Metal Underground.com

Blaze Bayley is perhaps one of the most underrated performers in the field of heavy metal. Having cut his teeth with the band Wolfsbane, he achieved worldwide fame in the metal community when he became the new lead singer for Iron Maiden in the mid ‘90s. Since splitting with Maiden, he has released a series of well received solo albums under the Blaze Bayley moniker. With his new DVD, "The Night That Would Not Die," he attempts to prove that he can hold his own with some of the biggest names out there.

The concert was filmed in Prateln, Switzerland in December of 2008 and shows Blaze and company performing to a packed venue. The show opens with the title track from his latest album, "The Man Who Would Not Die" and the crowd blatantly loves every second of it. The energy continues throughout the next songs "Blackmailer" and "Smile Back At Death" before Blaze Bayley spends some time to talk to the fans, sincerely thanking them for their support. The crowd clearly feels as humble as he does and returns the love to him with several huge cheers.

The band gets back into the swing of things when they charge into the next song, "Alive," which sees heavy metal horns and fist pumping a plenty. They then create a dark and brooding atmosphere as the group begins the eerie "Identity," before re-entering the fast and groove-laden pace.

As one might expect, it is the songs from his days with Iron Maiden that go down the best with the Swiss audience. Songs like "Futureal" from the "Virtual XI" album and "Man On The Edge" from "The X Factor" are brilliantly received with plenty of chanting from the crowd and sing along moments. The band alternates for awhile between this era and more of their original material before performing the very touching "While You Were Gone" as a tribute to Blaze's sadly deceased wife. The chant of "Debbie" from the audience is something that must have made Blaze very happy and it certainly serves as a great tribute. The band then follows this by closing with the excellent songs "Samurai" and "Robot."

The crowd reaction is fantastic throughout the show and the band are clearly having a blast while performing, however, having witnessed a Blaze Bayley concert personally, I can't help feel that the DVD doesn't quite capture the full excitement of experiencing the show first hand. This is always hard for a DVD to achieve, but when watching it, it becomes apparent that it was filmed on a tight budget. It certainly doesn't look as slick as many other DVDs out there, but it is filmed very well.