Iron Maiden-A-Thon The X Factor Review: An Emotional Masterpiece
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- What would Iron Maiden be like without Bruce Dickinson? Fans of the band got their first taste with The X Factor. Blaze Bayley's first album with the band is a definite high point for the band in the 90's. Check out my review and see what I think about this dark and emotional album. Make sure to leave a comment and like the video!
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Blaze was actually a big part of Iron Maidens song writing evolution and was an inspiration to the post reunion era. Blaze did more for Iron Maiden and metal in general than we realize
Blaze led the band through the toughest time for any metal band, so he gets all the respect from me for that.
I understand why Steve chose Blaze. Blaze took things to a different place musically and it fit the material well. I honestly think the Blaze songs sound better sung by him than with Dickinson. Sign of the Cross I prefer with Blaze. Judgment of Heaven is another stand out. Overall I was very satisfied when I got this back in the day when it originally came out. I grew up with Dickinson so I didn’t know what to expect after he left and I wasn’t making any pre judgements before I heard it. This is pre internet so everyone wasn’t talking shit in public yet so my head wasn’t filled with useless bias. I listened to it and I really enjoyed it and it grew on me exponentially once the songs set it. To this day I still listen to it and I love it like a classic. Musically it’s top notch on every level. I absolutely adore the sound of the bass and drums. An extremely organic sound I prefer to the more modern production jobs they’ve done. There is also a contemplative mood to much of it I’m attracted to. I love going to this album for a different flavor of the band just like I do with the Dianno albums.
Edge of Darkness is my favourite song, love this album and the Blaze era... such a shame what many of so called "fans" did to Blaze over the years. I also remember reading an interview where Steve says that The X Factor is one of his favourite works ever. As far as I know Steve's dad died prior this album and that would explain the dark theme of this gem.
Yeah, Steve was going through some major life changes through this album. The X Factor is definitely one of my favorites.
He also got divorced around this time too.
Heart of Darkness, Lord of the Flies, Sign of the Cross,... extremely strong songs, but man, the overall sound is just so bad, Blaze's voice is totally drowned out by the guitars.
Nothing wrong with performance or content on the Lp But the production was awful. Guitars are boxy and dry and the vox needed a bit of reverb or similar ..think of Seventh Son. As for the X Factor, it was a grower but I liked it. As for Virtual Xi...songs were meh, production was high school grade stuff....punishing to listen to and the performances were drawn out and almost going through the motions.. and the mix quality couldn't be worse if they tried..I haven't pulled it out of the dust cover for decades though. As for poor Blaze, I remember when Di'anno got kicked out when I was 14 and everyone saying how crap Bruce was in comparison..swings and roundabouts as they say
Love blaze and his vocals and these albums are amazing 🤘🤘
One of the most underrated metal albums ever and one of the best Maiden Albums!
There are some people complaining Blaze is a bad singer and is doing a lousy job on his 2 Maiden albums but thing is, IMO Bruce doesn't sound at his best either when i am listening to FOD. Since NPFD i feel Dickinson's vocal performance are (somewhat) at the automatic pilot. By no means is Bayley a wide range performer but with what he is capable of, he gives the very best of himself. As for X-Factor itself, i really enjoy it and it is amongst my top 5, might even be top 3. I bought my cope many years after it's original release and always thought about it as a concept album, about a soldier who has returned from war and suffers from kind's of mental issues.
this album is such a masterpiece
Agree, absolutely love it!
@@HunterBoldingVideo im new to your channel just subscribed dude..by any chance have you done any helloween album reviews?
@@paulg4043 I haven't gotten to them yet, the next marathon review series I'm doing is for Judas Priest, Helloween is gonna be after them! But they're comingI
on the top 5 maiden albums...iron maiden ,killers, powerslave ,seventh ,xfactor
I've got an hour long episode about this airing tomorrow :)
Damn, you're beating me out by 30 minutes! Can't wait to see it.
I'll never understand the resistance to helping Blaze with tuning down to his voice.
It's never made sense to me, and still doesn't. You tune the music for who the singer is.
