Virtual XI
| Virtual XI | ||||
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| Studio album by Iron Maiden | ||||
| Released | 23 March 1998 | |||
| Recorded | 1997 – February 1998 | |||
| Studio | Barnyard Studios, Essex, England | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 53:22 | |||
| Label |
EMI CMC / BMG (US) |
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| Producer | Steve Harris, Nigel Green | |||
| Iron Maiden studio albums chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Virtual XI | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 0/10 |
| Sputnikmusic | 3.5/5 |
Virtual XI (pronounced: Virtual Eleven) is the eleventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 23 March 1998. It was the second and final Iron Maiden album recorded with vocalist Blaze Bayley and last as a five-piece.
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. 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.'" 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."
While most of the artwork in the album's booklet was taken from the Ed Hunter game, 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. 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. However The Book of Souls, the band's 16th studio album, features the original logo on its cover.
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.
As with their previous world tour, several US shows on the Virtual XI World Tour had to be cancelled as Bayley had vocal issues, although the official reason was instead that he was suffering from a severe allergic reaction to pollen.
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Wikipedia