Tupan I think this is their best album. Iron Maiden always flirted with prog rock, and Seventh Son... is the best example of how to make a prog metal album with mass appeal without being over indulgent or losing its edge. There are short and anthemic songs (Can I Play With Madness, The Evil That Men Do, The Clairvoyant), and most complex but catchy tracks (Infinite Dreams, the eponymous epic song).

After this album, they changed the direction and tried to make something more simple, a nod to the two first albums (I believe), but the music sounded a bit forced and the results weren't that great. Seventh Son is still the pinnacle of Maiden music in the 80's, and possibly their best album ever. Check it out!

SilentScream213 Another Maiden record and another set of fantastically composed pure Heavy Metal tracks. Maiden continue to retain a very signature sound all while laying down tracks that don’t sound like anything they’ve done. This is probably their most melodic album yet, and most accessible in a way – it’s almost pure fun all the way through. The opener “Moonchild” is full of catchy riffage and anthemic vocals, “Can I Play with Madness” almost sounds like a pop song, and even the epic “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” at almost 10 minutes, goes by in a flash thanks to its ever changing yet never boring structure. “The Evil That Men Do” and “Only the Good Die Young” also feature some of my favorite lyrics from Bruce and provide some dark, moody atmospheres contrary to the rest of the album.

The record is pretty much exactly what anyone can expect from Maiden, while at the same time continuing to surprise with the band’s songwriting abilities. All songs are great and full of memorable qualities.

siLLy puPPy Here it is. The album that IRON MAIDEN had been hinting at finally coming to fruition. Steve Harris' progressive rock influences had been showing themselves from the very first album and creeping their way into each album with an ever stronger presence until on “Powerslave” the fully formed progressive behemoth “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” reared its monstrous almost 14 minute head. Surprised was I that the next album “Somewhere In Time” was not the fully developed concept album hinted upon, but on SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON, the seventh deadly sinful studio album, all that progginess unleashes itself and in a truly satisfying way that makes this my absolute favorite MAIDEN album of their entire career and since I pretty much like every stage of their career (with the exception of the 90s) that is a major accomplishment in my book.

The story and album title comes from the 1987 novel “Seventh Son” by Orson Scott Card, upon which the concept is loosely based. In ancient western myths the seventh son of a seventh son (or daughters as well) supposedly possessed heightened occultic abilities such as clairvoyance, phophetic dreams and the like. The story unfolds starting with “Moonchild” where Lucifer tries to manipulate the parents of the seventh son as to harness his powers for his own evil. The rest of the album continues through the trials and tribulations of the father of the seventh son and son himself learning to control their powers and cope with the clairvoyant visions of their world slowly being decimated by evil forces. All in all the lyrics are vague and have a definite air of mystery which makes this an album that can be interpreted in many ways.

The real treat on this album is the music itself with extended song lengths, multi-segmented song structures, atmospheric keyboards added, progressive time signatures and just the fact that IRON MAIDEN didn't deviate from their sound or formulaic songwriting approach. They simply did what they were already so adept at laying out and simply let the music process progressively unfold when and where it made sense to do so. The result is a smashing success that still sounds like an IRON MAIDEN album but also doesn't at the same time. Unlike other metal bands who were also dabbling with keyboards at the time, MAIDEN used them only to embellish the music and not create a whole new instrumental section. One of my favorite albums of all time that sits well on the top of my huge heap of must-have releases.

666sharon666 Having started to experiment and get progressive with the prior Somewhere in Time Iron Maiden took that idea even further with their seventh outing, the appropriately timed Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. This one was the last Iron Maiden release to feature guitarist Adrian Smith until 2000's Brave New World and so marks the end of what is widely considered the classic Iron Maiden period.

In my mind Seventh Son of a Seventh Son was the last really great album Iron Maiden made until they got Adrian Smith (and Bruce Dickinson, who left after Fear of the Dark) back in the band. But if such a high period of creativity has to end, at least Iron Maiden ended this one in the best possible way. Like the earlier Powerslave Seventh Son of a Seventh Son has the band at their most flawless and as much as I love Powerslave this one flows even better. You know something is good when the 44:06 running time seems to go by in the blink of an eye. Singles like Can I Play With Madness and The Evil That Men Do are rightly fan favourites but I love every song from this one equally. For that reason Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is, in my opinion, the best album Iron Maiden has ever released.

