Much continues to be made of his connection with Iron Maiden, and the two albums where he replaced Bruce Dickinson in the 1990’s. Part of this is pursued by Bayley himself with his tours where he plays only those Maiden tracks, which for fans of those albums is terrific as the band itself rarely touches that era. But the conglomerate of work Blaze has produced since those years is incredible, in particular the three albums under his Blaze persona, and then the first couple as the solo artist under his own name.
In more recent years he produced a trilogy of albums in a concept story called the Infinite Entanglement trilogy, before riding through the covid outbreak with the “War Within Me” album in 2021. Having completed the tour to promote this album, Blaze and his band went back into the studio to write and record their next album. In March 2023, just two days after the conclusion of the recording of what became the “Circle of Stone” album, Blaze suffered a heart attack which required quadruple bypass open heart surgery. The release of the album was put on hold as Blaze put his recovery as his priority. During this convalescence Blaze turned 60, and in itself felt as though it could have been a marker on his music career. Somewhat amazingly, almost seven months to the day from his heart attack, Blaze was back on stage performing once again. This is not the resume of a man who gives up despite everything the world sometimes throws at him. And with the man once again able to carry out his craft live on stage, he has now released his new album almost a year after it was completed to show the world he is still here and still means business.
In discussing the writing of the album, Blaze has confirmed that the album can be split into two halves. He is quoted as saying “Side one comprises six unconnected songs that describe human frailty, resilience, courage, and gratitude. Can you look to yourself for answers? Can you fight against all the odds to take your future in your own hand, or do you accept the fate that other people tell you is what you deserve? Believe in yourself. You can survive the knocks, defeats and disappointments of your life and come back stronger. That is the hope we hold in our first six songs.”
“Mind Reader” kicks off the album on the right foot, uptempo with Blaze in fine voice with the kind of energy that he puts into his best songs. “Tears in Rain” follows straight on with a great guitar riff to kickstart the song and Blaze back into his best vocals. This is a great song both musically and lyrically, referencing the great Rutger Hauer monologue from the movie Blade Runner as his character Roy Batty meets his end. Perfectly sung by Blaze and excellently performed by the band. Great stuff. “Rage” follows and moves into a slower and darker musical tone without losing the energy provided by the opening tracks. This song again moves in a story line, referencing a Welsh folk tale of Prince Llewelyn who kills his dog Gelert believing he had killed his infant son, when he had in fact defended him from the attack of a wolf. Sombre stuff, but a good song nonetheless in a typical Blaze fashion. Indeed there are similar notes and tones of songs from Blaze’s early solo output here in these songs which adds a nostalgic feel to the album. Two other excellent songs follow in “The Year Beyond This Year” and “Ghost in the Bottle”, both looking to be positive about the future, but accepting that fate could always step in and create its own mayhem. The Appleton brothers Chris and Luke are excellent again on both these tracks, with their driving and harmony guitars providing the impetus that makes these songs so enjoyable. The opening to “Ghost in the Bottle” especially is excellent, and I really enjoy this song, but I must admit the potential to really let fly on this track is a missed opportunity.
“The Broken Man” closes out side one of the album and is one of those songs that... just don’t appeal to me. Sure, it’s heartfelt, it’s poignant, and it builds from Blaze’s almost unaccompanied vocals at the start to a crescendo of Appleton’s raining solo in the middle of the song and Blaze raising the stakes in his vocals by the end. I appreciate what they are doing with this song, it just isn’t what I came to the album for. I’m not knocking the quality of the track, just the fact that it doesn’t appeal to my tastes.
Blaze has described Side Two of the album as consisting of six interconnecting songs telling a story, which Blaze is quoted as saying is “the story of our forgotten tribe: a search for the truth in the heart of the circle of tall stones. Seeking the mystical portal, whilst the ancestors call to you in dreams, you have denied them. They demand vengeance and reckoning but you are a selfish, materialistic coward, and you have avoided the true path of your future. You must find a way to become selfless and courageous to lead our tribe back to the homeland of our ancestors.”
The bagpipe laden “The Call of the Ancestors” segues into the title track “Circle of Stone”, utilising a guest vocal from Niklas Stalvind and sitting in a mid tempo range throughout, which pleasingly speeds up once we reach the guitar solo break in the middle of the song, once again excellently accomplished by the Appleton brothers. It takes it time, but the song once it finds its mojo is another good one.
“Absence” further enhances the guitaring excellence, along with the other players from Absolva. The bass line through this song from Karl Schramm is terrific, and backed up by the superb drumming from Martin McNee helps make this one of the best songs on the album. “A Day of Reckoning” pulls back into the id-tempo range once again, allowing Blaze to powerfully pull his vocals over the top of the retentive drum beat and cast itself out, filling the speakers with his dulcet tones. You can feel the passion in Blaze during this song. Then we speed up again with “The Path of the Righteous Man”, another starring effort for the Absolva boys who really deliver this song musically quite brilliantly.
The album closes out with “Until We Meet Again”, a song that I both admire musically and dread inwardly. Here again is an instance of finishing off an album with a song that has the potential to leave you amiss after the excellent energy that comes through most of what comes before it. Blaze duets with Welsh singer Tammy-Rae Bois and is accompanied solely by acoustic guitar and the violin of Anne Bakker. Now, while the combination of these two voices is spectacular and eminently enjoyable, and indeed creates the concluding chapter to this six-part musical concept story that covers the second side of the album, I have reservations as always. Personally, I’m not a fan of slower emotionally charged song completing albums. Sometimes it works, mostly for me it is a forbearance. It is performed beautifully. I just am not a fan of the style of song or of it ending the album.
I will lay my cards on the table here, and let you know (for those that don’t already know) that I am a Blaze Bayley fan. Have been since his Maiden days, but more especially of those early Blaze albums such as “Silicon Messiah” and “Tenth Dimension” and “Blood & Belief”, and also “The Man Who Would Not Die”. For me they hold up against the Maiden albums of that era, albums where Blaze and his band went hard in the heavy metal genre and showed that he wasn’t just a one trick pony.
Since then? Well, the albums are still good, but they are mixed. I still like them all but some of the songs don’t quite reach that awesome level. One thing I do know is that I am always looking forward to a Blaze Bayley album. This one was no different.
This took a little time for me to really get into, more for the fact that I was listening to a number of new albums from different artists all at the same time. But one of the things I enjoyed immediately was the music. Chris Appleton, Karl Schramm and Martin McNee have been on Blaze albums for a decade now, but with Chris’s brother Luke Appleton returning from Iced Earth to be a part of the makeup now... that’s a terrific thing, and the brothers combine excellently here. The tracks that really make you sit up and take notice are the ones where they are prominent in the mix.
Blaze himself sounds amazing, and though this was recorded before his health troubles last year, he’s singing amazingly well for a 60 year old. You can’t help but admire a man who was basically held out to dry because he couldn’t sing Dickinson’s songs live while in Iron Maiden, and yet still come back and been able to amass this amazing collection of albums since. Like the other new albums I have reviewed on this podcast recently, this “Circle of Stones” is still growing on me day by day. Each time I listen to it I find more stuff I like, and getting to know the songs and words always helps. I really enjoyed “War Within Me” when it was released, I felt Blaze had found a platform for his moder day take on metal. At this stage, I think this album surpasses it. The band are on point, and Blaze knows where he is taking his vocals. Yeah, I’d probably drop a couple of the songs if I had the
No comments:
Post a Comment