863. Paul Di'anno's Battlezone / Feel My Pain. 1998. 2.5/5

It had been ten years since the last incarnation of the band Battlezone, and eleven since the last album Children of Madness had been released. In that time Paul Di'anno had formed and disbanded yet another band (Killers), toured as lead singer with Praying Mantis, collaborated with fellow former bandmate Dennis Stratton (The First Iron Men), and generally moved around from project to project showing glimpses of excellence and potential, and then relative obscurity again.

I'm not sure of the reason to resurrect the Battlezone moniker, apart from the fact one other member, guitarist John Wiggins, survives in this adaption of the band. Certainly the majority of the music here has absolutely no similarity to the music that was released on the first two albums by this band. It's a decade later, and music has had some dramatic changes in that time. And somewhat disappointingly, it appears that all of those factors are attempted to be fused together on this album in the hope of achieving success.
"Feel My Pain" immediately shows off the differences between the previous formation of this band and the current one. The riffs are in a heavier direction, there is now a lot of double kick in the drums, and Di'anno has moved his vocals around so that they are not as they once were. Though this is a heavy start to the album, there is a 'modern' metal feel to it, requiring the vocals to lower in register for the majority of the song n a nod to the industrial metal sound that was beginning to become prevalent. "C.O.M '98" is a remake of "Children of Madness" from the album of the same name, but it really doesn't improve much. Though it is attempting to be intensely heavier through both guitars and vocals, it actually doesn't improve on the original. Di'anno tries to sing it in his new modern vocal range, but if you are going to redo one of your own songs, surely you would really try and make it separate from the original, rather than just what they have done here by re-recording it with a slightly edgier feel. Perhaps a wasted opportunity. "Victim" is the one song that really hails back to the roots of the first two albums. It's fast pace and guitars are ably suited to Di'anno's high register singing here. This is where Di'anno - and his band - do their best work. The double kick drumming and enjoyable riff and solo guitaring allow Di'anno to do what he does best. this is direction the band should have continued on for this album.
"The Forgotten Ones" is another attempt at the 'epic' song, much like "Metal Tears" was on Children of Madness. To be honest, it works about as well. It's not terrible, but it doesn't evoke the feelings in me that they were probably looking for when they wrote it. "Push" is a standard heavier song, again using the same template as most of the songs released by this band have been. The riff works fine, the vocals are fine, trying to use a heavier edge by going into a lower register, and the dual solos work fine, but it just isn't hooking me, grabbing me and not letting go. It's an average kind of fare that you don't hate but just don't love either.
"Snake Eyes" is a slower plodder which slides between this and faster thrills, where Di'anno moves from growls to screams with ease, using every extreme of his vocal register all within moments of each other. it's almost like taking two different songs, slicing it up and then throwing it back together again. It works okay, but only by the end.
"Smack" is just an blatant rip off of Alice in Chains. I mean, I can't even find it amusing, because it is so obvious. Di'anno even tries to sing like Layne and Jerry, and it really, REALLY doesn't work. This to me was the biggest shock on the album. I guess you can do what you like when it comes to song writing, but if you are going to do something so dramatically away from what is your normal state of affairs you'd want to make it spectacular. This is not. "The Black" plays a lot like "Snake Eyes", while "Fear Part 1" closes out the album - and Battlezone - with another standard riff-repeating, Di'anno growling, hard rock rendition which has vague similarities to the same era Tim Owens-led Judas Priest.

On the surface, you can see why this album and toured went so well in South America, and why it bombed back home in the UK. This album's sound is geared to the kind of metal that had been coming from that continent for some years, while it was diversified away from what the UK produced in their music. Again, you can make the case that this isn't a bad album, but it is anchored to the time it was recorded in a clichéd way. It's hard to say what could have made it more appealing, but there is definitely something required here to have made it more appeasing to all than it is.

Rating:  You tear me up then kick me down, destroy me with your lies.  2.5/5