Attribution: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/iron-maiden-seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son-t3629.html

Sinkadotentree This is apparently a concept album about a young prophet who predicts the destruction of his village but is ignored when he warns everyone. He would go insane and commit suicide. At this point in the band's career i don't think they were ever more popular. Hey to make a concept album and have your album go straight to number one on the charts must have made them feel they could do no wrong. Sadly it all changed after this recording and the band wouldn't regain it's form until the year 2000(12 years later) with "Brave New World". My favourite song is the title track but man this is full of fantastic tunes. Much has been made about how this is their most progressive album and i have to agree. This is the fourth masterpiece by them in a row in my opinion but they would fall off of the mountain top pretty quickly after this. While the eighties was a great decade for MAIDEN fans the reverse was true for the nineties. A must-have album !

Warthur The peak of Bruce Dickinson's first stint in the band when it comes to musicianship, complexity, and artistic achievement, this semi-concept album finds the band in excellent form, fully integrating synthesisers into their sound in a way which proved that the lessons of Somewhere In Time had been well-learned. If I had to pick out one song from here as my favourite, it must be Infinite Dreams, which crams in a whole album's worth of quiet reflection, operatic bombast, and metal accomplishment into just six minutes, but more or less every track on here is a keeper. Essential Maiden, on a par with Number of the Beast or Powerslave.

The Block The prophet stared at his crystal ball and said… 4.5 stars.

Iron Maiden’s seventh album is arguably their best. It is only one of four Maiden albums to reach number one on UK charts along with The Number of the Beast and later Fear of the Dark and The Final Frontier. It is actually a concept album that centers on the powers given to the seventh son of a seventh son and good vs. evil, mysticism, and reincarnation. At least five out of the eight songs have some reference to the subject. It continues this theme from their previous album Somewhere in Time.

This album is very solid with great keyboards by Steve Harris especially on “Moonchild”. There are also those deep, heavy Maiden riffs throughout that really make this one special. The vocals added to the great drumming by Nicko McBrain and bass really give it that Iron Maiden feel.

One song that really shows this, is the title epic, “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, which starts out with booming synths and drums. Bruce Dickinson’s vocals are so goo and crisp that they just jump out at me. His little wails add such good definition to the song. Also I just love his chant in the middle, it adds a cool touch to the song that none of the other ones have. You can easily pick out the theme in this one, especially in the line. “…slowly revealing the power he holds”. The chorus in this song is very chant-like, but that blends in nicely with the whole song.

Another classic on this album is “Can I Play With Madness” which has a great beat to it and has nice heavy riffs throughout. Bruce Dickinson really belts it out in this one which gives this song some very nice lines and choruses. This track also features some wicked guitar playing by Adrian Smith. It tells the story of a young mad who is riddled by nightmares, so he decides to see a prophet so he can see the future. But, the young man does not heed the others warnings and it ends in a quarrel. This all makes for a wonderfully rich ballad.

Other good songs on this album include… well, all of them. This album has as many good songs on it then most of the albums that I own. This CD has heavier and darker songs such as “Moonchild” which features great keyboards to lighter songs like “The Clairvoyant”. Some of the songs even have a popier feel to them like “Only the Good Die Young” which has a very catchy chorus. For the diverse but yet the same Iron Maiden feel they get 4.5 stars.

Time Signature Can I play with metal...

Genre: heavy metal

The last of Iron Maidens first golden streak of perfect albums, "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" is, as is well-known, a concept album about mysticism and esoteric philosophy, based on the folkloric myth of the seventh son of the seventh son and the special powers that are bestowed upon him.

I absolutely love this album and all the tracks on it - from the "Seven deadly sins" intro, over the keyboard-driven power opener "Moonchild" over the more poppy mega hit "Can I Play With Madness" and the epic ballad "Infinite Dream" to the dark epic title track and the melodic closer "Only the Good Die Young". Every track is full of great guitar melodies, twin leads, galloping basslines, amazing vocals and pounding drums - everything that Maiden do so well.

