The Mandrake Project

Bruce Dickinson
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Bruce has announced his new solo album for early 2024 with initial tour dates!

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Some audio samples:

Album homepage:

All we know for sure about the line-up is that the album was written with longtime collaborator Roy Z., and recent evidence suggests that Tanya O’Callaghan may be playing bass.

Although RockBizz in Brazil originally reported that Adrian would be joining Bruce on his solo tour, this was stated without a source, and it has apparently been confirmed by a moderator on the official Iron Maiden forum that Adrian will not be involved with Bruce’s tour.

There have been no indications that Adrian was involved in any way with the creation of The Mandrake Project, but I’m not yet aware of any confirmation of this one way or the other.

“If Eternity Should Fail”, ultimately recorded by Iron Maiden for The Book Of Souls, was originally intended to be the title track of the new solo album, and a solo recording of the song may still appear on The Mandrake Project. Other song titles previously mentioned as possible new tracks are “Nightmares” and “Face In The Mirror”.

EDIT Oct. 9, 2023: Bruce posted a video with a little bit more information, mostly that The Mandrake Project is more than just music:

EDIT Oct. 10, 2023: Bruce has been listed as a performer for the Mystic Festival in Poland in early June 2024, and a Slovakian online record store has listed a single “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” for early December 2023, as has a Czech record store.

EDIT Oct. 12, 2023: A new video:

Bruce says the touring band should match the line-up that actually recorded the album (everyone who participated in the recording said “yes” to the tour, apparently), but he only confirmed Roy Z. as a band member.

EDIT Oct. 18, 2023: Maestro Mistheria (keyboardist on Tyranny Of Souls) has confirmed his participation in Bruce’s Mexico and Brazil tour, which implies that he also played on The Mandrake Project.

EDIT Nov. 5, 2023: First single “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” reconfirmed for December 1st. Vinyl includes a comic book:

“Afterglow of Ragnarok” is the brand new single from legendary Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, his first new solo release in 19 years. This deluxe 7’ single comes in a gatefold that contains a comic book in the centerfold.

The B-side is…”If Eternity Should Fail”!

EDIT Nov. 6, 2023: Bruce has officially announced the single, UK and European tour dates, and the touring band here. Tickets go on sale Nov. 10 with a possible presale beforehand.

The touring band is:

  • Roy Z. (guitars)
  • Tanya O’Callaghan (bass)
  • Dave Moreno (drums)
  • Mistheria (keys)

Teaser for “Afterglow Of Ragnarok”:

EDIT Nov. 17, 2023: The unboxing of “Afterglow Of Ragnarok”:

Includes the original demo of “If Eternity Should Fail”, though Bruce says this track has also been reworked and retitled for inclusion on The Mandrake Project album itself.

The Mandrake Project will also get a graphic novel trilogy, which will be released over the next couple of years. The comic included in the single is a prequel.

EDIT Nov. 29, 2023:

Video premiere on Nov. 30, 3:50PM Central Time.

The full video is now live!

EDIT Dec. 1, 2023:

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Album release confirmed for March 1, 2024.

Track list:

  1. Afterglow Of Ragnarok (5:45)
  2. Many Doors To Hell (4:48)
  3. Rain On The Graves (5:05)
  4. Resurrection Men (6:24)
  5. Fingers In The Wounds (3:39)
  6. Eternity Has Failed (6:59)
  7. Mistress Of Mercy (5:08)
  8. Face In The Mirror (4:08)
  9. Shadow Of The Gods (7:02)
  10. Sonata (Immortal Beloved) (9:51)

More info on album formats here.

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I am incredibly pessimistic about Adrian’s involvement. I think people have let their fantasies get the best of them there. Would love to be proven wrong though!

I’m excited for the album, but cautiously. It’s been in the works for so long who knows what the actual content will be like quality-wise. But Bruce has yet to disappoint and the audio bodes well for me, so if I set my expectations low maybe that means they’ll be blown away.

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In all honestly I only found Bruce’s solo work earlier this year, so this is a great time to be a new listener haha. If Eternity Should Fail is definitely one of my favs off of The Book of Souls, so I’m very excited to hear if Bruce is going to change it up at all from the Maiden version.
Edit because I completely forgot to add: Bruce’s albums with Roy Z are my favorite of his so seeing him on this is definitely a good sign imo.

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Well written, @Jer, that we actually don’t even know if Tanya plays on the album – maybe she just posted from the studio while visiting her pal Bruce with whom she performed in the Jon Lord tribute! Likewise, there’s a tour coming but we don’t know who’s in the band – maybe Roy is too busy to join. I mean, no confirmation one way or the other. Everything’s so darn secret.

But I’m so glad that the album is finally announced. It’s been 18 years (and 19 next year when it’s released). I already lost all hope about this one, with Maiden just doing what Maiden does and Bruce wasting time with the never-ending spoken word tour (as opposed to finishing the album, I mean – I’m sure a lot of people enjoyed the evenings with him). And of course the cancer thing back then, and he hasn’t gotten any younger either, which you can clearly see and hear with Maiden.

I just realized that in a couple of weeks it’ll be 25 years since I saw his show during the Chemical Wedding tour, and it’s already 21 years since his summer festival tour which I also was lucky enough to witness. I’ve seen Maiden a couple of times after that, but that’s just not the same…

My expectations for this album are huge.