CHEERS FROM INDIA! KEEP THE REVIEWS FLOWING! LOVE YOUR STYLE.
Thanks for watching! Up the Irons!
Very good review! Loved that album since 1995 when it was released 🤘🏼🤘🏼
My biggest complaint with this album is the lack of volume. The Sign Of The Cross has to be the most epic song they ever wrote in my opinion.... I was so happy to finally see them play it when I saw them on the Legacy Of The Beast tour.
That is a criticism I can take for it. The production could be better. For the "Re-Do" of The X Factor I'm planning, it might fix some of those issues though.
My favourite album
agree
I subscribed. You have a great way of explaining the songs that I wrote off. I will get back into the X factor to really appreciate. Really insightful and I think you do a rad job. Rock on, my good man.
Thank you for the kind words! If you're into Judas Priest, we're getting ready to go through all of their discography in the same way!
Listen to Dougie white singing hallowed and you'll get an idea of what he'd have sounded like in maiden, maybe a little two close to Bruce perhaps, oh and the Aftermath was Janick's solo, his best solo ever in my book.
It always baffles me that Steve deliberately went for a singer like Blaze, who has a much lower voice than Bruce, and then basically refused to modify the older songs to fit his voice. If you listen to early X Factour shows, Blaze is absolutely flawless on X Factor songs, and some older songs, but really struggles with songs like Hallowed and The Evil than men do. I don't understand why they didn't either tune down or get rid of those songs altogether. If Steve had actually committed 100% to Blaze I genuinely think he would have been better received and may have been in the band longer than he was. They also toured way too much. World Slavery tour was 180 dates and the band hated that. X Factour was 150 so it's no surprise Blaze's voice gave out by the end.
Steve refused tuning down for older songs cause he was afraid of the fans! Same goes for the Idea of droping them..he Said Maiden fans knows their sound and If they tune down, everything would've been even worse..wrong call, Arry..partly, I Can understand that cause their sound is one of the main reasons why they are so legendary band but what I cant understand is keeping most challenging material from Bruce era Under those terms..not only this was suicide for both parties, those ultra acrobatic classics belongs to Bruce in the eyes of the Maiden fans..period.
he's a terrible singer. wtf was steve thinking
As someone who loved Maiden since back in the eighties, i can tell you that this album was not received that well when it came out. People looking back with rose tinted spectacles may disagree but the Blaze era knocked Maiden back by years, hence the massive popularity they hit again once Bruce returned. It's a difficult listen but at least it's better than Virtual XI
Great video about a great album, i hope you’re doing better after listening this album, depression is not fun.
LOVE FROM GERMANY 🇩🇪
I am doing better, thank you for the kind words and Up The Irons!
That shirt is awesome. Also respect you throwing down the gauntlet on Blaze "you're an was gold don't watch" ! Hear hear! I always liked Baze
An was gold = asshole 😂
The last Iron Maiden record that qualifies as a 10 point album... the rest not bad, but not so good.
We'll have to see when we get a bit deeper into the "reunion" era stuff. ;)
Great review! I listened to it on my way home with as open a mind as I could and I feel I'm going to regret ranking this as my least fave! Where did you get that T shirt!?
I grabbed it off eBay, it was actually easier to find an official X-Factor shirt, than it was for Brave New World.
I would give my right arm for a X Factor shirt. Yours looks brand-new.
By the way, I've seen them twice on that tour.
@@wouterblieck1877 It felt brand new when I ordered it on eBay. Now I just need an official Virtual XI one!
This album is special to me and reminds me of my difficult teenage days back in the 90s. Blaze is amazing
Definitely one of those albums that brings back certain dark memories.
I'll say this: without Blaze in the band and say another singer closer to Bruce's range took Bruce's place, Bruce never would've come back, and that also means Adrian would've never come back. They'd have limped along into obscurity. So for the time that Blaze was in the band, he was both saving the present and securing their future.
Definitely 9/10
Give Nicko a full size drum kit turn the drums down slightly, beef up the guitars a bit put judgement day track 10 and 2am track 11, no unbeliever and you'd have a perfect album.
