Published on Apr 22, 1998
Not that long ago, when I reviewed Iron Maiden’s
The X Factor, I mentioned that I had declared about two
years previous that it was time for the pillar of British heavy
metal to retire, but was glad they hadn’t after hearing the first
outing with Blaze Bayley.
Well, I’m going to reverse myself again, as Iron Maiden continue
to take their fans on one of the worst rollercoaster rides I’ve
ever been on musically. Their latest album,
Virtual XI, all but kills the progress the band had made
just one album ago, and makes me pine all the more for the classic
days of Maiden.
First, the good: It’s interesting to note that the most success
Iron Maiden has this time around is in the shorter songs. The
leadoff track “Futureal” is a decent start to the album, while
“Lightning Strikes Twice” also shows a lot of promise.
It’s also interesting to note that of the three songs I thought
were the highlights of the album, two of them were co-written by
Bayley (and one of them, “Como Estais Amigos,” had no trace of
Steve Harris anywhere in it). Bayley (who sounds a lot like Ian
Gillen this time around) has yet to really come into his own with
Iron Maiden, but his songwriting is a brighter light on an
otherwise dim album.
Problem number one with
Virtual XI: too much keyboard, not enough shredding guitar
solos. For a band that once proudly displayed in their liner notes
that they were using no keyboards, Iron Maiden have almost become
far too dependent on them nowadays – so much so, in fact, that both
Dave Murray and Janick Gers fail to impress me at all with their
guitar work.
Problem number two: lyrical repetition. Problem number three:
lyrical repetition. Problem number… well, you get the idea. Many
of the songs feature choruses that on one, maybe two, passes, would
be decent. But when they’re continually repeated like a
four-year-old who just learned his first swear word, it makes you
want to rip the CD out of the player. How many times on “The Angel
And The Gambler” were they going to force Bayley to sing: “Don’t
you think I’m a saviour / Don’t you think I could save you / Don’t
you think I could save your life”? Gotta think this is the fault of
original member Harris, who seems to definitely be the leader of
the band nowadays.
Final problem with
Virtual XI: this barely qualifies as metal per se. Hard
rock, yes, but there’s not a lot of edge to the music — the
guitars are terribly underplayed, the thundering bass has almost
become an afterthought, and Nicko McBrain’s drumming is starting to
rely on the ride cymbal again. Songs like “Don’t Look To The Eyes
Of A Stranger” and “The Clansman” don’t improve with repeated
listens — I know, ’cause I’ve tramped my way through this disc
four times, and it’s not getting any better.
I really wanted to like
Virtual XI, but this is one of the weakest Maiden efforts
since the atrocious
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (uh, oh, I can feel the flame
mail comin’ in with that comment). I had been reading the metal
newsgroups around the time this album came out, and a couple of
people suggested that some new blood had to be injected into Iron
Maiden. Bayley was supposed to help, but even he’s starting to be
weighed down in Maiden’s modern-day mediocrity. The trouble is, if
you replace everyone but Harris, I’m afraid you still have the same
problem, just with different players. My solution for the next
album: Don’t allow Harris to control the songwriting or the
production. Give Bayley, Gers and even Murray the room to be
creative, and let Harris be a side man again. Methinks the results
will be much better.
Iron Maiden has been fighting to create an album that would top
efforts like
Powerslave and
Somewhere In Time. On
Virtual XI, they take a huge step in the wrong
direction.