Iron Maiden's Greatest and Most Progressive Record

People are blinded by Run to the Hills and The Trooper. Iron Maiden began slipping from popularity around the time of Seventh Son, due to "excessive synths" and a changing popular music climate at the end of the 80's. This is a concept album and along with Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime, represents one of the most fully realized and smooth flowing albums. It feels 100% complete and whenever I listen to any of these tracks individually I feel a little guilty, knowing that these songs should only be heard in the context of this album. It has always been my favorite Maiden CD, although it is by far their most progressive album, keeping the distortion down, but the number of tempo and key changes are staggering, and not one of them misplaced. Sure their earlier records are flawless also, and this one has some cheese in it, but I think you should give it another chance.



Favorite Track - Infinite Dreams

Least Favorite - Can I Play With Madness

maybe the beast

i love this album...and the synths plus the epic, melodic,proggesive songs...maybe the best

Must have for anybody into older Maiden

I got into Iron Maiden around the time they released "Live After Death" which was the live version of the Powerslave tour. Between the band's incredible talent and Derek Riggs' artwork, it didn't take me long to collect up all their previous albums and several EPs. Powerslave completely blew me away and I also spent plenty of time listening to Number of the Beast. A bit later, Somewhere in Time was released and I wasn't disapointed in that one bit. Then comes Seventh Son. "Well", I thought, "This is certainly different...I'm not sure if I like it." I gave it a fair shot, then shelved it for a while in favor of the older albums, but the chorus from The Clairvoyant stuck in my head (Time to live, Time to die, Time to meet your maker), and I ended up pulling it back out an popping it on the turntable. Due mainly to my laziness, it spent a week or so on my turntable with a couple listens a day and really grew on me. I don't think any Maiden album will ever top Powerslave in my book, but Seventh Son edged out all the others (including the incredible Number of the Beast) to become my second favorite Maiden album. I pretty much quit listening to them after Adrian left (post Seventh Son), so I can't say how it compares to their newer stuff, but it is certainly one of the best albums they put out in the "First Ten Years" era. Did I mention Derek Riggs' artwork on the gatefold album is just incredible as well?

Seven deadly sins, seven ways to win

Well i'll start off by saying how surprised i was when i saw there were only 5 customer reviews for this album! i like to hear different people's opinions on cds and im sure im not alone.
But anyway, i would have to say that this is one of maidens best albums to date! And for so many reasons too.
The highlight tracks are Moonchild, Infinate Dreams, The Evil That Men Do, the title track and The Clarivoyant.(taht's almost all the tracks anyway)
I find that all maiden fans love Can i Play With Madness, but personally i find it to be a bit of a weak track, but anything by maiden is good.
I think the Prophecy is an underrated song. I didnt put it in the highlight tracks but its still an outstanding track, especially the combination of the synth and guitar at the start and finish.
As for Only the good Die Young, well i think it an average maiden song at most. I think its the repeditiveness of the chorus that puts people off.
Now to the good songs.

The opening track Moonchild is great. And the way that album starts and end with the 'seven deadly sins....' thing is genius and it give the album a real theme.

Infinate dreams starts off soft and you get to hear the softer side of bruce's voice and then it plunger into yet anohter masterpeice.

For a long time i just couldn't get over the track the Evil That Men Do. It is a true classic, and sometimes underrated.

Now for the epic 10 minute title track. This is another amazing track. It gives you some background about the seventh son myth too, even though i still dont understand it too well, something about a clarivoyant who forsees disaster and noone believes him and i dont see where the whole seventh son thing fits in (if you know plaese email me at metal_mayhem01@hotmail.com)

Ahh the Clarivoyant. I especially like the chorus to this song, you can hear the agression in bruce's voice. Now that's music.

So in conclusion i highly reccomend this masterpiece of an album as well as most of maidens other stuff. now go out there and headbang your ass off!

