Blaze Bayley - The Night That Will Not Die

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It's a fact that Blaze Bayley is an underestimated musician/singer who was captured in the IRON MAIDEN turmoil created by the departure of Bruce Dickinson. The IRON MAIDEN days were a two-sided coin for Blaze; first of all they gave him the opportunity to expose himself in bigger crowds and the chance to finally show some of his WOLFSBANE on stage skills and secondly he was put between the hammer and the anvil trying to make a stand sitting on the electric chair of IRON MAIDEN's singer. After his departure from MAIDEN Blaze had to follow a real difficult and most bumpy road that fortunately for us made it through and here we have the audio and visual proof of what happened in Switzerland's Z7 club on the 13th of December, 2008.

The double CD feature the entire concert and to my surprise has a very good sound taking into consideration that this is not a fancy over-produced release. Whoever has attended a BLAZE BAYLEY concert is aware of the energy this lineup puts on stage. Blaze looks like he has lost his mind singing on top of his lungs driving crazy all the fans in the front rows. And this is what is recorded in the two CDs of "The Nigh That Will Not Die". The concert opens with the solid sonic trinity of "The Man Who Would Not Die", "Blackmailer" and "Smile Back At Death". The Swiss fans sound to be in an absolute synchronicity with the band and join Blaze during the sing-along parts and vocally follow the catchy twin guitar riffs. During the middle of the first CD the concert reach a climax with the guitar driven "Ten Seconds" and the following "Futureal" performed in slightly faster tempo than the MAIDEN version. The guitars do an excellent job here highlighting the solid Bermudez - Walsh six string collaboration. The audience follows Blaze's orders and bring to mind the trademark IRON MAIDEN on-stage ritual. Now, don't start whinnying that Blaze is taking advantage of the MAIDEN to heat up the concert. And this is actually, proven through the crowd's reaction to many BLAZE BAYLEY tracks and that's period. Additionally, I believe that he does a great job in the MAIDEN tracks where he sounds 'clean' from the overwhelming anxiety when he was on stage with them. Just pay attention to "Lord Of Flies" where Blaze totally nails the vocals lines revealing his powerful vocal range. The only complaint I can make regarding the setlist is that I would prefer more BLAZE tracks and less MAIDEN ones since I believe there are good songs that deserve an on-stage chance…


The one disc DVD features the entire Z7 concert while the bonus disc was an exclusive addition to the very special release through the band's website and hence is not to be found in the regular release. The first thing you notice when "The Man Who Would Not Die" opens the gig is that the filming was done with the club's equipment. And this is means that you won't find multi-camera shooting or a high definition resolution. A closer look will reveal that the footage becomes blurry when the volume gets high during powerful drumming. The latter actually works in favor of the DVD since it manages to capture the band's energy pumped performance and especially Blaze's who delivers his passion storming the Swiss fans. The filming is almost primitive and the direction does not make things better looking like a compilation of fan-filmed footage. But again, you have to know that this concert marked the rebirth of a band who had to go through hell and back to release the excellent "The Man That Would Not Die" album featuring this extremely solid lineup. You can 'feel' their anxiety bursting out during "Alive" during which the band members makes a loud statement that they are here to stay. Blaze implements to the maximum his MAIDEN days training manipulating the crowd with passion giving the definition all the Metal concerts should have. After all, if a band does not connect with the crowd cannot be characterized successful no-matter how impressive the on-stage props and effects are.

The bottom line is that this DVD is the band's celebration in reaching the point to release a studio album after all the troubles that would have crush many other average acts. BLAZE BAYLEY made a "Leap Of Faith" and reached the other side with acceptable casualties and another excellent album entitled "Promise And Terror". This DVD can be purchased exclusively via the band's official site (http://www.blazebayley.net) so all the money can go to support them as they deserve it!