Iron Maiden Discography Thread: Senjutsu

[Anguyen92]

Why haven't I listened to this album yet until now?  This seems right up my alley in terms of sound and as a fan of alternative rock/metal and modern rock.  It's a good listen so far.  Dreamstate sounded like a Soundgarden-like song to me.  Fine with me.

[TAC]

Rescue Day sounds very Gillan-ish.

As I am listening to Skunkworks now, I am thinking that Bruce is really a great and interesting singer, both vocally and lyrically. Like I said, the first half of my Bruce Epiphany was Balls To Picasso, a fresh and unexpected album from Bruce. Skunkworks continues Bruce's diversity. I know he would go back to some safer territory on his next album, but Balls and Skunkworks were eye opening releases and made even this long time fan stand up and take notice.

[Mosh]

Yea I actually like Skunkworks a lot. I didn't want to gush about it in the OP because it was a difficult time for Bruce and his motives for making the album are questionable, but the music came out really solid. There are only a few songs I don't care for and the rest is really, really strong. It does transcend the 90s sound too, like little hints of Rush here and there. Soundgarden is probably the best comparison because they had a similar level of diversity while still sounding very much of their time.

I do have two gripes with the album though. The first is the production. It's very inconsistent and kinda thin sounding. It's especially apparent on Back From the Edge actually. I think it's mostly due to the drum sound. Secondly, I actually don't really care for Bruce's vocals on this. The songs are good, the lyrics are good, and the vocal melodies are fine, but I just don't think Bruce's operatic style fits this music. There are a lot of moments where he employs a more straightforward vocal technique and it just doesn't really work. This music requires a gruff Eddie Vedder type of vocalist. It's like having John Petrucci on a punk album.

[TAC]

  I actually don't really care for Bruce's vocals on this. The songs are good, the lyrics are good, and the vocal melodies are fine, but I just don't think Bruce's operatic style fits this music. There are a lot of moments where he employs a more straightforward vocal technique and it just doesn't really work. This music requires a gruff Eddie Vedder type of vocalist. It's like having John Petrucci on a punk album.

I kinda disagree. I think that is what gives this album its charm, and as you say:

It does transcend the 90s sound too, 

It transcends it on Bruce's back, ..er voice.




But, as you say, the production isn't great, and it initially provided a bit of a roadblock for me.

[TAC]

  This music requires a gruff Eddie Vedder type of vocalist. 

I Will Not Accept The Truth has a total Pearl Jam vibe. I can totally hear Eddie Vedder and his curled lip singing "never get there er er er er, never get there er er er".

[MirrorMask]

In the grand scheme of things, Skunkworks is forgettable, but all in all, I like it. I didn't really mind the change of direction and style, yes it's a product of its time but taken as it is, it's a quite okayish album. It certainly has a proper mood and style, it's focused - I understand people may not like the direction, but THERE IS a clear direction, and the album comes out strongly because of that.

Good job on mentioning that a random b-side, R101, had the title of the zeppelin that would inspire almost 20 years later Maiden's longest song ever. As with Balls to Picasso, there are quite some turds in the b-sides with the occasional gem, in this case it would be Re-Entry.

As for the album, favorites are Innerspace and Solar Confinment among all, and also Back to the Edge, Faith, Inertia, Space Race, Meltdown and Octavia are quite good. Now that I think about it, there isn't really a very bad song on the album - once you accept the style, all the songs are at the very least decent.

This was also the time I was starting to follow Iron Maiden properly, Bruce Dickinson was guest to a local TV show and I still have taped somewhere the interview with him along with the acoustic showcase; he performed Inertia, Re-Entry and Tears of the Dragon, alongside Alex Dickson.

I don't go back to it anymore but I still think it's a good album. Whenever I feel like compiling some Bruce compilation for my mp3 player, to listen to when I go to and back from work, I always make sure all the solo albums are represented and it's never a chore to find some room for a Skunkworks song or two.

