Justify Your Shitty Taste: Iron Maiden’s “The X Factor”

By: A. Begrand Posted in: featured, justify your shitty taste On: Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

maiden band

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, every Wednesday morning, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and said dud is, in fact, The Shit. Today, Adrien Begrand defends Y U gotta B all OMG for Iron Maiden’s The X Factor.

These days it’s easy to sit back, reflect on the debacle that was Iron Maiden in the mid-’90s and wonder, What the heck were they thinking? Replacing Bruce Dickinson? Were they mad? But go back to 1992 (if you’re old enough to remember, that is!), and you could see the split coming from a mile away. After a spectacular run of seven studio albums that ranged from excellent to classic—not to mention the greatest double live album ever, and world tours that got bigger and bigger with each passing year—the bottom had to fall out eventually. That crazy rollercoaster ride had to start another slow, upward climb sooner or later.

In 1990, the disastrous No Prayer for the Dying sounded just plain exhausted, the band totally lacking inspiration, either lazily recycling old ideas (token war-themed tune “Tailgunner,” token historial epic “Mother Russia”), following trends (dudes, lampooning evangelists was so 1987), and even covering a terrible song Dickinson recorded for a movie soundtrack. 1992′s Fear of the Dark was the slightest of improvements, a rare moment of inspiration (“Be Quick or Be Dead”) overshadowed by awful songwriting and the tritest, most audience-pandering song of Steve Harris’ career (the inexplicably popular title track). By then you could see Dickinson had clearly lost interest in all things Maiden. He’d written a novel. His loose, relaxed 1990 solo debut Tattooed Millionaire showed he was having more fun doing his own thing. Watch any of Maiden’s live footage from ’92-’93 (just look at the awful Raising Hell video for proof), and you’ll see a dude whose mind was obviously elsewhere.

Dickinson’s departure in 1993 was no surprise, and for many of us who were so disillusioned by those two lousy albums, it was hard to care at all anymore. And when you look at the four solo albums Dickinson put out between 1994 and 1998, it was the best thing that could possibly happen to him. Typical of the rest of Iron Maiden, they stubbornly decided to forge ahead, but while Dickinson experienced a creative rebirth with such records as Balls to Picasso and The Chemical Wedding, it would be a much rougher go for his old band, as their popularity would plummet, reducing them to playing clubs and small theaters in North America. Not that they didn’t put in a valiant effort, however. Recruiting singer Blaze Bayley from English band Wolfsbane (whose Rick Rubin-produced 1989 album, Live Fast, Die Fast, is a hidden gem), Maiden set about that daunting task of reviving their career; and while that didn’t exactly happen, contrary to popular belief, the music from that era—especially 1995′s The X-Factor—is nowhere near as awful as people say it is. In fact, at times it’s pretty damn great.
x factor cover
The X-Factor suffers from the same bloat that plagued countless other rock and metal records in the 1990s, as bands exploited the 79-minute running time of the compact disc; but even with a few filler tracks, it’s still a much stronger effort than either No Prayer for the Dying or Fear of the Dark. With Bayley possessing a more baritone voice, Harris’ songwriting took on a much darker tone to complement it, and that adjustment he makes yields an opening half hour that’s shockingly good. The Falling Down-inspired “Man on the Edge” is an explosive, raw little rocker in the same vein as “Be Quick or Be Dead,” “Lord of the Flies” is not only an effective retelling of the William Golding story, but an effectively hooky tune, and “Fortunes of War” is a workmanlike exercise within that classic Maiden template, shifting from a forlorn ballad to a lively, Harris-driven gallop.

It’s “Sign of the Cross” that’s the real keeper, though. Placed on the album as the opening track, it’s an awfully clunky way to start off a record, but over the years the 11-minute-plus song has aged extremely well, ranking as one of Harris’ finest compositions. The subject matter is rather murky (is it about the Spanish Inquisition, Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, or what?), but whatever the hell it’s about, it’s a highly theatrical piece that boasts a powerful vocal performance by Bayley, not to mention some of the band’s most restrained work on record. The intimacy of Nigel Green’s production plays a big part, as the intimacy of the mix seems to force the band to deliberately avoid slipping into pure bombast. Instead, the guitar work by Dave Murray and Janick Gers is more textured, the big crescendos a lot more controlled, Michael Kenney’s keyboards softening the tone just enough. Long, but far from long-winded, it’s an invigorating, at times gorgeous song.

Elsewhere, songs like “The Aftermath,” the surprisingly moving “Judgment of Heaven” and the morose ballad “Blood on the World’s Hands” help anchor the album’s second half before coming to a rousing climax on “Edge of Darkness,” in which Harris and Bayley retell Heart of Darkness to great effect. Sure, we could do without “Look for the Truth,” “2 A.M.” and “The Unbeliever,” and that Hugh Syme artwork is just plain off-putting (a real-life Eddie is just as disturbing as a real-life Homer Simpson), but there’s still a lot to like on The X-Factor.

