Review Summary: A heavy and emotional album that most people will never hear.
Mention the name Blaze Bayley and most people will recall him as “that guy” who replaced Bruce Dickinson in Iron Maiden for two albums in the 1990s. Some might even remember him as the vocalist of Wolfsbane. However, you’d be hard pressed to find many people who know much, if anything, about his post-Maiden career. And what a shame that is. Since leaving Iron Maiden, Blaze has put out a handful of stellar studio albums as well as a few live releases. The first three studio albums were under the band name BLAZE, but deciding that it might garner him more attention, Blaze released 2008’s
The Man Who Would Not Die and 2010’s
Promise and Terror under the name “Blaze Bayley”.
Blaze has never disappointed with any of his solo releases and
Promise and Terror is no exception. It is an album full of fast-paced, bone crunching metal that leaves you wondering why this man just can’t seem to get the break he really deserves in the music world. Written after the death of his wife and manager, Debbie, you can sense the sadness in the album as Blaze pours out his emotions in the best possible way a man like him can do so: by releasing a magnificent metal record. The 11-track album can be broken down into two parts. The first seven tracks have no connection to each other besides being a set of great metal songs. Opening with “Watching the Night Sky” and “Madness and Sorrow,” these two blistering tracks almost leave you with whiplash and you may even find yourself saying “Yeah, that Blaze Bayley guy still has it.”
The rest of the first seven tracks continue to impress with heavy songs that display changes in tempo, great drumming, heavy riffs, and some great guitar melodies as can be heard in “Time to Dare.” Blaze’s vocals also do not disappoint. Will he be remembered as one of the all-time greatest vocalists? No. But his voice suits the music perfectly, much more so than it did during his stint in Iron Maiden.
The first seven tracks will leave you feeling satisfied with the album, but it’s the final four tracks that really steal the show. Consisting of “Surrounded by Sadness,” “The Trace of Things that Have No Words,” “Letting Go of the World,” and “Comfortable in Darkness,” each track melds into the next one to form one brilliant piece of cohesive music. This four-part series is Blaze’s way of expressing his feelings after the death of his wife, Debbie. If his goal was for the listener to understand his emotions during such a difficult time then he should consider his mission accomplished.
Starting with the mostly acoustic “Surrounded by Sadness,” this sonic journey leaves the listener feeling every ounce of emotion behind each note played and lyric sang. Quite honestly, the music is some of the darkest I have ever heard. The mixture of distorted and clean guitars and the tempo changes within the songs ensure that the listener will not succumb to boredom throughout these four tracks.
Like the music, the lyrics of the last four tracks are just as dark and are without a doubt some of the best that Blaze has ever written. Blaze belts out each and every note with all of his heart and his emotion is conveyed by each word. Take for example the following line in “The Trace of Things that Have No Words”:
My scars I show you now, my scars/ They prove my life was real, my scars.
The only thing that detracts from this album is the production quality of the music. Although not horrible, it sounds as if it could stand to be “fattened” and “polished” just a bit. This complaint is minor however, especially considering how great of an album it is overall.
Promise and Terror is an album that can stand on its own against some of the best metal releases over the past ten years and it’s unfortunate that because Blaze Bayley never really caught a break after Maiden, most people will never hear it.