Iron Maiden - Virtual XI (1998)

Tracklist:
1. Futureal
2. The Angel and the Gambler
3. Lightning Strikes Twice
4. The Clansman
5. When Two Worlds Collide
6. The Educated Fool
7. Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger
8. Como Estais Amigos



Fresh, varied and underrated – 9,5/10

Though I tried not to plea for The X Factor in my review of that album, I can’t stop myself this time, because this is truly looked at as Maiden’s worst album, and I strongly disagree there. I just don’t understand why people can’t really get into this album and dismiss it as utter crap. There are a few changes in Maiden’s sound here and there, like every 80s metalband used to have in the 90s, but nothing so terrible so everyone would hate it. The introduction of truly long songs and more dominant keyboards are a few, but they’re quite nice actually. Another reason this album is often turned down is our beloved Blaze Bayley, but the man actually performs very good on this album and I can’t find any weaknesses in his voice on here. Instead of trying to defend this album from its haters any further, I will now explain why I love it so much.

The ambience is a lot lighter than on The X Factor, which was masterful, but at times you just need to kick some ass, and that’s where Virtual XI comes in. “Futureal” is the first of a bunch of adrenaline pumping fast-paced tracks. It’s got everything a classic Maiden opener got, except for Bruce Dickinson, and I don’t think that’s a big loss on here. Second song on the album is a bit of a dragger and could be weary at times. “The Angel and the Gambler” is an 8-minute long song with heavy pop influences and an overlong interplay. The synths are added very cheesily on here and it gives a bit of an 80s pop feel. Apart from that, the sentence “don’t you think I’m a saviour” and the rest of it gets repeated more than 20 times. That’s quite a lot, isn’t it? It’s far from a highlight, but I think in the end I can swallow it; it can pass by on the album without notice. Adrenaline pumper #2 is “Lightning Strikes Twice”. It starts with a gentle guitar intro, and then Blaze’s splendid vocals enter and BOOM the song speeds up all of sudden. The guitar solo’s are really inspiring here and kick major ass. To stay in the pattern of fast-long, we now should have another long one, and yes. It’s even an epic! “The Clansman” qualifies for the best song of the album, and it’s quite hard to determine such a thing, for there are so much more great songs on here, as we will soon notice. This one starts off with the by now classic Maiden bass intro and then goes into the unbeatable “freedom!” chorus, already in an upbeat part. It then goes on for another 8 minutes with a cool diversity of verses and choruses, with a silent bridge in between with cool solo’s thereafter. The heroic legato melodies on here are also superb.

And then we have “When Two Worlds Collide”; another song in the style of “Lightning Strikes Twice”. It also starts of slow, this time with some arpeggiated chords, and then explodes. We are already out of lyrics when the interplay starts, just like on the aforementioned song, and we again have a killer solo to fill it up. Though it’s similar in style it’s by no means boring and still kicks some butts. Then comes the severely underrated “The Educated Fool”. It also begins with a gentle intro. The chorus however is immensely catchy and energetic. The “time will flow”-part needs a bit getting used to, but in the end it’s just part of the great song. The lyrics are also brilliant. There is some heavy ass kicking in the interplay of this song, shifting from the legato-themes to a staccato-theme to a great solo and all the way back! One of the best songs of Iron Maiden ever, and I can’t believe that people discard this one. When we go on we have “Don’t Look to the Eyes of a Stranger”. Another 8-minute song and this time not an epic, not a pop song with overlong parts, but a stretched out rocker. Though you will be fooled by the intro, this song is fast and heavy and... long. Perhaps a bit too long, or perhaps not. They could’ve cut down the “don’t look to, don’t look to” part just before the interplay, but actually the whole instrumental part is a true feast for your ears. Nicko is having the time of his life on the drums, Dave and Janick switch leads most successfully and Steve probably had a good time composing it. The band is very coherent here.

This album has been on a very high note and Iron Maiden want to close it at the same quality. “Como Estais Amigos” is a beautiful ballad dedicated to the victims of the Falklands War. Iron Maiden never succeeded to bring tears to my eyes with Di’Anno or Dickinson on vocals, but with Blaze it just happens. He managed to do that a few times on The X Factor, but also on this album closer he succeeds again. It's so very touching a song and so much emotion inside his voice. This is what makes Blaze Bayley one of my favorite singers; it’s a feeling only he can give me. Apart from his performance, the band is at their best as well: incredibly well-composed interlude it has with maintaining the touching ambience of the verses and chorus within the legato-theme and the solo’s. The best part of this song is the construction. It starts off very gentle, subtly adding an element after each verse until finally the full band kicks in and Blaze sings at full volume “No More Tears”. And how dare people say the synthesizers were added improperly? Without them this song could not have been as great as it was.