The opening track, as mentioned above, is a power opener, which, after the acoustic intro to the album, starts out with an energetic synth figure, and slowly builds up into a quite aggressive metal track. "Infinite Dreams" is one of my favorite Maiden tracks; it opens up a ballad with a haunting guitar melody and quite mellow vocals on top of a rather complex backdrop of music, which upon second repetition is distorted. The chorus is, of course, in a different tempo, while the bridge is an uptempo galloping affair with lots of catchy vocal patterns an twin guitars. "Can I Play With Madness" is more poppy and it is not coincidence that this track was the great hit off this album. "The Evil That Men Do" is a more straight rocker, but its vocal lines are inescapably catchy - you just can't help but singing along to this one. The title track is an epic affair along the lines of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" with three major parts: a slow galloping one, an eerie athmostpheric one, and then a dark but upbeat one with some really atypical guitar figures (and there are lots of twin guitar sections all over the song). "The Prophecy" is one of the more obscure tracks on the album, but it's actually a quite interesting folk-inspired dark track, while "The Clairvoyant" is another major hit, with some uplifting and catchy guitar melodies. The closer "Only the Good Die Young" is another straight rocker with loads of catchy melodic things going on.

This album has been described as Iron Maiden's progressive album, I agree to some extent. I agree that it certainly is progressively inclined what with the concept storyline an all, the layers of guitars and all the time and tempo changes. But I do not think that it is THE progressive Maiden album, because the progressive mentality has been there from the very first album. But, "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" certainly is more progressive than the follow-up albums "No Prayer for the Dying" and "Fear of the Dark", both of which has a more straight rock approach to them.

Recommended to anyone who likes rock or metal!

Pekka As much as I love Somewhere in Time, the award of my #1 Maiden album goes without question to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Like its predecessor, it was a very difficult album to get into at the time that I finally managed to hunt it down in a tiny record shop in Helsinki, a big distant city in those days, but again like its predecessor it's an album I eventually completely fell in love with.

Seventh Son is the first and only Iron Maiden concept album, the story being based on an old tale by the same name, set in mystical and magical times, through its protagonist dealing with basic questions like good versus evil. I haven't delved deep into the lyrics, but they fit the music perfectly and make the album feel more unified. When it comes to lyrics I'm usually not after some big storyline, but single effective lines will do the trick to me, from this album a part that's frequently stuck in my head is the whole "even though it's reached new heighths, I rather like the restless nights..." two verse section in Infinite Dreams. Brilliant atmosphere there, one of my favourite parts of the album.

Moonchild might be my preferred Maiden album opener ever, especially live it's a killer moment. Just today morning I was listening to the Donington '88 part from the BBC Archives album and got mad goosebumps when the band came crashing in after the "seven deadly sins" intro and the synth build-up. While we're ranking like this, I'll go and say that the aforementioned Infinite Dreams in its entirety is perhaps my favourite second track on any Maiden album. Wonder why nobody ever makes top lists from this stuff? Can I Play With Madness? and The Evil That Men Do are two tracks that have sticked around in Maiden's live set, but the first of them is the album's weakest number, or let's say least great, in its simple rocking feel. Very enjoyable nevertheless, but in a tad too strong company to shine.

But what follows is one of Maiden's epic masterpieces, the title track. On this album the band added proper synths to go with their earlier explored guitar synths, and they make great use of them on this track that can only be described as grand and monumental. The long instrumental section ending the track is one of Maiden's boldest moments. After a pair of just as impressive numbers, The Prophecy and one of my early Maiden favourites, the Clairvoyant, Maiden does something they hadn't done since the first album and closes the record with a relatively short uptempo number. Only the Good Die Young is for some incomprehensible reason a track that has never appeared live in concert, as it is one hell of a treat of speed, melody and yes, a bass solo.

The most consistently brilliant Maiden record ever, get it if you don't have it.

AtomicCrimsonRush Seventh Album and one of the best for Iron Maiden.

The progressive metal of Iron Maiden began with “Powerslave” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” takes it to the next level with a full blown conceptual masterpiece, the best Iron Maiden album along with “Brave New World”. The songs are longer on this release with multiple time sig changes, complex arrangements and intricate guitar breaks. There is a great deal of synth passages here giving this a decidedly progressive feel. The lyrics are very much locked into the theme of apocalyptic cataclysm, thematic content of Biblical proportions; the number seven being such a pivotal number in the Bible, yet Maiden were spouting 666 in their early years.

Bruce Dickinson the ‘Air raid siren’ is at the peak of his powers here with some absolutely incredible vocal work such as ‘Moonchild’. This begins with very gentle acoustic and soft vocals until the fiend is unleashed and a breakneck speed riff blitzes along. It is complex and the rhythm is interconnected by lead guitar, McBrain’s pounding drums and a stunning bassline from Harris. The lyrics are interesting; “Seven downward slopes, Seven bloodied hopes, Seven are your burning fires, Seven your desires”. The theme is ingrained from the start.

