Whenever discussions occur about who’s the unluckiest man ever in music, the name Pete Best is usually well out in front, evicted as he was from The Beatles in 1962, just as they were about to achieve unimaginable fame, wealth and immortality. But, as for who might come second, a case can be made out for Paul Di’Anno, Paul Andrews to his mother, who was vocalist with Iron Maiden from their very early days, appearing on their first two albums and helping put them on the map, before being asked to leave the band in September 1981. Soon after, their third album, Number Of The Beast, featuring new vocalist the iconic Bruce Dickenson, took them up to the next level, reaching no:1 in the UK album charts and helping Maiden to ‘break’ the States.
Since then, Di’Anno has fronted several Maiden-type bands, and toured all around the world, and he’s certainly lived a life .. drug addiction, falling from the cusp of superstardom to the depths of despair with bankruptcy, time in both US and UK prisons .. he’s had his demons! But he’s gradually recovering from the health issues, which almost put him out of action permanently and, at 66, he’s still out there with a new band, creating mayhem and gigging all over the world.
Warhorse consists of Di’Anno on vocals alongside Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante Pupacic Pupi, who between them wrote and produced eight of the album’s ten tracks, which was recorded in Croatia over the 2022-23 period. The album’s a mix of hard rock and, in a couple of instances, thrash metal, with fast-driving guitar licks wherever you look, and while no one can ever doubt his commitment to the cause, Di’Anno’s voice is now largely a shriek. Only on the power ballad ‘Forever Bound‘ does he actually sing without attempting to shred his larynx, as he also does on a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Precious’.
‘Going Home’ is a track straight from the early Maiden songbook, ‘Go’ leans towards thrash, ‘Get Get Ready’ and ‘Warhorse’ are straight ahead classic rock and, whilst some of the lyrics are somewhat trite, ‘Stop The War’ is a poignant plea to end the insanity of war. Warhorse can rock but .. whatever possessed them to record The Champs’ ‘Tequila’ is beyond my comprehension .. for some songs, there should really be legal protection.
Despite, at the time of writing, still being confined to a wheelchair, Paul Di’Anno is still doing what he loves with a new group of musos and, while this album doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it’s a solid effort which suggests he still has his chops.
