A fit and firing on all cylinders Paul Di’Anno is what the majority of Heavy Metal fans wants to see. With his brand new project, Warhorse locked and loaded and ready for battle, the release of their self-titled debut album marks a positive step forward in the life of the British Metal icon.
Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Brian Boyle
Seeing him backstage at an Iron Maiden show in Croatia in 2022, shooting the breeze with Steve Harris, was a moment that warmed the cockles of the Maiden army. Then we saw the recent and well-publicised chinwag with his successor, Bruce Dickinson, which may have appeared a tad awkward, but it still felt like a historic summit between two of Metal’s real survivors.
Considering Paul Di’Anno’s health woes in recent years, naming this album To Hell And Back might have been a more suitable title for the former Iron Maiden frontman. The bloke has been through the bloody mill. In 2015, sepsis left him with just 45 minutes to live, leaving his immune system in tatters.
But with upbeat reports coming through on the back of major knee surgery, one of the most endurable figures of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal scene could be about to arise from his wheelchair like a phoenix from the flames.
So in hindsight, Warhorse is aptly titled.
The title track kickstarts the mayhem in true Di’Anno style, snarling through every lyric like he is out for a fight, and by the end, you will feel like you’ve been hit square in the chops by one of his massive sovereigns.
But did you expect any different? Leaving you punch-drunk has been his trademark his whole career. The classic Priest feel of Get Get Ready and the infectious military chant of Stop The War do similar. They are old-school Metal, not forced or contrived.
While it was decades ago, there are still some who compare everything Di’Anno does to his celebrated work with Iron Maiden on their first two albums. It’s a tad unfair as the music, for the most part, is poles apart, but the attitude of that volatile punk with the bullet belt is still growling away.
Good or bad, when he lets rip, you sit up and take notice, especially when he is at his menacing best on the darkness of The Doubt Within and the foot to the floor Here Comes The Night.
Di’Anno has had the luxury of playing with some high-end guitarist’s over the years, most notably Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and of course Dennis Stratton. This albums’s duo of Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante Pupačić are an impressive partnership. They are earsplitting when they need to be, but on Forever Bound, the only track with bona fide Maiden traits, they exude melodic excellence.
A cover of The Champs’ 1958 number-one hit Tequila is an odd inclusion, and a Latin-flavoured Surf instrumental shouldn’t work on a Metal album, but the whole lunacy of it makes it work surprisingly well.
And if you weigh it up against when Judas Priest took the machete to Chuck Berry’s hallowed Johnny B. Goode, it’s actually a monumental triumph.
But such is the quality of the material, you cannot deny him this moment of controlled mayhem. With the nine original tracks, there is a vibe of a guy enjoying himself again, and trying to make the best possible album he can.
There is no hint of anything getting flung together willy-nilly. The closing tracks, Precious and Going Home, may be stuck in the basement, but they still maintain the record’s high calibre. In truth, you could present the tracklist in any running order, and it wouldn’t alter the album’s pulverising momentum one bit.
All in all, it’s a fine slab of headbanging material from a true Metal warrior.
Tracklisting:
¸1. Warhorse (A. P. Pupi, H. Madiraca)
2. Get Get Ready (H. Madiraca, A. P. Pupi)
3. Go (A. P. Pupi, H. Madiraca)
4. Stop The War (H. Madiraca, A. P. Pupi)
5. The Doubt Within (A. P. Pupi, H. Madiraca)
6. Here Comes The Night (H. Madiraca, A. P. Pupi)
7. Tequila (Chuck Rio)
8. Forever Bound (A. P. Pupi, H. Madiraca)
9. Precious (Martin L. Gore)
10. Going Home (H. Madiraca, A. P. Pupi)
Produced and Arranged by Pupi and Madiraca
Warhorse:
Paul Di´Anno – Vocals
Hrvoje Madiraca – Guitars
Ante Pupačić Pupi – Guitars
Guest Musicians:
Becky Baldwin (Bass Guitar on songs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9)
Petar Šantić (Drums on songs: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10), (Bass guitar on song 10)
Joe Lazarus (Drums on song 1)
Andro Banovac (Backing Vocals on songs: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Danijel Stojan (Drums on song 5)
Nikolina Belan (Backing Vocals on song 9)
Recorded in Studio Pupi
Except Drums in Studio Deva, and drums in song Warhorse – Barnyard Studio
