For a heavy metal icon there are few better places to record a DVD than in Poland, a country where music is treated with the manifest respect that it deserves. With a Polish backing band in tow, Paul Di’Anno, the original voice of Iron Maiden, returns to lay claim to those first two blistering albums, ‘iron maiden’ and ‘killers’ in Krakow’s Lizard King Night club. In front of a clearly rabid audience, Paul is an imposing figure these days. With his shaven head, tattoos and piercings he looks more like Kerry King than the svelte teenager who blended heavy metal and punk with such aplomb in the early eighties. Paul’s voice has toughened with age, although he can still hit some of those high notes, but far too often he warbles the notes in a manner that is more Meat Loaf crossed with Johnny Rotten than metal, and the result is quite distracting. It’s a shame too, because, despite being a budget release, ‘the beast arises’ is a well shot and mixed DVD with a decent track list and plenty of energy from the musicians on stage.
Opening with ‘Sanctuary’, the film’s shortcomings become immediately apparent. Paul’s punkish, hyper-speed delivery all but obliterates the clarity of the words whilst his odd phrasing just sounds wrong over the band’s incredibly tight, metallic delivery. ‘Purgatory’, which follows a brief speech in which Paul questions why he’s even filming a DVD (one of the many odd stage raps on display here), suffers a similar fate with awkward vocals proving to be hellishly distracting, and it is only with ‘wrathchild’ and ‘prowler’ that things start to get on track. ‘Prowler’ in particular has a fiery energy to it and Paul demonstrates his skill at winding the crowd up to fever pitch, before launching into a blazing rendition of the killers’ ‘Marshall Lockjaw’. Clearly enthused by the crowd reaction, Paul kicks into the track yelling “this is how you play heavy metal!” and the small, but violent, moshpit goes mental in response. There’s no question that Paul is hell-bent on marking out his place as one of heavy metal’s original singers, but all too often the words are lost in the rapid-fire delivery and the result is that the intelligent and incisive lyrics that underpin so many of these classic songs are lost whilst the rambling, insult-laden monologues between tracks are bizarre as Paul veers between heartfelt words of thanks, sarcastic asides and barely coherent swipes at various members of the audience.
Moving away from Maiden (all too briefly) the DVD’s highlights include ‘the beast arises’ and ‘children of madness’ but from thereon in it’s Maiden all the way (with the sole exception of Ramones Cover ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’). It’s a shame that there isn’t room in such a crowded set list for more material from Paul’s varied career and, with many of these songs covered so extensively on other live albums, attention levels soon flag. The most heartfelt moment of the show comes prior to the sombre ‘remember tomorrow’ which sees Paul pay tribute to both his Polish fans and the late Clive Burr, a man whom Paul clearly misses deeply. It’s a moving tribute and the song is delivered with passion although the high notes are now outside of Paul’s vocal range and this is a common feature of the show, with high notes either avoided or dropped in pitch. It’s not unusual in older singers (David Coverdale has also struggled when it comes to hitting the peaks of his youth) and it’s less frustrating than areas where the enunciation becomes hard to discern. Further digs at various targets await in the wings (not least in the mean-spirited introduction to ‘Transylvania’, here renamed ‘transsexual’) and it is disappointing that Paul feels the need to lower himself to such behaviour when his audience are clearly behind him all the way. A final highlight of the set is ‘blitzkreig bop’, and it’s notable that whilst Paul has carved out a powerful heavy metal career, his voice fits the metallic punk delivery far better than it does straight up heavy metal – it would certainly be cool to see Paul tackle more music in this vein.
Overall ‘the beast arises’ is a bit of a mixed bag. Paul is still an engaging and imposing presence and, as he rightly asserts, he can still sing with power and conviction. However, the show needed much better editing, with some of the weirder stage raps (which probably felt more natural in the heat of the moment) shortened or removed altogether and more focus on the band during the instrumental numbers. Paul Di’anno, despite a chequered career, remains one of metal’s more engaging characters. His voice is indelibly stamped over those first two Maiden albums and it’s a testament to his strength of character that he’s kept going strong over the years – he deserves more recognition than he gets. That said, DVDs like this are unlikely to further his cause greatly and what would really appeal would be for Paul to marshal his forces and release the classic punk-metal album that he almost certainly has in him. It’s time for Paul to break free from the shadow of Maiden but for now ‘the beast arises’ offers up only a passing glimpse of Paul’s current live set.
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