Blaze Bayley

Former Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden vocalist Blaze Bayley was never largely accepted as Bruce Dickinson's replacement in Iron Maiden back in 1994 during his five-year tenure with the band while recording two albums for the British heavy metal veterans. The problem most die-hard Maiden fans had with Blaze was his vocal range, it was too low for the earlier Maiden material. He doesn't have a bad voice, it just didn't fit the Maiden mold of their previous singers. Blaze did co-pen some memorable songs that Maiden occasionally perform live to this day.

On Blaze Bayley's fifth studio album, "Promise and Terror," the second album released by the band since they changed their name from Blaze, we are treated with 11 songs of traditional heavy metal. Compared with their previous CD, "The Man Who Would Not Die," "Promise and Terror" introduces different elements as varied as NWOBHM, progressive sounds and some slight Swedish melodic twin guitar harmonies. The album as a whole is more catchier and accessible.

Opening with "Watching The Night Sky," the fast-paced riff is similar to a Maiden song, complete with whoa-oh-whoa-oh sing-along parts. The chorus shows Blaze's great vocal range as well as some killer guitar leads and great drum fills throughout the song. Definitely a good start to the album. "Madness and Sorrow" and "1633" follow suit by continuing with sharp riffage, melodic leads and memorable choruses. The intensity level the band show on the first half of the album remains the same on the rest of the songs.

In this day and age, we need a band like Blaze Bayley to keep the heavy metal torch ablaze (pun intended). "Promise and Terror" is just good head-banging foot-tapping metal that should appeal to many fans of this genre.