Your Maiden blasphemy

LooseCannon said:
Don't be a hater. The idea that Blaze was behind any perceived shortcomings in the late 90s is passe and silly, and you know it - he's only one member of the team, and if you think VXI was bad (understandable), and blaming him, then you're really missing the point. It was everyone.

Now, we know that Bruce came back at the right time, not just for the band - but for metal in general.

But still.
Click to expand...

Yep, Steve was to blame; Blaze was just the scapegoat. That being said, he was not up for the job from day one.
 
Magnus said:
was doing perfectly fine by that time, in my own narrow-minded view, having reached its logical pinnacle, namely the European black metal scene.
Was deeply into it, most of the heavy / power / doom / thrash / death bands I'd been into before that had either screwed up majorly or disbanded, things like Metal Hammer or Rock Hard or Headbangers Ball etc. were no longer interesting at all, and future looked bright. Or dark, depending on your values. Then, a few years later, things started going down the drain all of a sudden. Thought it was job, age, and so on, but thanks to you now I know it was Brucie*, thank you.
*And I'm not surprised at all.
Click to expand...

I really enjoyed 90s metal much more than what Maiden we’re doing at the time, from Paradise Lost to My Blood Divine or Moonspell, from UDO and Gamma Ray to Primal Fear and even Helloween, not to mention Adrian’s solo stuff and Bruce’s solo albums.
 
Perun said:
Stare at the Sun is an absolute masterpiece, it's been one of my favourite songs ever since I first heard it on a gloomy, depressing autumn afternoon back in 2004.
Click to expand...

I stole that CD when I was 16 :) In the CD shop the case wasn't sealed, and the guy wasn't looking. I didn't know what to expect, and it blew me away. The buildup in Stare at the Sun was my favourite thing for ages.

Stole 3 CDs in my life. Fake Maiden debut from "car fair" (a place where people sell stuff off from their car hood), and a some Sting sample release from Hi-Fi listening session at some event. I traded that for G'n'R cassette. I don't have much regrets about those two, for the Blaze one...I left a lot of euros in that CD shop from that point on, so it was like a compulsory buy 10 get 1 free.
 
MindRuler said:
I may be slaughtered for this but Stare At The Sun is better than any song on BNW or DOD.
Click to expand...

I strongly disagree, but ''Stare At The Sun'' is a great song indeed - no wonder it was one of the songs that Blaze had in mind for a third album with Maiden (the other ones were: ''Ghost In The Machine'', ''Born As A Stranger'' and ''The Launch'').
chaosapiant said:
Can’t remember if I expressed this opinion before, so here goes: I’d like to have had a third album with Blaze. Maybe something in between Virtual XI and BNW. I enjoyed Blaze’s time in the band and felt they (Steve) still needed to find the right musical footing for his voice.
Click to expand...

Blaze had said if Maiden released a third album with him, the fans would have started to see that this line-up is worth it.
 
Last edited:
I'm sure that with proper production "Brave New World with Blaze" would sound great, but he couldn't do any of the Bruce songs live. That was the #1 reason behind his dismissal. Also Blaze never blamed himself for his relative incompetence, he did agree on singing those songs in their natural key, and he put up an excuse of not having proper monitoring. Buying in-ears supposedly made everything ok. The live performance still sucked. Blaze's stage presence on a big stage comes out as awkward.

This is what you get with that choice. Deep Purple wanted someone as far as possible from Blackmore, they got Tommy Bolin, a great guitar player, simply not a calibre for Deep Purple, can't riff like Blackmore, can't really follow/duplicate Blackmore's shredding, touring problems due to inexperience, etc. In the end if Tommy were ok in the head department, Purple might've tried to reinvent themselves with him. Keep in mind that Bolin is held in a way higher regard in guitar world than Blaze is in the singing world, and it still was doomed to fail. Yeah, I wondered how Sillicon Messiah would sound with Maiden. It would sound great, but in the end Maiden can do (and did) much more. Blaze was just someone to keep the band going through a period. His fate was sealed when he was unable to sing the back catalogue on the second tour.

I also love the guy but can't escape the thought that he was rather naive to keep himself in that kind of a bubble, where he writes a shitton of great songs, which requires high enthusiasm, for his third Maiden record, after having such a bad time with classics on stage and having multiple high-grossing dates on both TXF/VXI tours cancelled because of him.
 
