valacirca
Trooper
Deconstructing Eddie: My Iron Maiden Songs & Albums Countdown - Album #12
Album #12 - The X Factor
After sitting for some time and looking for some facet of this album to attack, I've come to the conclusion that there unfortunately isn't any great weakness on it to point out and exploit. Some people will cite the most obvious possible reason without batting an eyelash: Blaze Bayley. Other people will cite the other obvious reason: It's over 70 minutes long! The only problem is that those reasons are – for lack of a better term – bullshit.
For one thing, Blaze is a good vocalist. Sure, I still prefer Bruce and it's odd that the band went with a vocalist who sings in a style that's totally different from what the fans have gotten used to, but Blaze's full bass-baritone is an intriguing tone that excellently complements the dark and sombre tone of this album. There are no soaring and operatic vocal flights here, but they're really not needed due to the type of material that the band was tackling on this release.
On the count of being longer than it should, I was actually of that same opinion before. However, it dawned on me that The X Factor is just as long as it should be. It's a bleak and depressive collection of songs. So it follows that the only way it could effectively communicate that atmosphere is if it were allowed to brood, and brooding is no hasty matter. These are emotions that need to stew and simmer over time to be felt. The listener needs to be slowly drawn into that sullen mood that the album gives off; and although some of the songs don't work in this sense individually, the album works well as a whole.
So what's the problem with it, really? Everything considered, if the change in vocalist and extended length actually work well with the sulky nature of the record, then why is it the fourth worst album by the band?
Truth be told, and this feels like a total cop-out even to me: It's simply just a matter of preference. As far as i'm concerned, there were no missteps involved here; and for what they were trying to do at that time, they did well. Unfortunately, what they were trying to do was unremarkable relative to the rest of their career. It's like if The Coen Brothers filmed a documentary about straws (yeah I don't know where that came from, lol)... I'm sure they'd still bring their talent, skill and apply the best things they know about film-making into it... but at the end of the day they're just fucking straws. The sort of film that it is just wouldn't hold up to classics such as Fargo and The Big Lebowski. No matter how hard they try and how flawlessly they make it, all they'd be able to muster is an excellently executed release of uninteresting material, which is pretty much what TXF is for me.
Album #12 - The X Factor
After sitting for some time and looking for some facet of this album to attack, I've come to the conclusion that there unfortunately isn't any great weakness on it to point out and exploit. Some people will cite the most obvious possible reason without batting an eyelash: Blaze Bayley. Other people will cite the other obvious reason: It's over 70 minutes long! The only problem is that those reasons are – for lack of a better term – bullshit.
For one thing, Blaze is a good vocalist. Sure, I still prefer Bruce and it's odd that the band went with a vocalist who sings in a style that's totally different from what the fans have gotten used to, but Blaze's full bass-baritone is an intriguing tone that excellently complements the dark and sombre tone of this album. There are no soaring and operatic vocal flights here, but they're really not needed due to the type of material that the band was tackling on this release.
On the count of being longer than it should, I was actually of that same opinion before. However, it dawned on me that The X Factor is just as long as it should be. It's a bleak and depressive collection of songs. So it follows that the only way it could effectively communicate that atmosphere is if it were allowed to brood, and brooding is no hasty matter. These are emotions that need to stew and simmer over time to be felt. The listener needs to be slowly drawn into that sullen mood that the album gives off; and although some of the songs don't work in this sense individually, the album works well as a whole.
So what's the problem with it, really? Everything considered, if the change in vocalist and extended length actually work well with the sulky nature of the record, then why is it the fourth worst album by the band?
Truth be told, and this feels like a total cop-out even to me: It's simply just a matter of preference. As far as i'm concerned, there were no missteps involved here; and for what they were trying to do at that time, they did well. Unfortunately, what they were trying to do was unremarkable relative to the rest of their career. It's like if The Coen Brothers filmed a documentary about straws (yeah I don't know where that came from, lol)... I'm sure they'd still bring their talent, skill and apply the best things they know about film-making into it... but at the end of the day they're just fucking straws. The sort of film that it is just wouldn't hold up to classics such as Fargo and The Big Lebowski. No matter how hard they try and how flawlessly they make it, all they'd be able to muster is an excellently executed release of uninteresting material, which is pretty much what TXF is for me.
