As Live as It Gets

This awesome and aptly titled live album incorporates songs spanning the entire career of Blaze Bayley, from Wolfsbane to Iron Maiden to Blaze. This is THE best live album. I don't usually like live albums because the musicians usually get tired, and the singer, understandable, skips lines and screws up the lyrics and whatever. But the songs on this album sound even better that the studio versions. By miles.

The highlights of this album include some great solo career songs like Silicon Messiah, Tenth Dimension, Identity and Stranger to the Light. Stranger to the Light in particular has greater vocal embellishments than the studio version. It has a bigger, more passionate sound, and even the quiet sections reveal beautiful vocal trails and secret nuggets of aural splendor.

Even though Blaze's solo songs rival Iron Maiden's catalogue in general (If you don't think so, you simply haven't heard it. Get experienced) he grows these Iron Maiden songs into monsters on As Live as it Gets. The Iron Maiden version of Virus barely even registered as a complete song, relegated to a dusty bonus track on one of Maiden's thousands of compilations. Here it is a BEAST. Heavy and beautiful and complete. It will crush your soul and set it free, whatever that means. I heard it somewhere and it fits. And Hear Sign of the Cross like never before: heavier, crunchier, with megatons of tensions. Blaze's version of SOTC is one of the heaviest songs ever recorded. Boom.

There are two types of people on this planet. Those who know and those who do not. Those who know have heard As Live as it Gets.

This is a quite diversified live album by Blaze and his young band that may give you a really solid overall look at what the ex-singer of the metal legend Iron Maiden has done in the years before this record. The album offers one track from his old band "Wolfsbane", a rather ordinary Led Zeppelin homage, four excellent Iron Maiden songs that are already worth the purchase of this album and a lot of solo songs from Blaze's first two records.

Concerning the sound, the album sounds quite alive and authentic and transmits a very authentic live atmosphere. All those people who always said that Blaze would only give weak live performances are finally proven wrong as he delivers a very emotional and still concentrated job on this record and I don't think that many corrections were done in the studio as the sound of this record is quite rough and straight just as it should be maybe a part of some fan scream segments that are slightly volumed up in comparison to the instruments. The only problem is that most of the solo songs by Blaze don't meet the standard of the Iron Maiden songs that clearly dominate this record with their unique magic. But one can still find some very solid and interesting songs that take their time to grow and may all sound quiet similar in the beginning but are surely some well and emotionally performed hidden gems like the great opener "Speed of light", the dark "End dream" that was surely influenced by the legendary Black Sabbath, the straight head crusher "The brave", the dark epic "Stranger to the light" or the quite catchy fan favourite "Born as a stranger" to mention my personal highlights.

All in all, this album is about passion in sweat and blood though it is nothing essential or groundbreaking. But I would recommend this album to any fan of Bayley's voice or works in Iron Maiden and it is surely an interesting introduction and good overview at his solo works for any new fan.

I'll admit, when I first reviewed this album, I didn't really find it quite as impressive as I do now. The reason behind it, and the reason why I've changed my view, is that back then, I hadn't seen this band perform live. Now, I have, and it has allowed me to give this album all the appreciation it really deserves.

Normally, when giving an album a positive score, much more so above 90, I would have to point out all the qualities, justifying the score to myself and the readers. However, when one is referring to Blaze (the man, not necessarily the band) in a live environment, things change drastically. Having seen this band live yourself, you must ask yourself not "why does this deserve a 96%?". No, the burden of proof reverses from the established standard, to the point of asking "Why does this album NOT get a 100%?". Because that is exactly what an actual BLAZE concert is like. There is a sort of atmosphere, stemming almost solely from the immense live presence of Mr. Bayley himself, that is beyond equal and that I have yet to see any band match.

*******
Since I have to assume that there may be a lot of readers who've yet to see this band, I will have to elaborate more on the qualities of the band in a live environment in general and of this live album in particular. If you HAVE seen the band live and are familiar with their material, feel free to give the next three or four paragraphs only cursory notice.
*******
Simply put I wholeheartedly consider BLAZE to be the best live band I've ever had the pleasure to attend. I have seen them twice last year and spent ten hours on the road for the first gig, 24 for the second one, and somewhere around 200+ € in total, of which only 30€ were for the actual tickets, the rest made up of flight and bus costs (apparently, it costs more to go from London Steansted to London Center than from London Center to fucking Birmingham), gas money and a speeding fine by greedy Dutchmen who think driving 68 km/h in a 60 zone is worth 30 Euros.

