Having recently acquired a Japanese import double CD copy of the controversial X Factor album by Iron Maiden, I have been revisiting what is usually considered the strongest of the two Blaze Bayley albums. In some quarters, the Blaze years aren’t even considered “real” Maiden, while in others, the man with the sideburns gains more appreciation over the years. The X Factor is a good Iron Maiden album, but certainly a departure and sometimes hard to recognize as the once-stampeding band.
“Lord of the Flies” was the second single, and for good reason. So many songs on The X Factor were slow or dour, but “Lord of the Flies” at least had tempo going for it. Maiden made an interesting choice in Bayley, choosing someone with a far deeper voice than Bruce Dickinson. The 90s were a sour time for bands of Maiden’s generation and you can feel the personal pain of chief songwriter Steve Harris, who allowed his feelings to come out a bit more than usual.
However you slice it, “Lord of the Flies” should be considered a worthy song. Listen to Nicko given’er on the drums and learn to appreciate Blaze’s signature delivery. It’s a different kind of Iron Maiden, but now that Bruce has been solidly in front of the band for the last 23 years, can we give some of the better Blaze tunes some love? I think we can.
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A really good showcase for Blaze’s vocal flavour. Love me some of his rich baritone.
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I’ve never understood the anti-Blaze sentiment. I like him better than Di’Anno. The music (which was never written mainly by the Maiden singer anyway) is good. This is progressive Maiden, like on the post-Dance of Death albums. It’s good.
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I like him as a person better than Di’Anno, and as a present-day singer far better than Di’Anno, but early 80’s Paul is something I loved.
It’s good. Definitely it’s good.
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Not a bad track. Am I softening to Maiden? hmmmm.
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To Blaze era Maiden maybe?
Harrison this is your chance!
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*sniff* *sniff* could it be possible…after all this time…has my patience been rewarded?
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No, not yet…but the song wasn’t bad. I’m too busy right now to dive in to them. Someday…maybe.
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That’s good enough for me, especially when it comes to the Blaze years.
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Nope. Still not for me. Good try though.
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I’ll take a good try. Fuck what Yoda said about trying, that never made any sense anyway.
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Yoda knew Luke’s capabilitlies better than anyone. It wasn’t meant as a statement to be applied to everyone.
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This was one of the gems from the album. I thought they did fine on the X Factor though it does kind of run together some. It did take me years to even bother giving the Blaze stuff a real chance. It was a pretty dark point in the band’s history at the time it happened.
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That opening riff is killer. Drives the song forward…
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I like Blaze on his own and doing his own thing.
And in saying that I like the way Bruce sang the songs from this album on the Rock In Rio release.
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