Great Metal Albums of 1988: Battlezone- Warchild, The Best of

After two albums which went by with little notice, drink and drugs and lots of infighting, the band Battlezone, fronted by former Iron Maiden lead singer Paul Di’Anno, decided to call it quits. However, before they did, the put out a “Best of” album. Normally, I would scoff at bands who put out such an album after just two studio albums but it is different in this case. Battlezone’s first album, “Fighting Back,” escaped my attention. Therefore, with this album, I got to go back and listen to many of the songs which were on that album and some of them were quite good. One of these was “The Land God Gave to Cain.” This is a six minute long rocker, which is about a post nuclear holocaust. Paul drives the point home with some good vocals and there is a cool acoustic interlude in the middle of the song which accentuates his vocals really well. However, the power chords come in and really drive things home.

Very few songs from the two studio albums fail to make it on here. Therefore, I get to reminisce over the great songs from the album I did listen to, the second one, “Children of Madness” and got a good introduction to the debut album. It’s the songs from the first album which come first and then the songs from the second follow with a bonus track at the end, “To the Limit.” While not a bad thing, I can help thinking that maybe they should have arranged it the way its done on Youtube with the songs interwoven. That really made me concentrate more when listening to the album.

What you do get is seventeen good songs. I got to experience songs like “Welcome to the Battlezone” and reminisce over familiar ones such as “I Don’t Wanna Know,” Metal Tears” and I like “Whispered Rage” even more. As for the bonus track, it starts with some cool guitar riffs which sound even cooler once the rhythm section kicks in. Paul’s vocals are as good as always and the guitar solo tradeoff is done very well. Plus there is a cool drum solo after the guitar solo which gives it a more African feel.

Track Listing:

1. Fighting Back
2. Welcome to the Battlezone
3. Warchild
4. The Land God Gave to Cain
5. Too Much to Heart
6. Voice on the Radio
7. Rising Star
8. Rip It Up
9. I Don’t Wanna Know
10. Nuclear Breakdown
11. Touch of Heat
12. Whispered Rage
13. Children of Madness
14. Metal Tears
15. It’s Love
16. The Promise
17. To the Limit

Paul Di’Anno- vocals

John Wiggins- guitar

Pete West- bass

Steve Hopgood- drums (tracks 8-16)

Bob Falck- drums (tracks 1-6)

Graham Bath- guitar (tracks 8-16)

John Hurley- guitar (tracks 1-6)

The easy answer to if you want to check out Paul Di’Anno’s Battlezone, get this “Best of” album. It has all the best songs you need to hear from them. Still, I wonder if it hadn’t been for all the rock related issues, how far they might have gone.

Next post: Kingdom Come

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

To sign the petition to have Bruce Dickinson knighted, click the link: https://www.change.org/p/special-honours-committees-for-knighthoods-a-knighthood-for-bruce-dickinson?redirect=false

Great Metal Albums of 1987: Battlezone- Children of Madness

After his departure from Iron Maiden, lead singer Paul Di’Anno, tried to make a go of things by forming his own band but that was short-lived. In 1985, he formed Battlezone (also known as Paul Di’Anno’s Battlezone) and after their debut album, “Fighting Back,” came and went without much notice, at least from me or anyone I knew, they released their second album in 1987, “Children of Madness.”

For the most part, this is a good straightforward heavy metal album, with several good tracks. There is some good riffing on many of the intros by guitarists John Wiggins and Graham Bath and I’m going to put my head on the chopping block here but except for the track, “Nuclear Breakdown,” I think that Paul’s vocals are better than when he was in Iron Maiden. This is not a knock against the mighty Maiden, it’s more a case that Paul’s vocal abilities matured.

With “Children of Madness,” the second half of the album is better than the first. Sure, “Rip It Up” is a good opener and there is a great lead guitar solo on “Torch of Hate,” which is the fastest song on the album but there is better on the second half of the album. The two songs which really shine for me are “I Don’t Wanna Know” which is about a dying relationship and “Metal Tears” which is the closest to a ballad they come with it’s soft intro. The amusing fact about “Metal Tears” is that it’s about a man who falls for a female robot. Both of these tracks have some great guitar work and Paul’s vocals are the smoothest on the album.

If I was to pick a candidate for hidden gem, it would have to be the closer, “Whispered Rage.” The band bring it all together here with some cool guitar solos and more good vocals from Paul and don’t forget the rhythm section. On the other hand, most of the tracks start promising and carry on maybe for the first or second verses but seem to tail off before the guitar solo. The original oomph which attracts you to the song at the beginning is lacking as the song ends. Maybe that’s just me. The title track is one good example. But for the most part, it’s still a good album.

Track Listing:

1. Rip It Up
2. Overloaded
3. Nuclear Breakdown
4. Torch of Hate
5. Children of Madness
6. I Don’t Wanna Know
7. The Promise
8. It’s Love
9. Metal Tears
10. Whispered Rage

Battlezone

Paul Di’Anno- lead vocals

John Wiggins- guitar

Graham Bell- guitar

Pete West- bass

Steve Hopgood- drums

Like what caused Paul’s exit from Iron Maiden, Battlezone would release one more studio album and then a compilation album before drink, drugs and infighting would cause the band to break up. When I listen to “Children of Madness,” I hear a band with potential. It’s too bad that potential was never recognized.

Next Post: Agnostic Front- Liberty and Justice For..

To buy Rock and Roll Children, email me at: tobychainsaw@hotmail.com

To sign the petition for a knighthood for Bruce Dickinson, click the link: https://www.change.org/p/special-honours-committees-for-knighthoods-a-knighthood-for-bruce-dickinson