"Can I play with madness?"
Right from the beginning, Iron Maiden had a sound all their own. It’s hard to believe this band is already over 20 years old. Iron Maiden was certainly a major influence in heavy metal, and you can tell where some of the more recent metal bands got their inspiration from. And I also must state, I fell in love with this band the second I heard the first song here, which was “The Prowler”. This debut album is a heavy metal classic with strong vocal performances on every song. Every chorus has something memorable about it, and when I hear a heavy metal album with practically no filler, I’m mightily impressed to say the least! There’s no way I can just pick out the standout tracks, because they all standout IMO! Another thing I admire is how fresh this album sounds. Pure, heavy rockin’ and rollin’ good tunes throughout! Of course, it doesn’t rock as hard as it did when it first came out, mainly because plenty of other bands came along since this release to take heavy metal to another extreme. Not much separates one song from the other, because this is heavy metal we’re talking about, and heavy metal isn’t the most diverse type of music in the world. But dang it, who cares? Heavy metal cures my occasional hyper spells, so that’s all that matters!
“The Prowler” is the perfect opener for this, mostly a straightforward number (something Iron Maiden usually avoids- simplicity) but still a great start for the band. “Sanctuary” is full of speed and will probably give you an adrenaline rush, “Remember Tomorrow” has some excellent vocals from Paul Di’Anno, “Runnin’ Free” has a tasty little chorus, “Phantom Of The Opera” might be the fan favorite off this album, and that’s okay by me. I don’t really know which songs other Iron Maiden fans consider the standouts, but this song surely sounds like one. This is the longest song here too, and usually Iron Maiden can handle the really long numbers, and that’s no exception here. Elsewhere you have “Transylvania”, a song that shows the complex guitar work Iron Maiden is known for. The title song I originally thought was weak, but now I take back since I’ve been playing the song constantly and I guess it just took some time to sink in. I like it when bands have easy-to remember song titles. Like Bad Company, or Black Sabbath. Now we have “Iron Maiden” off of Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden! Other songs that refuse to leave your mind no matter how hard you try to forget ‘em are “Charlotte The Harlot” and “Strange World”. But dang it, this really is some great old fashioned heavy metal. And everyone should at least hear it once, even if you don’t want to buy it or even if you hate heavy metal in general. You can download these days, but do we really want to rip-off the record companies? Yes! Nah, buy and enjoy.
I'll tell you one thing, if you're expecting to hear something
that will match the dreaded cover art – then you're into an unpleasant surprise.
Well, it doesn't look good over here, that's for sure. After Bruce Dickinson
left Maiden the guys have received hundreds of tapes made by numerous applicants
for the job including their former frontman Paul Di'Anno. Unfortunately, instead
of doing the right thing and getting Di'Anno back, Steve Harris (yeah, like
anybody else had the right to vote on the subject!) decided to have a go with
the ex-Wolfsbane vocalist Blaze Bayley, thus this album's biggest misfire. A
more inappropriate and grating replacement was hard to be imagined as Blaze
doesn't have ANY of their previous singers charisma or even an exceptional voice.
He's just a guy. A guy who sings lousy. I'd even go as far to say that Black
Sabbath's obligatory clown Tony Martin has a shitload more uniqueness in his
voice than this character. Blaze's weakest point is the blandness of his voice
and he doesn't even attempt to imitate Dickinson, or even use that old-school
eighties metal operatic wailing – and God knows this album would really benefit
from that. Hell, this monotonous rough-voiced tone that Blaze employs makes
him sound at least as old as my eighty years old grandpa, if not a helluva older.
Other than that piece-of-shit-for-voice dumbass Blaze my gripe with this record
is the fact that most songs are too lengthy and repetitive. They're dull plodders
in fact, but that's nothing a bit of Bruce Dickinson couldn't fix.