[Kwyjibo]

Skunkworks is such a great record, for me it's the second best of Bruce's solo records, only surpassed by Chemical Wedding, which may be the best metal record ever.

[Mladen]

Such a good record.

There's something incredibly unique in this album. There are elements of 90s grunge and alternative, occassional Rush moments, but overall, I've never heard anything like it. And some of the songs are truly fantastic - Space race, Faith, Inside the machine, Solar confinement, Octavia, Headswitch. Of all Bruce's solo albums, this one is the most experimental and special. I would rank it right behind the big two.

[Zantera]

I really like Skunkworks

[Art]

I love Skunkworks! Great songs, a different style yes, but it works. Been hooked on it since i saw the video for Back From the Edge many years ago. I would've loved to have caught them live.

[Lowdz]

I've never heard the whole thing. I was out of love with all things Maiden/Dickinson by this point. There was awesome stuff appearing in the genre.

I had a quick listen to Skunkworks a couple of weeks ago, just the first few songs, and it sounded pretty good.

[Mosh]

Couple of additional factoids I forgot to mention:

The Skunkworks tour was actually a sort of prototype for Iron Maiden's Flight 666. Bruce piloted a plane with the entire band and crew which, similar to Somewhere Back In Time, allowed them to visit places they wouldn't be able to otherwise. The tour mostly stuck to Europe, but with Bruce's plane they were able to also visit Japan and the US.

Bruce also cut his hair around this time. Doesn't have any impact on the music, but it seemed to be what most interviewers were interested in when talking to him that year.

The artwork was by Storm Thorgerson.

[RodrigoAltaf]

Mosh, now that you mentioned the Skunkworks cover, doesn't it seem like a variation on the theme used for Falling into Infinity? They were released only a handful of months apart, right?

[Mosh]

They're definitely similar, although I'm pretty sure Storm would just submit a portfolio of his work to the artists that they could choose from. So it's hard to say when the two covers were actually created.

[TAC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tukA2ZYQzaI

 

[Mister Gold]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tukA2ZYQzaI

 

I love the original version and all, but Christ, that has to be the best arrangement I've ever heard for this song.

[RodrigoAltaf]

I was checking out a few other tunes and found Blaze doing Wasted YEars - this one´s quite good, despite the poor audio quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGcD6V_MJ78

Interesting to hear Blaze say that he was never allowed to sing this one while he was in Maiden...this song actually fits his voice quite well.

[nobloodyname]

Yeah, sounds good. Nice find.

[wolfking]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tukA2ZYQzaI

 

Blaze dominating here!!!

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Haven't contributed to this thread but I just chime in to say I love Skunkworks, not my favourite Bruce album but it's diffrent and has a nice grunge/metal vibe along with good melodies. 

[wolfking]

Skunkworks is my third fav Bruce solo album, obviously behind CW and AOB.  Being a 90's boy this one sparked my interest pretty quickly and grew into a real winner.  It's got the 90's feel, but to be honest, I don't really feel the grunge and especially Pearl Jam references.  It's still a unique and individual record on its own that just came in a time where you can see what was going on had an influence.  I can definitely see where the references come from.

I don't care about Bruce's motivation behind this album because it's still a well written, well thought out and well performed and produced album.  I love the feel Alex Dickson gives with his playing.  His style is one of the big reasons it's so different.

Lots of highlights here and nothing really worth skipping.  BFTE, Inertia, Inside the Machine, STIP,  Innerspace, SC, lots to like here.

A lot of the bonues tracks are just as good also.  Armchair Hero should have been on the album.

[MirrorMask]

Forgot about Armchair Hero. Yes, that song is quite great. I still think Re-Entry is the best of the b-sides, but Armchair Hero comes pretty close.

[wolfking]

Haven't contributed to this thread but I just chime in to say I love Skunkworks, not my favourite Bruce album but it's diffrent and has a nice grunge/metal vibe along with good melodies. 