In the end, of course, having Bruce return to Iron Maiden in 1999 was the smart thing to do. Despite a good showing on record, Bayley simply lacked the vocal range to make Dickinson’s classic material work. And in a smart move, Dickinson went on to perform several tracks from The X-Factor on subsequent tours: he did a great job on “Man on the Edge” and “Lord of the Flies,” and his Rock in Rio performance of “Sign of the Cross” instantly brought the song to the attention of Bayley-era skeptics, forcing some, including yours truly, to re-evaluate their opinion. Lie any other Maiden fan, I’m more interested in listening to the band’s superb, post-reunion body of work (Brave New World, Dance of Death, A Matter of Life and Death and last year’s brilliant The Final Frontier), but to this day, every so often I dust off those much-maligned Blaze tracks, and the more time passes, the more I realize just how big a mistake it was to completely dismiss Iron Maiden when they were going through their identity crisis 15 years ago. The sales weren’t there, nor the chemistry at times, but the passion sure was.

I’ve long said that if you made a 45 or 50 minute album out of Iron Maiden’s best Blaze Bayley-era songs, you’d get a record that holds up alongside the best of their work, and definitely something exponentially better than No Prayer or Fear of the Dark. If you’ve got Spotify, have some cash to spend on iTunes, or are one of those file-stealing kids on bittorrent, I suggest you try putting this fine little mix together. You might be pleasantly surprised:

1. “Man on the Edge”
2. “Lord of the Flies”
3. “The Clansman”
4. “The Angel and the Gambler
5. “Futureal”
6. “The Edge of Darkness”
7. “Sign of the Cross”

(actual The X-Factor tracklist)
1. “Sign of the Cross”
2. “Lord of the Flies”
3. “Man on the Edge”
4. “Fortunes of War”
5. “Look for the Truth”
6. “The Aftermath”
7. “Judgement of Heaven”
8. “Blood on the World’s Hands”
9. “The Edge of Darkness”
10. “2 A.M.”
11. “The Unbeliever”

  • Albert

    I love you, Adrien, but I’m calling you out on the “Fear of the Dark” smack-talk!

  • Dangrind

    i think you shouldve done No prayer for the dying since you put it down more than the x factor lol …. i love all those 3 albums though …. but talk about Virtual XI and Brave New World even with bruce back it lacked in epic quality songwriting

  • Albert

    I should make it clear that I mean the song, not the record. On the whole, the record kinda blows.

  • Adrien

    “Fear of the Dark” is only bearable when half a million Brazilians are singing along.

  • post-felix

    It’s true, Weekend Warrior from Fear of the Dark is one of the best-worst songs that I own.

    Albert (and whoever really runs the blog): this is the best blog series I’ve ever read, period. A special collection of “Justify…” should really be your next book!

  • Onedh

    X Factor rules!!!!!!

  • pcp

    For some reason I like all iron maiden albums, except the most recent one which doesn’t seem to have anything redeemable on it. I mean, its all going to be pretty dorky, and these releases are maybe the most dorky, but if you’ve bought the ticket, might as well take the ride…

    This is sort of one of those Saint Anger albums where there is a brutal amount of repetition. The full version of the angel and the gambler is approximately 8 million variations on “doncha you think I can save yah, doncha think I can save yah”.

    Also, no prayer for the dying is fine, basically like most of the band’s discography, it works much better as a playlist of selected tracks. That’s probably why they’ve put so many out. Every release has one or two tracks that better round out a playlist.

  • pcp

    holy smoke is wonderfully stupid…

  • Ossqx

    Thanks for doing The X-Factor. I actually suggested it on my comment on Matallica’s St. Anger. I happen to love the album very, very much! Blaze was not the most appropiate choice of a singer for Maiden, but when it comes to this record, it belongs to him. His voice is powerful, deep, and menacing; and subtle and reflective when needed to be. I’d probably change 2 things about The X Factor: I would have included Judgement Day(a b-side track)instead of Man on the Edge. Judgement Day is simply a more dynamic and fun song and Man on the Edge has, for a long, long time, been considered to be the weakest song on the album. Ask any hardcore Maiden veterans(like Professor Black who called the track “the ‘falling down’ song of the album” in a Maiden article in Metal Maniacs from 98); and second, I’d take 2 songs to make it a bit shorter, so that people could digest the new vocalist better. The X Factor was plain and simple Iron Maiden’s best album of the 90′s. Comparing it to the 2 weakest albums ever on the Maiden cataloge(No Prayer… and Virtual 11)and an OK one(Fear of the Dark), may not convince people about the value of this album, but I can assure you that if you dedicate enough time to listen to it, with an open mind, you’ll be adding a nice jewel to the treasure chest of musical wonders that is the discography of the mighty Iron Maiden.

