''Tyranny of Souls'' is the sixth studio album released by

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

vocalist Bruce Dickinson on 23 May 2005. The cover art is one of the panels of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation, a work by

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

artist

Hans Memling Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...

. It is his first solo album since rejoining Iron Maiden in 1999 and his most recent studio album as a solo artist to date. The songwriting on the album was split between

Roy Z Roy Z (born February 1968) is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Bruce Dickinson (from Iron Maiden), Halford, and Judas Priest. He also is the founder of Tribe of Gypsies, a Latin-influenced har ...

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 Robert Rock (born June 29, 1959) is an American heavy metal singer who is best known as the longtime frontman of Impellitteri, a position he has held from 1987 to 1988, 1992 to 2000, and now from 2008 to the present day. Rock has also released ...

's 2003 release, ''

Eyes of Eternity Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conve ...

''. Drummer

Dave Moreno David Moreno is an American musician, singer, audio engineer, songwriter and producer, best known for his role as the drummer in the American rock band Puddle of Mudd. Early life and education Born in Sun Valley, Los Angeles, California, Moren ...

and bassist Juan Perez were members of Z's Latin rock band

Tribe of Gypsies Tribe of Gypsies are a San Fernando Valley, California-based Latin rock group, best known for band leader/guitarist Roy Z who has produced, written for, and played with such well-known artists as Judas Priest, Rob Halford, Sepultura and Bruc ...

at the time. "Kill Devil Hill" is inspired by the successful flight by the Wright brothers in 1903 (see

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). "Navigate the Seas of the Sun" is inspired by

Erich Von Däniken Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (; ; born 14 April 1935) is a Swiss author of several books which make claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling ''Chariots of the Gods?'', published in 1968. Von D ...

'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 ( 26 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 nation ...

's tragedy ''

MacBeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

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

Track listing

Personnel

;Musicians * Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals *

– guitars, bass guitar (tracks 7, 9), producer, engineer, mixing *

– 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

Chart positions

Notes

References

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