3.5 stars - Not as bad as people say

Virtual XI (1998.) Iron Maiden's eleventh studio album, and the second and last to feature vocalist Blaze Bayley.

The nineties were a rough time for Iron Maiden. First of all, guitar genius Adrian Smith was replaced by the far less-received Janick Gers. Second, Bruce Dickinson departed the band so that he could work on his solo material. Many fans turned their back on the band they had loved so much in the nineties. Although guitarist Dave Murray saw the band's first album with new vocalist Blaze Bayley, The X Factor, as one of the band's greatest successes, fans didn't see things the same way. The band attempted a return to roots in 1998 with their second and final album with Blaze - Virtual XI. Did they succeed? Read on and find out.

As stated above, with this album the band attempted to return to normalcy, although they still didn't have Bruce back. What ultimately resulted from this is a mixed package. The opening track, Futureal, is one of the fastest and heaviest Maiden tracks ever released. In my opinion this is one of the finest songs the band ever released during the Blaze Bayley period. Even those who aren't fans of Blaze often praise this track. The Angel And The Gambler was the big hit off of the album, and although it is a strange track when compared to other Iron Maiden material, it is still a good song (if you think the song is weird, check out the music video!) The Clansman is one of the album's few tracks that comes off as truly outstanding. It's probably the most "epic" sounding thing here. Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger is another excellent rocker, although it sounds as if it was written with Bruce in mind. In fact, that's true of many of the songs on this album. Overall, it's a good album, but I'm sure the band learned its lesson - you can't sound like Bruce unless you have Bruce!

Overall, I feel that this album is superior to the band's other album with Blaze Bayley, The X Factor, but I still don't think of this as one of the band's better albums - in fact, it's pretty close to the bottom. However, Maiden's worst albums are better than the lot of band's best albums. I don't recommend buying this unless you're a die-hard Maiden fan, though. But, if you only buy one Blaze-Maiden album, this is the one to get.

Better than THE X-FACTOR

People seem to either hate this one or love it. I think it's a definite improvement over "The X-Factor". That was just weak. They had a new singer (Blaze Bayley) and I think they just tried to hard. But on "Virtual XI", they started to get it right. Sure, Bayley doesn't quite have the range of Bruce Dickinson, but then again, who does? The songs here are just a little shorter and not quite as "epic" as the last one, which is why I like it better. It's like they were getting back to basics. There are only a couple of weak songs here: "The Educated Fool" and "Como Estais Amigos" don't do much for me. My personal favorites are "Lightning Strikes Twice", which really gets things moving; "The Clansman", which is an awesome epic tune that is classic Maiden and one of their all-time greatest songs; and "Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger", which has some nice quieter parts, vocal-wise, and some real cool and intricate guitar melodies from Murray and Gers. All in all, it's a really enjoyable album. But I am glad that Bayley was later replaced by the guy that he once replaced. Now if only they would get rid of Janick Gers. If you've ever seen him live, you'll know he acts like a total retard. He doesn't even look like he's really playing. He just jumps around like a fool. And of course his antics have rubbed off on Murray who tries too hard to imitate him. Thank God Adrian Smith returned as well. Just get rid of Gers and all will be well with the mighty Iron Maiden once again.

For Completists Only!!

I could live with X Factor, you could tell that it was an Iron Maiden album with a different lead singer. Musically, X Factor followed the Iron Maiden formula, and though not every song worked there was some enjoyable music found on the disk. But on Virtual XI you would have a hard time identifying what band it is playing this music! None of the songs have the familiar Maiden sound, and Maiden trademarks, like Steve Harris' standout bass lines, and the great back and forth between guitarists found on all other Maiden albums, the bands signature is absent. Blaze Bayley, while a competant lead singer, does not have the power or passion that Dickinson or Di'Anno had, vocals that a band like Iron Maiden requires. The songs are repetitive and Blaze's weaknesses shine on songs like "Lightning Strikes Twice" and "Angel and the Gambler". Repetitive choruses, 3 minute songs stretched to 6 minutes plus, make Virtual XI a bore to listen to. I am sure I will get slammed by a handful of Maiden loyalists who think simply because the name of the band is on the disk it rates higher than 1 star...but...as a true fan of the band, and being honest with myself, I would never recommend this disk to anyone, unless you feel you have to own every album the band produced.

Last shred of dignity

Every metal band has at least one truly awful album; Megadeth has Risk, Metallica has St. Anger, Priest has Turbo, Slayer has God Hates Us All, etc. Though The X Factor was bad enough, Virtual XI cannot be viewed as anything other than a slightly heavier version of the Caddyshack soundtrack.



Luckily, there aren't too many songs here...



Futureal: "Sometimes it feels like a game of deadly hide and seek." Try not to laugh. It's a song about cyberspace and people preferring the virtual world over reality; pure silliness, despite good intentions.



