SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON

The album follows the same generic album formula that the band have been using since The Number Of The Beast. Even if it did work on a few occasion, like Powerslave and Somewhere In Time, most of the time it just resulted in a mixed bag of albums that really couldn't be considered challenging by any means. This is pretty much the issue I have with this record, but I'll have to admit that the high regard that most people have for this release irritates me even more than usual.

Musically this album is not different from the previous releases where we had our singles, one or two epics and a few album tracks that ranged from average to pretty decent in quality. Yes, there is the minor addition of synthesizer sound on a few instances but it's used very sparsely and most people would probably not even notice it on most occasions. It's really not like the band have completely reinvented their sound here like for example Rush did between Moving Pictures and Signals. To be honest, this is pretty much your typical Iron Maiden '80s album in every regard of the definition.

The individual songs are suppose to be interlinked by a conceptual arc but I honestly never saw it as such since there is no feeling of a mood or progression between the compositions. What you get is a typical array of tracks that I've mentioned previously. There are only two real exception to the rule. One being Can I Play With Madness which is in my opinion the worst single released by the band and I tend to skip it almost every time I listen to the record. The album's title track is suppose to be a 10 minute epic of the album but the tracks is just so bland and uninspired that there's just no comparison between it and excellent predecessors like Hallowed Be Thy Name, To Tame A Land, Rime Of The Ancient Mariner and Alexander The Great. The format is pretty much the same as on Rime Of The Ancient Mariner but without any real kick to it, making the overall performance feeling very underwhelming.

I would only recommend Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son to the existing fan base of the band and fans of their pseudo-intellectual prog related merits that are depicted on this record. Most newcomers will most likely get a lot more value out of experiencing Powerslave or Somewhere In Time before approaching this flawed record.

**** star songs: Infinite Dreams (6:09) The Evil That Men Do (4:34) The Prophecy (5:05) The Clairvoyant (4:27) Only The Good Die Young (4:42)

*** star songs: Moonchild (5:39) Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son (9:53)

** star songs: Can I Play With Madness (3:31)

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