Great review, I have only started listening to Iron Maiden recently and I understand the neglect for change, which is the decision to the listener, but if you do that you are going to miss out hidden gems. Some people might think it is therefore bad, but it is quite the opposite if the unique style and theming is implemented well and I have to say, this is as good as it gets. Blaze nailed his voice perfectly. While Bruce has the superior voice with incredible range, I think that Blaze's voice simply sounds better for this album in capturing its dark themes. He has this lower, menacing and sinister kind of voice which really delivers the punch. Songs like Lord of the Flies, Judgement of Heaven, Blood on the World's Hands and even Sign of the Cross are just ment for him. As for the opening song, I would not have it any other way. Sign of the Cross while not the usual fast paced opener, it does deliver the message of what X-Factor and the theme is about, furthermore it ties the other end with Unbeliever really well, completing the album full circle kinda like Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Not a great choice on the tour as the opener for an album this is a real treat and it kinda makes the album more balanced. X-Factor does not have an awful lot of up beat tracks, Justice of the Peace, I Live My Way and Judgement Day already have been cut out, so you are left with only Lord of the Flies, Man on the Edge and Judgement of Heaven, the rest are more or less either 'evolving' tracks with the heavy parts after the riff or they are just not that oppressive like Look for the Truth and 2 AM. Moving Sign of the Cross to the front not only fixes this 'problem' but also makes this album stand out more. All in all, The X-Factor is truly a one of a kind, an underappreciated gem with outstanding music and an incredible powerful message. 10/10
You really need to read Blaze's biography At the end of the day, I got it on amazon kindle loved it, the two chapters on maiden are very eye opening and I kind of lost a little respect for Steve in the way blaze was treated in and after maiden, shame the songs are kind of ignored by Maiden as the blaze era has some of my favourite maiden songs, they need to bring back edge of darkness and two worlds collide.
I didn't realize he had a biography out, I'll go check it out right away.
Check out his appearance on Chris Jericho's podcast also, he's great on it.
I've read many articles over the years and always thought that Steve was the only one who actually care about Blaze.
@@javierramallo603 he could have given blaze more help in maiden, insisting on more rehursal time blaze only had a week to learn the set list and Steve refused to tune down when blaze asked, even blaze said he felt more comfortable doing the Paul era and they hardly did any and of course he put all the hardest songs at the end of the gig and a lot of the songs especially towards the end of the virtual xi tour were played way to fast for blaze.
Finally someone!!!
Great video mate! Inspired me to revisit the album - waiting for the vinyl to turn up today 🤘
Thanks for watching! Glad to hear that you enjoyed the album enough to grab the vinyl!
The only song I'm not too keen on is the unbeliever, b side judgement day should replace it and fortunes of war is one of my favourite maiden songs.
A good review! I love this album too. Very personal.
Thanks for watching! Up the Irons!
Wow, what a refreshing change. Stumbled across this video by accident. So nice to hear a positive review for this album, so under-rated. However, I disagree with your view of 2am. It`s a corker of a track. Yes, the subject and lyrics are hardly positive, but having suffering from depression at many times in my life, and at times severe, I actually find this song good to listen too, in fact sometimes I just jump straight to it. I guess it`s just the way it resonates with me. I shall check out your other reviews in the near future!
Thank you for the kind words!
Kiske was Never considered, Steve was only ever going to get a British singer, the last two in the running were Blaze and Dougie white who sang for a short time in rainbow. II guess they thought Dougie sounded too close to Bruce, but he would have been able to handle the Bruce keys, maiden really wanted blaze so they should have tuned down for blaze, he damaged his voice and shows had to be cancelled, the virtual xi tour they still didn't tune down for him, shame on maiden.
Doogie White is a good singer, I just have a hard time picturing him as a frontman for a band like Maiden.
Great album and great tour. Blaze was firing on all cylinders when i saw them in Oslo, Norway in 1995.
Damn, so jealous you got to see Blaze and Maiden! That must've been awesome!
@@HunterBoldingVideo He was on fire in 95 and 98. Cool to see Maiden in that setup. And the Blaze songs live.... That was really something
@@kristianp.405 Love to see some Blaze support, it was super awesome to see them bring back the two Blaze era songs for The Legacy of the Beast tour.
