Blaze has said in interviews that his third album with the band would have been where that lineup hit its stride, but I never bought that. Maiden minus Bruce had some real problems, mainly nobody to challenge Steve or play off his ideas the way Bruce does/did. The album would have been made in Steve's barn and there would still be no producer. We know what songs would be included to some degree - some version of Blood Brothers, Dream of Mirrors, The Thin Line Between Love and Hate, The Nomad, The Mercenary, probably some songs that ended up on Silicon Messiah like Stare at the Sun. But Silicon Messiah worked because the songs were written to fit Blaze's vocals and it was given a really modern Metal production. Brave New World worked because it had a producer and it was a much more collaborative effort than what we got on Virtual XI. Those first three songs alone each have Bruce, Steve, and one guitar player in the writing credits. Just a lot more variety in the songwriting that makes the album a lot more vast than what Maiden were doing without Bruce and Adrian.
Funnily enough, Senjutsu was kinda eye opening in showing that Steve's writing style hasn't changed that much in 25+ years. It's the most Steve album since Virtual (several songs are credited to him alone as opposed to only one solo Harris composition per reunion album previously). Lost In a Lost World in particular sounds like it came straight out of the X Factor sessions and you can easily imagine Blaze tackling the low vocal melodies. I really enjoy the album, but recently it seems like Bruce only wants to write with Adrian and I hear a pretty stark contrast between the songs they wrote together and the rest of the album.
Topic: The Iron Maiden Thread v. The Merge of Souls (Read 573532 times)
