Virtual XI

Release Date: 1998	Label: CMC
Musicians: vocals: Blaze Bayley Guitar: Dave Murray Guitar: Janick Gers Bass: Steve Harris Drums: Nicko McBrain	Produced and Mixed by: Steve Harris and Nigel Green at Barnyard Studios, Essex.

The first thing Iron Maiden fans are going to notice is the lack of Bruce Dickinson on vocals and Adrian Smith on guitar, of course. Forever embedded in our minds as being Iron Maiden included the sound of these two musicians adding to the music, and without them what do you have? A shadow of what Maiden once was, if you choose to look at it that way. Adrian Smith is really missed, I know its been 10 years or more since he left the Maiden camp, but his flowing guitar riffs are still missing from the music and have been ever since he left. To me, Smith added so much to the Maiden sound, and wrote several terrific songs. And no matter how many times you listen to this, Bruce is not going to pop up, shove Blaze Bayley out of the way and start belting the lyrics. FORGET IT. That's past, it aint gonna happen. So buy a copy of Accident of Birth, hear Bruce and Adrian together and shut yer trap.

"Adrift on the ocean, afloat in a daydream
Or lost in a maze, or blind in the haze
So what does it matter, why don't you answer
So why did you send, an angel to mend"

So down to the nitty gritty, the core of the cd, which is the music. Having managed to get the lack of two of our favorite ex-Maiden musicians out of the way, we can now concentrate on what IS here. What's good? Its Iron Maiden. What's bad? Plodding songs.

"As I'm walking down into, On my own into the valley of life
Got a lifetime of experience, yeah I've got so much to give"

Futureal, kicks off the cd, Blaze Bayley handles his vocal duties well, I have to say. NO he's not Bruce, but who is? Futureal is the shortest song on here, short and sweet classic sounding Maiden which gets you pumped and ready to rock on to the rest of the cd. Gets you a little too pumped I'm afraid. Gers and Murray play some memorable guitar riffs here and there throughout the song and it definitely is the best track on here. No lagging, no boring parts, just picks up and pounds. Unfortunately the next track signals a nap time.

"Do you believe, what you hear
Can you believe, what you see
Do you believe, what you feel, Can you believe?"

The Angel and the Gambler COULD have been a superb song. The lyrics are nicely written and would have been memorable, the vocal delivery of them is actually nicely performed by Blaze too, he manages to get the right tones that are needed in here, but Harris who wrote it, decided to drag this out forever and ever...it easily could have been hacked down into a 5:30 or even 6:00 minute effort, but instead they opted to have Blaze repeat "Don't you think I'm a saviour..." so many times that it becomes boring and highly annoying, you just want to scream "SHUT THE HELL UP BLAZE!" At 9:31 long, this song just doesn't have enough interesting parts going on to keep the attention. Best advice, listen to it once for the lyrics, hit the skip button every time after that. What were they thinking when they made it so repetitive?!

"Arrive at the crossroads, you know where you're going
And what if you wait, it may be too late."

Lighting Strikes Twice is one of my favorites on here, it starts out very Maiden-ish and is like that all the way through. By this time you should be able to appreciate Blaze a bit more, he actually is a good singer, so I am going to give him another plug. The way the "maybe lightning strikes twice" was done near the end was exceptionally nice, it makes you believe that maybe lightning does strike twice. Guitar fans will appreciate the solo in this one, I know I did.

"I feel the breeze on my face in expectance
Not very long before the storm reaches here
Off in the distance the lightning is flashing again
feel something wrong as the power draws near."

The Clansman is another excrutiatingly long song. Come on guys, there are some bands that can do long songs and just keep the blood flowing. Look at Ronnie James Dio, hell look at Fates Warning, they did one that was over 50 minutes long and called it A Pleasant Shade of Grey. So can't you manage to keep a 9 or 10 minute affair interesting? Ok 'nuff complaining. This song has alot of good to it too. Like the subtle guitar riffs at the beginning and Blaze almost whispering the vocals, and the way it all seems to go into a collision of sound and picks up and makes the heart race and bound when he starts up singing "FREEDOM!!!!!!"

"And I swear to defend, and we'll fight to the end
And I swear that I'll never be taken alive"

When Two Worlds Collide starts off softly like the one before it. This song could have had a more dramatic finish to it, instead of just whimpering off into the distance. After all two worlds are about to collide, and the rest of the song makes you feel the fear and certainty of this finale, and it just seems to die instead of a huge exploding finish. Give them some points for surprising the listening audience, but geez. This could have been awesome.

"Now it's happened, take no other view
Collision course, you must believe its true
Now there's nothing left that we can do"

The Educated Fool starts off soft as well, they love those soft beginnings before trailing into a classic Maiden formula sound. Blaze Bayley really puts the feeling into this one and helps paint it with the vocal sound. Hey he's convinced me that's he's an educated fool. Harris, who wrote this one, kept it interesting enough to make me replay it several more times. (applause for his efforts)

"Open the page to chapter one, could this just be that life's just begun
Forever within your darker thoughts, reflecting on everything you have been taught"

Don't Look Into The Eyes of A Stranger ALSO has a ho-hum take a nap beginning although it has kind of a creeping, sneaky sound to it, and the guitar flows along on top of it all beautifully, making it a ho-hum interesting feeling. The mood of the song makes you feel like someone is watching you, which is what this is basically about. Its a bit long, but they keep it going unlike the horrible Angel and the Gambler.

"Just hope you never reach, the point of no return
Could be the last time, you see the light of day"

Como Estais Amigos starts off slow too. This is the finale of the cd, and they begin it like that. A solid song however, written by Gers and Bayley, an impressive writing effort, since they managed to pull of writing one of the best songs on here. Gers also managed to throw in a few guitar solos to show off with too, which adds to the reason why I like this song.

"If we do forget them and the sacrifice they made
Will the wickedness and sadness come to visit us again?"

In summary, this IS a good Iron Maiden release. Overall it IS better than Fear of the Dark and No Prayer for the Dying. The lyrics are excellently written, even though the music plods along sometimes. There are a few songs that have parts in them that will cause you to jerk your head up when it gains your attention after your mind has wandered off during some of the boring parts. It does make great background music, and any Maiden fan should enjoy it for the most part after they get over the absence of Bruce and become accustom to the vocal style of Blaze Bayley.

"Never felt this way before, seems that somebody's just opened the door
To the book of life.....or is it death?
Is there ever any way out?"

Rating= 7/10 not bad, overall, just doesn't have enough really great songs on it to give it a higher rating plus includes that real ho-hum, take a nap during it, Angel and the Gambler .