Both songs, such classics. I was lucky to see them in Aberdeen, Scotland playing Clansman. It was special 🙂
Album suffered from bad production, Blaze was barely audible. Also too many slow, dark intros and some of Harris' songwriting bordered on causing depression, especially in the second half. None of this had anything to do with Blaze, he did a very good job on this album, both as a vocalist and a songwriter. Never understood why Blaze was blamed when it was really Steve going through a rough time privately.
Exactly, Blaze gave his ALL to Iron Maiden, almost blew out his voice singing because they wouldn't tune down for his voice, and then didn't even badmouth the band after they brought Bruce back. Such a pro.
Love this one, did from the jump. I recognize the problems but love it anyway.
I didn’t realize Hugh Syme did the artwork for the album, he always did a phenomenal job on the Rush albums!
Love this album! Got to see them on this tour in a small venue in Memphis and got to meet the entire band afterward. Super nice guys. Took pics signed autographs for us all. Bruce is my all time favorite metal singer but Blaze did a great job!
So jealous that you got to see him with the band live!
@@HunterBoldingVideo it was awesome! My brother got to go on stage with a bunch of other fans to sing with them on Heaven Can Wait. We were right on the front. Fear Factory opened. Both bands hung out with us for over an hour after the show. It was surreal. Steve Harris had his own bus! LOL.
This is a great album
Up the irons! Love me some Blaze Bayley Iron Maiden!
@@HunterBoldingVideo Metal on!
Blaze's albums after Maiden are *killer*, especially the first three. He's a real talent, and they shouldn't have brought him on if they weren't going to use him the right way.
Yeah, his solo stuff and the music he did with Wolfsbane were/are amazing. Love the guy.
First three songs are great!
And thats it on that album
I respect your opinion. To be honest a few years ago I probably would agree with you completely. But I heard Bruce singing some of these songs live and I thought damn these are some really good songs! I never really gave them a chance back in the day for whatever reason. so I decided to go back and check them out and see what they were like. The 2 blaze albums that is. 1st 3 songs that I had heard Bruce doing Amazing! Blaze did a awesome job they're just kickass classic iron maiden songs. But this album is long and dense and takes a lot of listens to really get into. I wasn't patient with it before but I decided to give it a chance this time. I will not say that all the songs are perfect but they are all really good. There are spots in some songs where I think they should have done another vocal take and then there are other spots in the same song where hes like freaking awesome and I'm like how's this the same guy? There's nothing really cringe worthy or bad on the album just things that maybe could have been cleaned up a little bit here and there. I think blaze was young And all of these weren't his songs and I'm not sure if he was given enough time to learn how to tackle some of them. He does really good on stuff that he wrote and not so good on some of the others. One thing I like about the album is they actually detuned on the album to fit his vocal register unlike the Bruce songs they did live that he couldn't do justice to. out of his range. Blaze actually reminds me of Bruce a lot in the way he sings. he has the power...his phrasing is a little different and hes in a lower key.. but there are a lot of similarities. Some of the songs on the latter half are a little hit-and-miss in places, but songs like blood on the world's hands... it's awesome give it a chance. I like the unbeliever..I like the aftermath.. I like edge of darkness..The lyrics on this album are awesome and the music aint bad. It actually sounds a little heavier playing in a lower key for blaze than what they do now. I'm not a Bruce fan boy or a blaze apologist, but I like iron maiden and I'm not willing to call anything they do shit just because Bruce and Adrian aren't there. Of course I love them both and I'm glad they're back with The band but these 2 albums without them were pretty damn good. I think they are the beginnings of the style that they do now with the reunion era group. I know it's a different album but take a listen to futureal and Como Estas amigos from virtual VI. Or lightning strikes twice that's a good track and the Clansman damn! Classic! It's not saying you're doing this... but I kind of did.. I discounted this era because Bruce was gone and I was upset , but they continued to do some really good work during this time. I would love to hear Bruce and Adrian perform on these 2 records in their entirety now or even better during the 2000 to 2010 era when Bruce was kicking ass! I believe there's a little bias towards these records and if they performed on them, I believe people would see them for how good they really are! Don't think that will ever happen though..sadly. So they may not be the best but they're definitely not the worst... I'm starting to really dig Em the more I listen to them. Hell if you edit angel and the gambler down a little bit which I have heard on RUclips it's not bad either! I kind of like that they're not afraid to try new things. you have to... as long as they've been doing it. If we all agree that the 1st 7 records were kind of the holy Grail and nothing they do is ever going to live up to that... then maybe we can agree the rest is all still pretty damn good and better than most bands can do. They can record themselves passing gas and be better than some of the bs on the radio these days! Up the irons!
