VIRTUAL XI

Is this Iron Maiden ? REALLY ??????? I had to check the album over more than once because what came out of my speakers did not sound like this band. The second track even have a Hammond organ !! A Hammond organ on an Iron Maiden album !!! When this album was released, I did not even give it a glance in the record shop. I lost my interest in this band after No Prayer For The Dying and I only returned after the release of Rock In Rio. When listening to this album, I am glad I did not buy the album ten years ago. You can say a lot about Blaze Bayley. He thinks he has been made into the scapegoat by the band itself. He is probably right because mostly of what is wrong here is not his fault. The responsibility lays on Steve Harris doormat because he is the leader/dictator of Iron Maiden. This album and all it's shortcomings is his responsibility. Yes, I can understand why Blaze Bayley is bitter because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. His vocals cannot be faulted at all.

This album has, with only one exception, no good songs. The only exception is The Clansman. That is a superb song which is now on Iron Maiden's set-lists. And rightly so. The other songs ? Turkeys. None of them is worthy of the trademark Iron Maiden. It seems like the band, read Steve Harris, was trying out new things in a desperate search for commercial and artistic success. The result is Hammond organs, strange guitar harmonies, synths and rock/pop songs. Most of the material here is not even metal. These songs would had been met with sarcastic laughter by the record labels if Iron Maiden was an unsigned band. And if Iron Maiden had not bitten the bullet and got Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith back into the band again, that is where Iron Maiden was heading. Humiliation or a split up. Thankfully, the Iron Maiden saga got a happy ending and they have never been more popular than they are now. This album is therefore just an freak accident and not the end of the band.

2 stars.