Band:	Iron Maiden
Album:	Virtual XI
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	March 1998

01. Futureal
02. The Angel And The Gambler
03. Lightning Strikes Twice
04. The Clansman
05. When Two Worlds Collide
06. The Educated Fool
07. Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger
08. Como Estais Amigos

Iron Maiden is one of the most legendary bands of all time. They practically created the genre and have influenced countless bands with their unique New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound. They have gone through three singers in their career; Paul Di'Anno (inception to 1981), Bruce Dickinson (1981-1993, 1999-now), and Blaze Bayley (1993-1999) the singer for this release. Bruce Dickinson is clearly the best singer; the success of their three most recent releases show how important he is to the band. Another example is, well, the Bayley era (1995's The X Factor and 1998's Virtual XI).

Virtual XI is interesting because you can literally narrow down the problem to one aspect. Typically albums have a few distinct issues or one issue that may even infect another (ex: music influences lyrics). But Virtual XI is different. It's definitely Blaze. Now, I am not saying Blaze is talentless, or that Maiden was completely reliant on Bruce for their success. However, Blaze's voice is flat and not flexible by any means. His words remain monotone throughout the entire album and after a few songs it becomes annoying. It seems like every word is the same, which, in most cases they are. Every word is sung with the same pitch, and the choruses typically consist of the same five word line repeated eight times. If you think I am lying, here is an example. "Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger" is broken down into eight distinct stanzas. The chorus consists of two of these, and is repeated twice. Therefore it makes up half of the song.

Here is the chorus:
"Don't look to the eyes of a stranger
Don't look through the eyes of a fool
Don't look to the eyes of a stranger
Somebody's watching when the light goes down

Don't look to the eyes of a stranger
Don't look through the eyes of a fool
Don't look to the eyes of a stranger
Somebody's watching when the night comes down"

Yes, that's right. The chorus itself is virtually a repeat, no pun intended. I wish I could say this was an isolated incident, but it is quite typical throughout each song. The music is fine, you just get sick of hearing the same words over and over. Sometimes it isn't even the chorus, just a random line. Also in a few songs such as "The Clansman", "Como Estais Amigos" and "When Two Worlds Collide", Blaze likes to follow along with the music with his voice. Usually a good touch on a live album; however, it is very annoying here.

The music on the album is very much like Iron Maiden of the mid-90's and a foreshadowing of the future 2000's Maiden. It's more of a generic Heavy Metal and not the classic New Wave of British Heavy Metal that is most commonly associated with Maiden. The guitars rock, the drums pound; it's metal, pure metal. It really is the lyrics that make this album suffer. It's a shame because if they had a little more lyrical creativity, the album would have been good all around.

As a hardcore Maiden fan, it's ok. That is very rare for me to say because I have always put every Maiden CD in highest regards. But, in this case, Blaze just doesn't have the voice. It just drones on and on almost like he's falling asleep; he is painfully repetitive and unfortunately that is really the only thing wrong with this album. The problem is that the lyrics are so important in all of Maiden's songs, that there is no room for annoying tones and repetitiveness. Blaze doesn't deliver; he just dumps it on you and says, "You make sense of it".