BLAZE: The Rankings (Completed... At Last)

Blaze Bayley - The Redemption of William Black

  • Redeemer - Cool intro - I like how it explains the events that has happened between Endure and Survive and this album. Unsurprisingly it isn't good news; the only person William Black was starting to grow attached to has been murdered, so the tone is set for more conflict. Musically, this song has a nice riff, decent verses (I especially like the second verse with the variation in the guitar pattern), but the chorus is a bit of a letdown. This is 7/10.
  • Are You Here - Pretty boring song, to be honest. Seems like they tried to repeat the formula from "A Thousand Years" and "Escape Velocity" yet again, but this time with mediocre results. 6/10.
  • Immortal One - I like this one. It's pretty heavy and the symphonic touches are nice, especially in the verses. What I assume is the pre-chorus is fine too, but the chorus is a bit of a letdown. Blaze is so far in full repetition-mode for the first couple of songs ('Arry, your legacy lives on :P). 7/10.
  • The First True Sign - I'm not sure I like that main riff! Otherwise it's a fine song; the low chanting is cool and interesting enough and the chorus is the best one on the album so far. Another 7/10.
  • Human Eyes - The album's token ballad, which unfortunately is not as strong as "Eating Lies" or "What Will Come". It doesn't go anywhere, though the solo is decent enough. I've gathered from other comments that people think Blaze is sounding particular good on this one, and I agree to some extent. I'm just not a fan of the chorus. 6/10.
  • Prayers of Light - Finally some really good stuff! Uptempo, uplifting and, thankfully, an amazing chorus. Chris Jericho guesting is cool, even though he's only doing the spoken word and (I think) a bit of backing vocals. The "now you stand and fight"-bit is inevitably cheesy as hell, but it doesn't affect the overall score for me. The variations on the final chorus works really well too. I think it deserves a 10/10.
  • 18 Days - A clean intro leads into a great, rhythmic verse, and Blaze is sounding pretty good here. The chorus features female vocals, but like "Remember" from Endure and Survive I don't think the voices fit that well together. The solo and the various guitar breaks are nice, and the clean middle part works good. 8/10.
  • Already Won - A short but catchy piece. It's heavy and well constructed - I like how the verses just flow into a simple but still great chorus. The solo is short and sweet, and the other guitar interludes are very good too. 9/10.
  • Life Goes On - I absolutely love the build-up in this song. A clean beginning leads into some midtempo heavy riffing, before all hell breaks loose with an uptempo guitar piece that's very Maiden-ish, and features some blinding playing by Chris Appleton. Phenomenal stuff! The break into the final verse is great, and the outro is cool. 10/10.
  • The Dark Side of Black - Wow, for a moment I almost thought I'd put on "The Launch" from Silicon Messiah by mistake! This one is vastly superior though - a bit cheesy at times, but very catchy indeed. I'm digging the power metal-esque chorus a lot, actually. More nice guitar-work too. 8/10.
  • Eagle Spirit - Great buildup here, from the spoken word to the first acoustic verse, through heavy verses and culminating in another great chorus. I like the solos too, and the bass licks in the quiet part near the middle are very sweet. Sorry @Diesel 11, as a whole I think this track is just a little bit better than "Together We Can Move the Sun". On a side note, I like how the narrative switches to the inhabitants on the planet the humans were seeking to claim for themselves - no one ever thought of them, did they? Some very well-written lyrics, in my opinion, and the music is a nice fit too. 9/10.

Well, well. The first half of the final part of William Black's journey definitely contains the weakest songs of the trilogy, but boy, does the second half deliver in full force! And so we reach the end (for now) - Black's story has wrapped up in style, and I sincerely hope Blaze will team up with Chris Appleton again in the future; I'm certain there are a lot of good music still left in that partnership. It's been fun to go through Blaze's solo career and finally get to rate all his songs, so I'm curious to see how the countdown turns out compared to my own list :)
 
Following in the footsteps of both Diesel and Jer, here are my final album and song rankings:

1. Promise and Terror - 8/10
2. The Redemption of William Black - 7,9/10
3. Tenth Dimension - 7,8/10
4. Silicon Messiah - 7,8/10
5. Endure and Survive - 7,8/10
6. Infinite Entanglement - 7,7/10
7. The Man Who Would Not Die - 7,5/10
8. Blood and Belief - 7,5/10
9. The King Of Metal - 5,8/10

