1147. BLAZE / Tenth Dimension. 2002. 4.5/5

In many ways it is both strange that Blaze Bayley the artist has as low a profile as he does, both now and 20 years ago, and strange that he has such a high profile as he does. His first band Wolfsbane had had some minor success, but when Iron Maiden hired him as the replacement for Bruce Dickinson in 1994 over more high profile candidates such as ex-Helloween vocalist Michael Kiske there was a sense of ‘who is this guy?’ Those two Maiden albums with Blaze as vocalist still generate a mixed reaction from fans. And yet, on leaving the band with the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, and forming his own band, he was able to syphon off enough of his Maiden persona to get good support gigs, and by the by write and record a pretty damn excellent debut album Silicon Messiah. Following the success of that album and tour, Blaze and the band, guitarists Steve Wray and John Slater, bass guitarist Rob Naylor and drummer Jeff Singer, moved into writing and recording the follow up. Hooking up with acclaimed producer Andy Sneap, Blaze came up with the story idea for what became the concept album. He had done a lot of research into quantum physics and read a number of published articles about the subject, including a link between quantum physics and paranormal phenomena, and most of the ideas he read about related to superstring theory, the idea that inspired the story of the album. It tells the tale of Professor Christopher Blane and his journey to find the tenth dimension and discover its true meaning. It became Tenth Dimension.
So while it has been established that the album has a story and that it is all interconnected, when it comes to music, if the songs themselves don’t reflect the same emotion and energy then none of it matters. Fortunately, the band has produced not only some excellent songs here they have created an atmosphere that enhances. The opening instrumental of “Forgotten Future” crashes into the opening track of “Kill and Destroy”, a perfect meshing of great riffs from Wray and Slater and Blaze’s awesome vocals that kick the song off from the start and drives it to its conclusion. It has been, and remains, one of Blaze’s best songs. It is the perfect tempo and riffage. “End Dream” then comes in with a slower tempo but retains the energy, while the title track is a beauty, filled with great vocals and suitably excellent dual guitar solos. It’s a great start to the album, and continues with “Leap of Faith” which also bounds along in that same great bouncing tempo.
Even when the album slows down in the middle, such as with the growing ascendance from quiet acoustic to faster heavier tones in “Nothing Will Stop Me”, and with the short acoustic “The Truth Revealed” into “Meant to Be”, the band perform it terrifically well. Other bands of the era may have looked to turn “Meant to Be” into a power ballad, but as a part of the story it most definitely isn’t a ballad. This is where Blaze’s vocals shine through, living proof to the doubters that he can most definitely sing when he isn’t expected to be singing at the same pitch as Bruce Dickinson.
“Speed of Light” once again showcases just how good Blaze and the band are when they go for the uptempo heavy rocking track, because this is another ripper on this album. It flies along and is where the band sounds at their best. And when listening to the album, it is the standout of the back half of the album, and definitely because of its pace and fire, whereas songs such as “Land of the Blind” and “Stealing Time” are lesser in comparison. Also, somewhat, is the closing track “Stranger to the Light”, which is the longest song on the album, and is dialled right back into the slower, crunching song as the finale to the story. Now, while I like the song, and you can understand why it is designed the way it is, it gets found out because of the excellence of the previous track, and that does tend to hold back the last third of the album compared to what comes at the front end.

When Blaze was with Iron Maiden, he was always going to be judged against Bruce Dickinson and the work he had done in the band. That meant that the songs he performed on and co-wrote would be judged against the best era of Iron Maiden, and he was never going to be able to win that competition. Beyond that though, on both his debut album and this album, Blaze found a great band with terrific musicians who wrote songs that not only better suited Blaze’s excellent vocals, but music that better suited the generation. I love the two albums Blaze sang on for Maiden, but the music led by Steve Harris had already begun to creep towards the progressive sound, with ten minute tracks that also had instrumental start and finishes and whose tempo was dragged right back from the golden era of Iron Maiden. That wasn’t something that Blaze could change, and in many ways it was he that felt the brunt of blame for it.
But here on Tenth Dimension, you get a much better idea of Blaze’s own ideas for his brand of heavy metal. All of the songs here range from 4-6 minutes, there is an excellent mixture of the fast tempo, high energy, guitar driven heavy metal tracks along with thoughtfully vocalled, mid-tempo songs that don’t lose themselves into becoming power ballads that euro metal bands may do. Having put together a terrific range of musicians who not only play well, but contributed to the writing of the music and shared a similar ideology, you can hear on both this album and the previous album that they are a great fit. Jeff Singer on drums is terrific, and the bass lines of Rob Naylor purr along beautifully throughout. The guitar riffing from Steve Wray and John Slater is quite remarkable, and their contributions to the writing of the songs is exceptional. Indeed, everything about this version of the band is brilliant, and having heard both of the first two albums, it continues to be a regret that this was their final act together. As was to become common place in Blaze’s first decade, management and money problems meant that all four other members of the band moved on following the tour to promote Tenth Dimension, and Blaze had to recruit a whole new assembly for his next album.

And just one further comment. Blaze’s first album was released at the same time as Iron Maiden’s reunion album Brave New World in 2000, while their follow up Dance of Death” came out in 2003. And I love both of those albums, because how couldn’t you? It’s Iron Maiden, as you expect them to be. But, and many will say I am either mad or blinded to be saying this, I have always felt that both Silicon Messiah and Tenth Dimension hold their own against both of those Iron Maiden albums on their own merits, because Blaze had progressed down a path that he was able to lead, rather than be a hired member. And that for me is the best part of Tenth Dimension – that a band of little-known performers with their slightly better known lead singer were able to come out and produce an album that loses nothing in comparison to a band with a massively greater profile.