Album Review
Sevenyearsdead – To the ruin of it all
Whilst it’s fair to compare elements of Sevenyearsdead’s sound to the usual suspects of Machine Head, Pantera and a whole host of heavy bands; to do so would completely miss the point.
Certainly they have heavily drawn on their influences, ‘Juggernaut’ especially impersonating Pantera-an impression yes, but a good one.
As always it’s when a band stretches and exerts itself, pushing what it can do, that it works best-taking a sound and twisting an contorting to it’s own whim until it finally turns into something new & interesting.
‘Ill of the dead’ is the sound of a band breaking free from the constraints that kill lesser bands. ’Postrendgeneration’ destroying your head like two massive supervillian behemoths raising a cityscape to the ground – some bands talk it up heavy, Sevenyearsdead just are.
Never mind chest beating ‘…To the ruin of it all‘ is a fist through the chest as ‘Psycho’ and ‘Tide of paradox’ constantly dig into themselves to become heavier and heavier.
It’s impossible not to imagine Jez Clark arching his back, gripping his mike and spewing metal all over the pit as the long drawn out vocal line in ‘Ill of the dead’ goes from growl to something fast approaching a blunt head trauma. ‘Almost all’ proves Jez has the chops with every metal vocal line covered and a few introduced.
This is transitory album and some songs are shaking off their older ideas, serving to provide a bridge to the new more involved segments. This would normally feel tagged on or poorly put together but in reality everything flows well and the high spots remain, culminating in what could have easily fell into the category of clichéd acoustic song ‘Epitaph’ only smooths out the album, if only because it’s treated with a respect and maturity and subsequently approaches a sound similar to when Pantera covered ‘Planet caravan’ rather than something devoid of feeling.
When it hits however ‘…To the ruin of it all’ is massively enjoyable. This is metal with confidence, without pretension and deftly handled. This is power metal: solid, heavy and all encompassing., shit this is war metal.