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Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
: This is a masterpiece, do not go through life missing out on the experience of this album. My favourite song is Infinite Dreams, but the album, from start to finish, is a ride of sheer musical brilliance.
This CD is just as good as "Somewhere In Time" is, and "Somewhere In Time" is MAIDEN's best CD, so that's saying a lot for "7th Son of a 7th Son" CD here.
Anyways, yep, this MAIDEN's concept album.
8 songs = 1 big storyline.
1. Moonchild - The destiny of what will happen to the 7th Son. The devil automatically comes to do away with the one that would bless and heal the World. The Legend of the Moonchild is what that is based on. Also, it is somewhat similar to the life of Jesus kind-of. For example: "This child was born to die!!!!!"
2. Infinite Dreams - The 7th Son's parents have crazy nightmares and dreams about their son's life and the things that he will do.
3. Can I Play with Madness? - The 7th Son's parents go to local prophet to get answers to the crazy dreams, but the prophet is no help to them, and only critizes them, and pronounces a doom on that family.
4. The Evil that Men Do - The 7th Son's parents plan on having a 7th Son.
5. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son title song - The 7th Son is born and is monitored by his family of how he will become. The 7th Son has all kinds of healing and prophetic power to see into the future for good purposes to bring a blessing to mankind. Similar to Jesus.
6. The Prophecy - The 7th Son is rejected, even though he saw that his hometown was going to be destroyed soon, but no one believed him or that he really was the 7th Son. The town is destroyed, but the 7th Son tried to warn them, but no one listened, and no one believed him. The towns people just thought that he was just an ordiary person, and not the 7th Son that was promised. (Similar to Jesus in His hometown of Nazareth).
7. The Clairvoyant - The 7th Son is at the peak of his life. He is using his powers constantly. He could see the future of others, but he could not see his own outcome, or that his powers was robbing away his life and health.
8. Only the Good Die Young - The 7th Son dies, and he gives up on the people that he tried to once help, because they gave up on him.
Musically, AWESOME guitar playing from Adrian/H and Davey on this CD. Especially at the end of "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" title song.
Some of Bruce's best singing is on this CD too. You can't hardly hear Nicko on the drums, because the drums are so perfectly blended in with the guitars that you don't even know it is there.
Steve Harris shows some of his best Bass guitar skills on this CD too.
So actually, you really can't go wrong with this CD.
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 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 ask 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 Dickinson eventually leaving to work on their own projects.
Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, a concept-album is one of my favourite Maiden albums of all-time. Compared to earlier Maiden albums, this album sounds more progressive. The album mainly sounds progressive because the band uses guitar and bass synths. I still think that Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son is one of the best-produced Maiden albums. Especially the guitars have a fuller sound compared to later albums. The fuller guitars and the use of synths and keyboards make the album more bombastic than other Maiden albums.
The album starts out with "Moonchild". The song begins with an acoustic intro, with some soft vocal lines. After that the song really begins. "Moonchild" is a rather fast song and you immediately notice the use a synths. "Infinite Dreams" is one of the more interesting songs. It starts out slow, but halfway the tempo will be shifted up a few gears. The vibe of the song totally changes from moody to aggressive. "Infinite Dreams" is definitely one of the best songs on the album. "Can I Play With Madness" is a good, short and catchy song, but it still is the least interesting song on the album. "The Evil That Men Do" is also a catchy song, but much better than "Can I Play With Madness". The song starts with a superb melodic lead and the whole song remains melodic. Iron Maiden still plays the song live.
One of the most underrated songs from Iron Maiden has got to be the title track. The song almost lasts ten minutes, starts very slow and bombastic. The middle part mostly consists of atmospheric keys and the song ends with a spectacular guitar duel. Especially the guitar harmony at the end of the song is brilliant. "The Prophecy" starts with an impressive guitar-sound. It is one of the biggest guitars-sounds Maiden has ever recorded. On this song vocalist Bruce Dickinson uses some interesting raw vocals besides his normal vocals. It sounds like he is singing a duet with himself. The song ends with a cool acoustic guitar outro. "The Clairvoyant" has got an excellent bass-intro. During the intro the guitars come in with a harmony and then the song is on its way. Great song. "Only The Good Die Young" is one of the least known Maiden songs, but it is still a great song to end the album. The song has some cool atmospheric key layers. The song ends just as the album started, with acoustic guitars and soft vocals.
Seventh Son of A Seventh Son still is one of the best Metal albums ever.
I do not think using subtle keyboards or different guitar effects makes any album a sell out. Thats just stupid, plain and simple. Unfortunately, some of my metalhead peers feel differently (although I agree with the reviews on this site). What we have here is Maiden STILL in their prime. Yes, I'm not going to be lame and say their good music ended in 1985, but it is safe to say this is the last classic Maiden release until Brave New World IMO. Think about it, if Maiden would have released Powerslave #2, people would label them boring, dull, running out of ideas, etc. These guys keep their music career alive with albums like this and Somewhere In Time. I understand that this album is generally considered a classic today, which is great, but upon it's release it was thought of as a sell out. Only the lame still think that.
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