There's a quote I like. I think it was by Paul Stanley of Kiss, where he basically said that putting an average to mediocre song on an album in the place of a really good song just so a certain member could get equal writing credits is a bad choice and is unfair to the fans. I think this can apply here too. In recent years, Dave has played some really poor solos, both live and in studio. There was a definite improvement on TFF and I think that has something to do with him playing less solos. I don't mind that Adrian gets most of the solos because almost every one is good. With Dave and Jan it's really hit and miss. I don't think it's fair to give more solos to lesser soloists just so that they'll be equal. It shouldn't work that way in music.
The Kiss albums are full of mediocre songs. So even if the quote was nice, it didn't work out.
Back to Maiden:
Look, I can perfectly understand that if someone didn't write enough (good) songs, that less or no songs from him appear on the album.
Powerslave is a good example. No Dave songs.
Virtual XI is a good example. Only one Janick song. Does that mean that they also played
way less solos?
No. There's always been some kind of balance. But this balance seems to be heavily disturbed on the last album.
Do you really think that, after twenty/thirty years, the band finds out that Dave and Janick are not so good anymore? And that in some occasions on the TFF sessions, they would let Dave and Janick record some takes first and then Adrian or anyone else would say: "This is not good enough, I'll do it myself / let Adrian do it himself"?
Nah. It's more probable that -in advance- Adrian wanted to do all (or at least most of) the solos that eventually landed on the album, so I bet the others didn't even try (were not even allowed / did never record).
By your reasoning, Dave and Janick don't even need to be in the band: "When someone is less, he shouldn't do something".
By the way, I don't see how Dave has become a less player, especially live. He still plays with the most ease, and still has the clearest and fattest solo sound. He's definitely at least as much appreciated as Adrian by the live audience, or even the most from all three guys.
Both Dave and Janick are probably not making a big deal out of it, because they know they can have their bit of fun when playing live. And they know Adrian is a studio "dog" and gladly let him have his way. If he wants to give himself a bigger role on this album, solo-wise, then so be it. Janick and Dave have enough other proud moments behind them, also album-wise. But I, an outsider, was surprised when I heard the album for the first time.
Others like Mosh might see it as a logical development, since Dave and especially Janick have become worse solo players in their eyes, but then I say: We'll see if this will happen again on the next album. Twice in a row would be something.