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BLAZE
by: Jonathan Mariante Former Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley, who briefly took over vocal duties from Bruce Dickinson, now has his own band, Blaze. They so far have released three albums (two studio, one live, the most recent one being the latter), and this one is their second studio album, which has been reissued, after being out for only a year. Blaze Bayley is in fact quite a good singer, better than a lot of people have given him credit for, and he has put together a good band in Blaze. They play good, solid, straightforward heavy metal, with a raw, no frills, stripped to basics sound. They are very influenced by all the classic metal/hard rock of the 70's and 80's, but they also have one foot in the future, by adding a "modern" touch to their music. Some of it even reminded me of Bruce Dickinson's solo material (ie "Accident Of Birth", "The Chemical Wedding"). All the band's other musicians (guitarists John Slater and Steve Wray, bassist Ron Naylor, and drummer Jeff Singer) all play very well and the songs are well written. "Tenth Dimension" is chock full of hard driving metal tunes, like "Kill And Destroy", "Speed Of Light", "End Dream", "Nothing Will Stop Me", "Land Of The Blind", and the title track. They also throw in a couple of slower songs, those being the folk influenced "Stealing Time", which is played on acoustic guitar and features some female backing vocals similar to Loreena McKennitt at the end; and the closing track "Stranger To The Light", a Black Sabbath influenced number. Blaze Bayley was unfortunately not very well accepted by Iron Maiden's fans, but I don't think they gave him a fair shake. Now that he's got his own band and is starting afresh, here's our chance to give him a second chance, and discover that he is a decent singer (albeit not on the same page as Bruce but that certainly doesn't mean he's bad) with a cool new metal band who can kick some ass! The guy (and the band) deserve some credit here, where credit is due, so give Blaze a whirl! http://www.planetblaze.com |
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