Feel My Pain

"Feel My Pain" is one of the few records of "original" material released by Paul Di'Anno in his 90's periods since leaving Iron Maiden in during the early 1980's. Sadly for Di'Anno, his output has been highly erratic in quality and originality. (This is mostly due to his insistance and constantly re-releasing Iron Maiden songs in new forms more often than not.)

Despite this facts, it seems that when he does manage to put out a record of entirely original material it is often an interesting affair. This new CD is hardly a "metal classic" but it's a listenable platter of chunky "modern" metal. Grinding guitars, lyrics about being pissed off (somewhat from the mold of Pantera) and an overall sense of tension makes this record "fun". Sadly, many of the hooks that could have been developed are missing, and you lack much memory over what was actually contained on some of the songs...which leads to one thinking the CD was slightly rushed. Even so, many rocking tracks do exist, and fans of Paul will find little to complain about.

The shining aspect of this record of course is Paul's amazing voice. This man is a waste of talent if there ever was one. The material on this record isn't terrible by any means, but it's not even close to providing this mans voice with the songs it deserves to be heard singing.

Once again Paul has released an "ok" record (in terms of songwriting) of original material that bears his strong voice soaring over something that doesn't come close to benefitting his legacy.

If you love the Di'Anno work of Maiden, Battlezone and Killers this is a must own (if only to hear him scream like Halford on "Children of Madness 98'"). It's not going to redefine the metal world with it's amazing songcraft, but it's most certainly solid and entertaining with an amazing vocal performance.