| Tyranny of Souls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 23 May 2005 | |||
| Recorded | 2005 | |||
| Studio | Castle Oaks (Calabasas) Signature Sound (San Diego) Dexter's Laboratory[a] (Los Angeles) | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 43:35 | |||
| Label | Sanctuary | |||
| Producer | Roy Z | |||
| Bruce Dickinson chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Tyranny of Souls | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Blabbermouth.net | 8.5/10[2] |
| Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles | 8.0/10[3] |
| Metal Storm | 9.0/10[4] |
| Rock Hard | 9.5/10[5] |
Tyranny of Souls is the sixth studio album by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, released on 23 May 2005 through Sanctuary Records. The cover art is one of the panels of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation, a work by renaissance artist Hans Memling. This was his first solo album since rejoining Iron Maiden in 1999, and his last for nearly two decades, until the 2024 release of his follow-up album The Mandrake Project.
The songwriting on the album was split between Roy Z and Dickinson. During composition, Roy sent recordings of riffs to Dickinson, who was on tour with Iron Maiden. Dickinson subsequently wrote lyrics and melodies. Roy also served as the album's producer and played all guitar parts as well as some supplemental bass guitar and piano parts.
The other players on the album were all connected to Roy Z through different projects. Z, bassist Ray "Geezer" Burke, and keyboardist Maestro Mistheria all contributed to vocalist Rob Rock's 2003 release, Eyes of Eternity. Drummer Dave Moreno and bassist Juan Perez were members of Z's Latin rock band Tribe of Gypsies at the time.
"Kill Devil Hill" is inspired by the successful flight by the Wright brothers in 1903 (see Kill Devil Hills).
"Navigate the Seas of the Sun" is inspired by Erich Von Däniken's theory about extraterrestrial presence on Earth long ago and about man dealing with that in the future. [citation needed]
The title track is somewhat based on Shakespeare's tragedy MacBeth, and includes direct quotes and lines from the play throughout the song.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Prato, Greg. "Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls review". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
- ^ Bergman, Keith. "Bruce Dickinson - "Tyranny of Souls"". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (18 April 2005). "Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
- ^ Tombale, Pierre (27 August 2005). "Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls review". Metal Storm. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
- ^ Kühnemund, Götz (25 May 2005). "Review Album des Monats : Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls". Rock Hard (in German). No. 217. Retrieved 17 November 2020.