Search - Blaze :: Tenth Dimension

One of my favorite recent metal albums...

Scrub | The United States | 12/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am going to assume most of the reviewers who are going to be reading this are like me. You are probably a huge Iron Maiden fan who got curious as to where Blaze went after getting kicked out of Iron Maiden. You are probably wondering what to expect, since his work with Iron Maiden is certainly not great. I approached this album with a lot of skepticism.



Let's get one thing VERY clear before the real review even starts, this is NOTHING like Iron Maiden at all. Blaze sounds much "newer" and would probably fall into the "Power" metal category. If you aren't too interested in metals "newer" sound then you better stear clear of this album, but if you are open to new styles, I really recommend you give it a chance. And don't worry, the rest of the band is very talented, and has a really unique sound in my opinion. I can't think of another band that sounds very much like this at all. Did I mention this is one of the darkest(non-death), emotional heavy metal albums I've heard? It has everything you want, catchy melodies, sing-a-long choruses, emotion by the bucketful, and most important lasting quality(repeated listenings.)



Comparing this to Silicon Messiah, Blaze's first solo album, this one far surpasses it in every category. The Tenth Dimension has to be considered a concept album, even though there are short pauses between most of the tracks. Silicon Messiah definantly had a lot of HIGH points, but it sounded like a band that was still searching for the right combinations at times.



Since I got this album about 6 months ago, it has spent a WHOLE lot of time in my disc rotation. Tenth Dimension has a lot of variation in it. It has fast chorus-based hard-rockers like Kill and Destroy, Leap of Faith, and Speed of Light. A little over halfway through things slow down with the short The Truth Revealed and Meant To Be, which are packed with emotion. Then there are a couple more epic like songs: The Tenth Dimension and Stranger to the Light. These tend to have both very heavy and soft moments. If I had to pick my favorite tracks on the album I would have to say they would be: End Dream, The Tenth Dimension, Meant To Be, and Stranger to the Light. Before buying this album, I highly recommend listening to Amazon's samples, if you like those, you will probably like the album.



I'll talk to my fellow Iron Maiden buddies about Blaze's voice some more. This is all my opinion of course. Most of us agree that Blaze was a flop for Iron Maiden, and for a while I figured he had no talent whatsoever. I've since then came to my senses and realized Iron Maiden has the "wrong sound" for a vocalist like Blaze. Blaze doesn't have the power or the range Dickinson does, but he is much better in the darker more emotional categories. I think just like Blaze failed when put in a Bruce role, Bruce would fail if he was put in a Blaze role.



If you like this album, you will like any of Blaze's solo albums :). For more info on Blaze try www.planetblaze.com...Long live Blaze..."

What's all the fuss about?

MetalMan#1 | Maine | 07/14/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"People here are giving this album and other Blaze albums 4 and five star ratings saying that they are great, better than Maiden or recent Maiden, and that he is a genious and very talented. Well I have to disagree on all fronts. First off this doesn't compare to Maiden at all nor is Blaze displaying any more talent here than on his albums with Maiden. I actually never thought he was that bad, he has a good voice, and he is not bad of a singer, but definitely not in the top 20, let alone comparable to Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson. Hell, Maiden's first singer Paul Di'Anno is better than blaze. As far as the music goes, it's good but not great and doesn't really capture one's attention very much. So, I don't recommend this or any of the Blaze albums to someone who could pick up something they know they'd like, but if your more than a little curious to how it sounds and can't think of anything else to buy go ahead and get it. It's better than most of the newer rock/metal bands."