hit you over the head like a sledgehammer cause the album works it's just a really heavy album. But it's all there if you want to dig through the words." A guest reviewer of the webzine Metal Storm wrote that "the lyrics sound as if they were copied right away out of the unholy scriptures, capture the most of the time very empty feeling, warm and comforting sounds you can only expect from the 'Chemical Wedding' and 'The Alchemist' songs." Additional recordings According to an interview with Rock Brigade in October 1998, Bruce mentioned that the band recorded a cover of the Scorpions song, "The Zoo". Although never released as a b-side or bonus track, it did see release that same year on the compilation ECW: Extreme Music. Reception Critical response to The Chemical Wedding was generally favourable, with AllMusic praising its "modern metal aesthetic". Sputnikmusic said, "Professionally written and recorded, Bruce Dickinson once again pours his soul into his music, and the result is spectacular", and went on to deem it "one of the best metal albums of the late 90s". In 2005, The Chemical Wedding was ranked number 388 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. In his review, Canadian journalist Martin Popoff praised Dickinson for finding "creative wells that seems limitless, and groovy and literary all at once" and for having recorded an album "of phat, traditional, somber and aged heavy metal that sounds like bloody, beefy Piece of Mind-era Maiden crossed with Subhuman Race-era Skid Row." Track listing Original pressings also include an untitled hidden track after 2 minutes of silence. It is a brief spoken piece that says: "And all this vegetable world appeared on my left foot. As a bright sandal, formed immortal of precious stones and gold. I stooped down, and bound it on. To walk forward through eternity". Personnel Band members Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals Adrian Smith – guitars, keyboards Roy Z – guitars, keyboards, producer, engineer, mixing Eddie Casillas – bass guitar David Ingraham – drums, percussion Guest musicians Arthur Brown – voice on tracks 5, 7, 13 Greg Schultz – keyboards Frazeeke MC, The Guru, Willy 666, Craig Lichtenstein – background vocals on track 4 Production Stan Katayama – engineer, mixing at Brooklyn Studios, Los Angeles Joe Floyd – engineer Richard "The Guru" Carette, Sam Storey, Thom Banghardt – assistant engineers