Imagine being a Bruce & King Diamond fan (like myself!), both in the process of making a new album since around 2013 and still waiting… Tyranny released in 2005 and King’s latest album in 2007. Well, King released a single “from the new album” in 2019 but nothing’s happened since! Minutes and seconds are passing us by…

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I have to agree with Hessos. We don’t know who will be touring with Bruce. Roy and Tanya are safe guesses. Not sure about Adrian, though. I actually didn’t know about the ‘moderator on the official Maiden forum’ denying it.

Here in Brazil people are speculating that Bruno Valverde (Angra), who played with Smith/Kotzen in their US/UK tour would be the drummer. But again, this is just a guess because people believe Adrian will be there, too. Bruno also knows Roy, because Roy has already produced Angra. So, who knows…

I emailed Roy like 10 days ago asking him if I would see him in April. He still hasn’t replied. He usually does, especially when he knows he will be meeting ‘the gang’ here in Rio. Maybe he just can’t say anything before it’s official. Let’s see…

About a year ago Roy sent me an email with 2 demo tracks. In the email he wrote: ‘The names have nothing to do with subject matter. These are open for any story. Please don’t talk to no one about this, no one Love, Z’ Of course, I had to ask if it was Bruce’s material. He never said a word again about it.

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I already got my ticket for the São Paulo concert and I’m SO HYPED for it. Wish I could go to all concerts in Brazil, but I can’t get away from work for that long.
I really don’t know what to expect about the new album, but I’m sure it´’s gonna be worth the wait.
Bruce’s solo career, in my opinion doesn’t have any bad album, though I do believe Tyranny of Souls is the most irregular one, there are some tracks that I don’t come back to, you know?

On the other hand, I have no clue at all of what the setlist is gonna be. Definitely “Tears of the Dragon”, “Tattoed Millionaire”, “Chemical Wedding”, “The Tower”, “Accident of Birth” are gonna be there, such great songs to play live. I just wish we have some stuff from Skunkworks and of Tyranny of Souls as well.

And I hope to see you my friend @Nando down there. Or perhaps I might consider flying to Rio for this special ocasion. You never know!

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I’ll see if I can make it to SP, my friend. Last time I was there we didn’t have the time to meet.

I still haven’t bought the tickets to Rio. Shame on me.

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A little more info from Bruce today:

Sounds like it’s more than just music, and they’ve been working on it since 2014, but he didn’t provide any more details.

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I would prefer him telling what it actually is rather than telling that he’s not going to tell anything right now…

A summer festival in Poland confirmed, I’m looking forward to more European shows!

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Yep, Mystic Festival in early June:

Also, there was a posting in a Slovakian online record store for a new single titled “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” for early December 2023:

EDIT: It looks like the listing has been pulled from that store, but a Czech store has it listed as well:
https://www.musicrecords.cz/catalogue/hudba/dickinson-bruce/afterglow-of-ragnarok-maxisingle-vinyl/

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That’s intriguing… What could it be other than ‘just music’?

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I would guess a comic book tie-in, or if we’re feeling cynical, a beer tie-in.

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Ragnarök? Scandinavian mythology with pyramids and “greek” letters? We’ll see…

But no way it’s just music and beer.

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New video:

Bruce says the touring band should match the line-up that actually recorded the album (everyone who participated in the recording said “yes” to the tour, apparently), but he only confirmed Roy Z. as a band member.

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Still half a year to go so it’s possible that he does not know for sure who’s gonna end up in the touring band. Sounds like he doesn’t and thus can’t announce them.

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Maestro Mistheria (keyboardist on Tyranny Of Souls) has indirectly confirmed his participation in Bruce’s Mexico and Brazil tour, which implies that he also played on The Mandrake Project.

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Further down that page there’s also a Facebook post where he says the following:
“See you with Bruce Dickinson & band in Poland at Mystic Festival June 2024.”

So yeah, there’s the keyboard player! “Man of Sorrows” coming up?

“but for a foreigner he’s quite a nice chap”

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Rockharz Festival in Ballenstedt, Germany, July 3–6 confirmed. Seems to be sold out already before this announcement. And it appears that it’s the only festival they will do in Germany next summer.

Well, this leaves a lot of weekends for European festival shows because they’ll already be in Poland 4 weeks earlier.

Naturally I’m hoping for an indoors club show in Finland, but whatever I get I will take. Gdansk (Danzig) in Poland is not too far from me either.

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Can’t wait for the tour dates! I try to get to as many gigs as possible and it would be great get more information soon. I would really appreciate if they could announce all dates at the same time but I guess it doesn’t work this way nowdays.

I listed some possible festivals and countries for concerts just to have something for discussion. What you think?

Sweden Rock Festival, Sweden June 5-8
Mystic Festival, Poland June 5-8
UK gigs
Download, UK June 14-16
Copenhell, Denmark June 19-22
Graspop Metal Meeting, Belgium June 20-23
Rock in Rio Lisbon, Portugal June 22-30
Spain gigs
Tons of Rock Oslo, Norway June 26-29
Hellfest, France June 27-30
Tuska Festival, Finland 28-30
Rockharz, Germany July 3-6
Germany gigs
Italy gigs
Hungary gigs
Croatia gigs
Greece gigs
Romania gigs
Metaldays, Slovenia July 28-August 3

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Bruce was just confirmed for the Hellfest 2024 line-up:

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