Virtual XI

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Virtual XI (pronounced "Virtual Eleven") is the eleventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 23 March 1998. It is the band's second and final album with Blaze Bayley on vocals. It also marks the first album to utilise a slightly modified logo, with the letters R, M, and N the same size as the other letters as opposed to them being extended. The band used the updated version of their logo for their next few albums; it was used until The Final Frontier, released in 2010.

Background

File:070918--blaze bayley.jpg

Virtual XI is the second and final Iron Maiden album with vocalist Blaze Bayley.

Virtual XI's title is tied in with two extra-musical events: the release of the band's computer game, Ed Hunter, and the fact that the 1998 FIFA World Cup would be taking place in June of that year.<ref name="Wall 320">Template:Cite book</ref> Harris explains, "We figure our fans are pretty much the same as we are, with pretty much the same interests, so we thought, 'It's World Cup year in '98. Let's get the football involved in the new album.' And we were already working on a computer game at that time, so we thought, 'Well, let's bring that element into things, too.'"<ref name="Wall 320"/> Prior to the album's release, the band organised a publicity tour in which they held football matches across Europe with "guest musicians and pro-footballers from the UK."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

While most of the artwork in the album's booklet was taken from the Ed Hunter game,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the cover was created by Melvyn Grant. According to Grant, he was asked to design something related to virtual reality, but was later asked to alter the artwork by adding a football game, the band then having decided to link the release with the World Cup.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This was also the first album to feature the band's new alternate logo, with the extended ends of the "R", "M", and both "N's" removed. This variant would be used on all future studio albums, live albums (with the exception of Flight 666 and Maiden England '88), and singles up until The Final Frontier. Starting with The Book of Souls, the band's 16th studio album, the original logo was reused.

For this album some keyboard parts were performed by band founder/bassist Steve Harris whereas on previous albums all the keyboard parts had been handled by Harris' bass technician, Michael Kenney.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As with their previous world tour, several US shows on the Virtual XI World Tour had to be cancelled as Bayley had vocal issues;<ref name="Wall 322">Template:Cite book</ref> however, the official reason given for the cancellation was that he was suffering from a severe allergic reaction to pollen.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

This would be the second and final studio album to feature Blaze Bayley, as he resigned from Iron Maiden following a February 1999 announcement that Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith, who had left in 1993 and 1990 respectively, would be returning to the line-up.<ref name="Music Legends">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Songs

Stylistically, Bayley states that Virtual XI "was a more upbeat album [in comparison to its predecessor], because we'd survived the X-Factor... we were a band and, I felt, we were on our way."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Harris, "Futureal", whose lyrics were written by Bayley, is "about being locked up in virtual reality", and describes it as "a quite straightforward rocker but done Maiden style."<ref name="Wall 317">Template:Cite book</ref> Regarding the album's second single, manager Rod Smallwood claims that he "had a bit of a battle with Steve" over releasing "Futureal" instead of "The Angel and the Gambler" as the album's lead single, but "Steve put his foot down."<ref name="Wall 317"/> According to Harris, "The Angel and the Gambler" "is the story of these two characters, one guy who's been a bit of a rogue, a fly by night, and an angel who gets sent down to try and put him right – except he isn't having it."<ref name="Wall 317"/>

Of the album's remaining songs, "Lightning Strikes Twice" is, according to Harris, "a never say never-type song ... It's a very positive, hopeful song which you can read in lots of different ways."<ref name="Wall 318">Template:Cite book</ref> "The Clansman" was inspired by the film Braveheart<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> which Harris states is "about what it's like to belong to a community that you try and build up and then you have to fight to stop having it taken away from you".<ref name="Wall 318"/> Speaking about "When Two Worlds Collide", Harris says, "Lyrically, I think Blaze was trying to write about the different sort of worlds he's lived in and maybe about how his world has had to change and adapt to the world of being Iron Maiden's singer."<ref name="Wall 318"/> "The Educated Fool" is, according to Harris, about "growing older and everyone expecting you to be wiser but how somehow the older you get and the more you know, the less you have the answers for any of it."<ref name="Wall 318"/> "Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger" is inspired by Steve Harris' observation, from a parent's point of view, that "every stranger is a possible threat",<ref name="Wall 319">Template:Cite book</ref> while "Como Estais Amigos" is a tribute to the soldiers on both sides in the Falklands War;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> its lyrics were written by Bayley and the music by Gers, making this the first Iron Maiden album where Steve Harris did not write or co-write the final song.

After Bruce Dickinson rejoined the band, Iron Maiden continued to play both "Futureal" and "The Clansman" in concert. While "Futureal" was only performed live in 1999, "The Clansman" appeared in the group's setlists until 2003; it was also used during 2018's Legacy of the Beast tour. Live recordings of both songs with Dickinson on vocals have been released officially: "Futureal" was issued as a B-side to "The Wicker Man" single, while performances of "The Clansman" can be found on the live albums Rock in Rio and Nights of the Dead. The Rock in Rio recording was also included on Iron Maiden's 2011 compilation CD From Fear to Eternity.

Four songs that were written during the sessions for Virtual XI ended up on its follow-up Brave New World: "Nomad", "Dream of Mirrors", "Mercenary" and "Blood Brothers".

Blaze Bayley recorded solo versions of "Futureal" and "When Two Worlds Collide" on his live album As Live as It Gets. He regularly performs the album's closing song "Como Estais Amigos" in concert, a song which never appeared on any Iron Maiden setlist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The track "The Clansman" was sampled by singer Brandy in her song "I Tried".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Critical reception

Virtual XI was met with mixed to negative reviews from critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commented that "on the surface, there's nothing terribly wrong with the record, as it delivers all the crunching riffs and demonic horror of their best records. The problem is that there's nothing memorable about the hooks, riffs, or songs, and there's little visceral energy to the music or production. As a result, it sounds lifeless to all but the most devoted fan."<ref name= "AM" /> He also stated that Blaze Bayley is "a competent but faceless vocalist".<ref name= "AM" />

Personnel

Production and performance credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.<ref name="liner">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Iron Maiden

• Blaze Bayley – vocals
• Dave Murray – guitars
• Janick Gers – guitars
• Steve Harris – bass, keyboards on "The Clansman", "The Angel and the Gambler" and "Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger", production, mixing
• Nicko McBrain – drums

Additional personnel

• Michael Kenney – keyboards on all tracks except "The Clansman", "The Angel and the Gambler" and "Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger"

Production

• Nigel Green – producer, engineer, mixing
• Mick McKenna – assistant engineer
• Simon Heyworth – mastering
• Melvyn Grant – sleeve illustration
• Synthetic Dimensions – sleeve design, 3D imagery
• Simon Fowler – photography
• George Chin – photography
• Ross Halfin – photography
• Rod Smallwood – management
• Merck Mercuriadis – management
• Andy Taylor – management

Charts

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Chart (1998)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref name="ARIA">Template:Cite Ryan</ref>	98
French Albums (SNEP)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} Select Iron Maiden from the menu, then press OK.</ref>	12
Italian Albums (FIMI)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} With "Ricerca per" set on "Titolo", search "Virtual XI" and then click "Classifiche".</ref>	7
Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref name="JPN">Template:Cite book</ref>	19
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	10

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Chart (2017)	Peak position