Blaze Bayley Records
http://www.blazebayley.net/
Rating: C
Vocalist Blaze Bayley was thrust under the world wide microscope
when he had the rather some would say unenviable task of
replacing Bruce Dickenson in Iron Maiden in the mid 90’s.
Without drudging up old ghosts, in short the experiment didn’t
work out and after just two albums Bayley was out and on his
own. The new millennium saw him commence a solo career, one
which continues to this day.
With the release of his fourth album The Man Who Would Not
Die, 2008 certainly looked to be a year of promise. However,
just as the album was about to be launched Bayley’s wife
suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and passed away a few months
later. In the wake of the tragedy the title of the album took on
a different meaning, as he soldiered on through the tour dubbed
appropriately The Tour That Would Not Die. The end of the year
saw him and his band roll into the Z7 club in Switzerland to
record this live CD and DVD set The Night That Would Not Die.
Over the course of almost two hours Blaze and his band rip
through an impressive twenty one songs that cover the gamut of
his career, including a handful of tracks he co-wrote and
performed during his time in Iron Maiden. The show is
professionally shot and thoroughly captures both Bayley’s manic
onstage demeanor and relentless energy. While I must admit I’m
not a big fan of his rather limited, low vocal range in general,
what really surprised me after watching this DVD was the all
round lack of stage presence displayed by his band, particularly
his two guitarists. While they seem like competent enough
musicians they come across as wooden by pretty much sticking to
the same place for the entire set. If slamming into a Maiden
track doesn’t put some wood in your pants, then you are in the
wrong business. Only the frequent windmill head banging
techniques displayed by bassist David Bermudez shows any real
sort of presence next to Bayley himself. Unfortunately another
drawback for me was the feeling that most of the songs, which
are executed in your typically rapid fire, power metal fashion,
lacked any real discernable characteristics to help set them
apart from each other. While diehard Bayley fans will probably
find plenty to get excited about, for this reviewer both the
songs and the performances on The Night That Would Not Die came
across as just average.
-Ryan Sparks