The slick tinny production is another difficulty since it leaves out almost
all rawness and brutality, which are here toned down even more than MTV would
demand. Obviously, the mixing of this offering is horrible and then some. First
off, it's not loud as proud as I would wish, with all traces of heaviness banished
and with an odd distortionless silent mixing throughout which makes the guitars
seem, well, quite dead. Plus, even though I shouldn't mind it since it has become
a tradition of sorts by now, the bass is mixed too up front. Which reminds me,
how many bands do you know that have the bass player for a leader? Ain't that
kinda odd? Anyhow, the songwriting is particularly strong (even if there's an
awful lot of re-writes from the last two offerings with Bruce), but the lyricism
with its pessimistic dull topics and a singer that suits them nicely bores the
hell out of me. Basically, the lyrics are mostly oriented on being bummed-out,
unsatisfied, depressive and everything that goes with it, and there's no classic
Maiden fairy tales here. Also quite disturbing is the fact that the album overall
sounds nothing like heavy metal, but instead, ugh, it sounds more like some
doomy prog-metal. Also, probably the first thing you'll notice on The X Factor
is the slower pace and gloomier tone which makes up for an interesting but not
necessarily good atmosphere. Quite frankly, the only way to listen to this album
is with headphones or really loud cause if you try it any other way you'll remember
just about nothing.
Starting things off with the obvious eleven-minutes centerpiece "Sign Of
The Cross" that gives us a fair taste of what's to come, seeing that the
band never really steps away from that established formula. The first thing
you'll hear is a lengthy intro section with Gregorian chants by the choir which
sets a haunting gothic feel worthy of Black Sabbath. A minute later the standard
acoustic strumming takes place but it's excused by a lovely gentle melody. Soon
after the dreamy guitar lines are exchanged with the medieval-sounding keyboards
we enter the classic flashy Maiden-esque sound that cooks with suspenseful climatic
melodies. A top highlight. Following it, "Lord Of The Flies" is driven
by an almost Blackmore-esque funky riff which is sadly soon replaced by the
conventional Maiden rhythm with atrocious vocals that seriously hurt my overall
enjoyment. It's especially sad to observe Blaze while he's struggling to sound
powerful in that rarely dumb-penned chorus "saints and sinners/ something
within us/ we are lord of the flies", and you can clearly see he can't cut
it even by a long shot. The only number here that's remotely similar to 80's
Maiden is the up-tempo atrocity "Man On The Edge" which is again pissed
on by Blaze's empty vocal delivery. Anyway, this tune here has a freakin' weak
groove and a thoroughly crapful melody.
Mystic acoustic intro of the seven-minute "Fortunes Of War" invites
images of the secretful medieval times and Blaze pulls off a fairly emotional
effort (maybe even touching?), then a different melody is used and we suddenly
get a shitload of thudding drum work which doesn't exactly distract from the
experience, but it was pretty unexpected. The guitar plays an odd mid-tempo
riff that I can only describe as kinda Indian-sounding, but that's probably
quite a stretch. If the song started hopeful I've soon abandoned all of it as
I saw Blaze's attempt at singing the laughable vocal melody which they luckily
concealed behind some typical Maiden galloping and a few flashy guitar solos.
Hmm... when you pass this one you'll get a-plenty of feeble acoustically-played
lines that paved the way into the slouchy "Look For The Truth". Fair
enough, Blaze nicely handles the touching silent opening, but the song actually
doesn't have much of an arrangement to it – the guitar solos are only so-so
and the overall melody of this ditty gets only a trifle better later on. I've
grown tired of acoustic dribblings but "The Aftermath" has yet more
of it even though it almost immediately gives way to a mediocre riff, and again,
the vocal melody is a tad more memorable than the regular one so I'd really
like to hear Bruce singing it. Pretty good song all in all, but six minutes
of it?
"Judgment Of Heaven" seems less doomy than usual, probably because of
the playful intro. The rhythm itself is pure Maiden, albeit speedier than elsewhere
on the record so it's one of the stronger cuts with a neat guitar solo, even
though it doesn't exactly rock hard. But man! I dig that remarkable vocal groove
– and even more so when considered who's singing it. Meanwhile, although sluggish,
"Blood On The World's Hands" has a wonderful little bass solo and a
smooth riff that rolls along satisfactory well. Once again, the intense climatic
melody works hand in hand with the well-developed vocal harmony so this is the
most likely candidate for the second best song on The X Factor. Elsewhere,
the remaining epics are simply structured too closely to each other so they
seem somewhat indistinguishable. Now, I can't say I smiled upon hearing the
helicopter intro to "The Edge Of Darkness", but I was even less pleased
when I sniffed out more insipid acoustic-based noodling since it killed any
hope that the song will turn out to be a heavier rocker. Mind you, the mid-tempo
pounding used here ain't too disappointing and the speedy gallop that follows
is just like any other that Iron Maiden did earlier, but probably not as gritty.
It had the potential to be a solid song but not with Blaze at the helm. His
voice lacks depth and range, and when he shouts – it's not powerful but rather
hollow.
