SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON

this has got to be undoubtedly Maiden's best album (with Brace New World, Piece of Mind and Somewhere In Time close behind), simply because they have never done anything quite like it before or after.

the title-song is almost 10 minutes but feels like its much too short. it is purely an simply an astonishing piece of music even for a band the class of Iron Maiden.

standout songs:

the ominous opener Moonchild sets the tone with its chilling opening narration and the mesmersing open "riff",

Infinite Dreams is kinda like a ballad but with Maiden, you rarely get a true ballad.

The Evil That Men Do with its inspired guitar-work - surely up there at the top of Adrian Smith's work.

The Prophecy and The Clairvoyant - though they are totally different songs, i actually think that with a little re-work, this could have actually been a 2-part epic but that would have probably been totally against the "formula" back in '88 (well, Maiden didnt really care about the "formula" anyway".

the 4 stars go with the title track alone, so its probably 4.5 for me with the only weak link being the closer Only The Good Die Young which sounds all too similar to some of Maiden's older stuff...