Author: Rok Klemše
Location: Gala hala, Ljubljana
Concert date: 19.03.2012
Attendance: 100
Blaze Bayley is no stranger to our stages, having stood on them quite a few times over the last two or three years. With every show on our soil, the former Iron Maiden throat has delivered two hours of solid heavy metal. This time, though, Bayley stopped by twice on his King of Metal tour: before Monday’s Ljubljana show, Blaze also played Maribor. The tour was all about presenting the new album The King of Metal, which Bayley recorded with a new lineup, and the show was interesting mainly for what the new guys could bring to the table and whether Blaze had managed to make an album that could stand up to its excellent predecessors.
Before that, the veterans of Slovenian heavy metal, Lene kosti, took the stage, hungry for their forty minutes of glory. They didn’t use their slot just to push the new album Penetrator, but also to introduce a new member – Edo Sabljakovič, otherwise the guitarist of Forgotten Eden, has replaced Giovanni Kavaš on guitar. Like a proper heavy metal beast, Lene kosti sank their teeth into the crushing, penetrating anthems of the new album, which show the band in a new light. There’s only a sample of the typical boogie swing on Penetrator, since it has fled in terror before the roaring heavy metal that loosened Lene kosti up so much they could easily drop the adjective from the band name. We got the boogie swing only in the iron classic Russian Girl, while otherwise the band, led by stage maniac Milan Krušič, lined up the destroyers from the new record in great style – Refuse to Die, Penetrator, The Cage and the epic anthem 13th Warrior – and ran us over for fun like the killer truck from Spielberg’s Duel. Whether it’s bad that Lene kosti have given up their fairly unique boogie metal sound, time will tell, but one thing is certain – with Penetrator, Lene kosti sound even more aggressive, even more venomous and simply »heavy as fuck!«
The newly bald Blaze »motherfuckin’ cunt« Bayley flew onto the stage to the sounds of the Blood & Belief classic Will To Win and took up a spot right at the edge of the stage, where he stayed put practically the whole show. The big question this time was how Blaze would sound with the new lineup he gathered around him after (not exactly in the spirit of what he preaches on stage) firing Nico and David Bermudez and Jay Walsh practically overnight. These were the people who helped him write the excellent albums The Man Who Would Not Die and Promise and Terror, the records that brought Blaze back from the dead. But Blaze took a different path (the wrong one, in my opinion) and hired cheap (Italian) musicians who helped him write the album The King of Metal and now act as session players on the current tour. Bayley is currently surrounded by drummer Claudio Tirincanti, bassist Lehmann and guitarists Andrea Neri and Thomas Zwijsen (the only Dutchman in the band). The lineup held up with total confidence on stage, and the music was played solidly, at times even extremely convincingly and damn punchy, though with way too much posing. You can’t accuse the guys of lacking technical chops, but that’s not everything, least of all when they can’t write good songs either, which was painfully obvious during the five tracks played from the new record. With this new crew, Blaze missed the mark completely on The King of Metal – the first new track was proof enough, a pathetic attempt at a tribute to the late Dimebag with a dumb lyric that only worked a little better in the part where the guys imitate Pantera’s groove instrumentally. Not any more exciting were the title track with its boring vocal and guitar lines, the quasi-»tribute« to Dio The Rainbow Fades to Black, where Blaze apes Dio’s vocal lines, Fate and the idiotic The Black Country. Much more fun this time came from the expertly performed older classics, with Ghost in the Machine, Silicon Messiah, Leap of Faith and Stare at the Sun leading the way. Bayley also put (too) much emphasis on his Iron Maiden career this time: five crushers were played from the albums The X Factor, Virtual XI and even Best of the Beast. Yes, Blaze delivered a pleasant surprise with a performance of the killer, overlooked Maiden single Virus. It’s always nice to hear Iron Maiden, especially when it’s sung by the guy who sang those songs on the originals, but still, Blaze can boast five excellent solo albums that deserve richer showcasing. And on top of that, Zwijsen managed to mangle the solos in the style of Gers in Maiden, and they were way too loud to boot.
Despite all the (justified) criticism, you can’t fault Blaze’s live form. He still knows how to hold the crowd in his fist, his deep-toned vocals are still ominous and powerful, and at the show he still manages to squeeze out the last atom of energy. Sadly, though, in my opinion he made the wrong move by firing excellent musicians, with whom continued collaboration might have taken him into the higher league of heavy metal, better record sales and bigger venues. Instead, with cheap session players, all he’s managed is to funnel a few extra euros into his wallet. Because of these recent moves, it’s also painful to listen to his long monologues, which once seemed sincere and well-meaning, but now sound rehearsed, marketing-driven, even pathetic. So despite the excellent show, the backstory leaves a somewhat bitter aftertaste – Blaze Bayley is still a first-rate live experience, it’s only the new record and the new crew that suggest his power is fading. With these moves, Blaze has undoubtedly lost part of his credibility and his heavy metal warrior stance, and he has also managed to lose the heavy metal magic of the previous two albums. Or maybe, by shaving off his hair, he lost his ability to write great heavy metal, just like Samson lost his strength.
Setlist
1. Will to Win
2. Lord of the Flies
3. The Launch
4. Dimebag
5. Ghost in the Machine
6. The King of Metal
7. Silicon Messiah
8. The Rainbow Fades to Black
9. Fate
10. The Brave
11. The Black Country
12. Leap of Faith
13. Stare at the Sun
14. The Clansman
15. Man on the Edge
16. Futureal
————–
17. Virus
18. Faceless
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