The Angel and the Gambler: Sounds like something off of John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China soundtrack, only not as cool. Steve should have changed the lyrics to something more suitable for Blaze's tenure in Maiden

"Don't you think I'm a singer?

Don't you think I'm a singer?

Don't you think I can sing a song?"

Repeat another 67 times.



Lightning Strikes Twice: starts off okay, with a lone atmospheric guitar, then degenerates into a bizarre power metalish song about the mystery of weather.



The Clansman: Maiden's tribute to Mel Gibson is nothing more than a parody of their past epics. Couldn't they have done a song about the Road Warrior...with Paul Dianno on vocals instead? Or at least Bruce.



When Two Worlds Collide: Inspired by the movie Deep Impact. If that isn't enough to make you skip the track, it has one of the worst choruses and most inane lyrics ever committed to a song about the apocalypse.



The Educated Fool: If you can remember this song, you're too much of a Maiden fan.



Don't Look into the Eyes of a Stranger: Evidently this is a song about Steve's inability to make eye contact. The intro is especially ridiculous.



Como Estas Pendejos: Maiden tries to write a socially significant war song on an album chock full of nonsense. It's an admirable effort but in the end it's a crippled tune.



Aside from the goofball lyrics and Blaze's awful belching, the album also graces us with Steve's horrid production. One of the band members said that they tried to make the guitars sound futuristic, in keeping with the theme of first track...well if 'futuristic' means 'out of tune,' 'retro 70s,' or 'completely lacking in authority,' then they achieved that sound. To put it simply, the songs just sound silly and childish; there's no other way to put it. Nicko sounds bored as well. Blaze...well, he's moved on to other things.



Unless you're a completist or demented, avoid this album.

Not impressed

This was my first Iron Maiden cd. I bought it for very cheap at a used cd store. Now I know why it was there! "Futureal" is an ok song, but it doesnt even compare with their older stuff. "The Angel and The Gambler" is probably the best song on here, if you can listen to all of it without getting bored. I guess "When Two Worlds Collide" is another decent song, but thats about all. The guitar work is pretty good this album, but that's not enough to make you wanna listen.

Definitely don't buy this if you are new to Maiden, because it will leave you saying "What's everyone talking about? Iron Maiden's not that good". Anyways, You have to give them credit for coming back and making one of the best albums of their career, "Brave New World". Luckily i decided to give them a second chance after i bought Virtual, because their older stuff rules!

VIRTUAL XI

FUTUREAL-9/10

THE ANGEL AND THE GAMBLER-8/10

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE-8/10

THE CLANSMAN-7/10

WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE-7/10

THE EDUCATED FOOL-7/10

DON'T LOOK TO THE EYES OF A STRANGER-6/10

COMO ESTAIS AMIGO-6/10

Virtual XI..... The end of an Era.

When you look at Cover of the album you a see real demonic depiction of Ed. He looks like he's going to rip your head off. So you figure The music inside of the case lives up to the ferocity of the cover. Unfortunatly, this is the perfect example of the saying to not judge a book by its cover.



Don't get me wrong, there is a few decent tracks on this album but nothing really comparable to previous albums. The fist track "Futureal" is a alright fast paced tune.

The third track "Lighting strikes twice" is a decent track with good moody opening and pretty punchy guitar riffs.

Track 7 "Don't look to the eyes of a stranger" has enough little changes to keep you listening to the song. And finaly, the forth track "The Clansman" an okay first person story telling type song.



This is the return Bayley on lead vocals which isn't a bad thing as many people go off about. In fact it's not his singing that is bad, it's the band he has to sing along with.

Iron Maiden is suposed to be a Heavy Metal band but for some reason this album (and the last album) they decide to tone down their crunchy guitars for a more "bluesy" feel to it. So when Bayley's more Hard Rock voice is paired with this different Maiden sound, it dosn't match up very well with alot of the songs which is too bad.



The funny thing about this album is most of the the songs are farily long (with the exception of the song Futureal)which you figure is no big deal due to the fact that most of Iron Maidens catalog of songs tend to be in the 6 minutes and up range. But in this case the songs should have been cut down to make it a more tolerable album to listen to. Instead you have to put with repetitious verses and choruses.

A perfect example of this is the song The angel and the gambler. The bland 9 minute plus song could have been cut down to at least 4 minutes, but instead you get to hear the bit "Don't you think I'm a savior, "don't you think I can save you, don't you think I can save your life" OVER AND OVER AGAIN.



If you are looking for a positive review on this album you may have come to the wrong place but I'm sure you MIGHT find one or two more mediocre reviews out of the many negative reviews here.



Me personaly, I give the album a 2 out of 5 stars even though the chart says I put in 3 which was actualy a mess up on my part. I'm sorry but there just isn't enough good songs to carry the wieght of all the bland ones. Nice try guys.

Weak

Very weak album, just that, but fans that call themselves "real fans" will always say it's great..

For your information, this was the lowest-selling Maiden studio album of all times!