‘Infinite Dreams’ is a slower song with dark lyrics, “Suffocation waking in a sweat, Scared to fall asleep again, In case the dream begins again, Someone chasing I cannot move, Standing rigid a nightmare's statue, What a dream when will it end, And will it transcend.”

‘Can I Play With Madness’ is one of the big songs that has featured in live performances over the years. The lyrics are as engaging as ever, “Can I play with madness? The prophet stared at his crystal ball, Can I play with madness? There's no vision there at all, Can I play with madness? The prophet looked at me and laughed at me, ha ha, He said: Can I play with madness? He said you're blind, too blind to see.” A very polished sound with pristine production provides an upbeat atmosphere, with harmonies and twin duelling guitars that are bang on note perfect.

‘The Evil That Men Do’ is another melody driven popular track that graces live sets with catchy chorus that every Iron fan knows, “Living on a razor's edge, Balancing on a ledge, Living on a razor's edge you know, you know, the evil that men do lives on and on...” The lead solo passage is virtuosic with fret melting prowess from the legendary Smith and Murray.

‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’ is the tour de force of progressive classics that clocks in at virtually 10 minutes. There are a myriad of twists and turns in the musical structure from peaceful chants to majestic flourishes back to blistering pulse racing tempo metal gallops. The lyrics are powerful and epic, “Today is born the seventh one, Born of woman the seventh son, And he in turn of a seventh son, He has the power to heal, He has the gift of the second sight, He is the chosen one, So it shall be written, So it shall be done.” The instrumental break is genius featuring fractured guitar riffing and complicated drum metrical patterns.

‘The Prophecy’ features a trade off between bass and lead that drive it and it is difficult to pin down any particular melody as it is chaotic with an off kilter time sig and ethereal soft passages. The theme of prophecies and good versus evil continues, “I had their lives in my hands, Their fates their fortunes in my visions, No one believed in my true prophecy, And now it's too late.”

‘The Clairvoyant’ is one of the highlights, with a frenetic dynamic riff that begins it that every Maiden fan would instantly recognise. The emotional lyrics from Dickinson are about holding and never giving up no matter what happens, and this is sung at top volume with utter conviction; “There's a time to live and a time to die, When it's time to meet the maker, There's time to live but isn't it strange, That as soon as you're born you're dying.” This became a Maiden anthem for good reason and once again is a live favourite.

‘Only The Good Die Young’ is another popular Maiden track with speed metal licks and powerhouse vocals. It ends the album on a high note and the guitars are as awesome as ever with twin tapping and arpeggios, high string bends and speed picking; Murray and Harris are a force to be reckoned with.

The progressive style is a welcome change on this album leading to more prog metal to come and it was the only direction for Iron Maiden after they showed their versatility on previous albums, such as “Powerslave”, with the ultra brilliant masterpiece ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, or at least glimpses of their talent such as ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’. On the next few albums the versatility and virtuoso instrumentation is taken to the highest degree. Enjoy the ride, as it does not get much better than this.

floflo79 After four masterpieces (The Number Of The Beast, Piece Of Mind, Powerslave and Somewhere In Time), the band release one of his finest album. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son is more progressive than the other albums but it's also epic and catchy and very well producted. The songs goes from the long epic piece (Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son) to shorter but great songs (Can I Play With Madness ?). Some songs of the album are just classics like The Clairvoyant, Moonchild, Infinite Dreams or The Evil Than Men Do. This is the last great album of Iron Maiden before Brave New World in 2000.

paroxix i would expect nothing less than this beign rated the number one NWOBHM Album on website started by members or prog archives :)

As many have said before, this is the last of maiden's "perfect" albums. their seventh album no less is aptly named seventh son of a seventh son.

it's follows the concept of a seventh son of a seventh son with the mystic powers of second sight and clairvoyancy, while a daunting task for any band to pull of a concept album well, maiden was more than up to the challenge here. from the opening track to closign track this album wil take you on a journey through a young mystic's life with amazing music no less.

