I can’t see this as the riskiest album when it’s followed by X Factor. If anything, it sounds like the band desperately trying to hold on.
I don’t think it’s risky, or desperate, I think it’s a band that doesn’t really know what it wants to be and therefore indulged each member in whatever direction they were going. It was produced well from a sound perspective, but not from the perspective of cohesiveness and centredness. It’s like a last-days Beatles album in the sense that each member was doing his own thing, with little regard to the others, with some of it working really well and some of it missing utterly.
Fixed
One minute off. Weak.
I guess I meant risky in terms of a consistent sound. There’s no cohesion. The X Factor is a risk in terms of the lineup and lack of fun, but the songs are nearly identical in mood and soundscapes. It’s definitely desperate.
For a band like Maiden, who has such a distinct musical goal with everything and is completely rigid in focusing on “the Maiden (re: Steve) sound”, I think allowing every member to do whatever they want is certainly risky. Also desperate cause it’s just Steve throwing his hands in the air and saying, “I don’t care as long as it’s successful!”