Blaze - The Rock Dinosaur

If one looks closely at the artwork, one can see Japanese lettering as well as Western, and that is because this band has nothing to do with a certain ex-Iron Maiden singer, and are instead a band from the land of the rising sun. They released their debut album back in 2007, although it was reissued by High Roller Records in 2012 and it is through the same label that they recently released their new six track EP. This is traditional heavy metal and hard rock mixed together in a melodic fashion in a way not too dissimilar from bands like The Scorpions. When asked about the title, guitarist Hisashi Suzuki said “Well, as everybody should know, dinosaurs were huge animals, very big and very heavy. Today, dinosaurs are out of date, as they are an extinct species. Blaze are still alive. But I don’t mind at all if people describe us as out of date. I love out of date rock …”. So there you have it. The band has a classic sound, with strong vocals and wonderfully fluid solos, and is worth checking out. For me the only real issue with this is the band name, as many (like me) will think that this is by a certain singer and may well be disappointed when they discover that it isn’t.