Paul Di’Anno will I suppose always be primarily linked with the first two Iron Maiden albums on which he handled the vocals on way back in the early 1980s before his well-documented departure as the then fledgling New Wave of British Heavy Metal era band were about to go stratospheric.
One of Paul’s post-Maiden projects was Battlezone, who pumped put two contrasting albums in the late 1980s. Here we have both albums together with a live album as Killers from 2000 in a nice clamshell box set which Cherry Red Records do so well.
Battlezone’s debut album – Fighting Back – is an energetic affair with generally fast-paced heaviness with a bit of a punky edge and a feeling of sameyness about them.
To my ears it feels (or sounds…..) like the band is trying a bit too hard and playing a bit too fast because they can. Paul’s vocals are on point and he puts in 100% which can’t be faulted.
However for the most part Fighting Back is rather generic. The title track, Welcome to the Battlezone and Warchild being somewhat indistinguishable.
That said, In The Darkness has a nice up-tempo chugging riff and feel about it which is a step up. And an even bigger step up is the quite marvellous The Land God Gave to Caine. An expansive, progressive, atmospheric mini-epic of tremendous proportions. Great riff, great vocal from Paul, superb guitar work as the song progresses including a nice change of pace mid-section before the big finish.
If only the rest of the album had been along similar lines it’d have been a classic. Instead for me it’s rather lacklustre bad In The Darkness and The Land God Gave to Caine.
The follow-up album – Children of Madness is much, much better. A classy set of songs which are all so much better written and varied than the debut with more feeling and melody involved.
Paul again puts in an excellent vocal stint. At times he sounds not unlike Geoff Tate at his peak. Indeed – some of the songs have a touch of period Queensryche about them.
Rip it Up is a snorting opener. The title track goes a bit prog-metal similarly to the aforementioned The Land God Gave to Caine though being a bit more restrained. Metal Tears has a nice melody and hook going on. It’s Love is infectious with Paul’s stuttering vocals being that bit different yet working well.
A shame it fell apart for Battlezone after Children of Madness as had they been able to put out a third album along similar lines it’d surely have sold well.
Here’s The Land God Gave to Caine. Is it not rather jolly good?
The live album from 2000 recorded at the Los Angeles Whiskey gives an energetic performance sprinkling in some Maiden stuff.
Overall – another excellent box set from Cherry Red and a reminder of how good a vocalist Paul was back then with Battlezone in particular on the second album.
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