1.)Moon Child

the first track is what i call the streotypical maiden acoustic intro then a cool arppegio type thing played on the keyboard(? correct me if i'm wrong)then the slow build up with drums and guitar,and it explodes right into the song bruce is just outstanding on vocals as always and nicko makes his kit come to life an were only 2 minutes into this album. the chorus though is not really what i like to think as being true maiden the reference to the mandrake tells me already this album is going to be proggy as the only tiem i've heard references of mandrakes is in prog. no as far as the concept goes i think this is the birth of the child. and teh mother doesn't want to keep the child but the father wants the 7th son or it will mean doom for the world. i must say not classic maiden in terms of content but the music holds up impecably

2.)Infinte Dreams

Honestly this song sounds years ahead of anything else it sounds like some of the maiden from brave new world it's basically maiden at theire abosolute best. also it's the olbigitory slow song every maiden album seems to have (children of the dammed,To Tame A Land,Rime Of The Ancient Mariner(the middle part,etc etc). i like the song yet dislike it. it's too far ahead of it's time i feel it doesn't work that well (sound wise),with teh rest of the album but still an amazing track. concept wise its the seventh son contemplating the dreams he has for hiself great guitar in this song i gotta say,also the instrumental section at about 4:20 is great.then bruce comes back in and goes to town on the rest of the song even though theres a guitar solo in between.

3.)Can I Play With Madness

Oh boy the "single" from seventh son. the shortest song by far more than a minute shorter than anything else though this is one of maiden's greatest songs,i love nicko's fills in this song there just amazing also is that a cowbell he's playing? for the concept the prophet warns him not to have sons but the first seventh son is "too blind to see" great music here as well. not much really to say here other than it's a great song,great for radio, and maiden kicks ass, as per usual.

4.)The Evil Men Do

this is only song i don't understand what it has to do with the concept (please help me out). but still an epic maiden track still. the chorus is a bit repetive but bruce manages to keep the listener hooked until he screams the evil that men do lives on and on. racing bass lines and guitar add nicely to the sound and atmosphere of this song. i swear though everytime bruce says cry he's going to sing don't cry for me argentina. then theres more classic maiden with instrumnetal section that arn't exactly solos yet are solos they just blend so well with the song. then the repeating chorus. this song is maiden at their best it's no wonder why this is widely considered of of maiden's best albums.

5.)Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son

the intro of the title track is just the seventh son of the seventh son is born and theres a choir of angels? bruce sounds liek he's makin gan annocement which would make sense becuase a child is about to be born. this is one of iron maiden's most compelx and progressive song's of all time at almost 10 minutes it has lots of time to explain the concept in further detail,but bruce just wants to say seventh son of a seventh son. the 2nd seventh son is growing up in this song and discovering his powers to see what he can manipulate.an amazing guitar riff to lead us into the 2nd part of the song where the prophet? is speaking about the powers the seventh son posseses, second sight, and he is the chosen one.nice ominous music and a choir comes in after this delacration making the atmosphere really creepy feeling and gradualy it builds and builds until, into the 3rd part dave murray creates this amazing collage of guitar with the solo and rythm a very progressive sound here too using minor scales a lot to make it soudn more sinister and evil. then a creepy choir adds in as yo ufeel like your bobbing an weaving yourself all over the place. the last 20 seconds or so are more of the same maiden instrumental sections.

6 .) The Prophecy

here they start with the same recipe they used on most of Final Frontier. the slow guitar intro then the heavy verse that just outright sounds cool. the title suggests of a porphecy foretold of the seventh son,making te conept just a little bit cooler. then theres a odd guitar solo that i don't think flows with the song at around 2:25 then the tempo changes again(something maiden has mastered by this point in their career). and back into the main "theme". personally i dislike the song buts its a must listen if you want to undertstand the concept. th fade out though onto acoustic guitar is really cool and sounds similar to some of alex lifeson's guitar playing on farewell to kings-rush.

7.) The Clairvoyent

the seventh son at this point is tired of using his powers for good because of humanity's ungratefullness(is that a word :P). he can't seem to tell whats real or what's a vison thats how much of a toll humanity has taken upon his. he's this is honestly the worst maiden song on the album it's gotten old and repetive by this point their formula of son gmaking has gotten boring and unintresting your almost wishing for an end to this :(.

8.)Only The Good Die Young

an excellent ending to a excellent ending still sounds like classic maiden but it's gotten a but stale at this point but still an epic ending to this story, basically the seventh son is porcliaming only the good die young while evil seems to never end

friso I got into Iron Maiden as a child. I was eleven years old when I was convinced this music touched my very soul. When I was 13 I knew their discography by heart, Iron Maiden almost being the only band I listened to. Since I discovered progressive rock not before I was seventeen, I never looked at it that way. I recently bought a vinyl version of this admired Maiden album, which is the reason I'm writing this review.

