The hard labourer of heavy metal, Blaze Bayley, put out his "second solo band" album almost a year ago. After Blaze was done with Iron Maiden, he recorded three (plus one live) albums under the monicker Blaze, but on this one he has a totally new line-up around him.

For me, the debut Blaze album 'Silicon Messiah' (2000) was a gem right from the start with its mighty English heavy metal. Then two yeas later, 'Tenth Dimension' proved to be a small disappointment, thanks to its occasional American tinges, but from which it has since then mutated into a fine album. 2004's introspective 'Blood and Belief' was an instant hit here. So I really waited for this one, believe me. And what happened? Looks like that, that every second Blaze (or with Bayley) album seems to somewhat fail to live up to my very high expectations.

I have discovered those reasons, why 'The Man Who Would not Die' was so disappointing at first. First, the album is very vast, both in length and in comprehensiveness. There is so much to consume, that it seriously baffled me. There was no instant hits, nothing to really grab it. Truly divergent styles of heavy metal can be heard on it, as well as more drastic manoeuvres than ever before from Mr. Bayley. So, the reasons were simple in the end. Personally I listen to a lot of different metal music, from extremes to others, so that barrier was easily surpassed. The vastness wasn't so easy at all.

The title track starts the album in the familiar vein, being a pure British steel headbanger that Blaze albums are all about, especially the frisky 'Blood and Belief'. Immense amount of energy is packed into the song, and one can but respect Mr. Bayley and his new band, when the song is blasted in the listener's face. Does hit the nail on the head. 'Blackmailer' is a tenebrous attack and its chorus earns Blaze the nickname "fog-horn". What is apparent after these two songs, is that the songs are not simple "verse-verse-chorus" stuff, but are still very, very catchy. That takes us to the next song, epic 'Smile back at Death'.

'While You Were Gone' is the first slow, if not soft or light, song on the album. Enormously impassioned, and now even more so, after the death of Blaze's wife, to whom the song was made for. It is the album's 'Soundtrack of My Life'. 'Samurai' acts like Blaze's 'The Trooper', but still ends up being the least good song in my opinion. 'A Crack in the System' moves pretty close to melodic death metal. This album presents lead guitarist Nick Bermudez and his brother David on bass. They used to play in Colombian melodic death metal band Under Threat, so my quess is that the song was mainly penned by them. 'Robot' is the fastest Blaze song to date, bordering on melodic death metal. 'At the End of the Day' is a touchy slow song, which builds beautifully stout towards the end.

'Waiting for My Life to Begin' gets back on the heavy side and is unmistakably British. Hellishly melodic 'Voices from the Past' is probably the most catchy song on the album, that instantly makes me holler its guitar and vocal melodies. Well, this album tends to cause that, just like Maiden... Just can't help it! 'The Truth is One' is another melodic death metal influenced song, and is the second not-that-hot piece on the album. 'Serpent Hearted Man' is a dark and twisting journey in Nevermore style, that ends the album in a fine way.

The guitar work is really heavy, boisterous, but on the other hand also moody and luxurious. The guitar tone is very rusty and scathing. The guitar solos are as variable as the songs themselves, one of the biggest surprise being 'Voices from the Past's Helloween-style solo. Jay Walsh (ex-Fourwaykill) is the second guitarist, by the way. The bass not only supplements the guitars, but adds so much more into the music. Lawrence Paterson's drumming does not lack of venturesomeness. Huge, powerful, bellowing, manly voice of Blaze is highly characteristic. He has, once again, improved as a singer. On 'At the End of the Day' he shows his tender side, which truly surprised me. The lyrics deal with personal and social issues, as well as gladiators and samurais. Good artwork follows the lyrical themes closely.

This is what this album is; very surprising one. Its vastness was a big obstacle at first, but the repeated listening opened up an album filled with different feelings. The album could have been a tad shorter, but there is no irrelevant material on it, even though it has a couple of less good moments. In all, 'The Man Who Would not Die' is a strong British heavy metal album.

Rating: 8½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
05/17/2009 15:48