Bummed that I couldn't get to Blaze's show(s) in Helsinki in October. Basically everyone there praised those gigs and as a lover of The X-Factor, it most certainly would've been a treat! The encore (Como Estais Amigos, Virus, The Clansman, Wrathchild, Futureal, Doctor, Doctor & The Angel and the Gambler (this one was only played at the second show though) seems fantastic too.
Oh well, I try to make it if he comes around next year with the Silicon Messiah set. I've undestood that it was hinted at The X-Factor shows.
I actually listened to a fair bit of Infinite Entanglement yesterday. While not quite my favourite work of his, I've got to say that every time I give any of those three records a spin, they manage to surprise me with their sheer overall quality & consistency. The sci-fi story itself is cheesy and even lame, but there's enough general
blazeism in the lyrics to make the songs rooted enough to be immersive even without any of the story context.
It's not like they're on par with the absolute heavy metal classics, the most underrated rock/metal albums of the decade or whatever. What I'm trying to say is that they're
meat-and-potatoes metal par excellence and I think the same goes for these two most recent albums as well, especially Circle of Stone. While slightly generic at times, there really aren't huge drops in overall quality or "fillers" on these albums. And given the limited production budgets and all that, I think the sheer work ethic & arrangement/production effort on those records kind of put Maiden to shame.
Again, I absolutely love most of TBOS and Senjutsu, but I think those albums could be
so much more with just a little bit of polish and extra touch; I don't even mean any significant studio trickery or a major twist in the process overall (if they'll ever make another album it's not like they're going to change their way of working), but you know... just another take here and there. Rehearse the song a few more times and play it a bit tighter when recording etc. Nothing major. Welp, the very same thing is the issue on The X-Factor, although I very much love the record and its overall vibe.
Oh well.
But yeah, from what I've heard, Blaze (and Absolva guys) came & Blaze (and Absolva guys) won. Cheers!