Iron Maiden and progressive. Seventh son of a seventh son has a dark, heavy feel with some goth influences on the titletrack. On other tracks the Britisch wave of new heavy metal also get accompanied by some synths. I admire Iron Maiden for being the ONE band that had this strange idea to get progressive in times the word was used as a curseword in the metal/rock scene. Though change had appeared in the Maiden sound, the recognisizeble guitar solo's are there, we have a very enthousiast Bruce Dickinson (as driven as Peter Hammil maybe!) and the always great basslines of Steve Harris. The latter has it's main moments on Infinite Dreams (listen carefully to those basslines!) and The Clairvoyant. An interesting fact is that the lyrics of this record are better then all of their other records. The themes are interesting and the lyrics fit so damn perfectly with the feel of the music. The production is perfect (on a lp version that is).

Moonchild, the darkest song of Iron Maiden to date opens up the dark magic world of Sevent Son of a Seventh son. Bruce Dickinson has done a great job in exploring the possibilities of his vocals! The heavy guitars and the dark themes make this an exceptional Iron Maiden classic.. play it live! Infiite Dreams is a bit downtempo. This emotional touchy song has one of the strongest chorusses of the album. De soloparts are also very worth while! It took me some time, but this is defenitely a great track! Can I play with Madness is the weak point of this album. The song is too simple and catchy, however the nice story told in the lyrics make it acceptable. The Evel that Men do is a Maiden classic. I like everything about this hardrocker, the speed, the melodies and it's perfect live versions on the many live records of Iron Maiden. Seventh Son of a Seventh son is the title track that is of most interest to those who seek real progressive music. The first part is symphonic with some goth influences with Bruce singing spooky and dark. The middle section with the spoken words are legendary. Iron Maiden sure did something special here! The guitars with echo's accompanied with the choir vocals on this part are perfect! The shook me as a kid and they make me shiver still. The solopart after the middle section are great! The typical Iron Maiden treat with a lot of melodies changed, rythm changes and double guitar solo's. The Prophecy is a song that I didn't like till recently. The sung parts are a bit to strange for me, the solo's in the middle section are great and the outro with the acoustic guitars is very nice also. The Clairvoyant is one of my favourites of all time! Changing from happy to dark a couple of times. Everyting is great here. A lot of energy come from the perfectly fitting lyrics. "I wonder why I wonder how... But it seems their power is getting stronger every day!" Onlyl the Good die young has a very strong couplet. The songs is good, but not a great ending song for a record as they did before.

This is a great record that will get a lot of progressive listeners warm. An influential album on a lot metalscenes maybe. I classic from my youth. My girlfriend won't get any attention as soon as a Maiden record like this lies on the turntable. Though this is an essential metal/heavy rock record, it's also a great addition to a prog music collection. So.. five stars wel deserved. Get this you metalguys out there!

SouthSideoftheSky Infinity is hard to comprehend

I am not really a fan of Iron Maiden in general, but Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son is a simply brilliant album that blows me away completely! This is by far Iron Maiden's best album, in my opinion. Indeed, I consider this to be one of the very best Metal albums of all time. One reason for this is that while all previous Iron Maiden albums were more of their time, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son sounds 'timeless'. The album is loosely based on a concept that really enhances the music without taking control of it. The lyrics are captivating and intriguing and never cheesy (as is sometimes the case with this band). Both the band themselves and the majority of their fans would probably deny it, but this album is 'art'! It is evident that the band here take their inspiration equally from Yes, Genesis, Queen and Jethro Tull as they do from Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Judas Priest. Whatever Punk influence there was present on earlier albums is wholly absent here.

The riffs, solos and vocal melodies are instantly and infinitely appealing to me and perfectly executed throughout. The drums are loaded and rather complex. Many interesting time and mood changes occur throughout the whole album. The excellent guitars are often augmented by symphonic keyboards that give the music a fuller, more symphonic sound than on earlier (and later) Iron Maiden albums. And it is not the cheesy 80's keyboard sounds.

On a couple of songs acoustic guitar is used which gives the music a slight folky touch and brings more diversity to the whole. One thing that I really like about this album (and that helps to make the album a unified whole) is that is starts out with a short acoustic/vocal part that is repeated at the very end on the album. This is of course not an original idea but it works perfectly here.

Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son was the peak of Iron Maiden's career and every fan of great music should have this album. This album is truly essential; a classic of Metal music!