Definitely surprised by some of these :P

-----10-----
Ghost in the Machine
Stare at the Sun
The Tenth Dimension
Speed of Light
Blood and Belief
Voices from the Past
City of Bones
Surrounded by Sadness
A Thousand Years
Dark Energy 256
Escape Velocity
Prayers of Light
Life Goes On
-----9-----
Born As a Stranger
End Dream
Alive
Life and Death
Smile Back at Death
1633
Time to Dare
Infinite Entanglement
Together We Can Move the Sun
Already Won
Eagle Spirit
-----8-----
Silicon Messiah
The Hunger
The Brave
Kill and Destroy
Leap of Faith
The Truth Revealed
Meant to Be
Stranger to the Light
Ten Seconds
Soundtrack of My Life
The Man Who Would Not Die
At the End of the Day
Waiting for My Life to Begin
God of Speed
Letting Go of the World
Solar Wind
A Work of Anger
Endure and Survive
Eating Lies
Dawn of the Dead Son
The World is Turning the Wrong Way
18 Days
The Dark Side of Black
-----7-----
Evolution
Identity
Motherfuckers R Us
Land of the Blind
Stealing Time
Hollow Head
Will to Win
Regret
Blackmailer
While You Were Gone
Samurai
Crack in the System
Serpent Hearted Man
Watching the Night Sky
Madness and Sorrow
The Trace of Things That Have No Words
Comfortable in Darkness
The Rainbow Fades to Black
Judge Me
Beginning
Russian Holiday
Hatred
What Will Come
Stars are Burning
The Dreams of William Black
Calling You Home
Independence
Blood
Destroyer
Remember
Redeemer
Immortal One
The First True Sign
-----6-----
The Launch
The Day I Fell to Earth
Tearing Yourself to Pieces
Robot
The Truth is One
Faceless
Dimebag
The Black Country
Fate
Eating Children
Human
Shall We Begin
Fight Back
Are You Here
Human Eyes
-----5-----
Reach for the Horizon
Forgotten Future
Nothing Will Stop Me
The King of Metal
Fighter
Difficult
-----4-----
The Path and the Way
One More Step
-----3-----
(None)
-----2-----
(None)
-----1-----
(None)

Ordered by album appearance.
 
So how would you rank the albums without song averages? And what would you say your favorite song is?

If you can, it’s hard for a lot of people to do it seems. :P
 
Albums would be something like this:

1. Tenth Dimension
2. Endure and Survive
3. Silicon Messiah
4. Infinite Entanglement
5. Promise and Terror
6. The Redemption of William Black
7. The Man Who Would Not Die
8. Blood and Belief
9. The King Of Metal

Until recently I would've ranked both Infinite Entanglement and Endure and Survive below Silicon Messiah, and Infinite as the highest of the two, but I've found myself listening to Endure so much for the past week or so, and it's just damn good :) it will probably look different if you ask me again later, but it's for certain that Tenth Dimension will take the number one spot, and The King of Metal will come in last.

And my favourite song is (unsurprisingly) "The Tenth Dimension" :P
 
Diesel 11 said:
Just checking in here - @Kalata did you want to vote on the songs you didn't already, or are you good?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I will vote tonight.

EDIT: I actually have to vote only for 3 albums, as I already voted for the others. So, I'll do my vote now.
EDIT 2: Done it.
 
Last edited:
My answer is basically the same as Perun's - especially as this one is going to be quite involved and I'm (currently) only familiar with a small amount of the subject matter. Sorry an' all that ...
confused0025.gif
 
Black Abyss Babe said:
My answer is basically the same as Perun's - especially as this one is going to be quite involved and I'm (currently) only familiar with a small amount of the subject matter. Sorry an' all that ...
confused0025.gif
Click to expand...
That's fine. If you wanna do the ones you've heard though, that's fine. Up to you.
 
Tenth Dimension
  1. Forgotten Future - Just an intro. Obviously it can't really do anything when taken on its own. 4/10.
  2. Kill and Destroy - Decent rocker. Nothing to write home about. 7/10.
  3. End Dream - I wasn't a fan of this one at first, but it has grown on me a little. Not enough to go any higher than a 7/10 though.
  4. The Tenth Dimension - Here we go! A major highlight of the album. 9/10.
  5. Nothing Will Stop Me - I'm not sure how popular this one will wind up overall, but I genuinely really, really like it, and I'm not even entirely sure why. 9/10.
  6. Leap of Faith - Enjoyable, but the generic lyrics and simple, repetitive chorus are holding it back from greatness. 8/10.
  7. The Truth Revealed - It may be short, but it's still a great piece of music that features some sexy guitar licks and serves as the perfect intro for Meant to Be. 9/10.
  8. Meant to Be - This song is perfect. Incredible performance by Blaze, and just an outstanding song overall. It damn well better wind up in the Top 10. 10/10.
  9. Land of the Blind - Solid tune. I'd place it somewhere between a 7 and 8. Since I'm feeling generous at the moment, I'll give it an 8/10.
  10. Stealing Time - The weakest actual song of the album. I don't hate it or anything, but still ... meh. 6/10.
  11. Speed of Light - Fun, fast-paced song. It has potential to grow some more, but right now it stands at a very respectable 8/10.
  12. Stranger to the Light - A solid way to finish off the album. 8/10.
Living Someone Else's Life - Solid track. Nothing remarkable. 7/10.
 
I think I'm gonna jump out of this. I might still do The Tenth Dimension and Blood & Belief, but I don't think I'll be able to keep up with the rest. Finding the necessary time has been nearly impossible for me lately. :S
 
It’s still open though because we’re waiting for Lampwick (luckily I’m not in a Blaze mood at the moment so it’s actually not bad personally) so if you get the time, feel free to hop back in.
 
I'm a piece of shit. I've had a lot of shit going on, but that's no excuse, and I really do feel terrible about holding this whole thing up. I think the best course of action is to set a deadline, for like 10 days from now (or something like that) and I'll get through as many albums as I can in that timeframe.

I just don't want to keep this held up forever, and I honestly don't know how long it'll take me to find the time to get through everything. :S
 
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