The Last in a String of Great Maiden Albums of the '80s

I remember when this album first came out. I had just become a huge Maiden fan after the previous record Somewhere In Time. By this time, I had bought their back catalogue of studio albums and
was swept up by the hype surrounding the release of Seventh Son. I remember Bruce Dickinson being interviewed on MTV's Headbanger's Ball and stating this album would be "quite popular to people who have never seen this band before" because it was the best album they had made to date and it was going to take Maiden in new, exciting directions. Then I saw the video for "Can I Play With Madness," and that whetted my appetite even more (O.K., many fans at the time thought the song was too commercial, but it is still awesome and one of their best singles ever!). I recall bugging the record store clerks many times with "Have you got the new Iron Maiden album in yet?" I don't think I have ever been so excited about an album release before or since! When I finally bought it (I wanted it on cassette, but the store was out so I opted for yes, you guessed it, VINYL because I couldn't wait), I think I was slightly disappointed at first.

My expectations were a bit too high. But the more I played it, the more I liked it. When I listen to it now, after all this time, I can really appreciate the genius of it. A true conceptual album about a child born with clairvoyant powers (the seventh son of a seventh son), who did not want to be born this way and has problems dealing with the strange circumstances he finds himself in as well as the forces of good and evil battling for his soul. The music is brilliant, with accoustical guitar, keyboards and other additions to transform Maiden's sound. In retrospect, Seventh Son was the last great Maiden album. Instead of being a stepping stone to more Maiden innovations, it proved to be Maiden's peak. Things seemed to go down hill after this record, with Adrian Smith and, later, Dickinson leaving to work on their own projects. I still only have this album on vinyl. My record has an Eddie illustration on the round sticker of one of the sides and the song list on the other side (a little annoying when looking for a track). The inner sleeve has lyrics and a small photo of the band on one side and a full page illustration of Eddie at a desk writing in book with a sphere in front showing the significance of his birth. The back cover of the album has an ice scene with Eddie figures as icebergs.

Words from reviewer #175

[Before you start reading this review, I want to apologize for making it so long. I had a lot to say, and there was no short way to do it.]

Iron Maiden has always been a band that was willing to experiment with new styles, even if it meant risking their entire fan base. 1986's Somewhere In Time proved this beautifully - but the experimental/progressive sound succeeded in making them more popular than ever! Before the band fell down to earth, they would shell out one more progressive masterpiece - 1988's Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. This would be the last Maiden album for twelve years to feature the classic Dickinson/Smith/Murray/McBrain/Harris line-up (Smith left after this album.) Read on for track comments, as well as my comments on the remaster series.

Moonchild - An excellent melodic rocker, they simply could not have started the album better.

Infinite Dreams - This one starts slow and melodic, but soon enough it becomes a lengthy (and damn good) instrumental session. Another good track.

Can I Play With Madness - This is the band's most overrated song, period (Running Free is second), but it's still very good. It's a solid melodic rocker with the band in tip top shape. Need I Say More?

The Evil That Men Do - An excellent rocker that captures the band in its prime. It's no wonder it's become a fan favorite!

Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son - The title track of the album often goes unappreciated for some unknown reason. Why? This is quite possibly the best song on the album!

The Prophecy - Possibly the weakest track here, but also the most underrated. The chorus to this one must be heard to be appreciated.

The Clairvoyant - Another fan favorite. Once again, the band serves up a winner. I don't think anything else needs to be said about this one.

Only The Good Die Young - THIS IS NOT THE BILLY JOEL SONG. The band ends the album with a gloomy melodic rocker that often goes unappreciated due to the fact that it's the last track. Don't make that mistake!

Now for my comments on the remasters series - as a die-hard Maiden fan, I AM SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED. Sure, the sound quality is improved over the original CD issues and there is some cool enhanced CD footage (all the remasters before the X Factor have this), but this reissue is lacking the most important thing a remaster needs: BONUS TRACKS! To put it simply, if you already own the original issue of this album on CD, it's really not necessary to get the new remaster.

Maiden's two progressive albums from the mid-late eighties are excellent albums, no questions asked, but they aren't recommended for novices of the band. If you're new to the band, start with The Number Of The Beast (DO NOT BUY A HITS COMPILATION!) Put simply, this is an excellent album, it's just not great to start with.