Kalata said:
Blaze had said if Maiden released a third album with him, the fans would have started to see that this line-up is worth it.
Click to expand...
Maybe in an alternate universe.
Maiden fans would have never accepted Blaze as a member of the Iron Maiden line up -- they still don't.
He literally couldn't sing the songs which made Iron Maiden. His stage presence was -- again, literally -- inconsistent. His moves were laughable to say the least, compared to Bruce's.

I love The X Factor, but objectively speaking Maiden lining up with Blaze was a huge mistake.
 
Last edited:
Meliegree said:
No chance. There are still fans that can't accept Janick.
Click to expand...

There's pretty much fuck all examples of a newbie joining a band and being a success, possibly Jason Newsted* being a rare example. Even Dio couldn't really make a success out of Sabbath, and Brian Johnson still gets sneered at in AC/DC from some quarters:lol:


*I suspect Newsted get's away with it because he was the guy most fans grew up with and there isn't much evidence remaining of Cliff.
 
Pretty sure there were plenty of people in the late eighties who would have argued that Metallica died with Cliff, although that may have overlapped with them selling out with releasing a music video for "One". It's just so long and so many controversial Metallica things ago that nobody really remembers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jer
Also, Trujillo joining may have helped people put on the rose-tinted glasses for Newsted. Probably had Blaze or Jan been replaced by other people, things would be the same for Maiden.
 
Why would that be? Newsted is great and all that, but he's no Trujillo on the bass, and his creative input was minimal.
 
srfc said:
*I suspect Newsted get's away with it because he was the guy most fans grew up with and there isn't much evidence remaining of Cliff.
Click to expand...
I doubt that the majority of Metallica’s “fans” even remember that Newsted played on those records. He simply was "the bass guy".
 
Perun said:
Pretty sure there were plenty of people in the late eighties who would have argued that Metallica died with Cliff, although that may have overlapped with them selling out with releasing a music video for "One". It's just so long and so many controversial Metallica things ago that nobody really remembers.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what happened at the time.
 
Newsted’s style was the best fit for the band and his live performances and backing vocals were unparalleled. Rob may technically be a better player but his sound is loose in the overall Metallica mix, which just makes them sound more chaotic considering Lars’ continuing degradation in skill.

Also, Janick rules and I have zero interest in Blaze New World.
 
Murder of Rue Morgue said:
Maybe in an alternate universe.
Maiden fans would have never accepted Blaze as a member of the Iron Maiden line up -- they still don't.
He literally couldn't sing the songs which made Iron Maiden. His stage presence was -- again, literally -- inconsistent. His moves were laughable to say the least, compared to Bruce's.
Click to expand...
I like the two albums with Blaze a lot, but Bruce (and Adrian) belong to Maiden.

He struggled live (especially with the classics), but on the studio he was great IMO. Nowadays, he is doing a lot better live. But I think it was inevitable for Bruce to return.
Meliegree said:
There are still fans that can't accept Janick.
Click to expand...

This is their loss! Janick is great!
 
I... honestly don't know. I have stated many times over here that I'm not that in love with Bruce - I admit he is greatly talented, but there is a lot of stuff about him that puts me off (his vocals are technically great and majestic, but can feel histrionic, also they are the cherry on top of the already loud, hectic, attention-grabbing band, so they might be sometimes headache-inducing + I really don't like his lyrics and especially hate his rants and the opinions he often gives in them for free)... and actually Blaze being the more down-to-earth, subtle, quieter singer endears him to me a lot.

I also like the darker approach of TXF that really suited him (wouldn't want that album with Bruce, honestly) and I wonder whether AMOLAD as I know and love it would be that much different to me with Blaze... I mean, sure, it would be, but I can imagine Blaze fitting that album, taking some of the theatrics from The Legacy, yet adding perhaps more mysteriousness to Lord of Light... Dunno.

If the change was permanent - that is, I still think it would have to be like with other bands that switched their approach, like Marillion, Opeth, Kamelot - there would be "old" Maiden and "new" Maiden... Honestly I'd pick "new" Maiden. Unfortunately, they wouldn't make as much money so as to be able to afford all three caballeros, which means no Paschendale, no BTATS, which would suck.

But with such a prominent band, music-wise, where every member is heard and accounted for, having a subtler singer (like Blaze) would not only endear them to my wife, but they'd also be much more often on my playlist in general nowadays. And a lot of stuff I love about Maiden the most can be traced easily back to TXF and most of my favourite songs (of which a lot is from the 90's onwards, too) are conceivable to me with Blaze.

And to honor the title of this thread - on The Final Frontier I would much rather listen to Blaze's strained vocals than Bruce's strained vocals. Because I have ears, duh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top