Bruce Dickinson, in his recent autobiography 'What Does This Button Do?', claims that '7th Son of a 7th Son' was one of their best albums. With all due respect to the man, I gotta say: 'Bruce! Have you been sniffing glue?' 'Cos, in this reviewer's opinion, one of their finest works was released 5 years before '7th Son...'. I am of course, referring to Piece of Mind. Stunning musicianship accompanies mythological, military, & literary themes.
For those of you who don't know - and there may be a few of you - 'To Tame a Land', the final song on the album. was originally intended to be called 'Dune', after the book.. However, to do that, Maiden had to get the permission of the author, Frank Herbert. As it turned out, he disliked heavy metal and refused permision to use the title, and so they changed the name.
Anyhow, the only detracting factor for this album, in my view, is the rather dated production. Personally, I think it'd be a cool idea for them to re-record it. And, again, the songwriting & musicianship are top notch.
4.5/5
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