touring and recording band was cemented from the ranks of Absolva – Chris Appleton (guitar and backing vocals), Martin McNee (drums), Karl Schramm (bass and backing vocals). World tours have accompanied each full metal release. In November 2018, a second classical acoustic album December Wind was released featuring guest guitarist Thomas Zwijsen. In March 2019, a double live album and DVD, Live in France, was released, as recorded at the famous Chez Paulette venue near Nancy, France. 2019 marked the 25th anniversary of Blaze Bayley joining Iron Maiden, and to help celebrate this, a series of festival appearances occurred featuring a setlist selected exclusively from his two studio albums with Iron Maiden – X-Factor and Virtual XI. For these performances, Luke Appleton of Iced Earth was drafted in as second guitarist. The most prominent of these performances was at Sweden Rock Festival and Rock the Coast (Spain). In April 2020, a double live album and DVD, Live in Czech, was released, as recorded at the venue Melodka in Brno, Czech Republic. War Within Me (2020–present) On 15 December 2020, it was announced on Blaze Bayley's website and social media that pre-order had started for Blaze's new studio album War Within Me. This was the first full-length Blaze Bayley full metal studio album outside the Infinite Entanglement trilogy for almost ten years. Bayley has continued to work with the British heavy metal musicians from Absolva. The album was released digitally on 9 April 2021 and soon after the physical version was released. Blaze Bayley musicians Main band Blaze Bayley – vocals (1999–present) Chris Appleton – lead guitar, backing vocals (2014–present); (touring musician 2009–2010) Karl Schramm – bass, backing vocals (2014–present) Martin McNee – drums (2014–present) Luke Appleton – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (touring musician 2018–2019) 2021-present; bass guitar (touring musician 2009) Discography As Blaze: Silicon Messiah (2000) Tenth Dimension (2002) Blood & Belief (2004) As Blaze Bayley: The Man Who Would Not Die (2008) Promise and Terror (2010) The King of Metal (2012) Infinite Entanglement (2016) Endure and Survive – Infinite Entanglement Part II (2017) The Redemption of William Black – Infinite Entanglement Part III (2018) War Within Me (2021) Live albums Live in France (2019) Live in Czech (2020) With Iron Maiden: The X Factor (1995) Virtual XI (1998) Audio/video samples "Sign of the Cross" – Blaze Bayley singing on the opening track from Iron Maiden's The X Factor album