SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON

The peak of Bruce Dickinson's first stint in the band when it comes to musicianship, complexity, and artistic achievement, this semi-concept album finds the band in excellent form, fully integrating synthesisers into their sound in a way which proved that the lessons of Somewhere In Time had been well-learned. If I had to pick out one song from here as my favourite, it must be Infinite Dreams, which crams in a whole album's worth of quiet reflection, operatic bombast, and metal accomplishment into just six minutes, but more or less every track on here is a keeper. Essential Maiden, on a par with Number of the Beast or Powerslave.