Product Description

ON SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON, the songs tell the tale ofa young prophet who predicts the destruction of his village, and is ignored when he tries to warn the others. Eventually, the man goes mad and commits suicide. Employing synthesizers, Iron Maiden takes a two-fold risk: with the music and by doing a concept album. This formula might have spelled disaster for most bands, but not Iron Maiden. SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON turned out to be one of the band's strongest releases, debuting in the U.K. charts at Number One, and spawning four Top-10 singles ("Can I Play With Madness", "The EvilThat Men Do", "The Prophecy", and "Infinite Dreams"). The band's popularity had reached an all-time high around this time, as Maiden headlined the 1988 Monsters of Rock concert atEngland's Castle Donnington. During the single-day event, Iron Maiden played to a record 100,000 fans, headlining over such big names as Kiss, David Lee Roth, Guns N' Roses, and Megadeth.

Track Listing

1. Moonchild
2. Infinite Dreams
3. Can I Play With Madness
4. Evil That Men Do
5. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son
6. Prophecy
7. Clairvoyant
8. Only The Good Die Young
9. Can I Play With Madness
10. Evil That Men Do
11. Clairvoyant
12. Infinite Dreams

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1069 in Music
• Released on: 1998-09-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Amazon.co.uk Review
By the release of this landmark eighth album, Iron Maiden had settled into what's generally considered their classic line-up. With Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Nicko McBrain operating at the very peak of their form, band mastermind, main songwriter and bassist Steve Harris decided to extend the Maiden remit yet further by unveiling their very first concept work. Contemporary critics scoffed in the face of such a grandiose gesture, but Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son spawned no fewer than four British hit singles and remains an indomitable highlight of the Maiden's illustrious career. From the strident commercial metal of "Can I Play With Madness", through the keyboard-enhanced epic bombast of the title track, to the fretboard intricacies and chest-beating machismo of "Only The Good Die Young", Seventh Son finds Iron Maiden at their most assured and creative. Essentially, this is a spectacular example of 22-carat heavy metal. Ian Fortnam

Customer Reviews

Maiden's Best
I'll give the review track by track after this overview. I like this album because it was probably their most progressive of the 80's and featured a lot of great tracks.

Moonchild 8.5/10
A great opener. One of three real claims for best album opener. (The other two are 'caught somewhere in time' and 'invaders' in my opinion).

Infinite Dreams 9/10
A good track, one of Maiden's better ballads.

Can I Play With Madness 10/10
Maiden's best track.

The Evil That Men Do 9/10
A nice track. Not their best.

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 7/10
Not their best epic. But still good.

The Prophecy 9.5/10
Maidens most underrated track. I think the alternating riffs are fantastic.

The Clairvoyant 8.5/10
Good but not amazing.

Only The Good Die Young 9/10
A good finishing track but not as good as some other finishing efforts.

Iron Maidens Masterpiece? well all Iron Maidens albums are masterpieces arn't they?
Iron Maiden first concept album and it works brilliant. All the songs are classic. I'd put this on my top 5 Maiden albums. The artwork is awesome aswell. Onto the songs

1. Moonchild - Wicked track with a heavy riff and awesome vocals by Dickinson it's a song that'll be stuck in your head for awhile. 10/10

2. Infinite Dreams - this one took a couple of listen for me to get into but now i love it, it starts of slow for awhile then goes to an awesome solo. 9/10

3. Can I Play With Madness - awesome short song and a short solo brilliant video to. 10/10

4. The Evil That Men Do - again short awesome great solo great song. 10/10

5. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son - Awesome title track the really heavy in the bridge section of the song is amazing. 9/10

6. The Prophecy - Starts of slow for a bit then gets heavy wicked song probably my favourite on the album along with Moonchild and Only The Good Die Young. 10/10

7. The Clairvoyant - Awesome song with a cool bass intro. 9/10

8. Only The Good Die Young - A perfect album closer one of my favourite songs on the albums amazing. 10/10

This album is a brilliant place to start with Iron Maiden not a bad song on it. UP THE IRONS!!!!

Iron Maiden 7
According to the information on the CD this is considered by certain members of the band to be their best album ever. It certainly has some good tracks on it, but what lured me into buying it before some others is the fact that it is a concept album. All the tracks revolve around a seventh son of a seventh son; quite appropriate considering this is their seventh album.
There really isn't a dull track on this CD and most of them really stand out on first listening and need no time to appreciate. The opening words of "Can I Play With Madness", the hummable melody of "The Evil The Men Do", the chorus of the titular track and the morbid truth stated in "The Clairvoyant"; all of these and more will be stuck in my head after listening to the album
As with the rest of this series, the CD is packed full of CD ROM content. Two full length videos ("Can I Play With Madness" and "The Evil That Men Do") and clips from "The Clairvoyant" and "Infinite Dreams" (although on my version these last two are mislabelled); you have the option to watch them as a small or large size (large being only about half the size of the screen) but due to the limits of CDs the videos are very grainy. A wealth of information about the making and release of the album, photos, family tree, album art and tour dates are also included.
The CD comes in a standard CD case with a booklet containing lyrics, pictures and album art.
All in all and essential buy for Iron Maiden fans and metal fans in general.
Highlights: "Can I Play With Madness", "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son", "The Clairvoyant"

Track Listing

1. Moonchild 05:40 ****
2. Infinite Dreams 06:09 ****
3. Can I Play With Madness 03:31 *****
4. The Evil That Men Do 04:33 ****
5. Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son 09:53 *****
6. The Prophecy 05:05 ****
7. The Clairvoyant 04:27 *****
8. Only The Good Die Young 04:41 ****
Total Time: 43:59