BLAZE - Tenth Dimension
SPV - 2002
By Mark Bridgeman
Most people will (or should) know the story of Blaze Bayley. Being grabbed from UK pub rockers WOLFSBANE (a personal fave) to travel the world's stages with metal monsters IRON MAIDEN in the mid-90s as replacement to the soul-searching Bruce Dickinson, he helped them deliver the solid, if poorly-received, X FACTOR (masterpiece, in this writer's eyes) and VIRTUAL XI (slightly undercooked). The albums were not met with standing ovations from many quarters, and being the new guy Bayley was slated as the "Man Who Killed Iron Maiden" (despite the band being somewhat off the boil since the departure of Adrian Smith in 1990, and falling under the producing 'skills' of bassist Steve Harris).
Leap forward to 1999, when Bayley was shown the door to make way for Dickinson's return (or not, depending on whose story you listen to). Many thought the man would sink into oblivion, but with the emergence of BLAZE the band in 2000, with Silicon Messiah - a worthy debut from anyone - he managed to shut the mouths of all but his strongest (and loudest) opponents. The band went on to gather a strong following in the UK, with heavy interest elsewhere, and finished off the Messiah period with a resounding victory as support on HELLOWEEN's Euro tour (reportedly blowing the Germans offstage nightly).
And so it comes to the follow-up, this year's TENTH DIMENSION, which proves to be a new beast but obviously drawn from the same well as SILICON MESSIAH. What we have is a collection of songs that can be taken as a concept album, or (as I prefer) as songs in their own right. From initial listenings to some *coff* MP3s *coff* I wasn't impressed. But one must really listen to the album proper before forming a final opinion, mustn't one?
After the atmospheric and almost music-less intro of Forgotten Future, it breaks into:
Kill and Destroy
The first thing that impresses is just how strong Bayley's vocals are. Considering the ragging he comes in for by some, this is the perfect song to open with. The guitars are low and hard enough to shear off your skull, although the sound does make me think of Roy Z's Dickinson work. A very solid opener.
End Dream
I was unsure about this track's opening verse - the vocals just didn't sit well with me - but chorus made up for it. The majority of the song is slow, sludgey, and somewhat reminiscent of SILICON MESSIAH - not neccesarily a bad thing, unless you're really hoping for something new.
Tenth Dimension
Perhaps my least favourite track on the album. Bayley's execution of the lyrics is slightly shaky - at least in his phrasing - and the music is nothing to write home about. The middle, slow, section also sounds like it was lifted from a Blaze-era Maiden track (think Sign Of The Cross), which thankfully doesn't last too long. However, all is golden and light when it comes to the lead work, in particular John Slater's. Nice stuff.
Nothing Will Stop Me
Great, slow-starting song which awakes into a heaviness with a chorus to salivate over. The song is let down only slightly by some messy drum fills, but the twin guitar work of Slater and Wray is impressive. Could well be a message to Bayley's critics.
A Leap Of Faith
When Bayley writes songs about taking chances and doing what you must, it's obvious he's speaking from experience, and songs like Leap of Faith are stronger for it. This is a straight-forward rocker, with a fine melodic chorus - it won't set any charts on fire, but it'll be a cracker live I'm sure.
The Truth Revealed
A short connection piece between A Leap Of Faith and Meant To Be, it's a shame they didn't stretch it out into a full-blown song. As it stands, it's just under 2 minutes of fine lead work over acoustic guitar, with Bayley singing a melancholic refrain...
Meant To Be
... which melts into Meant To Be, a refreshingly low-key song of self-questioning which actually gives Bayley a chance to show he CAN sing (and proves it). This is perhaps the jewel in the album's crown, with it being laced with a string and choral section - even with a femme voc section - before moving onto an energetic closing second-half.
Land Of The Blind
Could have been lifted straight from Silion Messiah in its sound and structure, with Bayley doing what can only be desribed as an Ozzy impression during the "now I open my eyes" refrain (and not a bad one at that).
Stealing Time
Another fuelled-up rocker - compared to the other songs on the album, there's nothing outstanding about it, but as a song itself it's a solid effort with a kicker of a chorus. This album, in fact, could be called 'Sing along with Blaze', so earcatching are the choruses.
Speed Of Light
this has BLAZE written all over it, and is an example of what is becoming a signature sound for BLAZE - the barreling guitars with twin harmonies, with the heads down rhtym section of Naylor (bass) and Singer (drums). The song itself is not that spectacular, but if someone were to ask me what the band sounded like, I'd most likely play them this song.
Stranger To The Light
After the album-closing monster that was SIlicon Messiah's "Stare At The Sun" - possibly my favourite song of 2000 - I was hoping for an equally ear-bleeding track here. This time, BLAZE serve up a 6-and-a-half minute track that at first was a slight letdown. With its thick groove taking its time to worm its way through the song, we're given a song akin to Metallica-doing-Kyuss that fades out at the 6 minute mark with 20 seconds of silence. In my opinion, not the strongest way to finish an album, but after an album so full of rockers, they perhaps thought a slow, coming-down style track was due.
As a whole, tenth Dimension is a worthy follow-up to Silicon Messiah, and for a second album that has a lot of eyes on it - both fans' and critics' - it stands its ground admirabley. Bayley shows he CAN sing (if anyone was in any doubt of that), Slater and Wray are perhaps one of the more exciting twin-guitar teams on the scene at the moment, and Naylor and Singer stand as a solid rhythm section holding all the pieces together.
