Iron Maiden - X Factor

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Music reviews of X Factor

Music Review: The album that almost put Maiden to sleep!
Rating: 3 Stars

But Steve Harris fell quite some distant off the mark with his attempt to bring Maiden a new musical approach; with a new singer, a new label, an unusual artwork, and a somewhat new sound. The biggest problem on this disc is not Blaze (though he plays a major rule in this as well), it's Steve Harris' horrible production work! The terrible mix which you wouldn't even hear on a demo tape. And the atrocious recording. With a singer trying to imitate Bruce Dickinson (because of Steve Harris) and uninspired and cliche songwriting formulas it was inevitable that "the Blaze era" would suck. Is Blaze a good singer? Yes. Do I like his stuff with Wolfsbane and his two solo albums? Yes. I actually think Silicon Messiah is a fantastic record. Check out the title song and "Identity" and they'll prove you that Blaze has a great voice that he can utilize to the best of his advantage if he is offered the chance. But what happened on The X Factor? Steve basically said that Maiden was developing their sound, going for a more concise style, aiming to catalog darker lyrical themes such as death, war, and religion. Sounds pretty good, but don't you think you ought to back up your original ideas with the music?! Where is the goddamn music?! Yeah Steve is and has always been the main composer. But how come he lost his creativity on those two Blaze albums? Allowing Blaze to write lyrics was cool, but as a producer, trying to make him sound like the one and only Bruce Dickinson shall forever remain a disgrace in the Iron Maiden history! Just check out the opening song "Sign of the Cross", a great song structurally covering new ground. But give a listen to Blaze's first vocal line and tell me he isn't struggling to sound like Bruce! Whose fault is it? Blaze's? To a certain extent yes. Steve's? There's practically no doubt on my mind about it. He should instead haven given Blaze his room, to fit in his own character. His own style. Like Bruce did when he replaced Di'Anno. Blaze on the other hand should have refused to try to imitate a vocal god of Dickinson's calibre. He is literrally struggling when he attempts to do the lower registered singing. The intro of the opening song is hardly audible, therefore it makes you crank up your stereo--just to hear what he's singing. Then all of a sudden, Steve's bass goes off and bang! WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING WHEN THEY RECORDED THIS?! How come no one in the Maiden camp warn them? The lower registered vocals aren't the only problem though, Blaze also lacks the melody which is present in Bruce's voice. Furthermore he lacks the range to sing the choruses. Songs like "Sign of the Cross", "Fortunes of War", and "The Edge of Darkness" have actually solid songwriting. But the vocals destroy them. Check out Bruce's version of the former live on the Rock in Rio stuff. He injects life into those songs. He makes them sound like classic Maiden, which Blaze -no matter what- could never do. His singing sounds so forced, dull, and uninspired it's not even funny anymore. Guess he just wanted to record this album and have his name printed as the new Maiden singer in the liner notes.

Enough with the vocals. The guitars aren't any better than they were on No Praying or Fear. It's hard to put your finger on it. They simply sound out of place. Too flat. They lack the dynamics (again the production!), the rawness, the energy. Even Nicko's drumming is barely listenable. Man this guy is like one of the best heavy metal drummers in the world, and they have killed his tone during the recording process. Harris plays his bass nicely, but no where near good enough to make this thing sound right. I was pissed when I first got this album in 1995. And today, after 8 years of owning it, I still think it's a disgrace. The follow-up to it was even worse. Thank God, Steve finally realised he needed to get Bruce back, whose solo albums easily blow any 90's Maiden album out of the water.

Make sure this and Virtual XI are the last Maiden albums you buy, if you're a completist. This one is still better than Virtual XI though. Even the tracklisting is bad on this CD. Starting the album with an 11-minute epic track is like putting Maiden into coma. This would have done much better towards the end of the disc. Also of note is that this album seems to drag on forever. Most of the listenable songs are on the first half, the rest are filler, and we all definitely could live without them.

Description of X Factor

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Hard Rock & Metal
• Pop
• Rock