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

BLAZE BAYLEY - Infinite Entanglement

Infinite Entanglement - 7/10
A Thousand Years - 6/10
Human - 6/10
What Will Come - 6/10
Stars Are Burning - 6/10Solar Wind - 6/10
The Dreams of William Black - 6/10
Calling You Home - 7/10
Dark Energy 256 - 7/10
Independence - 7/10
A Work of Anger - 6/10
Shall We Begin - 6/10

A massive improvement aftet The King of Metal. Solid effort, but nothing to write home about.
 
BLAZE BAYLEY - Endure and Survive (Infinite Entanglement part II)

Endure and Survive - 6/10
Escape Velocity - 6/10
Blood - 6/10
Eating Lies - 6/10
Destroyer - 6/10
Dawn of the Dead Son - 6/10
Remember - 5/10
Fight Back - 6/10
The World Is Turning The Wrong Way - 7/10
Together We Can Move The Sun - 7/10

Another solid effort. Songwriting quality is quite similar to that on Infinite Entanglement (somewhat formulaic in places), but the album is better produced (vocals were too loud in the previous album for my taste). Good, but in my humble opinion still below the peaks reached earlier in his solo career.
 
Song(rating)wise, you prefer the previous album. Enjoying (and rating) a song includes production, I assume.
 
Forostar said:
Song(rating)wise, you prefer the previous album. Enjoying (and rating) a song includes production, I assume.
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Not necessarily. I find the production of Iron Maiden's debut album to be abysmal but I prefer Iron Maiden to Killers based on the quality of the songwriting alone, Charlotte the Harlot notwithstanding.

In Blaze's case, one could argue that the production of Blood and Belief is vastly superior to that of The Man Who Would Not Die, yet I enjoy the latter much more. :)

I guess it is safe to say that Blaze Bayley's latter albums have failed to impress me. Solid work, but in my humble opinion nothing to write home about.
 
BLAZE BAYLEY - The Redemption of William Black (Infinite Entanglement part III)

Redeemer - 6/10
Are You Here - 6/10
Immortal One - 7/10
The First True Sign - 7/10
Human Eyes - 8/10
Prayers of Light - 6/10
18 Days - 7/10
Already Won - 7/10
Life Goes On - 5/10
The Dark Side of Black - 6/10
Eagle Spirit - 7/10

Another solid effort, and to me the best of the three albums from the trilogy. Blaze's voice sounds pretty good on 'Human Eyes', which highlights what I consider to be the best aspects of his delivery (i.e. when he goes for emotional mid-range rather than the inconsistent bellowing he is sometimes guilty of). As @Jer mentioned, it does feel in places as if the band are using the same bag of tricks on the three albums, but somewhat the highs are higher here than on the 2 previous albums.

All in all, solid material with some enjoyable tracks. I wonder if his next studio album would be similar or if there would be any changes now that the trilogy has been dealt with.
 
GhostofCain said:
Not necessarily. I find the production of Iron Maiden's debut album to be abysmal but I prefer Iron Maiden to Killers based on the quality of the songwriting alone, Charlotte the Harlot notwithstanding.
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You are not contradicting what I said, so yes, I agree.
 
Forostar said:
You are not contradicting what I said, so yes, I agree.
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My rating was not based in the production values, but on the songwriting. A great song with shitty production is a great song. A shitty song with great production is still a shitty song. You cannot polish a turd! :lol:
 
When you rank a song, you do not exclude the production factor. I mean, I would not separate that. A song rating ought to say somehing of your overall impression and any like or dislike factor concerning any aspect of what you hear (includes production/sound) should be included, not excluded. It attributes to the enjoyment factor.

It is about songwriting, performance, and also sound.
 
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Forostar said:
When you rank a song, you do not exclude the production factor. I mean, I would not separate that. A song rating ought to say somehing of your overall impression and any like or dislike factor concerning any aspect of what you hear (includes production/sound) should be included, not excluded. It attributes to the enjoyment factor.

It is about songwriting, performance, and also sound.
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If I were to include production in my rankings, Phantom of the Opera or Remember Tomorrow would score much lower! :lol:

I do agree that if a song is well-produced it is much easier to enjoy it than if if sounds as if it had been recorded inside a toilet, but the song needs to be good in the first place.
 
I agree with that. And to be honest, when I take production into account in my total impression, it often goes automatically, or even subconsciously.
I mean that I'd rather not exclude anything I'm hearing, since everything I hear attributes to how much I (dis)like it.
 