SPV - 2002
By Mark Bridgeman
Most people will (or should) know the story of Blaze Bayley. Being grabbed from UK pub rockers WOLFSBANE (a personal fave) to travel the world's stages with metal monsters IRON MAIDEN in the mid-90s as replacement to the soul-searching Bruce Dickinson, he helped them deliver the solid, if poorly-received, X FACTOR (masterpiece, in this writer's eyes) and VIRTUAL XI (slightly undercooked). The albums were not met with standing ovations from many quarters, and being the new guy Bayley was slated as the "Man Who Killed Iron Maiden" (despite the band being somewhat off the boil since the departure of Adrian Smith in 1990, and falling under the producing 'skills' of bassist Steve Harris).
Leap forward to 1999, when Bayley was shown the door to make way for Dickinson's return (or not, depending on whose story you listen to). Many thought the man would sink into oblivion, but with the emergence of BLAZE the band in 2000, with Silicon Messiah - a worthy debut from anyone - he managed to shut the mouths of all but his strongest (and loudest) opponents. The band went on to gather a strong following in the UK, with heavy interest elsewhere, and finished off the Messiah period with a resounding victory as support on HELLOWEEN's Euro tour (reportedly blowing the Germans offstage nightly).
And so it comes to the follow-up, this year's TENTH DIMENSION, which proves to be a new beast but obviously drawn from the same well as SILICON MESSIAH. What we have is a collection of songs that can be taken as a concept album, or (as I prefer) as songs in their own right. From initial listenings to some *coff* MP3s *coff* I wasn't impressed. But one must really listen to the album proper before forming a final opinion, mustn't one?
After the atmospheric and almost music-less intro of Forgotten Future, it breaks into:
Kill and Destroy
The first thing that impresses is just how strong Bayley's vocals are. Considering the ragging he comes in for by some, this is the perfect song to open with. The guitars are low and hard enough to shear off your skull, although the sound does make me think of Roy Z's Dickinson work. A very solid opener.
End Dream
I was unsure about this track's opening verse - the vocals just didn't sit well with me - but chorus made up for it. The majority of the song is slow, sludgey, and somewhat reminiscent of SILICON MESSIAH - not neccesarily a bad thing, unless you're really hoping for something new.
Tenth Dimension
Perhaps my least favourite track on the album. Bayley's execution of the lyrics is slightly shaky - at least in his phrasing - and the music is nothing to write home about. The middle, slow, section also sounds like it was lifted from a Blaze-era Maiden track (think Sign Of The Cross), which thankfully doesn't last too long. However, all is golden and light when it comes to the lead work, in particular John Slater's. Nice stuff.
Nothing Will Stop Me
Great, slow-starting song which awakes into a heaviness with a chorus to salivate over. The song is let down only slightly by some messy drum fills, but the twin guitar work of Slater and Wray is impressive. Could well be a message to Bayley's critics.
A Leap Of Faith
When Bayley writes songs about taking chances and doing what you must, it's obvious he's speaking from experience, and songs like Leap of Faith are stronger for it. This is a straight-forward rocker, with a fine melodic chorus - it won't set any charts on fire, but it'll be a cracker live I'm sure.
The Truth Revealed
A short connection piece between A Leap Of Faith and Meant To Be, it's a shame they didn't stretch it out into a full-blown song. As it stands, it's just under 2 minutes of fine lead work over acoustic guitar, with Bayley singing a melancholic refrain...
Meant To Be
... which melts into Meant To Be, a refreshingly low-key song of self-questioning which actually gives Bayley a chance to show he CAN sing (and proves it). This is perhaps the jewel in the album's crown, with it being laced with a string and choral section - even with a femme voc section - before moving onto an energetic closing second-half.
Land Of The Blind
Could have been lifted straight from Silion Messiah in its sound and structure, with Bayley doing what can only be desribed as an Ozzy impression during the "now I open my eyes" refrain (and not a bad one at that).
Stealing Time
Another fuelled-up rocker - compared to the other songs on the album, there's nothing outstanding about it, but as a song itself it's a solid effort with a kicker of a chorus. This album, in fact, could be called 'Sing along with Blaze', so earcatching are the choruses.
Speed Of Light
this has BLAZE written all over it, and is an example of what is becoming a signature sound for BLAZE - the barreling guitars with twin harmonies, with the heads down rhtym section of Naylor (bass) and Singer (drums). The song itself is not that spectacular, but if someone were to ask me what the band sounded like, I'd most likely play them this song.
Stranger To The Light
After the album-closing monster that was SIlicon Messiah's "Stare At The Sun" - possibly my favourite song of 2000 - I was hoping for an equally ear-bleeding track here. This time, BLAZE serve up a 6-and-a-half minute track that at first was a slight letdown. With its thick groove taking its time to worm its way through the song, we're given a song akin to Metallica-doing-Kyuss that fades out at the 6 minute mark with 20 seconds of silence. In my opinion, not the strongest way to finish an album, but after an album so full of rockers, they perhaps thought a slow, coming-down style track was due.
As a whole, tenth Dimension is a worthy follow-up to Silicon Messiah, and for a second album that has a lot of eyes on it - both fans' and critics' - it stands its ground admirabley. Bayley shows he CAN sing (if anyone was in any doubt of that), Slater and Wray are perhaps one of the more exciting twin-guitar teams on the scene at the moment, and Naylor and Singer stand as a solid rhythm section holding all the pieces together.
