Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
“Seven deadly sins
Seven ways to win
Seven holy paths to hell
And your trip begins...”The final Iron Maiden album of the 80’s and the last of their “Golden Age” opens in an unorthodox fashion with Bruce Dickinson and an acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar had been used sparingly up until this point and never as a lead instrument. This is followed by a lead played on guitar synthesizer, something that was prevalent on the previous album but again never as a lead instrument. Right off the bat it’s clear to the listener that we’re in for something special. It’s an appropriate start, because Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is a concept album. The previous album, Somewhere In Time, wasn’t a concept album but many of the songs dealt with similar lyrical themes to give it a unified feel. So a full on concept album was a natural progression.
The story was initially inspired by the death of supposed psychic Doris Stokes, which prompted Steve Harris to wonder if she could foresee her own death. Later on he read Orson Scott Card’s Seventh Son. Given that the next album would be their seventh, Steve felt it would make a good title and theme. This all influenced the first song written for the album: The Clairvoyant. Steve then called Bruce to tell him about the concept and he was on board immediately. Bruce’s fascination with the occult helped bring a new dimension to the album. This can especially be seen in Moonchild, where Bruce takes inspiration once again from Aleister Crowley.
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is a story based on the myth that the seventh son of a seventh son would possess clairvoyant powers. The album follows a loose storyline related to such a character, but in typical Maiden fashion there isn’t really any adherence to the general “rules” of a concept album. Several of the songs seem to deviate from the story, although they could at least be loosely linked. In the end, the story boils down to themes that are already typical to Maiden such as the afterlife, good and evil, the occult. The story also jumps around without any linear narrative. The second side of the album is the most dedicated to the story, with all four songs being obviously linked. The first side is a little more loose with story elements, although Moonchild and Infinite Dreams in particular definitely fit in.
Oddly enough, it is also one of their shortest albums. Again bucking what you would typically expect from an album that is meant to tell a story. Where the previous two albums really pushed the limits of vinyl by pushing close to an hour in length, Seventh Son is a more standard 45 minutes. This is very unorthodox considering that it’s a concept album. I’ve heard rumours that there was an intention to make a double album and Rod Smallwood urged them not to, but I’ve never seen confirmation of that. It would explain why the story seems somewhat half baked though.
Musically the album is a definite progression from Somewhere In Time. The synthesizer use continues, however this time there was less trepidation with the synth use and the band moved on to using keyboard synths in addition to guitar synths. They also use different types of synths, such as choir pads. The production is a similar reverb laden affair, but not quite as overproduced. There’s a lot more space in the music and it has more of an “airy” sound than SIT. The prog leanings go even further with Seventh Son, particularly in the Harris tunes. But it does feature a continuation of Adrian’s more commercial side, especially in Can I Play With Madness.
Seventh Son Of a Seventh Son is notable for being a much more collaborative effort than Somewhere In Time, and one of their more collaborative albums overall. Where Bruce didn’t contribute anything to the previous album, on Seventh Son he receives writing credits on four of the eight tracks. No solo compositions, but a lot of collaborations with Adrian Smith and Steve Harris. All of Adrian Smith’s contributions are also in collaboration, unlike Somewhere In Time. The classic Smith/Dickinson combo returns on the album opener: Moonchild. This is also the first time the opening track isn’t a Harris composition. Moonchild is one of Maiden’s greatest openers and features one of their most exciting introductions. Impossible to listen to this song without getting pumped.
With Can I Play With Madness and The Evil That Men Do, the two collaborated with Steve Harris. Maiden are generally somewhat secretive about who comes up with what, but there is an informative interview where Bruce Dickinson explains the process of writing Can I Play With Madness. Bruce wrote the opening riff, Adrian brought in a ballad he wrote called On the Wings of Eagles to fill out the rest of the song, and Steve Harris and Bruce worked on the instrumental section together. Of course Bruce wrote the lyrics. This gives an interesting insight into how the three collaborate. Can I Play With Madness represented one of the band’s more commercial sounding songs, but it still has plenty of merit as a Maiden track. The Evil That Men Do is more on the traditional side of things and is an equally (if not better) entry.
The final Bruce contribution, Only the Good Die Young, is unusual because it is a collaboration with Steve Harris. Prior to this album, the two had never collaborated without Adrian Smith. Given their friendly rivalry, it is a surprise to see them working together. Previously, Adrian and Bruce generally had the bulk of the song finished before Steve came in and added additional touches. Bruce and Steve would actually write more songs together on the next album. But more on that later.