Well said. 

[nobloodyname]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tukA2ZYQzaI

 

Blaze dominating here!!!

Yeah.

Reminds me: our holiday starts with a flight to LA on Friday before going up to Santa Barbara for a couple of days, returning to LA on the Tuesday. Blaze is playing at The Whisky on the Monday night I think it's a rock jam on the Tuesday night which we'll go to but arrrgghhh!

[JayOctavarium]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tukA2ZYQzaI

 

Blaze dominating here!!!

Yeah.

Reminds me: our holiday starts with a flight to LA on Friday before going up to Santa Barbara for a couple of days, returning to LA on the Tuesday. Blaze is playing at The Whisky on the Monday night I think it's a rock jam on the Tuesday night which we'll go to but arrrgghhh!

Off topic but the vids I've seen from those Jam Nights are pretty cool. Worth checking out

[stargazer18]

The music is another story and even some of the slower, plodding tunes have enough to keep my interest. My favorites include the title track, Fortunes of War, Look for the Truth, The Aftermath, Judgement of Heaven, Blood on the Worlds Hands, The Edge of Darkness and The Unbeliever.  So, most of the disc basically!

This actually isn't the first time I see someone mistakenly refer to Sign of the cross as the title track. Many people do it as well with the follow up album, refering to Futureal as tre title track. 

You are correct! I updated my post accordingly.

[nobloodyname]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tukA2ZYQzaI

 

Blaze dominating here!!!

Yeah.

Reminds me: our holiday starts with a flight to LA on Friday before going up to Santa Barbara for a couple of days, returning to LA on the Tuesday. Blaze is playing at The Whisky on the Monday night I think it's a rock jam on the Tuesday night which we'll go to but arrrgghhh!

Off topic but the vids I've seen from those Jam Nights are pretty cool. Worth checking out

Thanks. We'll definitely go - even if just to say we've finally been to a gig at The Whisky

[TAC]

Take some pics!

[Art]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tukA2ZYQzaI

 

This version kicks so much ass! 

[devieira73]

Great version! And this only highlights one of the greatest problems in Blaze's era: the sound of the rythms guitars were very weak, bad tones, bad mix (and this wasn't Blaze's fault of course).

[cramx3]

My feelings on Skunkworks are similar to that of Balls to Picasso.  In that it's an interesting side of Bruce's discography that's a bit different and the end result is a collection of pretty solid songs.  I've always really liked Solar Confinement, that always felt like a standout song from his entire catalogue.  However, like BtP, I don't overall love the album.  Doesn't really have many/any duds on it, but it also really just doesn't stand out very much.   Consistent music, but maybe that's the problem for me, as I've never been much of an alternative/grunge fan so this style of music doesn't really interest me too much.  It's good, but I can't rate it higher than what was to come from Bruce, but I respect and enjoy the album for what it is. 

Also, cool to know Bruce did his own Bruce Air sort of thing with this band.  Didn't know he already proved this concept before doing it with IM.  Also, the Skunkworks version of The Prisoner is pretty cool because the guitaring is a bit different, definitely gives a more grunge feel to the song, or a Skunkworks feel to it.

[Stadler]

I really like the Skunkworks album.  I thought it was good music, albeit not game changing, but a good record to put on when you just want solid hard rock.   It does suffer in that it is "very good" whereby the comparative stuff is "great", so I don't go to it much.   

[TAC]

Great version! And this only highlights one of the greatest problems in Blaze's era: the sound of the rythms guitars were very weak, bad tones, bad mix (and this wasn't Blaze's fault of course).

Exactly. There are some great songs, yes, even on VXI.

[Dream Team]

Skunkworks was kinda meh for me, but oh boy the next one . . .

[TAC]

Skunkworks was kinda meh for me, but oh boy the next one . . .

Yeah, Virtual XI!