Excellent
This is one of my favorite Iron Maiden albums. The musical qualities are definitely there. The lyrics are insightful as well. Not a bad moment to be had on this disk. Up the Irons!

Pure Brilliance
We all know the 'Golden' era of Maiden music. [1982-1988]

The Number of the Beast
Piece of Mind
Powerslave
Somewhere in Time
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Honestly, it's hard for me to a pick a favorite, but if you put a gun to my head, I'd say --- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.

Its a concept album and the story is easy to follow. A prophet tries to warn a village of an imminent attack. Unlike other concept albums, you don't have to follow the story to enjoy the music.

Dickinson has perfected his vocal skills, which is evident on such tracks as 'Infinite Dreams' and 'The Prophecy'. In fact, the vocals on SSOASS ranks as one of the best I've ever heard in the metal genre. Every track is strong, with virtually no filler. As always, the guitar, bass, and drums are first rate. Nicko Mcbrain's drumming skills are severely underrated. Its not as fast or heavy as other Maiden discs, but in no way feels weak. The synthesizers are very apparent, but doesn't overwhelm the album like 'Somewhere In Time'.

I would rate 'Infinite Dreams' and 'The Evil That Men Do' as my favorites. Even though 'Can I Play With Madness' is a good tune, it really feels out-of-place. [Its a pop song on a progressive metal album.]

Instead of wasting my time rating every song, realize I can play this disc everyday and never get bored. Its easily one of my favorite albums of any genre. Highly recommended.

Ambitious metal masterpiece....
Iron Maiden is almost unique among "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal" bands of their era in being able to reinvent themselves repeatedly while still maintaining the essential elements that gave their sound an identity to begin with. It is easy to grow bored with the continual assertions by narrow minded "fans" that they "sold-out" with this record, or went soft and became "prog". No, for that listen to everything Queensryche did after Empire (and up until Operation Mindcrime II). Seventh Son is a creative, storytelling concept album that demonstrates a high point for Maiden in writing, production, and musicianship. They embraced technology, synth sounds, and polished professional production, without losing the energy and power that makes all of their "classic" era albums great. Do you like 'Maiden, or NWOBHM, or both? Get this one. Don't like 'Maiden, then skip it, and stop trying to convince everyone else it's a poor record or a mis-step because YOU don't get it.

Starting Over with their Sound, 'Madness' would be the best adjective to describe 'Seventh Son'
After years of success, some musicians believe they need to change, or at least alter the way they sound-look-act in order to maintain success, or at least remain relevant. U2 had made that same mistake; KISS made that mistake. The reality is some don't want to have that just-miss release and they over-think it, which doesn't help. One good example of this is Led Zeppelin's 'Presence': a good album, but far from what was expected from them. 'Seventh Son of a Seventh Son' is Iron Maiden's good album after years and years of great albums.

'Seventh Son' was released around the time the old guard of metal was giving way to Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. Many hard rock/heavy metal bands of the early to mid 80's felt the pressure and had to do something to maintain their relevance. For Maiden, like some others, it meant going progressive in sound and style: a okay idea if you were storytellers like Maiden had been since the beginning. It did seem logical that a concept album was what remained to be done by this group.

Unfortunately, back then when I first listened to this as it is now, they put in a heavy effort to make this whole CD listenable; an effort that would aide in the ruination of Iron Maiden for four more albums until 'Brave New World'. Very little from 'Somewhere in Time' made it to this album, and what did was very raw. The arrangements of each song have their own flow, which one song does not melt into the next. That's not necessarily a good thing when it comes to concept albums.

Bruce Dickinson was really challenged as far as range and pitch goes, singing with heart for the songs. He does a serviceable job, but trying for nuance instead of executing the lyrics sinks him here. What hurts is his voice competing with the synthesizer. On 'The Clairvoyant', a good song just misses the Maiden live catalog no thanks to word-to-note match of Dickinson and synthesizer. It isn't Europe 'Final Countdown' annoying, but it comes pretty damn close.

There are good songs in the bunch, including album saviors 'Can I Play With Madness' and 'The Evil Men Do' and 'Only the Good Die Young' and 'The Prophecy'. However they don't give the album as a whole play-it-again viability like 'Somewhere in Time', 'Powerslave', and 'Brave New World'. It is, for lack of a better term and barely just four stars because of four good songs, Iron Maiden's 'Presence'.

Consistently great!
One of the great things about Iron Maiden is that they have a variety of music in their releases. Unlike some bands (Judas Priest), a given CD isn't usually too different than their previous one, but over time their focus changed to longer, moodier, more melodic songs. I'd even call them somewhat progressive by the time they get to "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son". I don't really care for the more 'traditional' progressive groups, like Symphony X, or Dream Theatre, but Iron Maiden's take on the genre simply clicks with me.

The songs are very melodic, with an almost dreamlike quality to some of them (particularly in the opening intros to the songs), but Maiden hasn't checked their aggression at the door. Dickinson is in top form in his singing, showing lots of emotion and hitting the notes perfectly. The guitars and beats are classic Maiden. The story (fairly loose, and definitely interpreted differently by different listeners) is interesting.

Simply put, this CD got played a ton when I first got it, and in my 'All Metal Mix', I pretty much still stop to listen to any of the songs on this CD when they come up.

Highly recommended.