“Those two are really strong, powerful albums and people will appreciate them later”: Steve Harris defends The X Factor and Virtual XI, Iron Maiden’s most derided albums

Steve Harris in 2019, in between images of the artworks of Iron Maiden albums The X Factor and Virtual XI.

Iron Maiden founder Steve Harris has gone to bat for two of his band’s most lambasted albums.

Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the bassist, who launched the London heavy metal juggernaut in 1975, defends 1995’s The X Factor and 1998’s Virtual XI, which many fans and journalists have named as the weakest albums in the Maiden oeuvre.