Need I say more? I love this album! I can’t understand how other people hate this. There are well-crafted songs, amazing guitar leads and stunning vocals. I wish Iron Maiden would have kept Blaze and made some more Virtual XI-esque albums. Unfortunately nobody agrees with what I just stated and the band was forced to take Bruce back. Alas, we will never know what their future could’ve been with Blaze... Anyway, I highly recommend this album, as long as you can forget about Bruce. This exceeds Bruce and a lot of Maiden’s earlier material by far.

Strongest tracks: “The Clansman”, “The Educated Fool” and “Como Estais Amigos”.
Weakest track: “The Angel and the Gambler”.

Iron Maiden - The X Factor (1995)

Tracklist:
1. Sign of the Cross
2. Lord of the Flies
3. Man on the Edge
4. Fortunes of War
5. Look for the Truth
6. The Aftermath
7. Judgement of Heaven
8. Blood on the World's Hands
9. The Edge of Darkness
10. 2 AM
11. The Unbeliever

A Blaze of Glory – 9,5/10

The 90s sure were a hard time for metal bands. With the rise of grunge and nu-metal the old bands were cast aside. The old metal was somehow fading away and most 80s bands tried different styles, and so did Iron Maiden. Besides their vocalist replacement, which probably needs no further explanation, they obtained a very dark sound for this album. I hear complaining about the production, though I think it was done on purpose since it really fits the dark atmosphere the album contains, and so does new vocalist Blaze Bayley’s voice.

We are here at the beginning of this Iron Maiden album, listening to the very silent intro of “Sign of the Cross”. After some Gregorian chanting we have the bass guitar playing a gentle intro, as we are used to on the more recent Iron Maiden releases, accompanied by Blaze’s almost whispering vocals. When finally after a minute or so the band kicks in it becomes clear that the band have tried something different from the past. It’s still true trademark Maiden, but then with a different and darker touch. The rest of the opening song continues to be very epic, and the long interlude might seem confusing at first, but evolves into something very enjoyable at second. I first wondered why the hell this mid-paced long song would be the album opener, but then I realized this song was the definition of The X Factor. Lots of songs on this album feature a silent bass guitar intro, Blaze’s whispers during the intro and the epic vocal melodies when the band kicks in. Most songs are very dragging and mid-paced as well, such as “The Aftermath” or the first part of “Fortunes of War”. Apart from that, “Sign of the Cross” is just a great way to open the album, also to tell the listener that he should stop expecting “The Trooper”-kind of songs on here, because they’ve done something new. The lyrics are mostly about war and related themes, but instead of concentrating on the battlefield, they tell the tale about what war does to the soldier. Their lyrics are really striking and show them it’s not very much fun to be in a war. Not that we didn’t already know that, but we don’t realize what our boys are sacrificing for us on that battlefield, and that is very unique.

Let’s get into the album highlights a bit more. Songs like “Fortunes of War” and “The Edge of Darkness” start off with the trademark bass intro, then kick into a mid-paced epic full band part, and then go off fast into the trademark Maiden galloping rhythms with the guitar solos and their trademark legato guitar themes. These two songs, especially the latter, are truly two of the best songs off the album, leaving me struck not only by the epic music, but also by the great lyrics. The latter was based on one of the best movies I ever saw, Apocalypse Now. Another highlight of the album would be the up-tempo “Man on the Edge”, which really stands alone on here, since it’s the only continuously fast song on this release. It deals with suicide, and besides from that it’s got a true killer riff, killer drums, killer vocals and killer chorus. It’s a real killer song, so to say. It’s full of energy, and that’s what this album could use at some moments. Also worth mentioning would be “Lord of the Flies”. Though starting off with a weird sort of riff complemented with very stylish bass guitar and drums, it evolves soon enough into a relatively fast mid-paced song, with Blaze singing as great as he’s always done and the epic chorus. I this song is truly magnificent and certainly one of the best. I do not wish to describe each song on here separately, but they’re truly all great. Some tend to bore sometimes (“Judgement of Heaven”), but all the others are very beautiful and well-composed. There is, however, one oddity I’d like to discuss. “The Unbeliever” is closing the album with a very weird progressive 8-minute piece. This song is to this day still a one-of-a-kind Maiden song. It starts off with a nice riff, and then changes to a guitar melody consisting of natural harmonics. Before you know it Blaze is rapping, and then after a sudden speed change we get an atmospheric chorus, which gets repeated a little faster later. The intermezzo is really epic, and at the end we have the previous mentioned parts repeated a few times.

I think the album opens a new chapter to the Iron Maiden era, and then I’m not just speaking of the Blaze Bayley chapter, but also of the progressive chapter. Not that Iron Maiden are progressive, but they certainly try to be in their most recent albums. The songs are longer, have more content and tend to be more complex. The X Factor marks the beginning of that era by having two 8-minute plus songs and a majority of 5-minute plus songs.

Having said all these things, I think The X Factor is a very good effort by metal legends Iron Maiden. Though often looked at as a failure, I think it is their finest release to date. I would definitely recommend this album to anyone, whether they are familiar with Iron Maiden or not.

Strongest tracks: “Lord of the Flies”, “Man on the Edge” and “The Edge of Darkness”.