Given that this album is absolutely terrible and the worst record ever released by the Maiden (although better than St. Anger), I want to direct a couple of lines to Mr. Valerio Rivoli. You position yourself as a spokesperson for anti-Satanism but write filthy blasphemies like: ".... is THE MADONNA OF METAL...." which makes me quite hesitant about your hypocrisy of the pseudo-religious.
Moving on, dear Rivoli, I believe I already addressed you with an appeal: if you don't like the Maiden, nobody is forcing you to listen to them or to crap all over albums that have sanctified the very genre of heavy metal, as well as re-evaluated, on one side, and revolutionized, on the other, the concept of heavy metal "tout-court", broadening it to other types of experimentation. The Maiden of "Iron Maiden" and, above all, "Killers" are timeless, managing to blend punk and street rock. A true blessing. But those of "The Number of The Beast" (a NOT SATANIC album! This has been debunked multiple times, both by the band itself and by music critics) resurrected a genre, thanks to the combination of hard rock and heavy metal.
Seventh Son, on the other hand, is a different story, as it represents the band's desire to dare and experiment, while still not straying from their roots; The X Factor is a beautiful album, underrated due to a poor performance by Blaze Bayley (not his fault, though; indeed, he will remain one of the best hard rock singers) and a production that can only be described as garbage. Virtual XI is terrible on all fronts (but contains a couple of gems). No Prayer is a colossal mess.
After this little prelude, I would like to understand the reasons that lead you to define the Maiden as a bunch of crap and satanists. Personally, I detest crossover, nu-metal and extreme genres like brutal similar (though I don’t shy away from extreme listens such as The Crown, Slowmotion of Apocalypse, and much of grind bands). But, precisely because I consider them MY PERSONAL CONJECTURES, I don't spew crap saying that they write, sing, and play crap. Slipknot makes me sick, the same goes for Korn, Queens of The Stone Age, and similar stuff. But I have never allowed myself to judge an album that I can't metabolize because it's more radically tied to the metal of the '70s, '80s, and early '90s. Above all Metallica and Testament.
I believe I have made myself clear. I await a response, provided it is courteous and polite. Goodbye.
