Virtual XI - 1998
Tracklist:
1. Futureal.
2. The Angel and the Gambler.
3. Lightning Strikes Twice.
4. The Clansman.
5. When Two Worlds Collide.
6. The Educated Fool.
7. Don’t Look to the Eyes of a Stranger.
8. Como Estais Amigos.
https://open.spotify.com/album/4olc018Cln2QaMRFy1sk7v?si=j7nMzSbPSyCq_JrvBWd0mwAnd we’re back for another round with Blaze Bayley. With the release of
The X Factor, Iron Maiden had somewhat reinvented themselves into a bit of a dark and brooding band with some slight progressive tendencies. While it did receive a lukewarm reception, Iron Maiden had shown they could make music without Bruce Dickinson. However, it seemed that a problem lay in the touring. Steve and the band refused to tune down for the range of their new singer, which led to some rather disappointing performances when Blaze would sing the classic material. I think there’s some songs that certainly went well for him, I think he did great at the Paul Di’Anno era tracks, and I love the majority of his version of
Afraid to Shoot Strangers, which even received a live music video.
Once again, the band found themselves at Steve’s Barnyard studio, now ready to embrace something a little more upbeat than the last lot. Eight songs made the final cut for the next album, the band’s eleventh studio effort,
Virtual XI.
Kicking off with
Futureal was absolutely the right choice. Doing away with the extended intro of
Sign of the Cross and going straight in on a rocking riff, this sub-3 minute rocker made for a perfect second single, though it probably should have been the first. The lyrics deal with someone so addicted to a virtual world that they can no longer discern between the line between the real world and the virtual one. The song’s last verse turns the lyric into somewhat of a suicide note, saying “when you’re reading this, I will be gone”. This is an awesome song, and also Maiden’s shortest full composition. This one stayed around for the Ed Hunter tour in 1999 once Bruce and Adrian returned, and there was a tremendous amount of lobbying for it to be on the Future Past setlist when the tour was announced, which only goes to show the love that fans have for this song. If we’re starting as we mean to continue, we’re in for a great time.
And that good time does not continue into the second song, the massively maligned
Angel and the Gambler. This almost feels like Iron Maiden doing AC/DC in its main riff. The lyrics take a look at an incorrigible gambler and the angel on his shoulder trying to get him to stop. It could also be taken as a look at the co-existence and co-dependance of good and evil. However, I really hope you’re in for 10 minutes of the same chorus repeated ad nauseum, because this is easily the band’s most repetitive song. It’s actually really light on proper content to talk about. The chorus is repeated 12 times before the solos kick in and then a further 10 times straight to end out the song. The solos are pretty cool, but honestly not worth waiting through the whole song for. There is a shorter version of the song which does cut the song down by about five minutes, but it’s much more palatable, and I’d recommend checking it out.
Lightning Strikes Twice makes up for this interruption in my opinion, being under 5 minutes yet providing a much more cohesive composition. The lyrics use lightning as a symbol for a coming darkness for the protagonist, some kind of crisis that’s happened before. The chorus here gives Blaze at his strongest vocally for me, and I think the whole song is an absolute banger! It’s one that I feel has been overlooked a bit, but I love this song and I’d be keen to hear Bruce give this one a crack. Melodic, powerful, and altogether just a great song.
The Clansman. Man, even if you hate this album as many seem to, this is one of the best songs that Iron Maiden produced in the 90s. This song is about the struggle of Scottish clans to break from English oppression. As Bruce says on
Nights of the Dead, “the movie is Braveheart, the story is true, the song is
The Clansman.” I have to say that the song does feature the sloppiest performance from Steve Harris if you’re really listening to the intro, but it more than makes up for it with a chorus that you can’t help but scream along to. Blaze’s voice is perfect for this song, even if the version from
Rock In Rio has become far more cherished throughout the years. This song has the perfect structure of instrumentals and vocal passages, and honestly, I’d be hard pressed to say there’s another song better from No Prayer or Fear, let alone the Bayley era. This stands as one of Maiden’s all-time classics for me, and I eagerly await it’s next return to the setlist.
