Ragnarök is the series of events that ends the world in Norse mythology, so “The End Is Near” could just be an indirect reference to the title of the single, or it could be something more. We’ll find out soon…
^Yeah, I think the single is going to be online quite soon as saw some stores have it for sale already.
Another tease, now calling out Nov. 30…
I was wondering… are we going to see an animated series anytime soon? I think Bruce got interested in the subject since ‘The Writing on the Wall’ clip, and from what he’s teasing his solo project is going in the same direction. Also, he is soon appearing at CCXP, Brazil’s biggest comic, television series, movies, video games event to officially announce The Mandake Project.
What do you guys think?
I would guess just graphic novels for now. A graphic novel costs ~$100-$150/page to produce (so probably under $15,000 for a complete book), while a single episode of an animated series could cost $100,000 - $1,000,000+ to produce, which seems way beyond the budget of a Bruce solo enterprise.
Bruce is on CCXP on Friday, right? So is that when we get to know the release date, track list, what have you…
But what the hell happens 30.11.?
Helsinki sold out in 5 minutes! Pretty amazing. I was thinking that it would take like a week or two but this speed is unbelievable.
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Yup, thank Bruce for the presale… I’ll be there with several friends. Must have been difficult to estimate a suitable size for venues after such a long time. Looks like there is still a good amount of tickets available for the show in Tallinn. But hey, we are Finland, the promised land of metal 
Video premiere on Nov. 30, 3:50PM Central Time.
There’s a teaser as a placeholder, but it looks like you have to click through to YouTube to see it.
EDIT: The full video is now live!
FYI, I’ve broken out discussion of “Afterglow Of Ragnarok” into its own thread.
Album release confirmed for March 1, 2024.
Track list:
- Afterglow Of Ragnarok (5:45)
- Many Doors To Hell (4:48)
- Rain On The Graves (5:05)
- Resurrection Men (6:24)
- Fingers In The Wounds (3:39)
- Eternity Has Failed (6:59)
- Mistress Of Mercy (5:08)
- Face In The Mirror (4:08)
- Shadow Of The Gods (7:02)
- Sonata (Immortal Beloved) (9:51)
More info on album formats here.
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Morte capti, non carcere means “Captured by death, not by prison”. (I happen to know a guy who teaches Latin in a high school)
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An interview with Bruce from CCXP23 where he talks about various Mandrake-related things. It’s in English once it gets going.
I dont know if you know it, but the person behind Bruce’s participation at CCXP is Renato Tribuzy. It was Renato who first told Bruce what the CCXP was, then it was him again that planted the seed in his mind about how cool it would be for him to participate in such an event. And then it was him again who helped negotiating everything.
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Bruce’s presentation from CCXP23, where he talks about some more Mandrake-related things.
If you’re looking to pre-order one of the less common versions of The Mandrake Project in the U.S., the blue vinyl LP can be ordered from Walmart and the deluxe CD can be ordered through a variety of local record stores, which you can locate here. When you order through a local record store you may be able to pick up the CD in person for zero shipping, or at least have them ship it to you for ~$5 instead of the $22.50 the official Bruce site is charging.
If you’re signed up for updates at The Mandrake Project web site, they sent out an email with a link to submit questions for Bruce’s appearance on Spotify’s “Metal Talks” on Wednesday. I’d normally share the link here, but it’s not clear whether it’s a personalized link or not.
I submitted a couple of questions, asking whether he plans to have a U.S. leg to his solo tour, and how he plans to handle the dual-guitar songs from his back catalog with a single guitarist live.
There’s a new Kerrang! article featuring Bruce with some more details about the songs on the album, as well as other interests of his.
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I just listened to Bruce’s interview with Bandit Rock in Sweden which contains a lot of interesting stuff about the album, the tour and so on.
To name a few points, two guitarists are not needed on tour because Roy alone is like having 1½ guitarists and Mistheria is a beast with his keyboards. The latter also plays the keytar, so I guess they’ll be duelling onstage?
No Skunkworks songs on tour (even though Roy really likes some of them). The core of the setlist will probably consist of songs from Accident and The Chemical Wedding, with only around four songs from the new album. No mention about whether any Maiden songs will be played.
Some of the songs on The Mandrake Project, at least “Afteglow of Ragnarok” and “Many Doors to Hell” were only written earlier this year. On the other hand, “Sonata” was written in the 90’s and it apparently even has vocals that were recorded back then! Plus, large part of those vocals were improvised on the spot. (I remember that there’s been some talk online about the existence of such a song.)
Also, there are some vocals on the album that were recorded in 2014, so it really has been a long project.
The first part of the comic will be released on 17 January, so that’s probably also the date for another single.
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