"As Live As It Gets" review
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BLAZE As Live As It Gets (SPV)
Let's pretend for a moment that today's computer technology isn't used to doctor live recordings, that what we hear is what went down, end of story. Not trying to belittle Blaze's or producer Andy Sneap's integrity, but if you can hold that illusion (delusion?) going into As Live As It Gets, you come away from the experience with a big fat smile on yer face. Easily one of the best live albums heard by these ears in quite some time (along with Annihilator's Double Live Annihilation), Blaze put on one hell of a double-CD show. Along with the expected crushers from Silicon Messiah and Tenth Dimension come 'Steel' from singer Bayley's Wolfsbane days, his Iron Maiden era "hits" 'Virus', 'Futureal' and 'Sign Of The Cross' (which sucks here, too) and a great rendition of Zeppelin's 'Dazed And Confused'. Sneap has worked his magic once again, turning As Live As It Gets into a studio-worthy ball-basher, separating the stellar performances of everyone involved on stage. It's Bayley that steals the show though, with big vocals and an alarming Dickinsonian stage presence that demands audience participation. Top marks for 'Stare At The Sun', 'Kill And Destroy', the Helloween-happy 'Born As A Stranger' and closing number 'Tenth Dimension', but the 18 tracks as a whole make for an album worthy of repeat listens, perhaps making this Blaze's own Live After Death. Feel free to question the motives behind a live opus two albums into the band's career.
8.5 Carl Begai
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