When Two Worlds Collide is up next and this is another overlooked banger. The chorus here is killer, though the post-chorus is a bit much. Lyrically, this explores a concept that was becoming huge in the late 90s in movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon of the Earth colliding with something and killing all life on Earth. An alternate angle on this would be the collision of two different cultures, like Christian knights entering Jerusalem and finding the world of Islam. Whatever your interpretation of the lyrics, it’s supported by great galloping and guitar melodies. I love the
Heaven Can Wait-esque “oh oh oh” section. Yeah, it’s not quite as good as three of the four behind it, but it’s still a pretty good track.
The Educated Fool is about a realisation that we all reach, that our education and ideals are often irrelevant to what is actually important in life. This is a song that opens with a really cool guitar intro, throws you great lyrics and has a really tight verse turnaround and a massive chorus hook! Add into that some really cool instrumental passagres and you’ve got a great Iron Maiden song cooking up. It/s not one where I feel I have a whole lot to say other than giver it a listen! This does make reference to “I want to meet my father beyond”, which is almost a catalyst to
Blood Brothers on
Brave New World, but we’ll talk more about that one soon.
At this point, I’m kinda wondering why this album is so hated by the Maiden fans as a whole. Six songs in, only one really sucks, and I’ve absolutely gotten more invested in this than
No Prayer and maybe even more than
Killers.
Don’t Look to the Eyes of a Stranger comes up next, and it’s got some really cool guitar work. I don’t like the opening vocals too much, but there’s a lot happening here. And it just keeps evolving to the point that the chorus coming up a second time gives it a completely new perspective. Lyrically, this song takes on a fear that’s ingrained at the heart of society, being that we’re supposed to fear talking to strangers as children. The middle section of this song does get quite repetitive vocally. Luckily, this isn’t enforced by the huge instrumental build that’s happening around it, about to turn into a really interesting instrumental section, complete with some wild solos! This song is pretty lengthy, but it keeps evolving into something different and keeps you hooked for its duration. I actually feel like the vocal repetition works in the favour of the subject, being that it’s something we here constantly from when we’re young. The ending is a little poor though, ending on such a random final salvo.
Como Estais Amigos finishes the album, the first closing track that Steve Harris doesn’t have a writing credit on. This song is a tribute to the Argentinian people, especially the soldiers that died in the Falkland Islands war, which again brings this one back in line with
Afraid to Shoot Strangers. This is a very powerful song that ends the album with a call for resolution between the British and Argentinian people, asking to put aside the hurt and hatred and reach peace. It’s not your typical Iron Maiden closing song, but I think it definitely ends out much more evenly than
The Unbeliever did for
X Factor.
And that’s
Virtual XI. Why do we hate this album again? Is it Blaze’s voice? Only if you're talking about it not being Bruce, because Blaze is absolutely giving his everything on this album. It can’t be the songwriting because we have 6 out of 8 songs as absolute bangers, plus a really powerful ballad to close out the album. Are we looking too much at the atrocious artwork and deciding the album must be terrible because of it? Makes sense, I suppose because that cover is pretty irksome. Maybe the album just has the reputation of being “the one with
The Angel and the Gambler”, which is unfair because it’s also the one with
The Clansman and
Futureal, which are fan favourites nowadays.
Whatever your reason is to hate this one, I’d say it’s time to give this album another shot with an open mind, because I honestly think it’s a banger! Sure, it isn’t
Brave New World or
Seventh Son, the albums that bookmark the 90s are definitely always going to be more cherished, but it may be time to stop pretending that this is the worst thing they ever did, because it absolutely isn’t. I'll be happy to debate this one further in the comments, so let me know why you don't like
Virtual XI, or better yet, why you do!
Topic: Re: Deadeye Deep Dives: Iron Maiden (Volume 11. Virtual XI) (Read 2480 times)