Sheeez... "2 A.M." is a total throwaway since everything about it is
tepid and the lyricism really blows, with the most shining example being the
overly simplified chorus lines "here I am again/ look at me again/ on my
own" which are also repeated for too many damn times. Although, one sidekick
melody near the end has catched my attention so I'd recommend them to recycle
it into some more worthy tune later. Closing with a bang Maiden kicked down
the walls (I'm highly exaggerating here) with another major eight-minute epic
"The Unbeliever". I suppose they should be proud of the tasty opening
licks but the song simply goes nowhere and it essentially just drags along with
numerous slow-meets-fast sections that are constantly rubbed into horse manure
by this singer guy. By the way, I've discovered that cool funky rhythm of "Lord
Of The Flies" hidden in one of these sections – it appears right before
they get in the lengthy soloing part. In fact, if I'd watch this track very
closely I bet I could find a whole lotta references to other tunes here.
In the end one particular fact needs to be headlined as well. You see, this
record is a rather lengthy one clocking somewhat over seventy minutes, and that
of course makes this an jaw-droppingly excruciating listen. My best recommendation
to Maiden is to grab a bunch of tracks from here and a few from Virtual XI
and re-record them with Bruce on vocals. I'm thinking about sixty or so minutes
of music with the obligatory requirement of putting more muscle in the mix.
Now that would be a damn good album. And how about this cover art? I like the
way they've cut off Eddie's forehead so that it can look like a neat hat for
his exposed sludgy brain. Pretty funny, ain't it? Or maybe I'm just demented.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
Would someone please kick Mr. Harris in the balls yet? Will
the atrociousness ever end? I presume that the rating I gave to this record
is a bit rigid but you have to understand that nothing here can really match
the stuff on The X Factor and even that one wasn't awesome or anything.
If one talks about regression this is probably the bottom of the sea for Maiden
since they took everything bad about the previous album and multiplied it for
ten times while also making sure that nothing resembling a passable hook (vocal
or otherwise) will be left intact. Mind you, this artwork is as cool as it gets
but it's so incredibly deceiving. If I didn't hear The X Factor and already
knew what's coming towards me I might have been fooled in buying this but luckily
I just borrowed it. The only real reason why this thing was released at all
is that it was supposed to help promote Iron Maiden's PC game "Ed Hunter" (which
apparently blows on all accounts or so I've heard) but I seriously doubt it
had much success in that honorable (?) intention. Not much has changed in the
world of this old mastodontic band over the course of three years and this disc
brought me the very thing I expected to hear – a whole lotta re-writes. Blaze
still yelps away with his deep laughable voice, the tracks are still lengthy
and plodding with the minimum use of guitars, there's even more synths than
usual and of course the choruses are painfully repetitive just like they're
supposed to be.
When coming right down to the slimy bottom of the pit we find the music casually
noodling along the sound of Blaze's boredom-inducing vocals. In that respect
the opening ditty "Futureal" steps away from the formula, somewhat at least.
Anyway, the dull progressive wankery is toned down a bit with about the only
tune here that has some rocking power considering its up-tempo gallop and the
remarkably short running span. The downside of this song is that... well, it
simply excites you too much and the derivative aggregations of vomit that follow
are so bland and overblown that it's highly unlikely you'll actually enjoy them.
Ehm, let me get back to... hmm, the vocals. Now, the vocals are a trifle better
on this track so I guess that Blaze deserves some patting on the back just like
the axeslingers do for delivering that clean and precise guitar work. After
all, even if this is just a standard all-and-out rocker it does escape the major
flaws of the record nicely (you know, sluggish overchewed melodies with a whole
lot of dull parts).
If the opener signaled there is hope then "The Angel And The Gambler" truly
showed me otherwise. Starting with an acceptable keyboard-layered guitar riff
it evolves rather uncertainly incorporating a neat guitar solo on its way but
I've soon experienced a total lack of excitement when the song started rambling
on the spot for ten minutes. It just kinda wallowed there eating up a considering
chunk of my time with Blaze wailing "Don't you think I'm a savior, don't you
think I could save you, don't you think I could save your life" for exactly
five minutes, and I'm not joking either. In fact, Blaze screeches along to the
flat sound without inviting the listener in at any given point so while he's
passing the six minute mark you're probably screaming out of pure desperation
something like "DIE BLAZE, DIE!!!" or "WILL THIS FUCKIN' SHIT END ALREADY???!!!!".
