VIRTUAL XI

I have a lot of feelings and memories regarding this record. I was absolutely hooked the first time I heard Futureal on a local radio station and then (a few days after that) my father bought it as a gift for my 14th birthday. At that time I already knew some other Maiden songs from the Dickinson era and my brother insisted that they were a lot better than the knew ones, then I didn' care about eras or whatever, I loved Virtual XI then and I still do. Of course is far from being one of Maiden's best outputs but has several great moments and is very underrated, as all the Bayley era is.

Futureal is a great opener, fast and melodic, pure Maiden energy.

The Angel And The Gambler is the weakest song on the album and one of Maiden's worst songs. It'll be a bit better if shortened to five or six minutes. Is not that horrible as a poppy commercial cut but it gets boring and repetitive

Lightning Strikes Twice is a fine rocker, nothing brilliant but effective nonetheless. It has nice guitar harmonies at the beginning and I love the way it explodes.

Well, the fourth song here is one of Maiden's best moments ever imo. Musically and lyrically, The Clansman is a masterpiece, so uplifting and glorious. It's useless trying to describe it, you have to listen to this beatiful piece of music. And hey, Blaze does a great job with this one.

When Two Worlds Collide is another great track, not as good as the one that precedes it, but its quite unique and the melodies and masterful solos are heaven-sent. Huge metal song, not prog at all thugh.

The Educated Fool begins with the tipical quiet intro and gains strenght shortly afterwards. A great mini-epic with a very particular bridge and chorus. Again, the two axe attack on the second half of the song is very inspired.

Don't Look To The Eyes Of A Stranger begins in a magnificent and intriguing way, then comes the great and energetic verse that (sadly) doesn't last long and comes the chorus, that is not that bad, but is repeated way too much. In the other hand, the calm middle section is not bad musically, as it builds the climax 'till we reach the fast solos and melodies wich are, by the way, very good. The problem is that is useless and tiring to repeat the chorus over and over again. Still an enjoyable song imo, but it could have been a lot better.

Como estais amigos is obviously not the typical Maiden song, inspired by the Islas Malvinas / Falkland Islands conflict between Argentina and England, it serves as a good ending to this record. Despite its intro and tempo, this song has a lot of energy and is often underrated by the narrow-minded metalheads around the world. The solos and melodies towards the end fit well with the song's theme and atmosphere. I see this song as a nice, gentle gesture to the Argentinian and British people and to the soldiers who fought that war.

3 stars in prog archives 3.5 stars in any metal site