BLAZE

"As Live As It Gets"
(SPV/Steamhammer)

Blaze Bayley is known as the man who tried to replace Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden. To his credit, Blaze did his damndest, but some shoes are just too big for ANYONE to fill, and he just didn't go over too well with the Maiden fans. Blaze, however, has now moved on since his departure from Iron Maiden, and has formed his own band, simply called Blaze. So far they have released two studio albums ("Silicon Messiah" and "Tenth Dimension"), which have been quite well received by metal fans, much better so that the two albums Bayley did with Maiden (not to say those albums were bad, by any means, not at all). This album is Blaze's (the band) latest outing, and it's a two disc, live set. Now, you have to give credit where credit's due. Blaze Bayley is a good singer. He may not be in the same league as Bruce, but he's got a good, strong, powerful voice, and his new band (consisting of guitarists Steve Wray and John Slater, bassist Ron Naylor, and drummer Jeff Singer) are a good, solid metal band, who play good, solid heavy metal, in the classic, old school vein, with a lot of influence from the classic bands of the 70's and 80's, Maiden included, of course. Some of it even reminded me of Bruce Dickinson's solo material. "As Live As It Gets" contains music from Blaze's first two albums, plus a few Maiden and Wolfsbane (Bayley's first band) tunes. The first disc kicks off with the hard rocking Blaze tune, "Speed Of Light" (aptly titled!), which is followed by the Maiden song, "Two Worlds Collide" (from "Virtual XI), after which comes a Wolfsbane number, "Steel". The ones following are Blaze songs ("Kill And Destroy" (a song, Bayley says, many people have told him they put on before going to work, and that it helps them through the day!), "End Dream", "Stare At The Sun", "Land Of The Blind", and "Silicon Messiah"). Disc one is rounded out by a "bastardized version" (as Bayley puts it) of Led Zeppelin's "Dazed And Confused". When the song ends, Bayley asks the crowd if they think Robert Plant would like it. After they cheer, he says, "I would like it if he hated it!" Moving on to the second disc, it begins with another Maiden tune, "Virus", and also contains two others, "Sign Of The Cross" and "Futureal". Blaze actually do quite a good job with these songs, although "Sign..." is quite a lengthy song, and that space could have been used for more Blaze tunes...but then again, it's a Maiden song, so what the hell am I complaining about? The rest of the songs are Blaze originals, including "The Brave", "Stranger To The Light" (a slower number with some Sabbath influence), "Identity", "Ghost In The Machine", "Born As A Stranger", and "Tenth Dimension", and that wraps it up. Blaze Bayley has put himself together a good band here. (I think he has surprised many metal fans, who probably expected him to fall flat on his face after he left Maiden, but that is clearly not the case!) I would recommend checking out the studio albums before this one, if you're not familiar with the band, but this is a good live set. Fans of the band should dig it for sure! Whether you like his work with Maiden or not, there's no doubt that Blaze Bayley has carved his niche in the metal scene, and he ain't going nowhere, so deal with it! Even if you weren't crazy about his Maiden days, give his new band a whirl, they're pretty damn good! http://www.spv.de

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