This pompous crap is even more horrendous than Maiden's blatantly throwawayish
B-sides like "Nodding Donkey Blues". "Lighting Strikes Twice" has a goofy title
but it does feature a blazing solo and the usual gallop of old. Blaze gives
a fine vocal performance once again and while he's no Bruce things are slowly
looking up. Leaving the previous song in a slightly better mood I've stumbled
across the notorious nine minute monster "The Clansman" which is often praised
as the best Blaze-era track, and while I kinda agree with that... it opens with
an intro that's actually a surprising in-your-face rip-off of "Infinite Dreams"
even though Harris soon bursts into his usual bass rampant. Heck, it's still
not the best song... no matter how nice Blaze sounds this song would benefit
from more drama and he doesn't deliver.
Another six-minute number constructed by the quiet intro/dramatic buildup formula
follows and is entitled "When Two Worlds Collide", but it should in all honesty
be entitled "When Two Lineups Collide" because this clearly shows us how much
the old lineup was different. Instead of going silently into the night the Maiden
of old would certainly cook up a grand finale to let off steam but here this
song simply dies and fades away. Yawn... after the band rammed my bran cells
to the ground with the accomplished lyrical stupidity of "When Two Worlds Collide"
they intended on expanding the same thought with "The Educated Fool" yet another
lumpy B-side wankfest. Clocking slightly under the much undeserved seven minutes
mark it starts with the typical gentle blunder and then adds some muscle in
the sound. I don't think that after so many similar crappy throwaways I have
to be patient with this one too so with no regrets I‘ll stamp it as an abomination
of the highest order. "Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger" is just as long
as its name promises gallantly passing eight minutes of running time, but it
thankfully manages to sound intriguing in a sneaky evil way. Not to my surprise
the intro promptly takes what seems like an eternity just to get started but
the guitar melodies are worthwhile. Finally finishing this disc Maiden drops
the pretentiousness (well, some of it) and ignites with "Como Estais Amigos"
which is just as slow and plodding as everything here, and oddly enough, for
a song that wasn't written by Steve Harris it does seem to be crafted in the
traditional Harris vein. While that isn't all that positive the solos are, well,
a bit on the tedious side but nothing that my brain couldn't handle.
Aw, shit... this is just another rotting "creative album" that these past masters
squeezed out of their rusty pipes in the nineties with the only exception being
a different frontman who's aptly blazing them the way towards the vast territories
of crap. Stagnation really can't get much worse than this, but then again this
isn't stagnation – this is artistic DEATH in its most natural and uncluttered
form.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
If there ever was an album bound to disappoint the fans this
was it. Extremely overhyped atmosphere surrounding it made it impossible for
the band to deliver the complete goods but as far as reunion albums go this
is accidentally the cream of the crop. As you all know Steve Harris got back
Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith in hope to freshen up Maiden's stale waters
and also grab the fans these two earned themselves while the old master was
passed out in the coma. With Smith's addition Maiden has found that they now
have one axeslinger to spare but since Janick Gers refused to lay down and die
they allowed him to continue, ehm, rockin' with them. Now a three-guitar outfit
Maiden has proved that this weak guitar sound might have been achieved by just
ONE guitar and probably with a better effect too. Okay, I gotta hand it to them
– the guitars are a helluva more livelier than on any of those experiments featuring
that "other singer" and they actually invited some distortion back to the mix,
even if it's not much. Bruce's voice also adds more life to the album making
it much more fluent and exciting than any of the stuff this band has belted
out in the last, oh, shall we say thirteen years? Musically, not much has changed
as they still employ the same laughable formula. If you don't know it by heart
yet it goes like this; you take a silent suspenseful intro then slowly pump
up the volume and add larger than life repetitive choruses, and to top it off
you gallop around for six to ten minutes of OVERBLOWN epic delight. Now even
though this doesn't sound like real metal than rather like some prog-metal hybrid
let's not forget that they started this trend almost a decade ago and didn't
really evolve from there on so this is actually stagnation, if you ask me. I'm
still happy however that the guys remembered how to rock on a few occasions
and not just bathe in similar-sounding anthems forever. Mind you, there's still
a hefty number of those sterile oh-so-lengthy compositions here, but it seems
that the band does plan to go for a more harder sound eventually.