Few days ago i listen the x factor in order to realize what is happening now in my head with that album.First tree song did great job,after that album become boring. Some songs are ok,but complite work is not at the lewel before.Its not the problem only with Blaze(who is not great voice like Bruce),problems are songs.
@@peraoroslamoski4151 I get it....I do...it's funny though...if you listen to the last few records...when Bruce sings in a lower register he is awesome as ever, but he doesn't sound as good when he tries to sing in a higher register. There are spots on Senjutsu where I am amazed. Like wow he still can do it...others where I'm like damn! He got old. But, he's still better than most!
This is the best 90s Maiden album.
Not the highest bar, but definitely true.
I remember being dumbfounded by the album. For me the music was better than on FOD but the singing sounded compressed and limited. Blaze has no range. I think the reason the songs are longer is cause Steve wanted to push the music in the forefront.
Sad to say it took me far too long to listen to the Blaze Maiden albums but after seeing the reformed Wolfsbane open for Saxon I was really impressed went back and ended up enjoying them quite a lot.
Big fan of all Blaze's work now, had the pleasure of seeing him live several times with Wolfsbane and his solo band, strongly recommend. He always puts on a great performance.
If you haven't heard it, check out his interview with Chris Jericho, it made me love Blaze even more. Such a man of the people, all about the music.
❤️❤️❤️
I like Blaze a lot. I actually went to see Maiden with Blaze singing on the Virtual tour and he was great.
The X factor is a really good album, nothing to hate on it.
Wow! Lucky you! I wish I could have seen Blaze live. Thanks for watching!
Love Blaze Bayley & Both Albums He Did With Maiden The X Factor Is A Brilliant Album
I got it when it was released and I was extremely disappointed, but after many years this became one of my favorite Maiden albums. I often give it a listen
Glad to hear that you enjoy it now!
I still listen to this album at times. It has some moments, although alot of the tracks are long, barely audible, and have repetitive lyrics.
Working on the X Factor "Retracked" version with the special tracks that got left off, and I think it fixes issues with the pace of the album.
@@HunterBoldingVideo
Is that your own personal track listing?
@@HOTRAILProductions It would be me adding the bonus tracks and switching the official tracklist around a bit.
I love 2 AM!
10:38 I know this exact feel 😁
Even tough most maiden fans don’t care for this album. I don’t mind the X factor. I think there are a few decent moments on here. I admire the darker approach, (courtesy due to Steve Harris divorce). Unfortunately personally I don’t think the songwriting supporting the 70 minute runtime. While Blaze Bayley is not a bad vocalist, I just don’t find his sound fitting the band. Let us all be painfully honest with ourselves here, how many of these songs on the x Factor sounds infinitely better when Dickinson sing them? Just saying
Blaze's material after Iron Maiden is solid, and he's great with Wolfsbane. Obviously Bruce is a better fit for Maiden. Different flavors for different eras of the band.
Musically x factor and virtual XI are some of my favorite albums. Not a fan of blaze on vocals but the music itself is fantastic (aside from angel and the gambler yuck 😂) Brave new world continues to be one of my favorite modern era maiden albums though.
They should have released the shorter radio edit of Angel and the Gambler on the album. It's much more bareable
Where did you get your shirt??
I searched high and low and found it on eBay! So happy to have found one (even if it's a size too big).
I saw this tour in nyc it’s in my top three maiden shows I’ve seen live since 86 I’m a fan of the blaze era deep down we all knew bruce was going to come back at some point.
