Post Reply - The Great Collection Rediscovery

Album: Virtual XI

Previous Last.fm Scrobbles: 24 (8 Tracks)

Old Rating: 3.5/5

Verdict: Now here's the Iron Maiden album that I've always been really up and down over. Often held as their worst album, my own experience with it as gone something like this:

'Hey, this is a actually pretty good.'

'Okay, it wears thin fast.'

'But at least Futureal and The Clansman are good songs.'

'It really pales when you listen to it back to back with any other Iron Maiden album, even The X Factor.'

'It's average, not bad per se.'

'Maybe I was too harsh on this.'

'In hindsight this is actually pretty good.'

'Oh wait, did I just come full circle with this thing?'

'It really isn't that good is it?'

'It is?'

'The Angel and the Gambler is definitely too long.'

'There are seven other songs here.'

'It still sounds like classic Iron Maiden.'

'Aren't we supposed to hate Virtual XI?'

'Aren't we supposed to hate Blaze Bayley?'

'Aren't we at least supposed to say it's worse than The X Factor?'

'I don't hate Virtual XI.'

'I don't hate Blaze Bayley.'

'I like this more than The X Factor.'

'It really is actually pretty good.'

Yeah I'm really going to have to revisit my review of this one. Possibly even make it a comedy review with the above mental torment over it. The silly thing is the way I am with this one I could listen to it again later and come away with a far less positive view on it, but for now I actually find this pretty solid. Not an excellent Iron Maiden album, but an underrated one.

New Rating: 4/5

Keeper? Yes.