This album also features the elusive Murray composition: The Prophecy. As usual, he is helped by Steve Harris. The acoustic guitars make a return for the renaissance inspired outro. I like to imagine that a young Mikael Akerfeldt was listening to this album in 1988 and took extra note of that particular section. Another typical Murray tune that has been overshadowed by the rest of the songs, but is a good song nonetheless.
The remaining three songs are monster Harris compositions. Infinite Dreams begins innocently enough as a ballad before picking up steam and exploding into heaviness with proggy time changes. The album’s epic title track, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, became the band’s second longest song at the time. It follows a similar structure to To Tame a Land, but with longer sections. It features a very extended instrumental section with an intense guitar duel. Finally, we end where we began with the first song written for the album: The Clairvoyant. This is a fairly upbeat track with a very catchy chorus. After two proggy songs, this shows Steve Harris’ more direct roots.
Now is a good time to talk about the influence of Progressive Rock on the Maiden guys. Maiden are such an odd band because they have more prog tendencies than most “traditional” Metal bands, but it’s really hard to classify them as progressive metal, especially when you compare them to Queensryche or Dream Theater. They are somewhere in between. But the fact is that prog had an immense influence on both Steve and Bruce. Steve was particularly into Genesis and Jethro Tull, bands that told stories with their music. The storytelling aspect definitely shows in many Harris compositions and is on full display with this album. Bruce was interested in theatrics with artists such as Arthur Brown and Peter Hammill of Van Der Graaf Generator. Bruce was also a fan of Peter Gabriel, but interestingly preferred his work away from Genesis. That influence doesn’t really show up in Maiden, but it will in his solo work so stay tuned for that. The prog influence is at its peak on Seventh Son with the different time changes, the atmosphere, and the story. It has a fairy tale feel to it that isn’t unlike a lot of early Genesis. It’s dark, but also very whimsical and English. Maiden also take a page from Pink Floyd by giving homage to Animals, Steve’s favorite Floyd album, by bookending the album with the same acoustic passage. The Pink Floyd concept of ending at the beginning would go on to influence another favorite band of ours.
After two of the most extravagant album covers in Metal history, Seventh Son Of a Seventh Son sports a more basic design, closer to Piece of Mind and Number Of the Beast. The fact is that Derek Riggs was starting to get burnt out with Maiden covers. He had been working with Maiden for 8 years straight and was beginning to have difficulties with their management. He also wasn’t getting much work outside of Maiden. I’m not sure who originally came up with the idea of having a half destructed Eddie, whether it was Riggs or the band, but Riggs was delighted with it because it meant less work for him. The background was also more minimal, showing a desolate icy exterior. The back of the sleeve also made reference to past Eddies. It wasn’t as complex as Somewhere In Time, but it was still another excellent cover. Riggs’ decline in enthusiasm for painting Eddie is much more apparent in the artwork for the singles. Can I Play With Madness, The Evil That Men Do, and The Clairvoyant all feature some of the most simplistic Riggs designs in years. There are no scenes or elaborate backgrounds, just sketches of Eddie’s heads. They are also unfinished. Riggs has expressed distaste toward these pieces and points to them as examples of his own laziness with painting Eddie.
Surprisingly, given the more experimental nature of the album, Seventh Son was a point of big commercial success for the band. It became the band’s second #1 album in the UK charts, and spawned some hit singles. Usually there were only two singles from an album, but with Seventh Son half of the songs were made into singles. The first, Can I Play With Madness, was the band’s highest charting single ever peaking at #3. The next single, The Evil That Men Do, was another impressive effort at #5. Likely because of the success, they went ahead with a third single. This time, it was a live version of The Clairvoyant recorded at Monsters of Rock 1988 (we will discuss the tour more next week). It was yet another top ten entry at #6. The fourth single, released in 1989, was technically more to promote the Maiden England video, as it was taken from the video. Infinite Dreams peaked again at #6.
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son represents the end of an era for Maiden. It would be the last album with Adrian Smith (until his return in 1999) and the last of the 80s. It shows the band taking their 80s sound as far as it can go. After 8 years of evolving, the band had reached what seemed to be a creative peak. To this day it remains one of their best and most ambitious albums. It was a triumphant end of the decade for the band, both commercially and artistically. Where other Metal bands ended the 80s in more uncertain terms, Maiden ended on an absolute high note. One that would continue into the tour, which we will cover in the next entry.
“Seven downward slopes
Seven bloodied hopes
Seven are your burning fires
Seven your desires”
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