It’s been a long and winding road that has brought Blaze Bayley to this stage in his career, there have been many ups and a few downs, however since the formation of the band Blaze Bayley, the man and his merry troupe have gone from strength to strength. "The Man Who Would Not Die" was an uncompromising statement of intent, which was ably reinforced by the excellent live CD and DVD "The Night That Will Not Die", and now comes "Promise And Terror," which not only picks up the momentum already built up by the band but manages to once more raise the standard.

There are no real surprises by what is contained within "Promise And Terror", as Blaze Bayley once more prove themselves to be masters of full throttle, no prisoners taken, good old fashioned heavy metal. All bar one song is built on the foundation of pummelling riffs, hard as nails rhythms and with Blaze himself continuing to sing better with every release the combination really is stunningly effective. "Watching The Night Sky" is a mighty opening thwack with soaring guitars and pummelling drum rolls and immediately it’s clear that this band mean business. Blaze sounds more comfortable these days as he really seems to have found the range in his voice that provides the maximum drama and impact and combine that to a set of lyrics that are more personal than some of his previous work and I don’t think he has ever sounding more convincing than he does right now.

With that the tone for album is set with track after track of bare knuckled blows from the likes of the brash "Madness And Sorrow", or the purposeful "The Trace Of Things That Have No Words" which has the best vocal on the disc. Whilst almost all of the music on show is bold and unapologetic, there is a fair bit of diversity with the likes of the acoustic led "Surrounded By Sadness" and the slow build of "Comfortable In Darkness" bringing some light and shade to proceedings. Having said that it is the go for the throat rockers that really stand out and when the band really let fly the results, like "Faceless" are brutally compelling.