Paul Dianno - The Living Dead

60%Al Atikins. Dave Evans. Neil Turbin. Paul Di'Anno. Rod Evans.

If you're a bit of a pop culture nerd, you might recognize the trend in that list: they were all the singers of soon-to-be wildly popular rock bands fired before the bands reached their height.
You may also recognize the outlier: Paul Di'Anno.

As Iron Maiden's first recorded singer, Di'Anno fronted Maiden during their first two albums: "Iron Maiden" and "Killers", both are now considered heavy rock classics (especially "Killers"). The group dumped Paul in favor of the more dramatic Bruce Dickinson, and achieved huge global success. Di'Anno, meanwhile, struggled to achieve any sort of success, either as a solo artist or with a band. He has more or less been reduced to singing for cheap to people wanting an Iron Maiden fix, including singing on Iron Maiden tribute albums (imagine that). But what sets him apart is that those 2 first albums are considered by some to be Maiden's best period, stripped of the bombast which later characterized them and featuring the gritty vocals of Di'Anno.

With his latest release, "The Living Dead", Di'Anno is making another reach at hardcore Maiden fans looking for a dash of nostalgia. The first thing I noticed about this new album is that it's hardly new: while now it's labeled as "The Living Dead" by Paul Dianno (which is not the way he usually spells it, but then again it's not his real name so go figure), it is mostly comprised of the earlier 2000 release of "Nomad" (credited to his namesake band Di'Anno). Odd, isn't it? Though there's new cover art (check the creepy blonde zombie or whatever), most of the rest which isn't on "Nomad" isn't exactly new - it's been released elsewhere or at least recorded a while ago.

The album opens up with a cover of Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction", which if I'm not mistaken, is culled from "Hangar de Almas", a tribute to Megadeth in which Jeriko contributed this song along with vocals from Di'Anno. It's pretty weird to open up an album with a cover and with a different band that will support the singer through the rest of the album, but I guess that's minor. The major problem with this song is Di'Anno himself: in earlier records his voice strung the balance between handsome and madman, with a gritty but not gruff vocal tone. In this song, that all gets thrown out the window in favor of a much more "hardcore" approach. The results, including some quasi-death metal vocals, are almost embarassing. The band plays the song well enough, if missing a bit of Marty Friedman's fire in the solos. Also they add a nice if unnecessary extended coda to the song.

The next song, the title track, is a power ballad, slowing everything down at first, featuring acoustic guitars and pianos. Thankfully, Di'Anno goes to a much more relaxed and much more pleasent tone. Finally, the song reaches into keyboard-soaked "hard" section and Di'Anno's gritty vocal tone which characterized him hits at full force.

On the more up-tempo songs, however, Di'Anno seems compelled at going for the death metal-ish growls, which just don't work for him. The band plays a thrash-informed NWOBHM style which is competent but far from magnificent. Di'Anno and the rest probably sound best during the slower numbers, and Paul seems more compelled to do what he does good during these songs.

The lyrics are generally not spectacular and sometimes cringe-inducing ("S.A.T.A.N."? Come on.) There is a dearth of good riffs and choruses, which could have saved the album. Di'Anno's singing is both good just because it's good but also good as a nice dose of nostalgia. He takes a few risks (the already discussed growl and some shots at falsetto). While that is commendable and all, the problem is that he doesn't really pull it off. He's talented and versatile, but he's not that talented and versatile. He's not Phil Anselmo. The album hits when it tries for quasi-power ballads or the soft-intro-to-loud-main-part bit that seems to be in every other Maiden song nowdays (ironically this almost never happened when Paul was actually in the band). And maybe part of the problem is how heavy and inaccesible it is, relatively speaking. Iron Maiden is not a really heavy band, but they are sometimes inaccesible because of their prog tendencies. Di'Anno seemed to balanced it out with a more punk-flavored Maiden, but here, none of that is present in favor of tried-and-true metal with nothing the least inventive about it. Sure, it's competently played and sung by one of the more important voices of the NWOBHM, but that's it.

For people who own Nomad, this is pretty much entirely worthless unless you really despereatly need the three or four "new" songs thrown in. But if you see this in the bargain bin and have a rush of nostalgia and curiousity to see what Paul is up to, go ahead, pick it up. Paul makes both a conscious attempt to establish himself apart from "the Beast" and to reach out to their fans, since, let's face it, they are his primary audience. Featuring a few old Maiden cuts live at the end ("Remember Tomorrow", one of his most impressive songs vocally, and "Sanctuary", which with it's almost punk-ish riffing characterized Paul Di'Anno's time in Maiden best as the "unrefined" portion of a band that is for the most part "refined", in a way) and a bonus DVD set in '79 can either be considered a fan service or a desperate grab at money using his past, or perhaps even both. The old Maiden cuts are excellent for the most part, they are classic songs and they are performed and recorded well, although perhaps they underscore the difference in quality songs from the first two Iron Maiden albums and this CD we have here. While it's commendable that Paul is trying to establish his own sound, it is unfortunate that the most glaring flaw of this album is quite simple and related: there is no Steve Harris songwritng, there is no Dave Murray on guitar. This is not Iron Maiden, nor is it near Maiden quality. In particular there is just a general lack of good songwriting and good songs on this album. Di'Anno is a great singer, but he needs the right backing and the right lyrics to establish his potential. Without great songwriting, Di'Anno is just a good singer. With it, he can be a legend. Sadly, it's not here.

-Luis