Live in Czech

Blaze Bayley

BLAZE BAYLEY does not need an introduction that's for sure! This is another of his […]
By Jean-François ''Jackal'' Poulin
April 27, 2020
Blaze Bayley - Live in Czech album cover

BLAZE BAYLEY does not need an introduction that's for sure! This is another of his Live albums, he does that all the time and he usually releases them on DVD as well. Most of the times when you get to see him live, he always has them on hand and they don't cost much. He and his wife are in charge of Blaze Bayley Recordings and everything is done by hand. He considers himself as an independent artist and doing everything on his terms, everything is usually booked by his wife. He does not have a recording contract but that don't doesn't deter him of releasing a lot of stuff throughout the years. The production value of the DVDs is probably the weakest part of his live releases nonetheless. The sound isn't the best and the quality of the image is also weaker than a lot of bands out there but when you do everything by yourself, well it does not hurt the overall quality of the album.

This album was recorded at the Melodka venue in Brno, Czech Republic. This is the tour of the Infinite Entanglement series of albums. The three albums are concept albums and in true trilogy fashion, the third chapter is easily the most epic and the melodies sound bright and triumphant, and a greater emphasis on dialogue and it really has that cinematic feel overall. Most songs are from these three albums and being he was touring for the last chapter, that is Absolutely understandable and I would have loved older material. The passionate and sympathetic singer hasn't often received the credit he deserved from his first few albums and I was glad he put ''Silicon Messiah'' and ''Stare at the Sun'' in his setlist, those two songs are some of my favorites in his back catalog.

You can't talk about Blaze Bayley without talking about IRON MAIDEN obviously. He had the daunting task of replacing Bruce Dickinson and he did a fair job, often limited by the structure of Steve Harris' songwriting. In those two albums, there was fair share of clunkers but also some great songs still in the IRON MAIDEN setlists to this day like ''Man on the Edge'' and ''Clansman''. Two songs that Blaze incorporated in this live album. Like he did the two times I saw him live, he commands the audience and truly shines on these MAIDEN songs. Although he has trouble with some of the older IRON MAIDEN songs, he masters his own material from ''Virtual XI'' and ''X Factor'', it seems like he delivers it with utter passion. They sound as good as they sounded back in the day and these are stirring live versions of many of our favorites.

He sounds even better with age and on this album, his voice does not die down and his passionate vocal performance is on point and does not sound strained. The band is good, not great, when you have a revolving door of your backing band, chemistry can be an issue. Blaze shines like never before and you can hear that passion you hear on stage, on this live release. This translates really well and even though the production is decent, it's something fans will clamor and longtime fans will not be disappointed.

9 / 10

Almost Perfect

Songwriting

9

Musicianship

9

Memorability

9

Production

7
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"Live in Czech" Track-listing:

Disc 1

1. The Dark Side of Black
2. A Thousand Years
3. Day Energy 256
4. The World Is Turning the Wrong Way
5. Human
6. Together We Can Move the Sun
7. Solar Wind
8. Virus (IRON MAIDEN cover)
9. Life Goes On
10. Fight Back
11. Silicon Messiah
12. They Day I Fell to Earth

Disc 2

1. Eagle Spirit
2. Calling You Home
3. Man on the Edge (IRON MAIDEN cover)
4. Stare at the Sun
5. Futureal (IRON MAIDEN cover)
6. The Clansman (IRON MAIDEN cover)

Blaze Bayley Lineup:

Karl Schramm - Bass
Martin McNee - Drums
Chris Appleton - Guitars
Blaze Bayley - Vocals

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