Bruce Dickinson has announced a fully remixed version of "Accident Of Birth", the 1997 solo album that pulled him back to metal after the experimental detour of "Skunkworks" — and which, with hindsight, reads like the record that made his IRON MAIDEN return inevitable.
It was his fourth solo album, co-produced with Los Angeles guitarist Roy "Z" Ramirez and featuring Adrian Smith, at a point when both Smith and Dickinson were outside MAIDEN. "Man Of Sorrows", "Darkside Of Aquarius", "Road To Hell" and the title track have all held their place in his solo sets ever since. Two years after its release, both men were back in the band.
The title carries more weight than it first appears. As Dickinson has explained over the years, a medical procedure his mother underwent meant he was not supposed to be born at all — the album name, wrapped in a Derek Riggs cover, is a flat statement of survival against the odds.
The remix comes from Grammy-winning producer Brendan Duffey, who handled Dickinson's most recent solo album "The Mandrake Project", and covers both stereo and Dolby Atmos. "It has been a real pleasure to spend time revisiting my solo back catalogue over the past couple of years alongside Brendan Duffey, remixing it all for Dolby Atmos and really bringing the sonic side of the album completely up to date," Dickinson said. "'Accident Of Birth' was a really important album for me at the time and I think contains some of my very best work. It lit a fire under me once more, especially as a songwriter, and was a great chance to work with Adrian again."
BMG releases the new version in the UK on October 17, tied to National Album Day, and worldwide on October 23, as a tri-panel digisleeve CD and a double splatter-colour vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. The remixed "Omega" is streaming now.
There is a new record behind it, too. Dickinson's eighth solo album — tentatively due in early 2027 via BMG — was tracked over three weeks in January and February at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 in California, sixteen songs cut, in his words, "all 100 percent live. It's like the anti-A.I. generation." Duffey is mixing it in Florida. SEPULTURA's Andreas Kisser plays percussion on it, and Dickinson has said the album includes a collaboration with his eldest son Austin, formerly of RISE TO REMAIN and AS LIONS.
The recording band is his touring lineup: Mistheria on keyboards, Dave Moreno on drums, Tanya O'Callaghan on bass, and Chris Declercq and Philip Näslund on guitars.