What came next was… underwhelming, to say the least. He fell into a project that was eventually eponymously named and featured a debut album of the same name, “Di’Anno”, which was absolutely nothing like the sound of the band that he had come to prominence in. It was an album that had mixed styles and also mixed agendas, and although the band toured on the back of the release, the tour seemed hampered by Di’Anno’s refusal to play any of his former band’s songs in the live set. It was well received in some areas but the internal fighting and lack of any commercial success saw the project fold.
Next came the so-called supergroup uniting of Gogmagog, and their single release “I Will Be There”. If you are interested in the history of this short-lived combination, you can find it on Episode 51 of this podcast. Suffice to say, this also had a very short lifespan. In almost four years since he had lost his most profitable and self serving job, Paul Di’Anno had little to show, and with Iron Maiden by now going from strength to strength without him, his collateral had also almost run out.
Di'Anno’s next move was to form a new partnership which initially went by the name Strike. He recruited drummer Bob Falck, formerly of Overkill and the Hurley brothers John on guitar and Chaz on bass. As with most of the groups that were set up around Di’Anno, there were a number of changes and movements in personnel before actually getting down to putting the sounds on vinyl. John Wiggins, who along with John Hurley had been in bands such as Deep Machine, Lonewolf and Iron Cross, came on board as second guitarist, while after a few different changes on bass guitar that role was filled by Pete West. Through all of this, the group finally found themselves together. The project was eventually named Battlezone, after a name straight from a comic book. Based around material that was almost completely composed by John Hurley, the band that became popularly known as Paul Di'anno's Battlezone - no doubt by the record company to cash in on the lead singer's renown – was ready to activate. Given the changing route of the music he had produced in the previous projects he had been involved in, there was no doubt some interest at the time as to what direction the music that this new project produced would take.
The album starts off on the right foot with "(Forever) Fighting Back" hitting the speakers with a solid riff and drum combination, and Di’Anno’s vocals finally finding the kind of style that fans had been hoping for from the beginning, and not the rather wimpy aspect that he had performed on his other projects prior to this. It’s energetic, it had a fast tempo, and it is a short and sharp opening assault. The guitar solo section is solidly performed, and the suddenness of the song’s climax is well achieved. Better yet, we have a couple of Di’Anno screams that highlight that this is a return to form. This then moves into "Welcome to the Battlezone", lyrically following on from the opening track and further imaging those visions. Again, this is a hard rocking anthem that place immediate focus on Di'anno's best vocal characteristics, and some clean guitaring skills from John Hurley and John Wiggins. Musically this offers a solid hard rock theme throughout, with lyrics that are easy to chant along to and a guitar solo section that suits its purpose. It might sound like a simplified storyline in the modern age, but the album has opened up well.
Leading on after this is "Warchild", which amplifies the faster tempo track that dominates the album, along with an anthemic lyric again that attempts to draw you in and sing along with the band. The main guitar riff is catchy and offers a melodic offshoot, suiting Di’Anno’s vocals down to the ground. Lyrically it remains in the same quadrant, but it is nice to hear a bit of the Di’Anno attitude in the tracks at the top of the playlist, bringing his style firmly into view. Another great solid hard rocking track.
"Into the Darkness" offers the first example of a willingness to showcase something a little different without stepping away from the mould. Starting off with the clear guitar, and Paul offering us his sweeter higher vocal reminiscent of what he has done on a couple of songs from the past, before building into the main riff and hard drums is a nice touch. There can be an argument raised that much of this is very much cut and paste styled hard to heavy rock, but “Into the Darkness” at least shows a willingness to give it a slightly different focus. Paul’s vocals are great here, well supported by Hurley and Wiggins. It does drop into a settled riff and tempo that pushes the song that while it sounds simplified and repetitive is brought to life by Di'anno's vocals. The solo break along with Di’Anno’s recognisable style again highlight the strengths of the songs, and able to overwrite any perceived weaknesses.
"The Land God Gave to Cain" is the closer of the first side on the album, and is the attempt at the album epic tune. At over seven minutes in length, it suffers from being long-winded and also of overusing the same riff for far too long to make this completely satisfying. However, take a listen to the opening riff, and tell me Megadeth didn’t use this on their “Cryptic Writings” album on the song “A Secret Place”. Go on, take a listen. And don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the same riff and no one is copying, but the similarities come back to me every time I listen to this album. This is not a complete loss of a song, but there are things that needed to be looked at. The breakdown in the middle of the song is clumsy and unnecessary. It seems to have been incorporated as a necessity to show that the band can mix things up, and offer a bit of progressive rock to their music, and that they are not just a one trick pony. And in the normal course of things, once you listen to the album a number of times and are used to the way the album moves to this point, and you listen to this song, then you can get past the deficiencies that are apparent during this song and accept it for what it is or perhaps more importantly wat it was meant to be. Without it of course this would be just another song of a similar style as the others on the album. It is a shame, because the bridge into the chorus, and Paul’s vocals at those points are actually tremendously good.
