| Tyranny of Souls | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 23 May 2005 (2005-05-23) | |||
| 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 byIron Maiden vocalistBruce Dickinson, released on 23 May 2005 throughSanctuary Records. The cover art is one of the panels ofEarthly Vanity and Divine Salvation, a work byrenaissance artistHans 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 albumThe Mandrake Project.
The songwriting on the album was split betweenRoy 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 vocalistRob Rock's 2003 release,Eyes of Eternity. DrummerDave Moreno and bassist Juan Perez were members of Z's Latin rock bandTribe of Gypsies at the time.
"Kill Devil Hill" is inspired by the successful flight by theWright brothers in 1903 (seeKill Devil Hills).
"Navigate the Seas of the Sun" is inspired byErich 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 onShakespeare's tragedyMacBeth, and includes direct quotes and lines from the play throughout the song.
All tracks are written by Bruce Dickinson andRoy Z.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Mars Within" | 1:29 |
| 2. | "Abduction" | 3:50 |
| 3. | "Soul Intruders" | 3:52 |
| 4. | "Kill Devil Hill" | 5:07 |
| 5. | "Navigate the Seas of the Sun" | 5:51 |
| 6. | "River of No Return" | 5:13 |
| 7. | "Power of the Sun" | 3:29 |
| 8. | "Devil on a Hog" | 4:01 |
| 9. | "Believil" | 4:50 |
| 10. | "A Tyranny of Souls" | 5:48 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 11. | "Eternal" | 5:59 |
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[6] | 58 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[7] | 76 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[8] | 96 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[9] | 10 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[10] | 101 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] | 39 |
| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[12] | 24 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[13] | 34 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[14] | 75 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[15] | 60 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[16] | 10 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] | 73 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[18] | 65 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC)[19] | 10 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[20] | 6 |
| USBillboard 200[21] | 180 |
| Studio albums | |
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| Live albums | |
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| Songs | |
| Related articles | |