So lucky to have seen Blaze with Maiden! Super jealous!
@@HunterBoldingVideo it was in a small theater it was amazing I still think bout that show 😊
Blaze is a rock singer, not metal. I could picture him in Saxon, but not Maiden. On occasion he sounds like Byford.
I'd classify Saxon as metal, idk. And his stuff in Wolfsbane is pretty metal as well. The whole "rock singer" vs "metal singer" thing has never really been something I think about.
I love The x Factor it's good to see you get some love just like I really love no pair for the dying
I love the first half of No Prayer! And I absolutely love The X Factor!
yeah a big fuck you to all those throw shit at Blaze, great singer and he gave the best he could for this monster called Iron Maiden and people should recognize that, agree in everything you said, but the aftemath is one of the best of the x factor, deep great fucking lyrics, key changes, is in A very grooving and the flashy kick ass solo is Janick's the idea of this song is his. This Album is in my top 5 of maiden, very dark and compelling, takes time, but once you get use to it you can't stop listening it.
I like the blaze albums a lot...not really a maiden album I don't like... not a fan of Bruce's Brian Johnson vocals on some of the no prayer and fear songs... but everything else great!
Front half of No Prayer is fantastic, the back half, not so much for me.
Yeah, that raspy voice Bruce uses on songs like Be Quick or be Dead is rather annoying.
I want that t shirt.
It took me FOREVER to find one that was official! Try eBay!
I tried several times but i just don’t like this album. The X Factor and Virtual 11 are weak. No problem with Blaze, but it just doesn’t fit the Iron Maiden material. Apart from 2-3 songs on each album it’s not worth remembering. Been listening to Maiden since ‘93. There Iron Maiden to Seventh Son era is the best for me. Final Frontier is never going to be in my collection, nor are the Blaze albums.
Sorry you feel that way, at least you gave it a shot though!
its really surreal seeing the word "masterpiece" when looking at an X-Factor review. when this came out I don't remember anybody liking it. When I picked this up on release day, i put it on my stereo and was totally blown away by Sign of the Cross. I was totally on board.. then Lord of the Flies.. not as good but still awesome. and then it just goes down hill from there for me. I remember getting through the whole thing and just feeling totally "meh" about the album in general and that initial rush i got from sign of the cross was completely gone. It has alot of emotion and feeling, yes, but as an album, it really couldn't stand up to Fear of the Dark (which is sad because I dont think Fear of the Dark is a great album overall either). There are many things wrong with this album.. the artwork, the production, the tour, the merchandise, the melancholy, the whole vibe was weird. And one final note.. once i heard Bruce sing Sign of the Cross at rock in Rio.. that was the moment that put this album in the trash for me. Bruce just totally blows Blaze out of the water and Sign of the Cross became a favorite of mine once again in the later years.
Can't say I agree with this assessment of the album, but thanks for watching!
Con esa voz de blaze, nunca podrá ser un gran disco. Es horrible como cantante.
No estoy de acuerdo, Blaze es un gran cantante. Maiden no le hizo ningún favor al negarse a sintonizar su rango vocal.
@@HunterBoldingVideo , si es tan buen cantante, porque no ha formado una gran banda, para ser buen cantante es condición sin ecuanun tener chorro de voz, dio, bruce, phil alselmo, devin townsend, etc.
Estaba en una gran banda, dos de ellos en realidad, Wolfsbane estaba en camino al estrellato y fue jodido por su gestión. Phil Anselmo no era la razón por la que Pantera era bueno. Y Bruce y Dio son dos de los mejores cantantes de todos los tiempos, no es una comparación justa.
@@HunterBoldingVideo , para ser buen cantante, lo suyo es valorarlo en directo, ponte alguno de devin townsend y luego de blaze, ya me dirás. En una encuesta si blaze es un gran cantante o no, ganaría el no.
Ese es el problema, estás comparando cantantes cuyos estilos ni siquiera se parecen entre sí. Entonces no hay comparación. Si tomas a cualquier cantante y lo obligas a cantar fuera de su rango y no afinar, sufrirán como resultado, incluso los mejores.