In the pantheon of metal, few acts loom larger than Iron Maiden, though there was a time in the 90s when they were on the back foot. They were without legendary vocalist Bruce Dickinson and had tried to make do with Blaze Bayley, though that didn’t work. Yet by 1999, Dickinson would return to the band and he came back with one mantra in mind: “Of course we are better than Metallica!”

That little quote came about in a recent interview with Louder Sound while promoting his upcoming solo album The Mandrake Project. At one point, the conversation switched to Dickinson’s return to Maiden and the subsequent album release of Brave New World. After a comment about the band needing to bring Dickinson back, he said that might have been the case, but he was more focused on the future.

“Probably. But there was no point in saying that, because it would have sounded like sour grapes. What I said was: ‘We will sweep away the past by doing an amazing future.’ Though the first words out of my gobby mouth were: ‘Of course we are better than Metallica!’ People said: ‘You can’t say that.’ I said: ‘I just did.’ Then they started going: ‘Maybe he’s right.’

“You’ve got to have that attitude, though. It’s like Mick Jagger didn’t get to be Mick Jagger by sitting there going [apologetically]: ‘Oh, we’re quite good, you know, we’re almost as good as The Beatles.’ I also told them that we are not to just do ‘greatest hits’ albums, we are going to do a new album and it will be fucking great. And it was. Brave New World [in 2000] really delivered. So suddenly we’re off to the races again.”

It’s wild to think that it’s been 25 years since Dickinson rejoined Iron Maiden. Since then, they’ve continued to put out new music and tour the world, playing to massive crowds over and over again. Still, with Maiden taking a bit of a backseat for now after a lengthy touring and promotional schedule for 2021’s Senjutsu, Dickinson is out there telling anyone and everyone about his solo album The Mandrake Project.

Having already released a couple of singles, it’s hard not to imagine even your die-hardest Iron Maiden fan reaching out to give it a listen when it drops on March 1.