival
Starchildren
Taking the Queen
Darkside of Aquarius
Omega
Man of Sorrows
Accident of Birth
The Magician
Welcome to the Pit
Road to Hell
Arc of Space

Barely a year on from its predecessor, Bruce Dickinson released his fourth solo album, 1997’s Accident of Birth. This time, heavy metal in its most bombastic and destructive sense was firmly back on the agenda. Once again teaming up with Roy Z, Dickinson has rarely sounded more powerful than he does on this unsung ’90s metal gem. With the added bonus of a certain Adrian Smith chipping in on lead guitar, Accident of Birth was a flat-out celebration of heavy metal both past and present, with a sound that was as crushing and timely as anything the younger generation were producing, and songs that soared with the same ageless majesty that fans had long associated with the singer’s voice. From the rampaging riff-riot of opener Freak and the shadowy melodrama of Taking the Queen to the insanely catchy twin-lead euphoria of Road to Hell and the labyrinthine swell of Omega, the record was much more than a return to metal’s unsullied essence; this was a reclaiming of the throne from the genre’s most unstoppable protagonist.