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Blaze - Blood & Belief (2004) (Japan, CRCL-4828)

Posted By: Necromandus
Blaze - Blood & Belief (2004) (Japan, CRCL-4828)

Blaze - Blood & Belief (2004)
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE+LOG | 600 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 180 MB | Complete HQ Scans | PNG -> 230 MB
Heavy Hetal | Label: Nippon Crown Co., Ltd, Japan #CRCL-4828| RAR 3% Rec. | Nitroflare.com
… Japanese 1st Press CD with 5 bonus tracks …

This is definitely the best BLAZE album. After the disappointing Tenth Dimension, I really thought this was a way better effort. It’s dark, heavy and serious, just the way I like my heavy metal.

Blood and Belief occupies an odd place in the metal canon because I don’t really think there’s much else like it. It’s pretty much shed all the 80s metal influences and is squarely modern in terms of riffing, but it can’t be called anything other than pure good old heavy fuckin’ metal. Where most bands that eschew classic rock and metal influence end up going into another genre (prog, thrash, groove, etc), Blood and Belief is a stodgy, punchy album with a thick, concrete-slab guitar tone, chugging riffing and a reliance on slow, mellow parts to break up the gravelly anthems. We do get some livelier moments when the guitars rip out leads and solos, but most of this is very morose and somber mood-wise – even when the song structures occasionally echo old 80s metal, the mood is miles and miles away. I guess comparisons could be made to Nevermore or Iced Earth’s mid-era stuff, but this is just far better than either of those bands.

The main reason for that is simple – just look at the band name. This is Blaze Bayley’s heart and soul – a concept album about his struggles with alcoholism. The lyrics, while straightforward, are delivered with a lot of heart and passion, and they work really well. Blaze’s vocal delivery is probably my favorite here that he ever did, winding his deep, throaty bellow around some infectious vocal lines and emotional climaxes to songs. The songs ride a sort of emotional wave, with each song different from the last – some are fast and pugilistic, some are mellow bluesy ballads and some are head-stomping concert-style anthems. On standout tracks like “Alive,” the title track, the powerful “Life and Death” and the monster, skull-crushing riff-and-chorus combo of “Hollow Head,” the band sounds energized and like they really mean it. Great stuff.

Unfortunately there are some weaker bits – “Tearing Myself to Pieces” and “Regrets” aren’t the strongest songs on display, though they’re far better than some of the filler on Blaze’s other albums. “Will to Win” is fun, but ultimately kind of shallow, with the most obvious chorus on the album. And despite liking this really well, it never quite rises above just ‘good’ into really great. The theme and passion behind this work are outstandingly done, but the songwriting and overall flow of the album never really transcends the basics. I’m not saying it’s not an addictive album in its way, but I am saying I can’t really give this a 90%+ score and really be justified in doing so.

Still, though – I’d take an album like this, with pretty much all rock solid tunes, over something that overextends its boundaries and falls flat on its face, any day. Blaze Bayley never made a classic album, but he has pretty consistently made entertaining enough albums for years now. This is my favorite from him – go get it!

Tracklist :

1. Alive - 4:09
2. Ten Seconds - 4:30
3. Blood And Belief - 6:33
4. Life And Death - 5:11
5. Tearing Yourself To Pieces - 5:49
6. Hollow Head - 4:02
7. Will To Win - 4:54
8. Regret - 5:53
9. The Path And The Way - 4:54
10. Soundtrack Of My Life - 5:38
11. The Launch (Live) (Japanese Bonus Track) - 2:58
12. Futureal (Live, Iron Maiden Cover) (Japanese Bonus Track) - 3:29
13. Tough As Steel (Live, Wolfsbane Cover) (Japanese Bonus Track) - 5:09
14. Evolution (Live) (Japanese Bonus Track) - 4:07
15. Living Someone Else's Life (Japanese Bonus Track) - 4:45

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 17. October 2015, 10:14

Blaze / Blood & Belief (Japan, CRCL-4828)

Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-219L Adapter: 1 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:09.02 | 0 | 18676
2 | 4:09.02 | 4:29.46 | 18677 | 38897
3 | 8:38.48 | 6:32.39 | 38898 | 68336
4 | 15:11.12 | 5:11.19 | 68337 | 91680
5 | 20:22.31 | 5:48.65 | 91681 | 117845
6 | 26:11.21 | 4:01.68 | 117846 | 135988
7 | 30:13.14 | 4:53.61 | 135989 | 158024
8 | 35:07.00 | 5:52.42 | 158025 | 184466
9 | 40:59.42 | 4:53.43 | 184467 | 206484
10 | 45:53.10 | 5:38.10 | 206485 | 231844
11 | 51:31.20 | 2:57.73 | 231845 | 245192
12 | 54:29.18 | 3:28.52 | 245193 | 260844
13 | 57:57.70 | 5:08.59 | 260845 | 284003
14 | 63:06.54 | 4:07.31 | 284004 | 302559
15 | 67:14.10 | 4:44.63 | 302560 | 323922


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename D:\.by necromandus for avaxhome\Blaze - Blood & Belief (Japan, CRCL-4828).wav

Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 7.9 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 9CE31138
Copy CRC 9CE31138
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [A78800BD] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [06D48061] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [8EC9DE7F] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [4C3190EA] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [3599019D] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [1D488722] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [9690605C] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [0267291D] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [B7EBB0DA] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [D862FB30] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [A9E2AEFE] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [7EBEA7F4] (AR v2)
Track 13 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [489BD364] (AR v2)
Track 14 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [7E5C5973] (AR v2)
Track 15 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [12377C5A] (AR v2)

All tracks accurately ripped

End of status report

–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6

[CTDB TOCID: gJ35cJ1rTI2CEyrzmv9L1.lWi98-] found
Submit result: gJ35cJ1rTI2CEyrzmv9L1.lWi98- has been confirmed
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
2 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
3 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
4 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
5 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
6 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
7 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
8 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
9 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
10 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
11 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
12 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
13 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
14 | (2/2) Accurately ripped
15 | (2/2) Accurately ripped


==== Log checksum D9FAD6C97E3AA9362626D8858DCC14D3BCF2834799A3CD7C2D1078BB5E76F45D ====

• Blaze Bayley - Vocals
• John Slater - Guitars
• Steve Wray - Guitars
• Wayne Banks - Bass
• Jason Bowld - Drums

Tracks 11-15 taken from album 'Tenth Dimention' EU limited edition
Recorded, mixed & mastered at Backstage Studios by Andy Sneap
Produced By Andy Sneap
Lossless (FLAC)*
http://www.nitroflare.com/view/75BC9E7B7AA85CD/BLZE2004BBJAPLOS.rar

All Covers (PNG)
http://www.nitroflare.com/view/D9B2B188A76E8BC/BLZE2004BBJAPPNG.rar

Lossy HQ (320 Kbps CBR)
http://www.nitroflare.com/view/EED4D3A53FDDC6F/BLZE2004BBJAPMP3.rar

* Original CD -> EAC image, embedded cuesheet & more, foobar2000 ready, etc.
(all CUEs, LOGs and other technical info includes in the internal "CD_Support" archive).

Please, do not write these links at any web pages. Enjoy & keep the files alive!
Huge thanks to my friend Джонни for original CD!