1194. Iron Maiden / Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. 1988. 5/5

Iron Maiden had conquered the world several times over by the time it came to the end of 1987. On the back of albums such as “The Number of the Beast”, “Piece of Mind”, “Powerslave”, “Live After Death” and “Somewhere in Time”, they had increased their fan base a number of times over, traversed the world, and had more than they could ever have dreamed possible. They had become the standard bearers of melodic heavy metal the world over. Steve Harris was undisputed as the most amazing bass player on earth. Nicko McBrain’s drumming had raised the bar and pushed the band to new heights. The twin guitars of Dave Murray and Adrain Smith had created an unparalleled sound, and the vocals of Bruce Dickinson carried the songs the band created to a new platform. Evern when the band had dabbled with guitar synths on their previous release “Somewhere in Time”, a practice that had fans nervous as to the direction the music was about to be taken, it proved to be a triumph, with that album added further plaudits on an already overcrowded mantlepiece. Indeed, as the tour supporting that album wound down to its conclusion, the world began asking, “what the hell are they going to do to follow all of this up?” There was even a school of thought that perhaps the band would rest on their laurels and perhaps take a break. What actually followed could well be said to have been the culmination of the building of the Iron Maiden sound over the past decade.
The seeds for the direction of the new album came from band leader Steve Harris, who had recently read a novel titled “Seventh Son”, a fictional tale of the purported special powers that a seventh son born to a seventh son would acquire. With his creative mind once again activated, he called Bruce Dickinson to share his thoughts with him, and discussed basing their next album, which was to be the band’s seventh album, around this idea. In interviews at the time and since, Bruce has acknowledged that he was considering his place in the band, as on “Somewhere in Time” all of his song ideas had been rejected, and he had no writing credits at all, and as a result he wondered just what his place in it all was. When Steve mentioned his idea, Bruce not only felt a part of the writers group again, he immediately began coming up with his own ideas, and it was the collaboration between Bruce and Steve, along with Adrian Smith, that drove the creation of what was to become “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, an album that in some respects came close to perfection for a band that was amazingly still on the rise.

“Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” is often considered to be a concept album, but I’m not sure this is entirely true, and as it turns out in a good way. A true concept album, such as Queensryche’s “Operation: Mindcrime” which was released a month later, and will have its own episode dedicated to it very soon on this podcast, has a crafted storyline, one that also involves specific characters telling their own story, and including some dialogue that is not in song. Whereas, with this album, there is a definite story that is crafted by the songs, and that the lyrics tell the tale of, but it is not held together by that storyline. Apart from the opening and closing monologue sung by Bruce, each of the songs stands on its own and can do without requiring explanation. They can be interpreted as a part of the tale of the life of the seventh son, or they can also be taking as a separate entity and have their lyrical content judged on a different level. For me this is a part of the success of the album as a whole, giving it multiple layers rather than just a linear motive.
Having used guitar synths on the previous album, it was keyboards that made their pieces noticed on this album, though not to the extent of hiring a keyboard player for the band. The history of the band showed that before they got their first record contract there was one gig where Iron Maiden had a keyboard player and one guitarist, but it lasted just that one gig. Now, however, the band was beginning to flux, and to continue their transformation that addition of keyboards – not a dominating factor but a background addition to help fill out the songs in a better way – was necessary. It added to the progressive nature of the music the band was writing, something that was probably never fully followed up on until the “Brave New World” album some 12 years later. Here though, especially on songs such as “Moonchild” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, it created the atmospheric mood that the band wanted and needed for this album to work.
So yes, there is a pattern to the journey that this album takes, from the opening stirring of the protagonists struggles with what is going on in their mind, to the awakening of the powers that he discovers, to the abilities and the pitfalls that come with all people with power, to the ultimate end of the tale. And each song plays its part in that story as well as being a story in itself.
Each of the eight songs on this album is a beauty, and that is not always the case. The opening of “Moonchild” is just fantastic, a different sound from opening tracks on previous Maiden albums and brilliant as a result. “Infinite Dreams” surpasses it in its complexity, starting off in a melodic smooth way before pumping into the second verse with greater power and feeling, through to the chorus. It remains a wonderful song. This is followed by the first single from the album “Can I Play with Madness”, the video of which featured Graham Chapman in his final screen appearance. Side One of the album then concludes with the amazing “The Evil That Men Do” with that galloping Harris bassline and typical Dickinson vocals soaring over the top in anthemic style. Great lyrics, wonderful guitars.
Side Two opens with the Steve Harris classic title track, which bends and winds its way through the majestic theatrical first half of the song, before the second half busts out into what makes Iron Maiden so great, with Adrian and Dave and Nicko stealing the show. It perfectly continues the run of great long-form tracks by the band, following “To Tame a Land”, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Alexander the Great” as the showpiece tracks of those albums they appeared on. “The Prophecy” follows and continues the tale through to “The Clairvoyant”, with Steve’s brilliant bass intro, and then into the finale of “Only the Good Die Young”, which ties all the strings together, and completing what is yet another triumph from this magnificent band.

Back in 1988 I was in my first year of university, living the poor life with very little income and many things that I wanted to be able to experience – mostly beer, but also new albums. And I had saved dollars and cents for weeks leading up to this album being released. There was also an hour long promo that the band filmed on the making of the album which appeared on the music program “Rage” the weekend before this was released, which I recorded at the time but eventually lost in the way VHS taped tended to disintegrate when watched a thousand times over. And I bought this album on the day of its released, immediately recorded it to cassette, and that tape didn’t leave my car for months, playing over and over again. At home the vinyl barely left my parents stereo system in our lounge room. This was the album we had been waiting for. And often, when you are so built up with anticipation for an album, it becomes a disappointment when you eventually get your hands on it. But not this one. From the very moment I listened to it, I loved it. The opening of “Moonchild”, the slow burn of “Infinite Dreams”, the power of “The Evil That Men Do”, the majesty of “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, and the magnificence of “The Clairvoyant”. Every piece of this album was a triumph, and worth every single moment I had spent waiting for it to arrive.
Playing it now, as I have for probably over a month leading up to this anniversary, I don’t think it has lost anything. In many ways it was a true precursor to how the band began to progress in the next century, once Bruce and Adrian had returned to the band and recorded albums such as “Brave New World” and “Dance of Death”. It always felt as though it was this album that they were channelling at that time. And that would make sense, as Adrian left the band after this album because he felt that THIS was the direction the band should have been heading in, rather than the stripped-down basics they went for on “No Prayer for the Dying”. On his and Bruce’s return, they did.
But I loved this album then and I do still now. I remember vividly driving two of my fellow uni friends to and from lectures with this album blaring out the windows of the car, and probably driving too fast as a result of that built up adrenaline. It was pure magic, and it has retained all of that 35 years later. Sitting in the metal cavern, drinking a beer and letting this wash over you... it is still an amazing experience.
This was, in my opinion, the last of the truly great Iron Maiden albums. The first two albums with Di’anno, Burr and Stratton involved are terrific albums, but the six that followed them – "The Number of the Beast", "Piece of Mind", "Powerslave", "Live After Death", "Somewhere in Time" and then this album, are legendary. They are ‘moment in a bottle’ stuff. What has come since has been mixed, and some of it has touched brilliance, but could never hold a candle to these albums, and especially this, where the planets aligned for that final time.