How would they open the reunion record then? Well, with a straightforward Maiden
rocker of course! Formulaic as it is "The Wicker Man" rocks pretty hard when
compared to... ehm, anything they did with Blaze. Most people hate the living
shit out of it and consider it to be repetitive, but heck, I love it! The opening
licks here are the best ones I've heard on a Maiden record in a while now with
that guitar line coming from one speaker and then with the rhythm section exploding
in both. The lyrics are a nice storytelling effort, the chorus is smooth and
infectious and Bruce's final eighties "woohoohoo" wailing is a solid hook for
me no matter how generic and dated it sounds. I admit though that the riffs
are totally tired and muddy and the chord sequences are predictable but it's
not like Iron Maiden could create anything better nowadays so why should I bitch
about it? Continuing shockingly strong Maiden gives us a top highlight in the
form of "Ghost Of The Navigator" a great classic-sounding epic with a beautiful
easy intro that might as well be taken off some Bayley-era album. It evolves
into a heavy mover later on as the effective but still unmemorable loud riffage
stops stomping and gears up for the swift melodic part which is luckily freed
of the tiresome galloping bass. The drama-laden chorus isn't repeated for too
much times over the course of seven minutes and the lyrics are instantly reminiscent
of "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" which is unlike the messy guitar solo a good
thing.
But then again, the tedious title track is a misfortunate incident of sorts.
Sadly, although the marvelous ascending intro made me smile the song really
doesn't let it rip anywhere along the way and is used as a polygon for the endless
roaring of the line "A brave new world, in a brave new world" which might sound
glorious and anthemic in concert (and most of the stuff here is created to be
a live sing-along staple) but it sure as hell gets nauseating for home use.
"Blood Brothers" was potentially a gigantic power ballad like Bruce's "Jerusalem"
but was unwisely wasted with unnecessary rockin' gallops and similar crap that
shouldn't have been used. The subtle orchestration was a touch of gold but it
doesn't help matters much. And as if that wasn't enough "The Mercenary" has
that cruel kind of chorus that invokes sudden pain in my brain and it's gruesomely
predictable with some positively unbearable lyricism. It does have a fair amount
of crunchy chords, though. "Dream Of Mirrors" is much overlong stomping the
nine minute mark with passion and while the melodic beginning is very touching
the inane dirty riffage that follows lowers my enjoyment considerably as I've
unjustifiably hoped for a ballad that would move in a much lighter and emotional
frame. Aimless repetition of the mystical but tiresome chorus lines "I only
dream in black in white/I only dream cause I'm alive" that goes on for a solid
chunk of the track removes the rest of the happiness I've once felt and leaves
me a bitter gray man.
While the speedy groovester "The Fallen Angel" certainly cannot qualify in the
upper echelon of the disc when the time values are concerned it probably is
the best conventional rocker off Brave New World, even if I tend to look
towards the frantic opener when in search for a decent shredder. The chorus
is strong but not exactly ultra-memorable which could be a blessing in disguise
since it at least doesn't sound sappy or pop-metallic. Meanwhile, the flowing
Powerslave-styled epic "The Nomad" features some relentless riffing and
oriental solos but even that and the convincible Arabian vibe can't fight against
the curse that is the absolutely undeserved and rather pathetic nine minute
length. The weaker parts are obviously the sticky yet abominable chorus that
easily gets on anybody's nerves and the manic tempo soon gets pretty tedious
too. The disillusionment continues with "Out Of The Silent Planet" – a completely
inoffensive filler that suffers from excessive length like everything here but
of somewhat unsuitable structuring as well. Some sections are certainly worthy
of a look or two but as a whole if offers little, and what is here isn't stunning.
After so much poignant recycling of past successes the disc was meant to be
concluded with another eight minute rambler entitled "The Thin Line Between
Love and Hate" which actually sounds just the same as everything else except
that the harmonies are suckish and oddly awkward. Musically, everything is standard
Maiden from the lead breaks, interplay and tempo changes to the noodling riffs
that just add some pointless background noise to the chorus, but however, I
don't feel nearly enough energy in this tune.
To finalize, the problem I have with most of this stuff here is that it simply
doesn't sound either mellow enough to be a ballad, or hard enough to be a decent
grinder. Bruce knew how to make it right when he was working with Roy Z, but
not anymore. In fact the only good thing about this record is that now they've
tried it they'll certainly fall apart soon so Bruce and Adrian can get back
to making real music, not this bland junk here.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?