SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON

Iron Maiden's shining moment. Almost every reviewer has given this 4-5 stars. And rightfully so, as this is probably one of, if not, THE blueprint for future prog-metal acts as well as some other prog bands. From the opening of Moonchild, through probably Maiden's most prog track, right to the end with Only The Good Die Young, not a single moment is boring.

Moonchild, Can I Play With Madness, and Only The Good Die Young are standard Maiden tracks, though more epic and proggy than usual. Great melodies and harmonies as always, they're just above average tunes, by the band's standards.

Infinite Dreams, The Evil That Men Do, The Prophecy, and The Clairvoyant are 4 of the best tracks Maiden ever laid to an album, and some of the proggiest. They evoke many emotions, some sad, some joyous, some triumphant, all very powerful. Dickinson's vocals are absolutely top notch as he hits some of the highest notes in his career. The guitars mixed with the suttle keyboards are the dominating force in the music, with Harris' bass and McBrain's drums holding everything together. Infinite Dreams goes through many different tones in the music, and if you listen on headphones closely, there's parts you wouldnt necessarily hear normally. The Evil That Men Do is standard Maiden in terms of composition, but the melodies are so captivating and emotional that it ranks higher than another 'normal' Maiden tune. The Prophecy has a nice 6/8 time that has good bass and suttle keyboards. The highlight of the track is easily the classical guitar outro. It's so beautiful and captivating that I sometimes wish it were its own song. That end section hints at what would come later in Maiden's career (BNW, DOD, AMOLOD). The Clairvoyant, a Maiden live staple, is also probably the second best track on the album. You can hear where the likes of Dream Theater, Symphony X, Umphrey's McGee, etc. got a lot of their inspiration from here. From the grand opening, to the dark verses, to the excellent solo section, it's all here.

The 'piece-de-resistance' is, of course, the title track. This pretty much set the standard for the most part of how a prog-metal song should be like. The first 4 minutes or so are completely epic Maiden with good singalong vocals and lush keyboards. Then the song slows down to a haunting melody with the bass and drums in some interesting time signature, something like 17/18 or something, im not quite sure right now. Dickinson reads a section of the lyrics in a very dark tone, almost scary. The guitars start building up, as does everyone else eventually until a very climatic section comes and you think the song is over, but it's barely begun.

What comes next is, in my honest opinion, Maiden's heaviest section they've ever done. Forget anything on A Matter of Life and Death, this is the heaviest thing they've ever done. The riffs are have a strange exotic feel to them, but very good. The final outro has some excellent melodies and brings the song home leaving the listener out of breath when it's all over.

This album cannot be beat, unfortunately I feel Maiden will never top this album again, since this album is the buildup of 6 albums past. It's a damn shame this lineup would never exist again (sort of, just with one extra guitarist, who I feel is unnecessary to keep in the band, but I digress)

Although under prog-related, this album comes as the exception and should at least be in every prog lover's collection.