Disco de Iron Maiden: “Virtual XI”

After the introduction of vocalist Blaze Bayley, they recorded X Factor in 1995 and got mixed results from fans. The band continued with Virtual XI in 1998, which is now considered one of the worst albums in Maiden's career. Here's the lowdown:

Futureal - This opening track is not bad at all. A good, solid rocker. I think it opens the album well.

The Angel and the Gambler - The hit off of this album, but unfortunately, it isn't that great at all. Not really Blaze's fault, but the chorus is weak.

Lightning Strikes Twice - The best track on the album. This one's a midtempo rocker/"gloom and doom" ballad hybrid. It's pretty good and Murray's blistering solo is brilliant.

The Clansman - The big epic of the album. I have absolutely no complaints with this song and Blaze's vocals are excellent.

When Two Worlds Collide - This song is just bizarre to me. After hearing the previous two tracks, Blaze just doesn't sound good here at all. I wonder if perhaps this was last minute?

Educated Fool - Ugh, the weakest song on the album. Kind of has a galloping structure, but doesn't quite come off well.

Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger - Not bad, but Blaze's vocals kind of derail this one. He's certainly not a bad vocalist, but he sings this one rather lowkey. You have to wonder if Steve Harris wrote this one with Bruce in mind.

Como Estais Amigo - The ballad of the album. The instrumentation is quite good and Blaze's vocals are good, but this one has some poor lyrics in my opinion.

The problem with this is not Blaze's fault. Virtual XI maintains the sound of Maiden (which X Factor didn't), but X Factor seemed tailor made to fit Blaze's singing style. Had Bruce sung this one and some of the songs been tweaked a little, this COULD HAVE been one of the best Maiden albums ever. Sadly, most of the songs seem to have been writing for Bruce's singing talents (because of his high vocal range) which Blaze can't achieve. I don't believe Blaze is bad at all, though... check out his own band, Blaze. I just get the feeling that this album seems rushed and perhaps there was a lot of creative headbutting over this (Blaze left the band shortly after this album's release). Overall, I don't recommend this one. Only get it if you are a DIE-HARD Maiden fan, especially since this CD hasn't been enhanced (to my knowledge).

I preordered this cd because I couldn't find it anywhere. I was greatly anticipating this cd because I already had X Factor. That cd blew me away. I was very impressed. This was my last installment of Maidens' studio albums. I will say I didn't have as high of hopes for it as the other cds because of all the bad things I heard about it. Believe me when I say that Blaze does not dissapoint at all as many of the fake Maiden fans like to say. Sure, this cd is no Powerslave or Piece of Mind, but it is so much different from them and that is what makes it so great. So many people won't accept the change, but why not change and get some more variety. Who wants to hear the same thing time after time. Change is not always good, but many times it is. And this is deffinitely one of those times. Just imagine if Blaze didn't come around, there would be no epic Sign Of The Cross or Clansman. Between Blaze's two cds with Maiden, X Factor is the darker of the two. Virtual XI is more upbeat and fast-paced. Hear's how I rate each song individually.

Futureal- 10/10-One of Maiden's best songs with Blaze. Fast-paced, all around rocker. The entire way through quick and never lets down. One of their shortest songs clocking in at 2:55.

The Angel and the Gambler- 7/10-This songs starts out quite diff. from anything Maiden has ever done. The song would be very good if not for the major downfall. While my friend and I were listening to this song, we were hoping and wishing that Blaze would not keep repeating the same words over and over again. He does though and that is the thing that really kills this song.

Lightning Strikes Twice- 9.5/10- Great piece of work. Starts out with a great, slow-paced guitar riff and then gets extremely heavy as the song goes further on. Blaze sounds excellent the whole way, but especially near the end.

The Clansman- 10/10- An Epic. There is no other word to describe it with. Possibly Blaze's best song with Iron Maiden. Contains Maiden's signature sound with epic proportions.

When Two Worlds Collide- 8.5/10- Starts out soft and gets heavy on the chorus. There's keyboard in the background at the beginning that sound very cool.

The Educated Fool- 9.5/10- This song really surprised me in how great it was. This is a very catchy song the entire way through. It will be stuck in your head after hearing it. Great guitar, vocals, and as always bass.

Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger- 8/10- Weird guitar and I believe keyboard at the start. After it gets going, its very upbeat and energetic. The one downfall as in Angel And The Gambler in repetitiveness. He repeats "Don't Look To" for it seems an eternity as an interlude. Gets annoying.

Como Estais Amigos- 9/10- Known as the ballad of the album. The song is not sung in Spanish. It has a great guitar part near the middle and end that is awesome.

