I am almost certain that once again the vast majority of the metal fans all around the world will criminally overlook the new release by Blaze Bayley. And what a shame that will be as this is yet another amazing effort by the former Maiden singer who justifies and actually makes proud his ever loyal fan base.
“War Within Me” carries on really from where the excellent “Infinite Entanglement” trilogy stopped. This brand new release by Blaze is marked by the following three points: a) The overall optimistic lyrical content, b) Chris Appleton’s brilliant guitar work and c) the unique chemistry between Blaze and Chris both from a compositional and performance standpoint. Blaze focuses once more to science and philosophy (especially on the songs “The Dream of Alan Turing”/ “The Power Of Nicola Tesla” / “The Unstoppable Stephen Hawking”) while he doesn’t fail in delivering some of the most memorable hooks and choruses of his entire career.
Appleton comes up with some –almost unavoidable- Maiden-esque guitar melodies while he contributes in the recording of some well-crafted songs that clearly remind of Blaze’s excellent back catalogue. From my perspective, “War Within Me” is the ideal crossroad where “The Man Who Would Not Die” meets the first part of “Infinite Entanglement” and I guess this says it all! I sincerely hope that, even at this point, all the metalheads will give a fair chance to Blaze…after all, “War Within Me” is one of the best metal albums of 2021. Give it a listen…you won’t regret it! As a matter of fact, you will definitely buy it when you listen to it.
Highlight: Yet another stunning cover sleeve that perfectly depicts the overall aesthetic of the album.
