Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
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| Seventh Son of a Seventh Son | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Iron Maiden | |||||
| Released | 11 April 1988 | ||||
| Recorded | Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, during 1987 - March 1988 | ||||
| Genre | Heavy metal | ||||
| Length | 43:57 | ||||
| Label | EMI | ||||
| Producer | Martin Birch | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Iron Maiden chronology | |||||
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Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is an album by heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It was released in 1988 as the band's seventh studio album. This album was the last to feature guitarist Adrian Smith until the album Brave New World in 2000 (he did write a song that Bruce Dickinson finished for the next album titled "Hooks in You").
At least three of the album's songs ("Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", "The Prophecy" and "The Clairvoyant") can be directly related to a main lyrical storyline (apparently inspired by Orson Scott Card's novel Seventh Son).
Lyrically, the album centers around some main philosophical ideas: morality (good and evil), mysticism, prophetic vision, reincarnation and afterlife. Almost all the album includes direct or indirect references to questions regarding to these concepts and poetically refers the answers.
Stylistically, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son develops the sounds first heard on Somewhere in Time (1986), and continues the band's lyrical exploration of topics related to mysticism, power, and the occult.
The album debuted at #1 in UK charts as well as #12 in the U.S, while the singles "Can I Play with Madness", "The Evil That Men Do", "The Clairvoyant (live)" and "Infinite Dreams (live)" reached #3, #5, #6 and #6 positions, respectively. It is the last Iron Maiden album to go platinum in the USA.
Contents |
- "Moonchild" (Bruce Dickinson, Adrian Smith) – 5:39
- "Infinite Dreams" (Steve Harris) – 6:09
- "Can I Play with Madness" (Dickinson, Smith, Harris) – 3:31
- "The Evil That Men Do" (Dickinson, Smith, Harris) – 4:34
- "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" (Harris) – 9:53
- "The Prophecy" (Dave Murray, Harris) – 5:05
- "The Clairvoyant" (Harris) – 4:27
- "Only the Good Die Young" (Dickinson, Harris) – 4:41
- "Black Bart Blues" (Dickinson, Harris) - 6:41
- "Massacre" (Brian Downey, Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham) - 2:53
- "Prowler 88" (Harris) - 4:07
- "Charlotte the Harlot 88" (Murray) - 4:11
- "Infinite Dreams (live)" (Harris) - 6:03
- "The Clairvoyant (live)" (Harris) - 4:27
- "The Prisoner (live)" (Smith, Harris) - 6:09
- "Killers (live)" (Paul Di'Anno, Harris) - 5:03
- "Still Life (live)" (Murray, Harris) - 4:38
- Bruce Dickinson – vocals
- Dave Murray – guitar
- Adrian Smith – guitar, backing vocals, synth
- Steve Harris – bass guitar, backing vocals, string synth
- Nicko McBrain – drums
- Martin Birch – producer, engineer, mixing, tape operator
- Albert Boekholt – engineer, assistant engineer
- Ronald Prent – engineer, assistant engineer