Blaze - As Live As It Gets (2003) - Blaze proves that he can kill it on stage - 75% (31/01/11)

This is a quite diversified live album by Blaze and his young band that may give you a really solid overall look at what the ex-singer of the metal legend Iron Maiden has done in the years before this record. The album offers one track from his old band "Wolfsbane", a rather ordinary Led Zeppelin homage, four excellent Iron Maiden songs that are already worth the purchase of this album and a lot of solo songs from Blaze's first two records.

Concerning the sound, the album sounds quite alive and authentic and transmits a very authentic live atmosphere. All those people who always said that Blaze would only give weak live performances are finally proven wrong as he delivers a very emotional and still concentrated job on this record and I don't think that many corrections were done in the studio as the sound of this record is quite rough and straight just as it should be maybe a part of some fan scream segments that are slightly volumed up in comparison to the instruments. The only problem is that most of the solo songs by Blaze don't meet the standard of the Iron Maiden songs that clearly dominate this record with their unique magic. But one can still find some very solid and interesting songs that take their time to grow and may all sound quiet similar in the beginning but are surely some well and emotionally performed hidden gems like the great opener "Speed of light", the dark "End dream" that was surely influenced by the legendary Black Sabbath, the straight head crusher "The brave", the dark epic "Stranger to the light" or the quite catchy fan favourite "Born as a stranger" to mention my personal highlights.

All in all, this album is about passion in sweat and blood though it is nothing essential or groundbreaking. But I would recommend this album to any fan of Bayley's voice or works in Iron Maiden and it is surely an interesting introduction and good overview at his solo works for any new fan.