• Blaze Bayley - The King Of Metal (2012) (10/10)

    Genre: Heavy Metal
    Label: Self-production
    Playing time: 47:14
    Band homepage: -

    Tracklist:

    1. The King Of Metal
    2. Dimebag
    3. The Black Country
    4. The Rainbow Fades To Black
    5. Fate
    6. One More Step
    7. Fighter
    8. Judge Me
    9. Difficult
    10. Beginning
    Bayley, Blaze - The King Of Metal 

    Blaze Bayley has always been one of my favourite singers with his authentic, dark and perfectly imperfect voice that helped him to create a couple of pretty solid records with WOLFSBANE, later on with the British Heavy Metal legend IRON MAIDEN and lately with his solo band under the banner of BLAZE. During the last years, the man that has gone through loads of hard times including the tragic death of his wife, he also changed the entire band around him and started to work with younger as well as less expensive and less professional musicians because he wanted to discover something new but also because he had many personal and especially financial problems. That's why I didn't expect a lot from this new team around him including a young guitar player from Belgium that was discovered by Blaze Bayley because he did an acoustic cover of a BLAZE song on youtube, as well as three young and arther unkown Italian musicians on guitar, bass guitar and drums. In fact, the album was only supposed to be an EP and Blaze Bayley changed his mind during the recordings that were done in quite a hurry at three different places in the England, in the Netherlands and in the United States Of America and brought to a final product by three different producers. In addition to this weird potpourri come a female Dutch vocalist, a Dutch piano player and an American guitar player as guest musicians.  That's what one could call a true multi-culti product in times of globalization.

    To my big surprise, what our good old Blaze Bayley delivers here is simply the best record he has ever done. I realized that this would be a great record when I heard the quite solid opener. One song later I was even more surprised and said to myself that the band put the best tracks in the beginning and that this hectically done record would contain more and more fillers towards the end. After the last closing acoustic guitar ballad I was paralyzed. I was speechless for many minutes and just shook my head. What I just witnessed was a completely unexpectable masterpiece. This album inspired me a lot of confidence. If the broken, old and poor Blaze Bayley was able to create such a passionate epos, I knew that I would also be able to realize my wildest dreams with a solid dose of confidence, faith and perseverance.

    Many critical voices may claim that the record was done in a hurry, that Blaze Bayley sometimes sounds out of tone and that the production is not as perfect as it could have been. This is true but I like this spontaneaous and overtly honest attitude. The record simply feels authentic, emotional and vivid. Blaze Bayley has never had a perfect voice from a technical point of view in my humble opinion but he definitely has one of the most emotional voices I have ever known. That's what I like about him and his music has always been able to touch me.

    "The King Of Metal" seems to be a prententious title but it's not about Blaze Bayley himself but rather a tribute to his fans that are the reason why he's still there after all he has been through. The fans are the so-called kings of Metal and not the booking agents, the managers or the chefs of the record labels. This is a great homage and I think that Blaze Bayley knows what he's talking about. When he got heavily criticized for his work in IRON MAIDEN he surely didn't expect that he would still be around and be on world wide tours today. In comparison to the sad afte of the other ex-vocalist of that band named PAUL DI'ANNO, Blaze Bayley can still take a look in the mirror and create new things without only playing cover songs of his past days that will never come back.

    Let's dig deeper into the music. After more Thrash and sometimes even slight Death Metal influenced records, Blaze Bayley basically goes back to his Heavy Metal roots on this record. Many people might see this as a step back but he delivers in fact his most varied record ever and shows all the different things he is able to do.

    The title track "The King Of Metal" is the straightest song on the entire record and starts with a whispered introduction before heavy Thrash riffs set fire. The chorus is simple but brutal and efficient. The middle part with distorted guitar sounds, weird spoken word passages and a solid dose of melody and speed is passionating and leads back to the amazing chorus and another surprisngly abrupt ending with a couple of whispered words that close this brillaint opener. Yes, Blaze Bayley's voice is out of tone a couple of times, but this just fits this angry, fast and spontaneous track. A theatralic and technically diversified singer like BRUCE DICKINSON could never put the same amount of emotion in this kind of song. Blaze Bayley simply seems to know what he does best. I have rarely known a song that was so short but contained so many ideas at the same time. Each time I listen to this track I like a different passage and discover new things even though the song seems rather simple at first sight. I bet that this song might even work better live and I can't wait to see Blaze Bayley in concert one day.

    "Dimebag" is a homage to the late PANTERA and DAMAGEPLAN guitar player Darrell Lance Abbott that was murdered by gunshot during a concert. Many songs have already been written to honour his targic fate and at first sight it doesn't seem very original to write another track about him more than seven years after his death. But Blaze Bayley proves us wrong and this track is the most emotional homage to someone who passed away I have listened in quite a long time. I thought that Blaze Bayley would never be able to beat his own track "Endless Sleep" that is dedicated to his beloved wife that died a couple of years ago but that's exactly what he does here. The song is filled with many emotional changes, a diversified and emotional vocal performance, a brilliant classic guitar solo, a pumping bass guitar, a simple but heavy drum play and a highly addicting chorus. Among many outstanding tracks "Dimebag" surely is my favourite one on this record. Another homage can be found on this record that is called "The Rainbow Fades To Black". This track is dedicated to the late Ronnie James Dio who played in RAINBOW, BLACK SABBATH and HEAVEN & HELL among other bands. This track is darker and starighter and features many passages that are inspired by songs Dio have been performed in his long career. Blaze mixes elements of a cover song with his own and unique lyrics and a couple of own ideas and the final result works very well. It's a great mixture of nostalgic melodies and a straight modern attitude that sounds powerful and not too sad. It seems like a good idea to me that Blaze Bayley wrote a straighter track as a tribute to DIO instead of writing a predictable ballad.

    On the other side, there are also two very strong ballds on this record that prove once again Blaze Bayley's diversity and talent. "One More Step" is a calm and intense piano ballad where Blaze Bayley's imperfect voice sends shivers down my spine and this in a very positive way. You really can feel that he knows what he sings about and that he has been through all these things he tells us. It's abeautiful song about never giving up and always continuing to fight for one's dreams, ideals and visions. This positive message is underlined by a simple but intense piano play. The closing track "Beginning" is an acoustic guitar ballad that also builds a lot upon the vocals. Critics will claim that they are once again out of tone but they are performed with so much emotion that I still admire this hypnotizing and atmospheric album closer. I must admit that you either adore these two tracks or you hate them.

    Anybody who's looking for a technically perfect record with straight modern Metal music will be quickly disappointed. But anybody who adores authentic, diversified, emotional, honest and spontaneous Heavy Metal with a couple of experiments can't get around this record. In my humble opinion, it's by far the best album of a not so young year 2012 and even though I have always liked Blaze Bayley and listened to quite everything he has ever released, this still came as an unexpected positive surprise. Despite or because of its clear but sympathetic flaws to me, I really adore this vivid piece of music. While MANOWAR happen to be the new losers of Metal, Blaze Bayley has all the rights to not only call his fans but also himself the actual king of Metal.  

    (Online July 7, 2012)

    « 02. Dan Simmons - Flashback - 2011 (06/07/12)Blaze Bayley - The King Of Metal (2012) (10/10) »
    Partager via Gmail Delicious Technorati Yahoo! Google Bookmarks Blogmarks