''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 The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

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 The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...

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. The title track is somewhat based on

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's tragedy ''

MacBeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'', and includes direct quotes and lines from the play throughout the song.

Track listing

Personnel

;Musicians * Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals * Roy Z – guitars, bass guitar (tracks 7, 9), producer, engineer, mixing * Dave Moreno – drums *Ray "Geezer" Burke – bass guitar (tracks 1, 4-6, 8, 10) *Juan Perez – bass guitar (tracks 2, 3) * Maestro Mistheria – keyboards ;Production *Hatch Inagaki – second engineer *Stan Katayama – mixing *Jeff Wakolbinger – mixing assistant *Tom Baker – mastering at Precision Mastering, Los Angeles

Charts

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums Bruce Dickinson albums Sanctuary Records albums Albums produced by Roy Z