Artist: Paul DiAnno
Title: “The Beast Arises”
Label: Metal Mind Productions
Release Date: 11/18/2014
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 2/5
A few months ago I offered up some thoughts about the Paul DiAnno “The Beast Arises” live audio CD and it was an experience that I hope I will never have to repeat because that recording was world’s and worlds of awful. It bothers me to say this because I am an ardent admirer of those first two legendary Iron Maiden albums that featured the singer but now some three decades later Paul has truly lost his voice and ability to put on a rocking show that is deserving of the fans hard earned money. If you want to see the larger thoughts about the concert I will refer you to the CD review HERE because with this one I just wanted to see if the video aspect of it was any different and honestly I was foolish to expect anything better of this performance.
For the live release video, Paul is performing at a small club in Krakow, Poland with a group of talented pickup musicians. They play the material rather well which makes it all the more terrible at how rough Paul is sounding these days. While the singer rocked our socks back in the early days, today he is a ramshackle blend of incomprehensible gibberish or incorrect lyrics on top of a few spot on lines. For the most part the songs here are delivered in the gibberish and after two or three numbers it becomes truly hard to listen to. Since this is the video part of the release the concert is a little longer with a lot more banter from Paul and for the most part he is either insulting members of the audience or other names in music and its generally not politically correct in its content either which in 2014 (when this was actually recorded) is not the wisest move to make for one’s reputation. I really don’t need to keep harping on this but I do feel that the audience didn’t get the most value for their money. When the singer says how they were making history tonight I don’t think he realized that his audience would agree but only on it being one of the worst displays of a Metal concert captured on video. The band is tight which I need to say once again but Paul does not get any better as the years go on. The drinking and smoking totally do affect your voice and he does both on stage during breaks in his songs or berating of some of the crowd in attendance. I would not really recommend purchasing this and instead suggest that you investigate something new and making quality Metal in today’s world. Recommendations from my Metal Command include Ghost, Amon Amarth, Kamelot and Nightwish. Hell, try them all out. I cannot speak to the packaging for this release since I only had the physical DVD to review. I will assume it’s a more compact version of what was found in the audio disc.
Paul has not toured in my neck of the woods for quite some time and his cancellations always seem to be the fault of someone else. Considering that the two shows that I caught were not exactly how they were advertised and less in quality on the subsequent times, I doubt that I will go even if he comes back. Especially if this video is any example of how he is sounding since those times.
Bonus Features: Interview with Paul DiAnno,Photo Gallery, Notes.
*** I started to watch the interview segment but after a few uncomfortable minutes I had to stop because Paul was a very difficult interviewee and didn’t seem to be enjoying any of the questions from the person conducting it. He struck me as a very unhappy person during this and while life on the road can be hard especially after doing it as long as he had and as hard as he had found it being, he could have been more inspiring. I guess I expected too much.
Track Listing:
1. Sanctuary
2. Purgatory
3. Wrathchild
4. Prowler
5. Marshall Lockjaw
6. Murders In The Rue Morgue
7. The Beast Arises
8. Children Of Madness
9. Genghis Khan
10. Remember Tomorrow
11. Charlotte The Harlot
12. Killers
13. Phantom Of The Opera
14. Running Free
15. Translyvania
16. Iron Maiden
17. Blitzkrieg Bop
Official Website: http://www.pauldianno.com/