    P.S. About the track listing for your Blaze album, you include The Angel and the Gambler and Futureal. What the fuck??? Only one song, ONE, from Virtual 11 would I defend: The Clansman. I think you need to justify your shitty taste about that album sir. Maybe next week? hahaha

  • The ramiro

    Angel and the Gambler? Really? Really? That’s the worst Iron Maiden song ever written. That being said I like the X Factor a lot. It took a while for it to grow on me but I even like 2Am and the Ubeliever. I do have to agree that opening with “Sing of the Cross” was not the best idea. They should have used “Man on the Edge” instead.

  • http://twitter.com/AngryMetalGuy Angry Metal Guy

    I just broke out X Factor. I fucking love this record and I guess there’s a couple of filler tracks, but it’s always amazing to me that people liked VXI better than this one. While VXI had like 4 good tracks and the rest of it was total shit, The X Factor was a long and also excellent disc that was personal and dark in a way that no Maiden record was or will ever be again. Taken for what it is, I’d say that it’s an excellent record. If you expect it to be Piece of Mind or Powerslave, then you’ve just got your head up your ass.

    Also, good point about how bad NPftD and FotD are. Those records are really crappy and X Factor sounded like a band reinvigorated.

  • http://www.facebook.com/theblackening George Silano III

    I love The X-Factor, it’s so dark and disturbed, it take Maiden to new directions. It’s really meant to be listened to as a whole, which is one of many reasons why the band rarely plays these songs live. I wouldn’t say it’s among Iron Maiden’s best work, but it’s very worthwhile.

  • Mike

    Sign of the Cross sounds excellent with Bruce singing it these days. And it proves that while Steve Harris might not have been on the top of his game at the time, he really had to restart and go in new directions. 

    It’s clear that the strong stuff they’ve been putting out lately is a direct result of the longer, more experimental/progressive tracks on X-Factor and Virtual XI. People want to say their current phase starts with the reintroduction of Bruce, and that’s true in some ways, but to some degree this phase begins with The X-Factor.

    And hell, they made prog-metal albums when everyone else who had success in the 80s was scrambling to cash in on the last table scraps grunge had left behind, so you gotta give them some props.

  • Yeah

    What puzzled me and turned me off most was the glaring & constant off-key singing by Bayley.  How they let that stand, with the excellent Dickinson being the former singer and with all the studio time and ability to attract proper singers the band had, is inexplicable and unforgiveable. 

    Any random punter from the crowd could sing as well as Bayley.  If anyone even thinks for a second that they can refute this, listen to the first YouTube clip above first and then shut the fuck up like Bayley should’ve done they day he thought he could ever be a singer.  That this clown fronted Maiden is pure Spinal Tappery. 

    Then the songs.  They were sub-par Maiden tunes on X Factor, which was par for the course at the time, but the following album was a totally uninspired self-parody.  Utterly shameful and inexcusable.  “The Chemical Wedding” on the other hand is a fantastic Maiden album, much more Maiden than Maiden at the time. 

    “Fear of the Dark” (the song) is excellent and unique among their work.  However since perhaps “Somewhere In Time” the band has mostly been a bored, and boring, shadow of what they were when they cared and mattered musically.  They they’ve (Bruce, at least) often angrily slagged bands that took inspiration from them and went on to do it braver and better shows how out of touch they are.  As does letting Steve’s daughter’s awful band open for the uninspired Rehash In Time tour .

  • Charlie Brown

    I am 22 years old so obviously I missed a lot of the great Iron Maiden when it was released.  I acquired a greatest hits album(edward the great) around the late 90′s and subsequently rock in rio and brave new world.  The selection for these 2 albums had a lot to do with the fact that they were the only 2 maiden albums that Best Buy had to offer me at this point.

    Anyways, I got so obsessed with Iron Maiden I started buying all of the reissues(partly to have eddies face in my cd collection).  I put off the X factor and Virtual XI as the last 2 albums to enter my collection.  Assuming I would never listen, i just wanted to complete my collection.  I was a dickinson purist and even pushed their first 2 albums to the side.

    However one afternoon I was walking around my town with my cd walkman  and I decided to give Virtual XI a chance.  Man I was taken back by some of the songs on that album.  It blew me away like Number of The Beast did upon first listen.  Once you get past the unbelievably cliched, cliche of the song “Lightning Strikes Twice” I guarantee you will find it one of the most dynamic and crushing songs on this side of “Infinite Dreams”.  I was quick to then give the X factor another listen and realized that this was a killer album as well.

    That being said, Virtual XI absolutely has some unlistenably bad songs on it.  But that is not a maiden album to be ignored either.  You maiden fans who ignore these albums are only hurting yourself!!!

  • ozzyrulz777

    I love Maiden. I MEAN LOVE MAIDEN! But I never really liked the Blaze era.

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