In both cases, it was more than worth it (and that includes the speeding ticket). The interaction between Blaze and his audience, the sheer intensity of the gig, his tongue-in-cheek, self-humourous arrogance and aggression as an instrument to motivate the crowd beyond what you, as part of it, would have believed yourself capable of - this man could perform any random mallcore garbage live, with a sloppiness in playing that would rival even current Slayer, and you would still have the time of your life.

And this music here ceretainly isn't random mallcore garbage. The music here is about as Heavy Fucking Metal as it gets - you've got crushing riffs, ever-so-sweet harmonies, solos that make up for lack of overly technical playing with an excellent sense for melody, an audible, above-average bass, pounding, driving drums that supply the right rhythm while being varied and technical enough to maintain an actual interest, and to top off, Blaze's trademark vocals in his current incarnation, which is easily my favorite - deep, powerful, more technical and traditional than in his previous vands, with tendencies towards a more operatic style of singing, pushing himself to the edges of his abilities while maintaining perfect control of his pitch - something that was not exactly always the case back in Maiden. And the performance is far from sloppy - more precisely, it is tighter than Manowar's stage outfits. Combined with the atmosphere and sheer raw power of a live performance, any one song on here exceeds its potential and, with only one exception, mutates from merely "good to excellent" into an unmitigated metal classic.

Oh yeah, another token strength, the actual songs. There are 18 tracks, six from each BLAZE album out at the time, four from the Maiden era, a Wolfsbane song and a Led Zeppelin cover. As one would expect, there is lots and lots of variety to be found here. You get up-beat Power Metal anthems such as "The Brave", "Steel" and "Born as a Stranger", the borderline thrash "Kill and Destroy", the well-executed epics "Stare at the Sun", "Tenth Dimension" and "Sign of the Cross", more atmospheric cuts a la "End Dream" and "Silicon Messiah", and doomy, menacing, slow or mid-paced crushers, most notably "Land of the Blind" and "Stranger to the Light". While there is room for complaints that this or that song on here isn't really as great as another song that did not make the album, it simply doesn't really matter because as live recordings they all work perfectly. "Two Worlds Collide", unlike the boring studio version, is one of the highlights in terms of live atmosphere with the crowd being even more present than on the rest of the album; "Virus" was merely okay on Maiden's single, but with all the added harmonies the live version actually is a highlight of the album. Even the Led Zeppelin cover, which is easily the least good track, becomes a quality piece of ugly, heavy Doom Metal that manages to fit onto this album against all the odds.

Now, all these qualities are a given to those who've seen the band perform, but are neccessary for the uninitiated to comprehend the perspective of this review. It is now time to resume to the original question: What, exactly, is there that prevents this album from getting a 100%, as either of my two Blaze live gigs would've been rated by myself?

Basically, while there are a few shortcomings in terms of the setlist and in the case of the Led Zep cover, which is merely good rather than fantastic, those could not really bring it down if the atmosphere was 100% there - the case was much the same in the case of Wolfsbane's "Massive Noise Injection", whose songs are actually inferior to the bulk presented here.

The problem, here, is that unfortunately, the atmosphere, while it is definitely there to a degree that most bands could only dream of, has not been captivated to the point of perfection on the album as a whole, due to two (probably related) reasons. One, it is not one continuous show, but rather, a selection of songs from two different shows. As such, every single song manages to benefit from the live atmosphere, but the album as a whole does not catch it to the point of perfection.

Two, on all the song selections, Blaze himself seems to have been caught from his more tame side. There is not quite as much talk to the crowd as on an actual concert, or the Wolfsbane live album, at that. Nor is it as over-the-top, either - it would seem as though Blaze himself was trying to hold back, or as though those tracks with his harshest crowd contact were inentionally kept off the album. There's no "You with the glasses! Get your fucking fists in the air or fuck off out the gig!", no "you paid your money, you WILL have a good time!", no "If you're not getting your fists in the air before we go off this stage, I'm coming out there and I'm gonna fucking kill you fuckers!" to be found. Don't get me wrong, there's still a fair amount of contact with the crowd and it's all obviously really fucking good, it just isn't quite as out-of-this-world spectacular as it should have been.

