THE X FACTOR

This is a dark, deep, violent and desperate album. Among the best songs here, Sign Of The Cross (the longest, 11 minutes) is probably the best Iron Maiden song ever. The other great tracks are The Aftermath, The Edge Of Darkness (inspired by 'Apocalypse Now' and the Joseph Conrad noval of the same name as the song), 2 A.M., Lord Of The Flies.

Some fillers too, some weak tracks : Blood On The World's Hands, Man On The Edge, The Unbeliever and Fortunes Of War ain't as good as what Maiden made before. And Blaze Bayley isn't as great as Bruce Dickinson or even Paul Di'Anno. He has a deep voice, a raw voice, and it fits sometimes well with the atmosphere of the album, but he's the weakest Maiden singer.

Anyway, I give 4 stars to this album because of its dark atmosphere, and because it's a good album in its way. And because I just adore Sign Of The Cross.

It's hard to appreciate this album when you first listen to it. After a few listenings, you begin to appreciate it, but it's a very 'hard-listening' record. Totally different from, for example, Powerslave.