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Blaze Bayley - Endure and Survive

  • Endure and Survive - Solid opener. The riff is simple but enjoyable, the verses are decent, and the chorus is pretty good (and tends to get stuck in my head). The instrumental part and solos is the definite highlight for me, though. 8/10.
  • Escape Velocity - Another fast rocker in the vein of "A Thousand Years" from the previous album, this track is every bit as good as the former. With a riff that's pretty Maiden-ish, well-constructed verses, a beyond amazing chorus and a great middle part with a short-but-sweet solo, I simply cannot give this lower than 10/10.
  • Blood - This song is very interesting for me. The music itself is merely good without being special, to be honest (the chorus is the highlight), but I value it for playing an important part in advancing the story - we finally get to know who William Black really is, and I like how he's established as a bit of an anti-hero with a dark past filled with suicide and murder. It's a 7/10 for me.
  • Eating Lies - The main melody of this one, whether played acoustically or with heavy guitars, is amazing. Beautiful. If only the chorus was stronger, this could've gotten a perfect score (Blaze may also be a bit too loud in places). As it stands, however, I think 8/10 is far.
  • Destroyer - Pretty straightforward track, this one is certainly enjoyable, but it doesn't really stand out for me. I do think it succeeds well in creating an atmosphere of both despair and anger, however. 7/10.
  • Dawn of the Dead Son - I like the choral parts on this one, both in the intro and in the chorus. The ascending/descending guitar work reminds me a bit of "God of Speed" from Promise and Terror, in a good way. Some decent stuff overall, 8/10.
  • Remember - I'm not sure this one is as good as it probably should be. The guitars provide the backbone here while the violins do some interesting stuff, and the short solo is a nice touch, but I don't think the voice of the female singer works well with Blaze's own. It's not that they're out of tune or anything, but something is definitely bothering me... Oh well, still a 7/10.
  • Fight Back - For me the most generic song on the album. Up-tempo, but average and unmemorable. It doesn't really add much to the story either, so I'll label it as definite filler. 6/10.
  • The World Is Turning the Wrong Way - A mid-tempo piece with some simple riffing, with verses that march on into another good chorus. It's pretty decent without being great until the bridge, where the music goes soft and Blaze is sounding especially good. I really like his singing here, definitely the highlight of the song. 8/10.
  • Together We Can Move the Sun - This one has grown on me a lot. Initially I felt the built-up took too long, but I've come to appreciate it more. Still think the chorus could've been a bit stronger, and the acoustic part before the ominous-sounding outro drags a bit. The verses are good, and the solo part is especially great - the chord progression reminds me of the heavy part in "Stairway to Heaven" (I'm not comparing the solos themselves!). Y'know what, I think this deserves a 9/10.

Well, well. I know I said that Infinite Entanglement probably had the strongest songs of the trilogy, but - without having checked - my average rating might be just as high (if not higher) for Endure and Survive. The production is also much better. A strong album indeed - and now there's just one more left!
 
People keep giving “Together We Can Move The Sun” less than a 10/10. :(

Honestly it’s the song that could knock all my other 10s down to a 9 instead, it’s literally that good IMO.
 
Diesel 11 said:
People keep giving “Together We Can Move The Sun” less than a 10/10. :(

Honestly it’s the song that could knock all my other 10s down to a 9 instead, it’s literally that good IMO.
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Meh, I still think "While You Were Gone" is far and away the best Blaze track. Arguably the only time everything came together for him to deliver something truly superior.

Just listen to his performance on that song compared to anything else he's done -- he actually sounds great through almost the entire track, has no major phrasing issues, and truly blows you away with that first huge "GOOOOOOOONE!!" The musical interludes through the middle are really strong, too.
 
Diesel 11 said:
I know; I got you and @Lampwick 43 covered. The voting will be open until at least the too of you finish. And don't think you're holding us up - I'm not satisfied with the number of voters at the moment anyway. :p
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I'll try to do the rest as soon as I can. I just wanna get to Blood & Belief already so I can defend "The Path & the Way" from you guys' relentless criticism (yes, I've already listened to that song).
 
Jer said:
Meh, I still think "While You Were Gone" is far and away the best Blaze track. Arguably the only time everything came together for him to deliver something truly superior.

Just listen to his performance on that song compared to anything else he's done -- he actually sounds great through almost the entire track, has no major phrasing issues, and truly blows you away with that first huge "GOOOOOOOONE!!" The musical interludes through the middle are really strong, too.
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Oh he definitely blew me away with the "GOOOOOOOONE!!" I do think the song is good, but you forget that I actually like his voice mostly. :p

I definitely think TWCMTS is his pinnacle.
 
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