We are all aware of Dianno’s past with Maiden and his numerous solo outings. which are most definitely on the heavy side of town, but I’m not sure everyone is aware of this attempt at doing a melodic rock album in a very American Journey style. Well, this is it, and straight from the off, with the keyboard intro to opening track, Flaming Heart, you know this is no heavy metal album.
It’s not a bad album, but his voice does not suit this type of music. To hear him sing on a very Styx style track like Here To Stay is very odd indeed, especially when he puts in the whoah woahs in true Maiden style. Tales Of The Unexpected is the big number on the album but it falls short, as do most of the song really. That is the main problem here, the material is just average – not bad – just average.
I’ve never heard of any of the band as I guess they were just hired in for this project. The only people who would be interested in this are Maiden completists.
6/10 from The Grooveman.