The second side of the album opens with marching drum beat and mostly clear guitar along with Di’Anno’s softer sweeter vocal lines supported by Wiggins and Hurley, before breaking out into the hardest and faster portion of the album to date. "Running Blind" indeed. This then follows the path of the opening tracks, with raging Di’Anno vocals and the strident carry of the guitar driven track. There is very much a New Wave of British Heavy Metal theme about the music and soloing of these tracks, which is fitting given the vocalist of the band and where he came from in all of that movement, and even though it is halfway through the 1980’s decade when this came out it still seems to fit. Though of course, when listening to the album this far in the future, the timing of the release is far less important. "Too Much to Heart" takes some liberties with the vibe of the remainder of the album, making a hard rock 'ballad' that isn't really compromising what has gone before. Di’Anno’s vocals soar beautifully at moments during the track, mostly during the pre-chorus to the chorus which are in fact the best parts of the song. It is a shame that he mixes the chanting side of his singing mixed in with those excellent soaring places on the same song. He has such a great voice at this point of his career, and much more could have been utilised by better songwriting that showcased it.
"Voice on the Radio" falls back to a typical hard rock tone of the era, utilising the backup vocals of the other members of the band more than the majority of the songs on the album, while sticking with that hard rock theme formula with the standard solo thrown in for good measure. It is for all intents and purposes a rock song written for the radio. "Welfare Warriors" is a ripping track, again combining the dual guitars with Di'anno's vocals at an up tempo click. There is a little bit of old Iron Maiden in the feel of the opening of the track, but from here it progresses along the same path that most of the songs on the album have set – great energy, driven by the rhythm and the guitar riffs in place, and Dianno’s terrific vocals. It is the pace of this track, and the others like it, that make it fun to listen to. The tempo drives the enjoyment. Sure, lyrically it isn’t going to set any records, but this is what Di’Anno was always meant to do, make songs that are FUN to listen to, to have his spark and cheeky character coming through in the music and songs, and this is a great example of it. The power of his voice here is at its best. "Feel the Rock" is a simplified hard rock track to end the album. It follows the formula that the album has given us, it offers some supporting chants along the way, a good solid riff like what has followed, and leaves the end of the album to conclude in a satisfactory way.
“Formula” is a reasonable word to use to describe this album. Because although in truth this is a very formula driven album, almost 'rock by numbers' in many places, and will probably lose many people’s interest before they reach the album’s conclusion, it is catchy enough to make you sit up and enjoy it for what it is. The band is really quite good, solid in all respects, and while the riffs tend to come from that same school of 'how to write a hard rock song', there is enough to distinguish this from the ordinary to make it worthy of listening to. The guitar solos too add the flavour to the songs to help them rise above the average. To top all of this off, Di'anno's vocals still sound great, even if they do tend not to change tone too often, and probably still show the lack of variation that was a contributing factor to his being moved on from his previous high profile band. Still - his voice is absolutely distinctive and enjoyable, and remains that here for all to hear.
I didn’t know about, nor did I get to listen to anything by Battlezone until long after these albums had been released. More is the pity whenever I get around to listening to this album. Because I believe that if I had heard this album in particular at the time that I was discovering heavy metal and Iron Maiden in particular, I would perhaps adore it as much as other albums of the era now. Because it is very distinctive in its sound, very much in the same way as the old NWoBHM albums are tied to that era, and that if you enjoy that style and sound of music – which I do – then you’ll enjoy most of those albums and bands. This is very mid-1980’s in its style, and I like albums of this style of that era, so there is no reason why I wouldn’t have jumped onto this. However, it wasn’t until the new century, at the time when I was searching for old music I’d never heard, in an age when file sharing allowed easier access to such material, that I discovered Battlezone and their debut album.
As is often the case with bands and albums like these, there is very little middle ground when it comes to the fandom. You either find what you are looking for in the music and enjoy it immensely, or you can’t see past where there are flaws and oversights and you dismiss it outright as something that isn’t very good. And there is simply no denying that if you listen to this album critically, tearing down each track and highlighting what is good and what is average, you can easily come to the conclusion that this is only an average album.
But here is the kicker. Do you listen to music to critically analyse every single moment of every song, to justify why you like or dislike it? If you do, and that is your sole judgement on bands and albums and music in general, then it is going to be hard to get much out of anything. When I first got this album, what I enjoyed most was Paul Di’Anno’s vocals. Because I LIKE Paul Di’Anno’s vocals, at least those from this era. His latter day screaming and growling is far less effective in my view. But when he just sings with his swagger and attitude, he is great to listen to. And the songs themselves here are, I think. Great to listen to. They aren’t groundbreaking, and they are for the most part formula driven to an extreme. But it works. I enjoyed it when I first found it.
Listening again over the past couple of weeks, I can be as critiquing as the next person. Yes, it lacks a bit of polish. Some of the songs show great promise and don’t quite deliver on it. The clunky way the middle breakdown comes in “The Land God Gave to Cain” is savage. A great idea, poorly executed. Having someone else there, say a Martin Birch, to get the band to make it better and work these ideas into a better mix, would have been extremely helpful. But – and this is where I think I am at with “Fighting back” – when I just put the album on and listen to it, do I enjoy it? The answer again is yes, I do. And with music, on a personal level, that is simply all that matters.
As a mid-80's hard rock album there is enough here to make it worth the while of the average punter to have a listen, and see what Di'anno could do with a different writing team around him. This album is not for everyone, but I for one still enjoy hearing Di’Anno in his post Maiden days having a good crack at utilising the talents he has and giving us more music.
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