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PAUL DI'ANNO
In Memory Of
Metalville Records

There are certain musicians who almost transcend music, who become folklore regardless of their musical output. I would say Paul Andrews, or PAUL DI'ANNO as you would know him, most assuredly fits that bill. Why would I come to that conclusion you might ask? Easy really. Unless you're a bonafide Metal geek, ask yourself this question: can you name just 1 band that Paul was in besides IRON MAIDEN? No worries, I'll wait. Give up yet? You see my point then. Paul was there and most assuredly helped make IRON MAIDEN become arguably one of the biggest metal bands of all time. But after getting himself relieved of his vocal duties from said band for drinking and drug problems (that type of fame in such a short amount of time is understandable, but still sad nonetheless). Paul never gave up the music biz, far from it. But nothing he ever did comes within even a shadows length of MAIDEN, and that's just the facts.

His first pre-MAIDEN outfit would naturally be self-titled to capture the fans of his previous band. DI'ANNO was released in 1984. And to say it was a shocking affair would be the understatement of the decade. After MAIDEN one would think that he would continue on that trajectory of pure heavy metal! Such was not the case. DI'ANNO was an extremely lightweight affair, and I'd go so far as to call it AOR. It's well played and all, but to go from "Killers" to "Heartuser" is a shock to the system that most fans of his (myself included) in no way were ready for! Keyboards and pop songs?? Yeahhh no thanx. Add to that a blurb on the back of the album saying the band's outfits were 'kindly supplied by Wrangler from their Spring 1984 range'. WTH??😳 So naturally a misstep such as that would see an immediate 'right turn Clyde' about face back to heavy metal glory, right? Not exactly.

Paul's next release was an oddball EP that on paper, should have been at the very least as heavy as MAIDEN ever thought about! The band was GOGMAGOG. And the band: Paul on vocs, Pete Willis ex-DEF LEPPARD on guitars, Jannick Gers, future IRON MAIDEN and ex-WHITE SPIRIT guitarist, Clive Burr ex-IRON MAIDEN and STRATUS (along with the Troy Bros, from PRAYING MANTIS) on drums, and Neil Murray ex-WHITESNAKE bassist. A supergroup if one ever deserved the title! And yet the music was some sort of bizarre Rocky Horror Picture Show/AOR hybrid with a Russ Ballard (ARGENT) cover to boot! Unreal just how disappointing this thing was. And that's now 0-2 for Paul post-MAIDEN. But to his credit, he picked himself up and came back with PAUL Di'ANNO'S BATTLEZONE, releasing 2 albums, 1986's Fighting Back and 1987's Children Of Madness, a welcome return to heavy metal. Had this been the path Paul started after leaving IRON MAIDEN no telling what may have happened. As it was, this was another short-lived affair.

Paul came back in the 90's with a new band, PAUL DI'ANNO's KILLERS, who were a straight up metal band. Interestingly enough, the new bands first release was a Live album, South American Assault, a real cracking album from 1990 with another all-star band backing Paul up. Featuring John Gallagher from RAVEN on bass, and Cliff Evans from TANK on guitar and Steve Hopgood from PERSIAN RISK on drums, this was the first release that saw Paul start to embrace his MAIDEN history and featured half of the album as I.M. covers, along with BATTLEZONE cuts and a QUEEN/DEEP PURPLE medley set ender. Steve & Cliff stayed on with Paul, as they released Murder One in 1992 and the very obviously PANTERA-influenced Menace To Society in 1994. Paul then went back and forth between KILLERS, BATTLEZONE and DI'ANNO for many years releasing albums, live albums and compilations. In 2015 he came back with a new band called ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ with a new German backing band. They released a real banger of an album in 2015 called The League of Shadows. Unfortunately they ended up going their separate ways as is usually the case. Paul's health struggles kept him from doing more in his later years.

Which brings us to this post-humerus release, In Memory Of. And for those who didn't follow or were unable to get some of Paul's releases (as some might have been a bit hard to come by) this is a perfect way to get you caught back up with all things DI'ANNO. Featuring 5 tracks from his ARCHITECTS OF CHAOZ album ("Rejected", "Apache Falls", "Switched Off (Released)", "You've Been Kissed by the Wings of the Angel of Death", and an amazing cover of DEEP PURPLE's "Soldier Of Fortune", finding Paul doing his best David Coverdale, and my personal opinion the best Paul had sounded voice-wise in ages. An added treat on this compilation are some extremely rare live cuts, from the Hell Over Waltrop Fest from August 2006, "Impaler", "The Beast Arises", "Marshall Lokjaw", and a couple of covers, the RAMONES "Blitzkrieg Bop" and 1 of only 2 MAIDEN covers, that being "Running Free". The other I.M. cut is "Killers" Live from the world's biggest heavy metal festival, Wacken in 2015. And finally a bonus track, a digital only song that was left off the A.O.C. album, "Je'suis Charlie", a real uptempo pounder. If you've never heard Paul sing with aggressive music accompanying him, here's your chance!

As mentioned above, even though he never achieved again the lofty heights he obtained in I.M. and that in itself is truly a shame, this is a really essential piece of DI'ANNO's history for those who've missed it. Now if you're not a fan of newer music (and you know who you are out there) this might pass you by. Or if you're a newbie looking for some metal to bang your head to (and possibly annoy the neighbors) then this will be your cup of tea! However you choose to look at it, In Memory Of is a lasting salute to one of Metal's OG vocalists and a testament to his will to overcome the health problems that eventually took his life. The cover is a nice touch as well as it's a drawing of a snarling Eddie with tears running down his tortured face. RIP Paul. Your legacy of music with and without IRON MAIDEN will stand the test of time. Of that I have no doubt.

And for the Wax freaks out there, this will be released (and it's probably already out there matter-of-fact), on Vinyl. Multiple color options too I believe. So get to it! Before you get kissed by the wings of the angel of death!☠️

4.2 Out Of 5.0 skulls