So no, it isn't QUITE Massive Noise Injection in terms of live atmosphere, nor absolutely equal to to the feeling of seeing BLAZE perform live. However, it does come close, and even without a 100% feeling of the gig, it still owns virtually every other live album out there in terms of atmosphere. There may be some bootlegs that do catch even more of the feeling associated with BLAZE concerts, but nontheless, it offers an excellent combination of a perfect production that by far owns that of the studio material , an intensity you won't find any other band pull off these days, quality song material and perfect musical execution. It's obviously a must-have for anyone remotely interested in BLAZE, and highly recommended for fans of Traditional Heavy Metal in general.

Live albums appear to be all the rage now in the world of metal. On one hand, we have established bands releasing their first, long-overdue live editions, such as Ancient Rites – AND THE HORDES STOOD AS ONE, and Running Wild – LIVE. Even trendier is the release of a live album by bands with only a couple albums to their names, namely Halford, Sonata Arctica, and now Blaze Bayley’s own band jumps aboard with AS LIVE AS IT GETS.

Being an Iron Maiden fan since X FACTOR came out, I have always enjoyed Blaze’s performance with Maiden, and now with his own band. As a Blaze fan, I am very proud of what he has done with his career. Unlike a certain former Iron Maiden frontman, Blaze has moved out from under Maiden’s shadow, almost as a big “fuck you” to all the Blaze-haters. I digress here...Blaze certainly hasn’t lived in the past, so why should I dwell further on it?

AS LIVE AS IT GETS is 18 tracks, two full albums, well over an hour and a half’s worth of killer classic metal. Of course, Blaze’s two solo albums, SILICON MESSIAH and TENTH DIMENSION represent the bulk of the material on AS LIVE AS IT GETS, but we also have our fair share of Iron Maiden tunes (4 of ‘em, to be precise), even a Wolfsbane tune, the pure rocker, “Steel,” creeps in, as does a slick cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused.”

Blaze has never been one of the best vocalists out there, but his skill as a frontman comes in the form of the passion with which he performs. His energy really shows through on AS LIVE AS IT GETS; it’s obvious that Blaze WANTS to be onstage performing his music. Equally important to the quality of this album is the rest of the band behind Blaze. Guitarists Steve Wray and John Slater lay down the metal sound here with their twin attack of thick riffs and melodic solos, even competing with the original Maiden versions (I actually prefer this version of “When Two Worlds Collide” to the original). Blaze (the band) is what pure metal sounds like. This is not classic metal, nor power, thrash, or true metal. No frills, no add-ons, no experiments, just pure, unadulterated metal.

In the entire album, I only find a couple small snags. First of all is the fact that the recording is not one single concert, but pieced together from two shows, one in Switzerland, and one in the UK. This fact facillitates speculation as to the amount of doctroring of the original recordings, leaving me to wonder if this really is “as live as it gets” for Blaze. That’s the purist in me speaking, though. Listening to the album, I can hardly tell the difference, and quite frankly, I don’t care all that much of how much editing and mixing went on here. Producer Andy Sneap (also the guy behind the mix of Napalm Death and Machine Head) has done a great job with the material. In addition, while I find the crowd interaction to be lively and more than sufficient, I would always like to hear more. I enjoy full-blown spectacles onstage with the singer leading the crowd through choruses, in addition to the inter-song banter, but again, this detail is minor.

Hardcore fans of Blaze such as myself must not hesitate to pick this one up. Blaze has really put out a winner with this album, sure to please die-hards and casual fans alike. AS LIVE AS IT GETS is not a defining live album, such as LIVE AFTER DEATH, or LIVE INSURRECTION, but it is one hell of a good listen.

(originally written by me for www.metal-rules.com, April, 2003)

by Blaze's solo band. Now, I agree that its a bit premature for this band to release a live album but Blaze does have his Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden catalogue so its not as ridiculous as Sonata Artica releasing a live album. As Live As It Gets is a double live album that sounds very good and gives the fan a variety of Blaze's career. There are 4 Maiden songs and one Wolfsbane tune that all go over quite well. I especially like the version of When Two Worlds Collide. There is also an equal respresentation of the band's two albums, Silicon Messiah and Tenth Dimension, which are both quite good. Blaze might not be the most exceptional metal band but they offer good straight metal and it works well in a live setting. The only real complaint is the awful cover of Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused". I hate the original and this version does not improve it at all. It sticks out like a sore thumb. It just does not fit here. They could have added another Blaze or Maiden song or covered a good metal song! Well, despite that this is a good way to introduce someone to this band.