On disc: Blaze

 
- Silicon Messiah
 
- Amir Djawadi -
 
 


 
- The 10th Dimension
 
- Monika Schmidt -
 
 


 
- Blood & Belief
 
- Anika Peterson -
 
 

Blood & Belief

(Steamhammer - 2004)



 
 

 

This is the 3rd studio album of Blaze Bayley, the former Iron Maiden and Wolfsbane singer. Live it's always fun, but he never succeeded to ban the live feeling on CD. In comparison with the debut and Tenth Dimension the new album is darker, but still heavy metal. Mr. Bayley been through ups and downs during his career and the last months - as he said in interviews - been tough, coz he had depressions and had a problem with alcohol and other drugs... So this was his way to write himself out of this deep black hole. As a kind of self-therapy he wrote this album and so the songs are darker and heavier. On some magazine samplers was the track 10 Seconds which gives a good impression, but songs like Regret and the album opener Alive are a good choice to check out. A track which deals with his alcohol problem is e.g. Tearing Myself To Pieces. The album is more homogenous then their last studio album, this time the band had more time to get ready for the recording which probably is the reason for this change. The last song is Soundtrack Of My Life and here the mainman should have used the chance to make a statement about all the comments of his critics - not just media, also colleagues. But well... A quite good album which has a few tracks which will sound live even better. For heavy metal fans and to all who were disappointed by Tenth Dimension, give this one a try.
 
 










Anika Peterson
(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)

  
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The 10th Dimension

(Steamhammer - 2001)



 
 

 

Blaze Bayley started his own band afer being part of Iron Maiden - and Wolfsbane. No easy job to step into the shoes of Bruce Dickinson and he got his share of critic, but now he's back with his solo band. He found the musicians to realize his dream in the dynamic guitar duo John Slater and Steve Wray and completed the line-up with bassist Rob Naylor and former Kill II This drummer Jeff Singer. The debut album was called Silicon Messiah and showed that Mr. Bayley is still into heavy metal done the British way. With the concept album The 10th Dimension they are back. The story: A scientist developed a way to travel between dimensions, more exactely to travel the 10th dimension. His intention was to help mankind, but what good will created was used to destroy the human race.

Some conceptual albums work just on the whole, but here the single songs have the potential to catch the listener's interest. The songs vary from slow to mid-tempo to fast ones. Kill And Destroy will soon be a classic in their live set, I think. Other songs to check out are: Speed Of Light and Stranger To The Light.

Well done, guys. Hope you hit the road soon!
 
 










Monika Schmidt
(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)

  
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Silicon Messiah

(Steamhammer - 2000)



 
 

 

Heavy Metal at it's best!!! For sure ex-Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley didn't left to start a band as a competitor to his former band, but the debut Silicon Messiah is competitive. The band which is simply names Blaze released an album which can stand the test and is as good as the album of Iron Maiden. Actually, I prefer this one!

With this album Blaze Bayley could realize for the first time a CD without compromises and pressure / influences from the outside. Together with this band of youngsters Mr. Bayley fulfilled his dream.

They offer good, traditional metal with modern elements, so that it doesn't sound old-fashioned. The 10 tracks are produced by Andy Sneap who did a perfect job. The songs tell the story about the whip of the human race through modernization. On Silicon Messiah the former Wolfsbane shouter can show the maximum, coz all songs are written to fit to his voice and he don't have to compete with anybody else.

For the musical realization of his vision he got Jeff Singer behind the drums to give the songs the drive they need. The guitarists Steve Wray and John Slater add powerful riffs and emotional solos which are impressive. On the four-strings they have Rob Naylor who completes the line-up. They are hungry and this album will be a good basis for success. They deserve it and at Wacken open-air they will present themselves for the first time to a critical mass. That will show, if the material will stand the live test. And surely the short tracks like Ghost In The Machine or Evolution will make it live as well as the 7 ½ minute long opus Stare At The Sun.

To be honest, I can't wait to see them live in August, so you now just have to learn the songs to be prepared!
 
 










Amir Djawadi
(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)

  
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