Let me start by saying that I have a lot of love for Blaze. However, his biggest challenge was his lack of technical preparation. Although he had time to train before hitting the road with the band, he struggled with some fundamental aspects of singing right from the start. His vocal range, inconsistent pitch, and poor diction and articulation all played a role in his difficulties. While he's improved significantly over the years and is now a much better singer, stepping into Bruce Dickinson's shoes without solid technical skills was a formidable task. Perhaps Iron Maiden could have accommodated Blaze with different tuning, but Blaze definitely wasn't fully prepared to fill Bruce's role. Anyone who attended a Wolfsbane gig back in the day knew that Jase Edwards was the only technically proficient member of the band. While Massive Noise Injection showcased a strong performance from Blaze, there were still inconsistencies in his live shows even back then. Instead of spending two years recording The X Factor, they should have put Blaze through a year of intensive vocal training, focusing on perfecting the songs he performed well on good days, such as Fear of the Dark, Afraid to Shoot Strangers, 2 Minutes to Midnight, and Hallowed Be Thy Name. They could have dropped The Trooper and The Clairvoyant from the setlist entirely. There were several other songs Blaze could have delivered more effectively, like Infinite Dreams, Wasted Years, Phantom of the Opera, and Where Eagles Dare. I understand what Steve heard in Blaze's voice in the early '90s—it's an amazing voice. However, I don't understand why Rod and Steve didn't reflect on what made Bruce great, namely his technical approach to singing, and either choose a more technically proficient singer or help Blaze develop those technical skills.
I can't disagree with any of that. I've mentioned this before, but another thing that hurt Blaze is that he seemed to have lost his identity between Wolfsbane and Maiden. He was the wildman in Wolfsbane, and with Maiden, they didn't seem to want that. So, personality-wise, he was just kind of there. It became Steve's band again, with Steve doing all the interviews and Blaze chiming in, whereas with Bruce, he was the go-to guy for interviews.
One of the most impressive things about Bruce onstage was his command of the audience. Lots of audience participation, and lots of personality in his between-song banter. Blaze never had that with Maiden, especially with getting off on the wrong foot on the X Factour by being locked in middle-rear of the stage due to his backstage battle with the monitor tech. Why nobody had his back in that situation boggles my mind. Between songs, again, I think it was Blaze not knowing what his place was. He couldn't be the crazy guy swearing all the time, saying how sexy he is anymore, so...his banter between songs was utterly forgettable.
Totally agree about the diction, and going further,
emoting. Blaze sang everything straight, with very little emotion put in compared to where Bruce, with his more theatrical approach, tended to look for opportunities to put the emotion of the song's story in there. I tend to think especially on the older material, Blaze was struggling enough just to hit the notes and get through the song that that was all he focused on.
Again, HUGE fan of the Blaze era here, and agree he grew as a singer and songwriter tremendously after leaving Maiden. As much as I love those albums and the shows I went to, Blaze was a poor fit for Maiden. Steve should have recognized his shortcomings and helped in that regard (Blaze
was ultimately his choice, after all), and since Steve either didn't realize or was too stubborn about it, Steve and Maiden were a poor fit for Blaze as well.
