First Time Listening To: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Wow, it’s only been ~3 weeks since I did Somewhere In Time! Not sure I can keep this pace up though. Got other music to listen to. Nah, I’ll get the next album in a week or so. Anyway, I’ve been listening to Seventh Son of a Seventh Son since then and let me tell ya, it’s getting real difficult ranking the albums up to this point, hence why I have a couple ties in my album rankings. The point is, Seventh Son is a fantastic album. It’s albums like this that make me happy to explore music before my time. I’ve heard from people that this album is more “progressive” than the rest, but as far as I am concerned, I don’t care too much what it’s called. Good music is good music no matter what it’s called, plain and simple. Still amazed that the band was able to produce such excellent music consistently. Up to this point, the band released 7 albums in 8 years. Talk about active! It’s the consistency/improvement that’s really remarkable though. Here’s a track by track listing of what I thought of the album.

Moonchild:

And I though Caught Somewhere In Time was the best opener. This song is fuckin awesome and a triumphant way to kick start a kick ass album. Don’t get me wrong, I love Caught Somewhere In Time, but I think this might be Maiden’s best opener (up to this point in their catalog). First of all, the synths are back, but with keys! Very well done too! Still getting that stereotypical 80s vibe that I love haha. The build up to Bruce’s first lines gave my goosebumps a couple of times. “I AM HE, THE FORM-LESS ONE!” That grit in his voice too. So good. You can tell Bruce was excited for this album. Love the lyrics here. The whole band’s firing on all cylinders. No one’s overstepping their role and in doing so they setup the theme and feel of the album. Even the closing bars are incredible. Fantastic opener/song all around. What an entrance!

Infinite Dreams:

The first time I listened to this song, I got goosebumps. It’s structured so well. Starts out mellow and evolves to so much more. The guitar work is some of my favorite on the album. Probably because the melodies are my favorite. The intro is all around great, the harmony at 2:30 is one my favorites on the album, and the one at 4:00 is also catchy. The chorus is awesome too. The song’s subject matter is interesting as fuck too. The lyrics just add more to the theme of Life and Death/ Heaven and Hell. We’ve all probably thought about what happens after death before and I’m sure this song sparked some discussion in of our heads at one point. Overall, a thought provoking and personal favorite song.

Can I Play With Madness

First there was a Sea of Madness, now we’re wondering if we can play with it. Although I like the Sea better, this is fantastic short song that I’m sure is a blast in concert. Speaking of which, I gotta buy tickets soon. This is one of those stereotypical 80s songs lol and it’s super fun. The lead work is the star of the song for me. Not sure who’s doing the solo here, but whoever decided to end the solo like that, what a risk! It payed off cause it’s sounds awesome. The lyrics, again, bring up the theme. Now about the “prophet” or seventh son of a seventh son. Such a cool concept. Especially since this is the seventh album.

The Evil That Men Do

This absolutely must be a live staple and classic Maiden song. That minor key riff/harmony that starts the song and sings in the chorus is indescribable. Clearly this is one of the better songs of the album. The build up to the chorus is done gracefully into another thought provoking piece of lyricism. This time about the evil that men do (duh). I’m going to have to start learning how to play this song. Still though, that melody… oh that melody. I don’t even have to explain why this song is up there. Give it a listen again! One of my favorites of all time! Already calling it. This is an excellent first half of the album.

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Best song on the album right here. Not up for debate. I have a playlist called “Epics.” I still don’t exactly know the all elements needed to make it on the playlist, but when I know when I hear such a song. In that playlist, I got Hallowed, Rime, Tame a Land, and now Seventh Son. The harmony that starts at 1:10 is one of those theatrical harmonies that only Maiden can seem to nail. It’s such a weird harmony, but I can’t get it out of my head. You bet your ass I learned it as soon as I heard it. This song is an epic to say the least. It evolves more than any other song on the album. There’s the prog! I love the mood after the ~4:30 mark. The echoing crunch of the guitar with the background vocals builds to a masterful ending to the song. I’ve had fun playing with that harmony that marks that point. The solos are a completely different feel from the rest of the song. Again, the song just continues to grow. The harmony with vocals near the end is another kick ass moment of the song. This is, without a doubt, a masterpiece of a song. Up to this point, these songs would be closers for the album. I’m curious why the band chose this placement. Regardless, this one is, in every way, EPIC.

The Prophecy

After that masterpiece, I was hoping that the rest of the album would stack up to what came before. Don’t get me wrong this song isn’t close to bad, but it doesn’t quite stand up well to the rest of the album, in my opinion. The groove doesn’t do it for me overall. It has Its moments. That intro is quite nice, the guitars up to the start of the lyrics is awesome, and the harmony that starts at 1:50 is cool. The lyrics themselves add quite nicely to the theme of the album too. They’re quite tragic. The vocal melody itself is not my favorite, but this song has it’s place. Perhaps being right after Seventh Son brought it down. I’m not sure. But hey, I wasn’t the biggest fan of “The Duelist” and “Déjà vu.”

The Clairvoyant

Finally! I can hear Steve! This is a killer song that revolves around a mesmerizing melody. Wasn’t sure what “clairvoyant” meant before listening to this song and looking it up. This led to looking up stuff on seventh sons of seventh sons. That’s when more of the lyrics made sense/ my “ah!” moment. I don’t even think I need to explain why this song is as good as it is. Listen to it again! Like “The Evil That Men Do,” the songs speaks for itself. Will definitely keep coming back to this one!

Only the Good Die Young

Fun fact: Iron Maiden is synonymous with guitar harmonies. This song starts with a great one! It’s closing time! The band is definitely doing something different this time around. Though this song isn’t as epic as Seventh Son, it makes sense to end with this song. Clearly it’s about the death of the prophet/seventh son of a seventh son. The song has plenty of high points: The harmonies, the verses, and the bass thing Steve does at ~1:50 (which is fuckin great btw). The chorus isn’t my favorite, but the instrumentation more than makes up for it and then some. Love how the “song” closes like a live performance with the band going crazy. But, we end the same way we started with that acoustic section. Clever touch there Maiden.

Overall:

Like I said before, it’s getting harder to rank these albums. This a masterful album. It’s also a killer concept that fits nicely as a seventh album. Believe it or not, I do listen to a lot of these songs regularly and I’ll be listening to this album a lot. The title track is still stuck in my head even after listening to it for the first time 3 weeks ago. This album is up there with the band’s best work. They’ve done it again!

Album Ranking:

Honestly, I think you can make a case for any of the “number 1” picks to be the true top album. I just think it might change for me at a given time.

1. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son/Somewhere In Time/Powerslave

2. Piece of Mind/The Number of the Beast

3. Killers

4. Iron Maiden

Cover Art Ranking:

So the artwork is not as good as SIT or NoB, but its got this unique feel to it. It’s very abstract and weird, but in a good way. So I’d probably put around “Killers” art work level.

1. Somewhere In Time

2. The Number of The Beast

3. Powerslave

4. Killers/Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

5. Piece of Mind

6. Iron Maiden

Submitted November 24, 2018 at 03:27AM by JumperCableBeatings https://ift.tt/2Bv7ULM