So go out and pick your self up a copy if you haven't done so. Good luck finding a copy. Took me forever. Don't blow this cd off because of bad reviews. Those people don't know what they're talking about. This is one of the most underated cds out there. There are only eight songs, but this cd is well worth the money. This cd clocks in at around 50 minutes. So it's not a short cd.

First thing I'd like to say about this album is that it's very good, and that the singer isn't bad, like everyone says. Nobody really listens to it, people only say: "Dickinson is gone, there is no better, so Bayley has to suck!" They're wrong, they don't even give him a chance. But don't see him as a replacement for Dickinson, see him as a totally new singer in a totally new band. Cause I know Dickinson is better.

My second Iron Maiden album, and I was shocked by the reviews. That's why I bought it carefully. But I was shocked again by the album, perfect songs, different voice, but not bad at all. I think that voice is a part of the music. I really like this album, and I love to listen to it time after time.

Here's a closer look at the album:

Futureal (10/10): Good opening song, good guitars.

The Angel And The Gambler (7/10): Good, just to much keyboards and boring chorus.

Lightning Strikes Twice (11/10): The best song of the album really fantastic vocals and guitars. Perfect song

The Clansman (10/10): Perfect song, very good lyrics and strong guitar play.

When Two Worlds Collide (9/10): Nice song, very good indeed, but sometimes I'd like to skip it. But it is very good.

The Educated Fool (8/10): A major song really, very nice, but weak chorus.

Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger (6/10): Too long, to boring, it has good points, but it's still the worst song of the album.

Como Estais Amigos (10/10): The ballad of the CD, very good vocal and guitars.

Keep On Rocking!!!

This is definitely the worst Iron Maiden album, let's get that out of the way. That being said it's not bad. I rated it a two and have no idea what people were thinking when they rate it 5 stars and start the review with "it's not that bad." What are 5 stars for guys? C'mon. Blaze sounds pretty good in spots but the lyrics seemed forced. It's almost as if he is compelled to tell a story and has to rush each lyric in to get his point across. I haven't listened to his solo stuff, and I'm probably going to pick something up as I kinda like him, but his style seems....well....constrained. It doesn't sound like he is trying to sing like Bruce but rather mimic Bruce's style which I didn't see on "The X Factor." This hampers his performance. The band is tight as usual and the guitar riffs save several songs most notably "When Two Worlds Collide."

The album starts out great with "Futureal" and I thought it had a very Paul Di'Anno style. I quickly learned that style was only contained to that song. Blaze has a decent voice and sounded a hell of a lot better on "The X Factor." You can tell he isn't being himself here. I didn't like "The Angel and the Gambler" and thought that the guitars sounded like keyboards and the song was very repetitive.

This album is worth picking up if you are a Maiden fan as it is pretty good. If you are new to the band though, you probably want to wait a while before getting this one. You will want to pick up "Number of the Beast", "Piece of Mind", and "Powerslave" to start off. Once you hear those, you will be back, I guarantee, but please don't start with this album. It would be a shame if one came to the conclusion that Iron Maiden was an average band with a few good songs. If you are a Maiden fan and are looking to hear Blaze, you will want to pick up "The X Factor" first. The two Blaze albums are good, the band is legendary. Don't confuse the two.

This is just awful. I loved 'The X-Factor' and I understand that bruce QUIT the band. I would rather have Iron Maiden without Bruce as opposed to NO Iron Maiden. The problem here is not Blaze's voice it's the songs. These songs are just awful. They are derivitave and just repeat the name of the song over and over again as a chorus. 'The Angel and the Gambler' just repeats the lyrics "Don't you think I can save ya, don't you think I'm a saviour, don't you think I can save your life" 22 times in a row at one point and the song goes for like 10 minutes. All the songs are like this. Another one just goes "Maybe lightling strikes twice, maybe lightning strikes twice" over and over again. The problem wasn't Blaze Bayley it was simply that for the first time in his life Steve Harris wrote a whole album worth of CRAP songs. In my bedroom I have all my Iron Maiden cd's in a cd rack in order of release dates. I've got all the Eddie's achive cd's and the 10 'First Ten Years' EP's that came out in 1990 but 'Virtual XI' is not allowed in the rack. It really is that bad.

PS. I get sick of the Blaze bashing. He didn't write the songs. Steve Harris did. Bruce QUIT! Steve did not fire him and as I mentioned earlier having an Iron Maiden without Bruce in the 90's was better then having NO IRON MAIDEN. Check out Blaze's solo albums like 'Silicon Messiah' they are great metal albums and are produced by Andy Sneap.